Well, here's the last chaptersob.
I had a look at all of your suggestions on what Kris should do as a minor goddess, and I decided not to use any of them. I'm very sorry, but I suddenly had my own idea. It doesn't exactly fit, but oh well…
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Kris, after her dramatic display of power, was drained. She had never been so tired in her life. Her mind was already shutting down, and it was only by sheer willpower that she managed to hobble up to the king's study room with Daine's help. Along the way, Skyleth joined her in falcon form, perching on her shoulder. His silent support helped to keep her awake as she leaned dazedly against the wall in the king's study room.
"First things first." The king began. The wound in his neck had already stopped bleeding, and although he looked visibly shaken from his experience, he still spoke firmly. "If anyone looking out their window by chance and saw that whole scene just now-"
Numair briskly interrupted "You don't have to worry about that, your majesty. When Branaric cast the two magical walls, he also placed an illusion spell around the courtyard. Anyone looking out at the courtyard would have seen that it was empty."
Jon looked relieved. "Right, that makes things a lot simpler. Raoul, get Uncle Gareth and Sir Myles to go down to the courtyard with you, clear up the mess. You can inform them of the situation, but until I order it, they are not to tell anyone else. Afterwards, send them up here."
Raoul nodded wearily, and strode out the room, closing the door behind him. The door was almost immediately outlined with black fire, a spell to prevent eavesdroppers.
"Now, Kris, do kindly explain what happened just now." Numair said tightly, his eyes glaring into hers, silently demanding the truth.
Kris closed her eyes, resigned. "You mean how I used that white magic just now?"
"Yes." Numair said. "There's been something going on with you these past weeks, and I want to know what."
Kris sighed. She held out her left arm, and Skyleth hopped gracefully onto it. "Skyleth?"
Very well. He murmured in her head.
An eye-blink later, Skyleth had swooped off her arm and glided to the ground. There was a flash of silver and Windclaw the falcon became 'Nyleth'.
"What the-"
"Goddess!"
"What…what-"
"Lord Nyleth-"
Her friends spluttered, temporarily stunned into silence.
"It's Skyleth." Skyleth said gracefully, tilting his head slightly at her flabbergasted friends.
"What?" the four said at the same time. They were looking more and more confused by the second.
"Lord Nyleth of Falcon's Oak was just a fake title. My real name is Skyleth." Skyleth replied lazily. Then, turning away from them, he looked at Kris, who was looking pale.
"You over-estimated yourself. You shouldn't have used so much magic; you're not used to it yet." Skyleth said gently. He cupped her cheeks with both hands and gazed into her eyes. Then, abruptly, all of Kris's exhaustion promptly vanished. Instead, now Kris was wide awake. Startled, she jerked backwards and Skyleth quickly caught her around the shoulders.
Kris straightened slowly, brushing a hand through her messy hair, stealing a look at her friends. All of them were blinking rather foolishly at her and Skyleth. Numair was the first to recover.
"Kris. I want a proper explanation right away. About how you performed that magic, and why is… Skyleth… pretending to be from Falcon's Oak!" Numair's voice had risen to a shout, which was most unlike him.
Kris chewed her lips nervously. Kris knew that when Numair used that tone of voice it was extremely advisable that she answer him.
Kris avoided Numair's eyes, looking up to Skyleth for help pleadingly.
"Perhaps I ought to tell them?" Skyleth said lightly. "Also, dear, it's almost time."
Kris's heart squeezed, and she smiled rather shakily at him. "All right. Thanks."
Skyleth turned to regard Numair and the others, who were looking increasingly indignant. "Kris has decided to…leave with me." He began carefully.
"Leave with you?" Daine stared at Skyleth, who had, a minute ago, been a falcon.
"Do you mean she's going to marry you?" Numair eyed Skyleth with an unreadable expression in his eyes.
"Well, not exactly," Skyleth mused, "But she is going to go somewhere in a few minutes, and you won't be able to follow."
"That sounds stupid, Skyleth," Kris said dryly, "Why don't you tell them directly?"
"I'm going to tell them indirectly. I do believe your teacher would, at least, be clever enough to figure it out." Skyleth grinned.
Kris sighed. "I have a more direct solution to this."
Stepping forward to where Numair and Daine were standing, Kris gazed at them and felt her heart squeezing again painfully. Tears formed in her eyes, but she blinked them away quickly.
"I have no doubt the two of you will recognize Skyleth's aura." Kris whispered softly.
Skyleth immediately understood. His face growing solemn, he uttered a word none of them recognized. The cloak he was wearing suddenly acquired a shimmering quality. And then, just as what had happened to Kris earlier in the day, silver light began to pulse under Skyleth's very skin. Everyone felt the sudden bloom of power radiating from him.
Still facing her friends, Kris took a step backwards towards Skyleth. She felt his arm go around her shoulders, and she snuggled against him automatically, but Kris kept her eyes on Numair's face.
The light of understanding was dawning in both Daine and Numair's eyes after a few moments. Alanna had an incredulous expression on her face. The king was looking politely puzzled.
Numair stared at both of them for a long moment, then breathed, "You're a god."
Skyleth smiled in reply. "Kris and I will be somewhat similar to your parents, Lady Daine."
Kris's throat felt constricted by emotion. Taking a deep breath, she said in a choked voice, "I'll visit on holidays, I promise. I'll miss you all."
Before any of her friends could react, Kris hugged Skyleth and snatched a last look at them. Silver light surrounded both of them.
"…and you are hereby named Millakris, Goddess of the Mists over Tortall." Mithros finished. He looked somewhat agitated as he perched on his throne. Beside him, his sister the Goddess was standing holding a black cat in her arms, who had familiar purple eyes. Skyleth was standing rather protectively just behind Kris. Besides the four of them, the hall in the Realms of the Gods that Kris had once seen in a dream was empty.
"What am I supposed to do with mists?" Kris demanded. Even though she was a full goddess now, her temper with Mithros was somewhat short. He had just forced her to go through a long tedious ceremony, which Skyleth had told her privately in her head was entirely unnecessary.
"There's a lot you can do with mists, Millakris. For example, some immortals in Tortall have been using their magic to banish the mists around them to make hunting easier. It's your job to make sure that doesn't happen." Mithros said to her in a stiff voice. It seemed that he hadn't taken a liking to her, either.
Then, in a more formal voice, he announced, "And since you and Skyleth are mates-" at this, Mithros shot a disapproving look at Skyleth before continuing, "Your merged titles therefore is God and Goddess of the Skies and Mists over Tortall. Another nickname for your title is the Lady of the Mists."
At this, Kris suddenly realized the clothes she had been wearing before had been replaced by a flowing cloak similar to Skyleth's. The difference was that the fabric of her cloak was a type of soft thin cloudy material-mist. Then, as she reached up to tug at her hair, she discovered a layer of mist clinging around her hair and face like a silky veil.
"You look wonderful. How do you feel?" Skyleth beamed at her fondly, reaching up to smooth a wrinkle in her veil.
"Not much difference." Kris said, then started. Even her voice had changed slightly! It had gained a note of 'softness' to it. Kris frowned, but decided to ignore it. It was true that she didn't feel much different, only that she sensed her power had grown unlimited.
"That's good. Oh, wait," Skyleth looked up to scowl at Mithros, "Haven't you forgotten something, Mithros?"
Mithros glowered at Skyleth. Then, after being prodded by the Goddess, he muttered reluctantly, "And you are hereby given my permission to visit your mortal friends during holidays, and I repeat, only during holidays! Also, since your admission into the ranks of the gods was requested by Skyleth, both of you are bound to his lands for a century. You may only leave to see your friends during holidays and special occasions, or when I give permission otherwise."
"Thank you." Skyleth grinned cheekily at Mithros, and led the way out of the hall.
Outside the hall, Kris was surprised to find a crowd of gods and goddesses. Correctly interpreting her surprise, Skyleth explained, "Mithros banned everyone from the hall during the Naming. In fact, though, a lot of gods and goddesses want to meet you."
As he spoke, the crowd of gods and goddesses had gathered around them. Skyleth quickly added, "Oh, and everyone here will call you by your full name, Millakris. I will, of course, still call you Kris-"
"I always knew that someday another mortal would fall in love with a god like I did, but I never expected it to be so soon." A sweet musical voice emerged from the crowd. Kris looked up to see a slender goddess donned in green, including a green veil. Beside this goddess, a half-naked god sprouting antlers on his head stood holding a bow loosely.
"Greetings to you, Millakris." The goddess clad in green greeted her demurely. "I am Sarra, the Green Lady, minor goddess of healing, and this is my mate, Weiryn, God of the Hunt. I do believe you were a very good friend of our daughter, Daine."
Weiryn nodded at her, and Kris greeted them back hesitantly. So these were Daine's parents!
"Sarra, Weiryn, aren't the two of you supposed to be bound to Weiryn's lands for a century?" Skyleth said with a frown.
Weiryn waved this off with a dismissive hand. "This is a special occasion, a Naming taking place."
"I doubt Mithros would agree with you on that point, Weiryn. But then, who cares?" Skyleth grinned.
After spending a long time chatting with various gods and goddesses, Skyleth finally took Kris's hands and teleported to his home in the Divine Realms.
Skyleth told her his lands included a huge garden filled with all sorts of odd plants, a large pond containing some strange creatures, a fat short hill with a plateau on top and an enormous forest. The weirdest thing was that the trees and plants here seemed not to be growing on the normal ground, but a layer of whitish material which sunk slightly under her weight. Perplexed, Kris knelt and plunged a hand through the material with slight difficulty, bringing up a handful of it. It was like water, slipping through her fingers and landing lightly back.
Skyleth smiled and flicked a hand. The whitish material in front of him started to swirl in a small circle, forming an opening. Kris looked through to see open air, and far below, an open plain. She looked back up at Skyleth. "Are we up in the air?"
"Yes. That stuff is compressed clouds. I am the God of the Skies, after all." Skyleth smiled again at her awed look. "Part of that plain down there is mine, too. But come, let me show you our house."
Kris turned. Only now did she realize they were in the middle of a huge clearing in Skyleth's forest. And directly in front of her was Skyleth's home. It was of a small size and plain structure, and overall didn't look very impressive, but when Kris looked into a window, she realized the place was larger than it seemed. Inside, it was a normal-sized room with a comfortable sofa and a table. But around the room there were at least half a dozen different colored doors which, Kris suspected, led to other rooms that did not seem to be there. Everything was made of 'compressed clouds'.
"Can I explore this place by myself?" she asked Skyleth.
"Of course you can. It's as much your home as mine." He replied absently. He was drawing symbols on the front door with rapid hard strokes of his fingers.
Kris had not wandered far when she came upon the large pond Skyleth had told her about. As Kris gazed into it, her thoughts drifting back to her friends, she saw that an image had appeared in the crystal-clear water. It was an image of the entire country of Tortall, every part of it. And, she saw clearly, somehow, each and every of her friends, wherever they were.
"The Lady of the Mists bless you." Kris whispered.
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Whoohoo! My first complete fic! dances around happily
I know it's a poor and odd ending, so don't flame me about it!
I just want to tell you that I really dislike Mithros, so I made Kris dislike him too.
First of all, I would like to thank all of my reviewers for their support, compliments, and occasional suggestion for improvement. Thank you for taking a minute of your time to type your review. For those who read but didn't review, I appreciate it all the same.
This being my first fan fic, it turned out better than I thought it would. I know some of you out there would like me to write a sequel, but I'm already planning another fan fic. I would like to warn you, though, if you are awaiting my second fan fic, it may not come very soon. I have school, homework and other things to do, and I seldom get to find spare time to write. I love to write, and could do so all day, but I can't find time for it. My next fan fic may take months for its first chapter to appear. So, I advise all of you to turn your attentions to other fan fics for the time being.
Thank you again, and ta ta for now!