Disclaimer: in my dreams they are all mine but alas! All Philip Pullmans, lucky devil.

Waiting so long for you……..

Lyra sat at her window looking out at the bats darting from the cave of the crypt. She wished with her broken heart that she could fly with those bats and leave her troubles behind her in the night, but she knew she would not be able to run away from her they would catch up with her in the end. It had been a year since Will had closed that window that separated their lives forever, a whole year of pain and heartbreak for Lyra. She knew she would one day again see Will, but in the land of the dead they would no longer be able to hold each other in the embrace that her soul cried out for. They would never be able to touch again.

Her heart ached at the thought of once again being in Wills arms. Her body longed for him, her heart bled for him. Burning tears silently fell down her face she put her head in he hands and cried, she wept until the tears no longer came and her breath ripped through the still air.

The birds had not yet released their song when Lyra woke, cold and stiff from her night by the great window. As she got slowly dressed, a dark shape pushed open the door and spread itself out upon the bed. Lyra turned round and gave a small cry of surprise. Pulled out of her depression she cried out "Pan! Your back!" she ran over to the bed and picked him up "You were so long did you find her? What did she say?"

Pan took a deep breath and stretched out showing his sharp claws before they retracted once more into his silken paws. " She said that she may have found a way for you to contact Will."

"Oh Pan! I… I…what is it? Is she coming? When will I see her?"

"She will be coming down to Jordan tomorrow, she will be flying."

"Oh Pan! I can't think about anything else, my mind is- "

"She also tells me that u must see the master he will have something for you." Pan interrupted. He master had been the closest thing to a father Lyra had ever known, but even he did not know what to do with her when she cam back to live in Jordan, much older than the small child they knew and with a broken heart

The master's room always made Lyra feel small but secure, there was a large expensive desk always covered in paper and exquisite curtains, covered in dust and bleached by the sun. She always thought this room was used and lived in. the master called her into his room, she looked around at the familiar surrounding in which had started all her adventures which had lead to her meeting Will. "Now Lyra, Serafina Pekkala has told me that it is time to tell you something, something maybe I should have told you a long time ago. But first there is someone here who needs to talk to you."

A shimmering figure walked into the room from the left antechamber Lyra could only see her properly out of the corner of her eye.

"Xaphania?" Lyra half whispered.

"Yes" came the reply. "Us angels know of your love and how much it is hurting both you and Will, we can feel it in the air; an infinite sadness where ever we go. Dust carries it along spreading it to every world and every creature. We have learnt to live with it but it keeps getting stronger and more Dust carries it. This sadness could cause Dust to die and in turn every creature that carries Dust will become like they were before Dust, consciousness would die. We must stop this from happening. There seems to me only one way to stop this. That you and Will be once again together."
"But we cant! You said before there was no way, it will let Dust out, there could only be one opening and that was for the land of the dead!"

"My child you are wise beyond your years, you have gone through what women, witches and angels alike have never been through. But you still don't see what is right in front of you." She paused and beat her giant wings, "my child with the republic of heaven completed. There is no need for the opening from the land of the dead once all the ghosts that are in there are free. We will have to close it up. When someone now dies they go to the republic of heaven and tell their story to the harpies, if they hold back and do not tell they will then go down to the land of the dead with no way out for eternity." Lyra's heart bounded in her chest and her eyes filled with red-hot tears. Her voice broke as she asked, "Can I... Can I see Will?"

"Yes."

Lyra sat heavily on the high-backed armchair, her mind spun in wonder at what was just told to her. Will, she could see Will again. Her Will, her first and only love. A love that dug inside her and refused to let go. A love that left her racked with guilt and torment over what she had done.

She had betrayed Will would he ever forgive her? Would she tell him? But how could he hold her now, how could her heart let her be held by him? She was brought sharply out of her thoughts

"lyra! Listen to me child!" the master breathed deeply "