The following day, Sora was in the throne room, when Stephanie appeared in the cave of the door.

"Good morning… Emperor" she said looking downcast

Sora raised his head from the papers on the table "Good morning, Your Majesty"

"Are you busy?" she asked hesitantly

"Not particularly"

"Can we talk… alone?"

Sora gave a look to Jibril, that nodded "I will go to the Eastern Federation to check on Iruel" she said while disappearing. Sora turned to Stephanie

"We are alone now"

"Thank you. I just wanted to tell you…" she swallowed and clasped her hands together "I am very sorry for yesterday… I cannot believe that I stoop so low. There are no words to express how ashamed I am for what I said to you"

He nodded and exhaled "Apology accepted. Anything else?"

She blinked "Wait… that's it?"

"Yes, I would say so…"

She shook her head "You are unbelievable… no, I would not say that a simple apology is enough, and so… here" she said while handing over a folded sheet of paper

Sora took it, but did not open it "What is it?"

"It's my resignation letter"

"Oh…" Sora started to read, but then stopped "Why are you giving me this letter? I mean, I know that it is because of yesterday, but… is it for personal reasons or because you just assume that I am going to demote you anyway?"

She did not answer immediately "The latter" she finally said

Sora looked at the letter "Well… then this is not necessary" and he proceeded to tear the letter into shreds

Stephanie shivered, and swallowed "So… you really want to banish me personally… no easy way out?"

He raised an eyebrow "Uhm? No. Not at all"

"But you said…"

"You said that you want to resign only to avoid getting fired first… but I never had any intention to demote you in the first place. That is why this letter is unnecessary"

"Then what should I do?"

He shrugged "Keep things the way they were the day before yesterday… that is all I would ask of you"

Her eyes went wide "Seriously? You just want to brush off this incident as if it was nothing?"

"Yes"

"Did you understand what I said to you?"

Sora looked upward, as if trying to remember and then started to count on his fingers "Let's see… I am cruel, I am unfair, I am a coward and a hypocrite and…" Stephanie grimaced and readied herself, as if she was about to be hit with a club "…I have a terrible taste in women"

Stephanie was shocked "That… is a very generous way of putting it! I cannot believe what you just did…" she covered her face "I am sorry… I am sorry…" she said while trying to put herself together.

Stephanie took a deep breath and straightened herself "Thank you for making what I did to sound acceptable. I don't think that anyone else but you could have made it…" she sighed and looked at him "So… do you really think that everything can go back to the way it was?"

He made a face "Not immediately… but I think that I want to try. Do you want to try?"

"I just don't understand why you are being so generous with me…"

He raised his shoulders "You are a good ruler, Stephanie… and I don't like to waste talented people just because they once acted emotionally. Also, you are my friend. Those are the only reasons why I am trying to just forget yesterday's incident. But if you really want to resign for… the other reason, then please write another resignation letter. I will accept that one, no questions asked"

She sighed "I see that you are serious. Very well… Sora… I will try to keep it together like you wish, and move on with the other issue… and thank you"

"Don't mention it. Anything else you want to discuss?"

"There are some things to discuss… but I don't think that I can do it today… if it is fine with you, I would like to take the rest of today off, and then meet with you tomorrow as usual"

He nodded "Sure, not a problem"

She bowed "See you tomorrow, Sora"

"See you tomorrow, Your Majesty"

In the following days, Sora told Jibril everything he knew about Earth atmosphere, and she did a lot of reading on her own after that, going through a number of books from both Earth and Disboard.

Originally, Sora believed that it was going to be relatively easy, as Flügel can teleport, and so in case of any danger or problem Jibril could just teleport back to the surface. However, he almost immediately became worried that maybe her teleportation capabilities may be impaired at high altitude, beyond the magical network of the Ley lines. Consequently, Sora had started to add layers of security measures, and so the first test flight of the Imperial Space Program had been postponed by a week, and then postponed again to wait for a day with clear sky. Eventually though, everything was ready for the test. Sora was now standing in the middle of a grassy highland not too far away from the capital of Elkia, checking for the one-thousandth time that he had arranged everything at the best of his capacities.

Zeruel would accompany Jibril for a part of the flight, creating magical link between her and the base of operations, while Ramiel and Armisael would remain on the surface as reserve with Raphael – chief strategist of the council of Eighteen Wings – as overall mission controller. The magical link between Flügel would serve to assess Jibril's position, but a group of werebeasts lookouts had also been deployed as a backup, and to provide weather forecasting.

Viel and a group of elven casters were also present to offer magical support. In case Jibril got in a situation in which she could not return to the surface by her own means, the idea was to have them try to drag her down via telekinesis – possibly powered by Ramiel's and Armisael's raw power – and eventually heal her once on the surface.

Stephanie did not join the expedition. Sora had told Jibril about the princess's confession, rejection, and normalization, although he had remained silent about the most regrettable things that Stephanie had said. Luckily for everyone involved, Jibril was never going to consider the princess as her equal, let alone a threat of any kind, and so the relations between the two women – that had never been too close to begin with – had remained mostly unchanged.

Sora stepped in the meadow, walking towards the spot where Jibril and Zeruel seemed to be ready to start their flight

"I am ready to go, Master… anything else you want to tell me?"

Sora breathed "You are about to enter the most lethal environment of them all… I know that you are nothing like a fragile human, and I will let you decide how to handle everything but… please don't try too hard. This is just the first test to see how you feel while flying at high altitude"

Jibril nodded cheerfully "Will you give me a good-luck kiss, Master?"

Sora looked at her seriously "I will, once you are back safely… right now, the last thing that I want is that you get all sparkles, and get the idea to do reckless things to try to impress me… please stay focused, ok?"

Jibril grew serious and nodded, slightly embarrassed "You are right Master, I promise that I will be careful… Please give me the order"

"I have only one order: come back. Whatever you do, you must be able to come back to me. That is the only thing that I care about"

She nodded and took off, followed by Zeruel and Sora's apprehensive eyes. Soon a small cloud formed around the two Flügel, clear sign that they had gone supersonic. Beside him, Viel's hair were thrown into disarray as the sonic boom hit immediately thereafter.

"I will go take shelter now… the sun is really unpleasant today! Are you also coming, Emperor?"

Sora kept staring upwards as he answered "No, thank you. I will stay here" and he refused to move from that very spot until Jibril was safely back into his arms.

Few weeks later, Sora and Jibril were walking home from the palace. The first five-years budget for the space program had been approved, and they were both very excited about it. The program included the creation of a number of land-based observatories, a detailed plan of balloon sondes to study the atmosphere – that had been merged with the Avant Heim program on global wind circulation – while number of institutes from the Eastern Federation were in charge of an engineering section aiming at creating artificial satellites and rockets, and the elves from Elven Garde were studying ways to simplify the required hardware using magic.

"We have to celebrate!" he said while holding the door of the library open for her

"Oh, I thought about it already!" she said with a smile upon entering

"You did?" he asked while pushing the door shut.

He turned around and froze, as it looked like the entire Flügel-kind had dropped by at the library. They were everywhere: standing at ground level, sitting on the sofas and chairs, perching on the bookshelves, peering down from the flying cubes, or just floating around.

"SURPRISE!" the Flügel cheered in unison

He was speechless, and could just look around with his mouth half open. Jibril took his hand and dragged him to the center of the library. All around him, Flügel were clapping, cheering, or thanking him. When they both reached the center of the hall, Jibril made a sign to call silence, and even the unruly Shamshel grew quiet.

Sora's eyes went wide when Azrael stepped forward

"Good evening… Emperor"

"Good evening…"

"I was told that you did… something… for all of us"

"That is kind of right…"

"We Flügel are a proud race, and we don't like to have debts… so we decided on a gift to show you our appreciation"

Sora was about to reply that it wasn't necessary, but Azrael had already materialized something into her hands.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked

Sora swallowed hard "The Queen… your Race Piece"

"That is correct. We would like you to have it" she said while offering it to him.

Much to her surprise, rather than simply taking it, he brought his hands to his head and took a step backward. Everybody's smile turned to consternation.

Jibril gave Sora a worried look "Master… are you ok?"

"I am sorry… I am sorry… this is so sudden…" he said "… just tell me please…why? Why do you want me to have it?"

Azrael gave him a quizzical look "Don't you want to unite all races? Don't you want to conquer the world?"

Sora seemed to have recovered his composure "Yes, I do"

"Then you are going to need that too!" somebody shouted, provoking a number of Flügel to loudly agree

Sora looked downcast; he seemed very tense when he spoke again "This… is very unexpected… and completely different from what I had in mind…"

Jibril did not seem to understand "Master… don't you want it?"

The Flügel were murmuring with one another, and seemed at a loss. Azrael, in particular, was staring at him intently.

Sora straightened up and turned around, trying to look at everyone as he spoke

"What about this: I will tell you all what I think… and then I will let you choose what you want me to do… and I am just going with what you prefer. Is that ok with everyone?"

There were further murmurs, that Azrael summed up by saying: "That would be acceptable, Emperor, please do explain yourself to us"

Sora took a deep breath and tried to address as many of his audience as possible "As I said before, I do want to conquer the world… and I do want to collect all of the Race Pieces. But…" he said before anyone could interrupt "… you guys are special to me…" there was a chorus of satisfied noises, as he turned around "… please do not go around shouting that, because then I will be forced to treat you like anyone else …" he said with a smile, bringing a number of Flügel to chuckle "…but that is just what I feel. And for this reason, I was thinking to let you keep your Piece… as a way to honor you…" the library was now dead silent. Jibril was looking at him with tears in her eyes, while covering her mouth to avoid sobs to escape; even Azrael seemed impressed. Sora continued

"That is what I thought… but now that you offered it to me, I really don't want you to think that I am rejecting you in any way, so… please take a moment to discuss, and when you have decided, just tell me which way you prefer me to handle this… OK?"

There was a moment of absolute silence, then Azrael made a sign, and the members of the Council of Eighteen Wings flocked around her. Sora stepped away, to let them as much privacy as he could. Everyone else remained completely still. Eventually, the small meeting came to an end, and Azrael stepped towards him again

"The council had decided. Emperor, please honor us by accepting this Piece as a gift from all of us. We wish nothing more than support you in all of your endeavors" this said, she offered the Queen Piece to him again. This time, he hesitantly accepted it from her hands

"Thank you. Thank you for trusting me with this one … of course, you can have it back anytime you want"

Azrael raised her eyebrows, as if she could not believe what she was hearing. There was a general sound of relief all around them, and then Shamshel took the lead

"It is done! Everybody, let's have this party started!"

Hundreds of fists punched the air "Yaaayyyy!"

As the party picked up steam, a single Flugel was sitting on the roof of the library, apparently lost in thoughts while looking in the distance. It was Azrael. Suddenly, she felt another presence behind her, but that did not disturb her in the slightest

"So you noticed that I went missing?" she asked without turning around

"I did" Raphael answered emotionlessly

"Don't you enjoy the party?"

Raphael ignored the question "Do you trust him now?" she asked her instead

Azrael exhaled "What is done is done… I thought that he would grab the fake Queen Piece in triumph, showing his true colors… but he didn't. I would have never expected him to turn it down… then he asked us to discuss the matter again! I had to ask him to accept it a second time… and he even said that I can have it back when I want!"

"So, is the Queen Piece he accepted the fake one, or the real one?"

Azrael sighed "It's the real one… the second time I offered him the real one. May Lord Artosh forgive me, if I did the wrong thing"

Later that night, when everybody had left, Jibril approached Sora

"Master, would you show the Queen Piece to me? I actually never saw it"

He nodded "Sure" he said, and made the piece appear into his cupped hands

She gave him a sweet smile "How does it feel to have my entire life into your hands?"

He smiled awkwardly "I am thinking something rather silly right now…"

She slightly inclined her head "What is it? I am sure it is not silly, if it comes from you…"

He sighed "I am terrified of breaking it. My brain knows perfectly well that this thing is thousands of years old, that it has going through the Great War without a scratch, and that there is absolutely no way that a human or even a Flügel can do any damage to it whatsoever. I am also quite sure that if its physical form were to be destroyed in some way or another, it would just reappear somewhere else, without any effect on Flügel-kind whatsoever…" he looked at her "…but that is the rational part of my brain… the emotional part is just paralyzed with fear that if I do not treat it with the utmost care, I am going to ruin it… and you with it. It's silly, I know"

She looked at him with intensity "No, it's not silly at all. And if you are afraid… I can stay with you tonight"

He smiled awkwardly and lowered his eyes "Thank you… I would have never dared to ask you that"

She smiled "I know"

They made love for the first time that night, and then remained embraced, lovingly caressing each other's face until the following morning.