"I'll do it, everybody go." Everybody stares at her in a dead silence, not believing Cera just said she'd sacrifice herself. She did though, and she's already holding the hammer.
Aloth shakes his head, and says "No, Cera, there's got to be another way. We'll-"
She interrupts him with a sad shake of her head, and says "Aloth, no. I'll do it. You all go. Get out of this cursed rock." Live. Get out of here. There's a million more things she wants to say, but they don't have time.
Aloth still refuses to let her do this though, finding desperate stubbornness from somewhere - maybe Iselmyr - so she looks into his eyes for a minute. Wishing she didn't have to do this with part of her heart and wanting them to live with the rest, she puts him and the others into a trance and sends them out of the rock - then her resolve breaks for a moment and she calls Aloth back. "I love you, Aloth." She kisses him - if it's the last thing she'll ever do, well, there's worse ways. And she wants to say it and do it at least once before she's dead, even if he won't remember. Then she sends him running back with the others and starts pounding on the huge crystal in front of her.
Aloth suddenly seems to wake up - when and why did he zone out when Cera was saying she'd be the one to stop the Eyeless?! - out in the freezing cold ice and at least ten yards from the sinking fragment of Ionni Brathur. He looks around and sees four other Kith and a white fox - Cera's still in there! Kana shakes his head and asks "How'd we get out here? Last thing I remember, we were in the moon fragment with Cera…oh."
Aloth takes exactly one frantic step towards the still-sinking moon before Pallegina's hand is gripping his shoulder and cloak. "Amico, she's gone. Still in the rock, frozen or drowned by now." There's never been as much pity in her stance as right now, he's sure of it.
Before he can start to desperately protest, the ice cracks a few feet away and about ten Laugafeth emerge and throw a familiar, shivering form onto the ice. There's a look of intelligence in the Laugafeths' eyes, and then they hear Marunn's voice say that their debt to the Watcher has been repaid.
Aloth's at Cera's side first, immediately wrapping his cloak around her freezing body. Kana does the same, along with Eder, and Sagani says they should get her to the Gref's Rest as soon as possible.
Suddenly, things start moving in reverse and the Eyeless file out of the moon fragment - and they ask why they were destroyed. According to Ondra, they've got pieces of Abydon inside them - he used to be about preservation as well as progress, but when he died he lost that part of himself. And the Eyeless can restore that to him.
After an hour-long debate with the Eyeless, they manage to convince them to return to Abydon with not only preservation but with context as well - because sometimes the past should stay in the past. Maneha's plight, Cera's own, the fact that the secrets of the White Forge nearly caused the Dyrwood's destruction, and even the way the Valian Republics are trying to undermine the Dyrwood's trade - all of that together persuades the Eyeless to temper their purpose with perspective of why some things should be moved on from.
At the Gref's Rest, later that night, there's a massive celebration going on - Kana's singing some song he learned in Rauatai, Eder's dancing to it with people, Pallegina and Sagani are watching with some amusement at people's antics, and Aloth is looking around the crowded, incredibly noisy room for one other Aedyran elf woman who's probably hearing all the thoughts in the room right now. Might even be enjoying them, seeing as they're so happy.
He finds her sitting in front of the fire, like she's still cold despite having changed into something not dripping wet and still wrapped in his cloak at his insistence. He walks over, carrying a mug of hot tea in his hands, and sets it in front of her and sits next to her. She takes it gratefully, and drinks it down immediately - despite the steam rising from the cup.
Finally, Aloth can't really take it anymore and asks "Why did you do it, Cera? Any one of us would have used the hammer, you know that." Why did you nearly die? Saving the Dyrwood from the Eyeless is definitely something worth dying for, but couldn't you find something worth living for? Couldn't…couldn't I be worth living for?
Cera doesn't seem to have heard the thoughts - the entire town is in here celebrating, there's got to be a million thoughts louder than his, of course she wouldn't hear his thoughts at the moment - and asks "And what kind of friend would that make me? 'Here, please die so I can live.' I couldn't ask that of you guys."
He swears he can hear Cera's mental voice say I couldn't ask that of you. Aloth shakes his head stubbornly, and says "You wouldn't have had to ask! If you hadn't had the recreation of Abydon's Hammer in your bag…wait, is that why you said you'd carry it? So you could just say you'd do it and nobody could change your mind or make you leave by virtue of having the hammer?"
She looks into the cup, mumbling "Maybe…"
Sometimes she's too smart for her own good - or for anyone else's.
And then all his thoughts fly straight out of his head and into Wael-knows-where when she leans against him, mumbling something he doesn't quite catch over the din of the crowd. When he manages to look over, she's practically falling asleep - how she's managing that, he doesn't know as its practically deafening in here.
He shakes her shoulder a little but that only results in her connecting her mind to his - and the noise of the room dims when he focuses on that bond. He feels a bone-deep exhaustion from her, and barely hears Think I'm going to sleep for a while, Aloth…
Let's get you back to your room then. Because this can't be the most comfortable position.
You'd be amazed…how comfortable…I am….with…
Her voice drifts off, probably before she was done talking - and Eder is suddenly right there next to the two of them, and notices Cera's rising and falling shoulders immediately. "She's sleeping in this din?"
"Not entirely sure how, but yes, she's sleeping in this noise."
"She didn't happen to give an explanation for why we were suddenly out on the ice, did she?"
"No, but I think I know how. When we first met in Gilded Vale, well, it was because three drunks were about to get into a fight with me in front of the inn. Iselmyr said something, they got mad, she said something else that got them furious when trying to talk them down wasn't working, and then right as it was about to come to a violent head they all just stilled and their looks glazed over. Then Cera walks in front of them and tells them all to go home and not remember any of the incident. They all just nodded and started stumbling to their homes. She later told me she just put the suggestion in their heads and they took it - the fact that they were completely drunk helped a lot."
"And she's gotten a lot stronger since Gilded Vale."
"Yes, she has. So I'm guessing she just did the same thing, had us get out of the rock and onto the ice while she destroyed the rock and the Eyeless."
He mutters something about Cera being too stubborn and good with her Cipher powers at times, and Eder says "Let's get her out of here, shall we? The owner said we can stay for free, seeing as we saved everyone and all that. C'mon, I'll get the door."
Aloth carries Cera to her room while Eder holds the doors open - at least the former farmhand doesn't say anything this time about the two elves. And Cera's puppy jumps up onto the bed, proceeds to find the most comfortable spot next to her, and falls asleep almost instantly.
Hours later, Aloth's looking at the ring he still had in his pocket even now - he seriously thought he wouldn't get the chance to give it to Cera, enchantments on it and all. He didn't enchant the ring, but he's discovered there's about three enchantments on it that can let you cast some priest spells, and that actually makes you smarter - where and how it was enchanted, that's a mystery to him entirely.
He could ask Cera to read the band of metal, but that would probably tell her he was going to surprise her with it - or she'd read that it really is an engagement ring and think he's asking her to marry him. And given everything, how she trusts him even with all his secrets for instance, he really doesn't want to lose her friendship.
He finally puts it away and closes his eyes, only to be dreaming about Ionni Brathur once again. Except Cera calls him back as they're leaving, says she loves him, and kisses him before telling him to go once again.
He wakes up, looking around frantically. That was one heck of a dream, too real…
Lad, it was like as not jus' a dream. Neither o' us remember tha' happenin' after all.
So why can I taste her even now?
Active imagination. Ye want her, so yer dreaming o' havin' her.
He can still taste that dream-kiss even now, and he seriously wishes - doesn't dare to hope - that it was more than just a dream. But what would he be hoping for? That he was picking up on Cera's dreams? That she was sending it to him? No, more than likely it was his own mind telling him to grow a spine and tell the elf woman how he feels.
AN: And, the chapter for the moon fragment is here! Hope you all like it - I couldn't really see Cera simply letting one of her friends die like that. As for using her powers on them like that, I'd like to think the context would factor into it - she didn't want them to die, and Aloth clearly wasn't going to just walk away and let her do the same. Enjoy! More chapters underway! And yes, I really will get the two elves together - just a little bit later than now, be patient!