Next thing Goliath knew, he was up on his feet and walking – not fast and not slow, with very firm yet light steps, on a solid surface. He was walking towards a source of light brighter than anything he had ever seen, and although the white brightness made it difficult to know exactly where he was headed, he had no doubt he was meant to go there.

The warmth on his face was heavenly, and although his eyes began to stream as he turned them upward and he could no longer see, he knew the source of blinding light was the sun.

He blinked several times and looked forward instead, and saw sea, cliffs, forest and sand, but there his observations stopped. He noticed a slender figure with a mop of red hair walking towards him on a strip of a sand, and without stopping to wonder, without weighing his possibilities or doubting and losing precious seconds, he rushed forward as fast as his legs would carry him.

His body felt very light and agile, as it had in his youth, rather than in the last years of his life, when certain stiffness and aches of various battle wounds set in. Within ten seconds, he was standing in front of her, and she was all loveliness, and her eyes shone with joy as she looked upon him.

With a cry of joy, he pressed her to his heart, wrapped his wings around her, inhaled the sweet scent of her hair.

"I don't care if this is real or not," he said, feeling the fluttering of her heart next to his own, "I don't care where we are. It is you, and if you are here, then so am I."

As he held her at arm's length to drink in the sight of her face, he saw his love was smiling, and her eyes were now brimming with tears of happiness. Like him, she was young, yet somehow different from how she was when he knew her as a lass. There was depth and wisdom in her gaze, as if she saw and understood more than she could tell.

"It is real," she said, tears now flowing freely down her cheeks to her smiling lips, "it is more real than anything you have ever experienced."

"But you and I," he frowned, a tinge of worry suddenly creeping into his mind, "we are dead, aren't we? So are we –"

"Ghosts?" said his Angel of the Night, squeezing his hand reassuringly, "Do you feel like a ghost? Do I look like one?"

"No," said Goliath, "but then, this is the strangest place… where are we, my love?"

"Can't you tell?" she smiled, gesturing towards the smooth, dark rocks, framed by the evergreen of pines and the bright blue of midday sky. It was the first time for him to see the place by daylight, but of course, he recognized it at once, and was astonished.

"But…" he hesitated.

"The castle isn't here," said his love, "but Wyvern Wood is all ours, and there are caves aplenty, where one can watch ripples of moonlight on the dark sea water, or the pink glow of sunrise on the horizon, followed by a gleaming red sun."

"I have no doubt it must be beautiful," he said, brushing a strand of hair from her face, "but all I care about, all I want to see is you."

"Thank you, my love," she smiled, "but I assure you, there are many here whom you want to see, and who have been longing to see you – though not nearly as much as I," she added, tenderly caressing his face.

He looked at her, his heart full of doubt and hope – there was only one way he could interpret her words.

"You mean…"

"Everybody should be on the beach, right around that cliff," she said, pointing towards a large rock protruding over the sparkling blue of sea. "We have been expecting your arrival. Let's go."

She took his hand and led him on, and sand was soft under his feet, but that softness was nothing compared to her fingers entwined with his. From time to time they lingered to share a caress, a tender word of love, a reassuring glance, and their way took longer than it could have – not that time mattered much here. But eventually they reached their destination, and Goliath was overwhelmed.

His arrival was greeted with an uproar of delight, his hands were shaken, his shoulders thumped, his hair ruffled, his name called out from a hundred directions. Countless faces swam before his eyes, all achingly familiar, all beaming at him with the joy of reunion.

Slowly, he was beginning to recognize them, one by one. All his rookery brothers and sisters were here, and all whom he knew as elders, though here they looked young – or rather, ageless, but healthy and whole. All were wearing the same strange kind of white garb, and so were he and his beloved, he now noticed.

A thousand inquiries about those he left behind poured from every mouth; his brothers were talking to him and to each other, excited babble rising over the crowd, and he smiled back at them and said something, hardly knowing what he said, and his beloved stood next to him all the while, beaming and holding his hand.

"Cut it out," he finally heard the amused voice of someone he remembered as a grizzled one-eyed warrior, although here his hair was black and thick and he had both eyes, "let the lad eat something and get used to the place before jumping all over him."

And what made Goliath finally believe this was real, was the smell of fish being roasted over a small fire. There were fruit and berries and wild honey, and jugs of fragrant wine, and he ate and drank and talked with the others, hardly finding words to fit the moment, and his hand never left his wife's shoulder.

A female stepped forward, and in her beauty he didn't immediately recognize his old mentor's lost and bitterly lamented beloved.

"Did you leave your father well, Goliath?" she asked.

"As much as his age can reasonably permit," he replied, and boldly ventured, "yet the more time goes by, the more he misses you."

"I know it is selfish of me to wish to hurry the moment of coming together again," she said, tears sparkling in her eyes, "especially now that the clan needs him so. But over a thousand years have passed since I was parted from my love, and I am longing for him. No matter," she shook her head, "I know he thinks of his Angel of the Sea, just as I think of my Giant of the Mountains, every hour of every day. Our separation is drawing to an end one way or another, and our reunion will be sweet."

The feast went on under the open sky, and as the wine flowed everyone became merrier, until someone suggested a dance. But again the older warrior spoke, and he looked directly at Goliath.

"All the dancing and drinking can wait until tomorrow," he said, "today, I am sure, all the lad and lass want is to be alone."

He clapped Goliath on the shoulder again, gave him a small wink, and got up to leave. The rest followed suit, pressing his hand warmly, and disappeared into the forest.

"Isn't it a marvel, to see them all like this, happy, whole, and together?" whispered his Angel, tears welling up in her eyes again, "when I came, our mother – the one who spoke to you before, the wife of our old leader –"

"Hudson," prompted Goliath.

"Yes, of course," she smiled, "you see, names are losing their meaning to me, as it was in the best days of our life… but yes – she embraced me and called me her most beloved daughter, and only then, my soul found peace – the perfect peace I never had in the world of living, even though I was given the chance to atone for my sins and be together with you again, my love. There was still, always, the torment of guilt that couldn't disappear until I saw them here, in this place where my follies and crimes had no more meaning."

"But you haven't explained yet," Goliath shook his head, "what is this place? Is it… heaven?"

"It is now," she whispered, smoothing his hair, "that you are here. Before, it was just a place to be and wait for you."

"As the whole world had been to me since you were gone," he replied, pressing her hand to his heart.

"Oh, but you did so much more than just wait!" protested his beloved, "I was watching over you the whole time, and you were all that is just, brave, and good. I am so proud of you," she finished with a quiver in her voice, and added, "yet I am worried about our son, my love."

"So am I," he confessed, "but what can we do for him from here? He is now far beyond our reach."

"That is true," nodded his Angel, "there is but a faint connection between here and Avalon, and from there to the mortal world. All we can do is watch over the ones we love, and hope they do well, and perhaps, if there is a chance, to send them a sign."

"So what do we do now?" he asked quietly, stepping closer to her, so that their bodies almost touched. He had nearly forgotten the intensity with which every nerve of his responded to her presence.

"Now I take your hand," she said, looking in his eyes as she did that, "and ask you, my one and only love, to call me your Angel of the Day, as I have been until now your Angel of the Night."

"My Angel of the Day and Night," said Goliath, bringing together both her hands and holding them between his palms, "my Angel of the Sea and Sky, and of everything in between – please tell me, is this final? Will there be no more separation, no more pain?"

"My sweetest, my beloved, the one desire of my heart," she whispered, bringing her lips close to his, for a kiss in which all would be forgotten, "welcome home."