AN: Last chapter in the T'reth arc! It's been a journey, thanks to anybody who made it this far with me. : )

Music cues included for The Bielski Brothers, track 15 on the Defiance soundtrack.

They couldn't hold the funeral for an entire week for the storm that raged above them. It rained until the river overflowed its banks, flooding the lowlands. The victorious rebels were safe on the hill, but it was cold and wet and miserable for them anyway. Lighting struck almost constantly among the other hills, making everyone nervous, but never touched theirs. The clouds roiled darkly above, reducing the days to half-lit nights and the nights to almost perfect darkness, when the lightning wasn't striking. The officers huddled under their dripping meeting tent often, grim-faced and silent as they tried to discuss what to do. Their most pressing issue was, obviously, the goddess who had been angered. After that, it was figuring out what to do with the fact that T'reth was gone and not a one of them knew enough about politics to settle this conflict the way T'reth had wanted to.

Gree was third in command. But those meetings more often than not had the officers looking to him for guidance. Ackala was no help at this point, rarely ever even showing up and never contributing when he did. Gree had been who T'reth was teaching politics to, anyway, not Ackala. Everyone expected him to carry the torch in their great leader's wake. Problem was, Gree didn't know if he could.

The grief and fear drove the young man out of his bed late at night at the end of the first week without T'reth. It had been a rare moment of drizzle and he had forgotten to care that he was getting wet as he stood on the hill as far away from camp as he could get and watched the lighting strike. The pointlessness of the storm made him angry, suddenly, and combined with his exhaustion and stress it made the typically timid man lash out.

"You think this'll make anything better?!" he yelled at the sky, kicking at a nearby shrub. The shrub was unaffected, but the next lighting strike was very close, the snarl of thunder tearing across the landscape at the same moment. Gree laughed bitterly at the display, unimpressed after all these years, after everything he had seen. "What are you going to do, strike me? Go ahead! At least it'll save me the trouble of having to figure this mess out on my own!" He threw his hands up and stomped around in the mud for a moment, fighting back tears. "I can't do this, I wasn't supposed to do this, T'reth was gonna do this! I don't know what I'm even doing here anymore!" he complained. "I don't know how to set up a government, how to run a whole damn country!" His head shot up to look at the sky again. "And what are you even doing here, still? Aren't you done, now? Can't you just leave, if you're just going to cause problems?" he demanded. He stopped, his shoulders slumping, and reached up to rub at his face. "I… I didn't mean that, Great One," he said, trying to keep the waver out of his voice as the tears threatened him again. "I need your help, please don't go."

He lowered his hands, composing himself as he looked up at the dark sky. It took him until then to realize even the drizzle had stopped and the only lightning striking anymore was far away, on the mountains. He frowned, waiting a moment for something to happen. When nothing did, he sighed. "If I understood your agreement with T'reth properly, and judging by your continued presence, you can't or won't go until this is all resolved. Thank you. But we need to start figuring this out, for the sake of the whole country. I understand that you're upset, but all of us are, and we need to deal with T'reth's body sooner than later, as well as the rest of the dead. Please, let us move on."

Gree didn't get a verbalized answer. He waited for one, but finally left with a sigh to go change into some dry clothes and try to sleep. By the time he made it back to his tent the moon was poking out from behind the clouds. He gave it a long look before shaking his head at the ridiculous thought that he could have had that much influence on the goddess and stepping through the tent flap.

By the next morning, the sky was clear, their tents were dry, and the ground was no longer spongy. They got the officers together early to start organizing the funeral, and Ackala actually came to this one. They were moments away from adjourning when Gree looked up and froze, closing his mouth. Star was at the tent door, tall, thin, pale, eyes coated in sliver, wings sweeping majestically from her back. The group turned to her, all except Ackala, who turned away.

"T'reth was the last Sha'ran. He deserves a proper ceremony. I will see to his, do what you will with the others," she announced quietly. "I have located the remaining commanders of the Royalists and communicated our desire to speak with them. They will be ready to meet by tomorrow."

Gree relaxed, smiling a bit as he felt a huge weight come off his shoulders. "Thank you," he said. Star nodded and left.

They buried their dead that day, on the next hill over. They had relatively few, compared to the bodies still littering the castle. Star didn't return until the sun became low in the sky, and the entire camp gathered again to pay their last respects to their leader.

The ceremony was like nothing any of them had ever seen. A stone pyre literally rose out of the ground for them to set the body on, and as the sun sank lower and lower toward the horizon Star spread her hands and spoke words in a language none of them knew, a prayer if they'd ever heard one. When the last ray of light lifted from the pyre, it began to glow, but not with flames. Golden light, soundless and warm, rose like a pillar into the sky, and only faded once the final glow of the sun had, leaving an empty stone behind.

None of them moved until the light was gone. Star sent everyone else away once it was, though, giving instructions to the officers before sending them away, as well. When Gree finally made it to his tent a couple hours later, he could see Star standing on the hill next to the pyre still, the moonlight illuminating her ghostly form. He sighed before turning away, convinced there was nothing he could do.

The next morning, they all got up and went to work.

~0~

The next three years consisted of trial after trial after trial, but they faced it together, all of them, and they overcame. Gree flourished into the leader T'reth had always seen in him under Star's tutelage, and with her assistance they formed an entirely new government with a form so unique it took Star almost a month to explain it to them in a way they could all understand. By the end of those three years, though, they were finally coming to terms with their new world, beginning to feel like they had a grip on everything that was happening. They'd rebuilt most of what had been destroyed in the war by then as well, a process greatly accelerated with Star's help.

The goddess had become a fixed point to them by the end of three years, as reliable in her own way as T'reth had been. Most of them had forgotten, by then, that she wouldn't always be. It was fall when she sent for Gree and Ackala and their families, and they came without knowing what she was calling them for.

(Bielski Brothers) T'Hallan and Roranna went running over to the goddess as soon as they could get out of the carriage, bundles of energy after the trip, as short as it had been. Gree's daughter, Fiora, was not far behind them, even if she was slower. Star smiled, kneeling down to interact with the children. Her eyes had long since stopped clouding over with silver, her form deceptively human—despite the wings—for long enough that the children didn't know her any other way. Ackala helped his pregnant wife down from the carriage, and then Gree helped his probably-not-pregnant-but-might-be wife down.

The stone pyre was behind Star as she watched T'Hallan demonstrate the magic he'd been practicing. His sister went through the motions with him, even though she hadn't displayed any talent yet, giggling in delight at the brief image the young boy managed to produce. The goddess praised him for his effort, ruffling his hair before asking all three children to go back to their parents and listen closely to what she had to say.

Gree picked his daughter up, Ackala lifted his son into his arms, and Lalita took her daughter's hand. They looked to Star expectantly and she smiled at them.

"Our cause has found success, and my Oath is fulfilled," she told them softly. "I have learned much in my time with your people, and for that I wish to thank you."

Their faces fell, almost simultaneously. "You're leaving?" Ackala asked, and Star nodded.

(:57) "Your need of me has passed," she confirmed. She stepped forward, reaching out to put a hand on Gree's shoulder. "May your leadership be peaceful, and your reign just," she murmured. She put her other hand on his wife's shoulder. "May you and your descendants find joy in every season." She moved to Ackala and Lalita, putting hands on their shoulders. "May you be happy to the end of your days, and may your children grow strong and healthy and wise, as their parents are." She stepped back, smiling at all of them again. "May the memory of what you have accomplished for your people be remembered for generations to come, and never lost to the flow of time."

Lalita stepped forward, arm open and tears in her eyes, and Star accepted the embrace. "Thank you," the woman murmured to her. "May you find happiness as well."

Roranna hugged the goddess' leg, giggling, even if she didn't understand. T'Hallan looked very concerned when his sister and mother stepped back. "Star go 'way?" he asked his father.

"Yeah, Hal, she's going away," Ackala confirmed gently. The boy turned, reaching out his arms for a hug as well, and Star smiled reassuringly as she stepped forward to take the child.

"Come back soon," the young mortal insisted.

"I can't T'Hallan," she said softly. He pulled back, frowning.

"Why not?" he whined.

"Because I have to go help other people like your parents and your uncles. They need my help to be safe and free like you are. There are entire worlds, Hal, just like this one, up there." She gestured up to the stars appearing above them.

"There's worlds in the sky?!" the boy exclaimed, wonder lighting his eyes.

"Yes, more than you can count, worlds that need me, and I need to go make them safe like this one is," Star explained.

T'Hallan looked up at the stars, contemplating for a long moment, and then looked down at the goddess. (2:06) "Okay," he agreed. He hugged her again. "Miss you," he told her.

"I'll miss you, too," she murmured, and set the child down so he could go back to his father. She straightened and smiled at them one last time. "Though your world pass to ash and dust, though your Universe fade into oblivion, my memory will not," she intoned. "I will remember, and I will be grateful. Goodbye, my friends," she murmured, lifting her wings.

The wind carried her away in an instant. T'Hallan lifted his hand to wave. "Goodbye, Great One!" he yelled. There was a long moment of silence as they all studied the starlit sky, and then he turned to his dad. "Are we going home now?" he asked. Ackala chuckled, sweeping him up in his arms.

"Yeah, tiger, we're going home."

They loaded the kids back into the carriage, and Gree got back up on the perch and looked up at the sky again while everybody got situated.

"Worlds in the sky without number," he whispered to himself, wondering. Then he shook his head and urged the horse forward, taking them back down the road and into the city, where they lived side-by-side with people who had once seen them as lesser beings, and perhaps still did, but couldn't act on that anymore. Maybe one day in the future, maybe when their children were grown and had children of their own, they would finally see each other as equals.

~0~

They never saw the goddess again, but every last one of them saw her blessings fulfilled. Gree led for many years, and while he faced his share of issues and upsets, none threatened the country or his leadership. His children grew up to make him proud. T'Hallan became their leader once Gree finally stepped down, and he was far wiser and stronger than Gree ever could have been. Ackala passed away soon after, and Lalita was not far behind, having found joy to the end. Their history had been recorded in detail on parchment, stone, and metal. They would not be forgotten for many years to come.

Gree went to visit T'reth's pyre long after the rest of the officers had passed, placing his palms on it to look up at the starry sky and remember. Grey streaked his hair, and age wrinkled his face. He had great-grandchildren now, four of them. The oldest had started his schooling with children who had Royalist great-grandparents, and he had yet to hear of any issues due to that.

They were equals, now, and Gree could only view it as their conflict, their war, finally coming to a close. Their country was finally at peace the way it was meant to be, and it wasn't until he recognized that that he could finally feel as if he had accomplished something in his life. He'd done good for his world.

He looked down at the stone beneath his hands and smiled. "Well, T'reth old boy, we finally did it. I hope it's everything you would have accomplished and wanted it to be." He lingered for another moment, his gaze returning to the sky as he wondered which world up there the goddess was teaching how to be better. Then he sighed, patted the pyre one last time, and hefted himself back onto his horse.

He could feel in his bones that it was finally time he rested from his mortal labors, and rejoin his family and friends that had passed before him, and the thought only filled him with peace.

He had accomplished what he had come to do. It was time to go home.