"So, you're the oh-so-feared Zane?" Danica asked with a small, upwards quirk at the corner of her mouth. "From what I've heard from my sister, you are wildly different than your legend."

The emotion of happy teasing that Zane was sensing was enough to send him reeling for a moment, unable to answer until several seconds later. "Is that a good thing, milady?" he inquired awkwardly.

"Relax, Zane. She's giving you a hard time. When not around others, my sister actually has a sense of humor," Kyra soothed with a smile.

More seriously, Danica started speaking to her sister, "When you told me of the last prince of the Serpiente crying on the battlefield all those years ago, I didn't really believe you, Kyra, and I'm sorry. I didn't want to believe that you truly saw someone that was supposed to be so strong and fearless break down upon seeing his little brother dead. I really just wanted to think that it was only me that was weak enough to feel such things since you never seemed to let it bother you aside from making you angry. I thought the only emotion we were all supposed to feel was anger, but now I know how wrong that was. Just seeing the two of you together right now is a glimpse for me of how things were truly meant to be. I want to thank you, Zane, for showing me that."

This time both scarlet-eyed shape-shifters were surprised at the words that came from the soon-to-be Avian leader's mouth. Eventually, it was Zane that replied, "In that case, Danica, thank you for showing me that not all of your kind is heartless. I'd seen it through Kyra, of course, but she is an outlier. You are the very heart of your people, so perhaps there is hope for this crazy endeavor yet."

Kyra simply smiled, happy beyond reason that the leaders of their lands were already getting along famously. Now, she had no doubt that this would be successful. Of course there would be conflict, but they would see through it.

"Wait . . . What do you mean that Kyra saw me that day?" Zane asked suddenly, realizing what Danica had implied. "That battlefield was empty by the time we arrived."

"I stayed behind until you showed up, Zane," Kyra admitted quietly. "I didn't want anyone defiling Gregory's body, so I remained until I could see your soldiers in the distance. After that, I shifted and flew above you for a few minutes."

A look of realization bloomed across Zane's pale features. "You were the strange bird I saw that day . . . I tried to ask Irene if she'd ever seen a black eagle, but she just wrote me off as being delusional due to grief."

Kyra leaned her forehead against his, eyes locking with his fearlessly. "You showed so much emotion on that battlefield that it broke my heart for you. I couldn't get your face out of my mind for weeks after."

Without caring that Danica was right there watching the entire exchange, Zane leaned forward to kiss his Naga for an instant. "Thank you for watching over him. My men told me that a hawk was seen with him as he was dying, so thank you both for not letting him die alone."

"You would have done the same for our brother," Danica replied knowingly. "We seem to be the generation of change. None of us want this war, and all three of us actually care about 'the enemy' dying alone. I just hope everyone will feel the same way in an hour."

"Don't worry," Kyra smiled, turning to look at her sister while squeezing Zane's hand. "They will or we'll make them understand."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not even going to try to excuse the gigantic gap in updates, because I've got nothing. I hope you enjoy, I promise I'll get to the actual ceremony in the next chapter WHICH WILL BE POSTED SOON. As always, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think.