Waking up was a laborious process. Atsushi thought he had never felt so groggy in his life, his every muscle leaden and numb, his head feeling as though it were stuffed with wet wool. Every thought was an effort. Gradually, though, he became aware that he was lying on something that was not his bed. It was very comfortable, though, definitely the softest thing he'd ever had the pleasure of lying on, and he shifted a little just to enjoy the sense of smooth fabric against his skin.

"See?" said a voice, sounding very far away. "He's moving. I told you he'd be fine."

That voice sounded familiar. Maybe, Atsushi thought, he should try to wake up and see what was going on. After a second or two, it dawned on him that perhaps the voice had been talking about him. He twitched some more, trying to haul his fragmented thoughts together. There was light shining on his eyelids, he realized, warm and golden as afternoon sunbeams, and the air he was breathing smelled of flowers, and also just a little bit like tea. That reminded him of something. Tea. Kinshiro. Arima. The bandits...

Atsushi sat up with a jolt, and nearly fell over again. He seemed to be lying in something that was less of a bed and more like a huge bowl of pillows, and they slipped and slid when he moved too suddenly.

"Hey," said the voice he'd heard before. "No need for that. It's no good to wake up so suddenly after you've been sleeping. Take it easy. You've had a hard day."

Atsushi blinked a little, taking in the scene in front of him. He was in a high-ceilinged room that appeared to be plated in, or possibly even made of, pure gold, with tall arched windows and a deep rose-colored carpet. The wall not set with windows was instead decorated with tapestries, most of them wider than the walls of the rooms in his inn, and all of them in the most vivid colors, studded liberally with what were surely jewels. However, even something so marvelous couldn't compare with the view out the windows. From where he was sitting, he could see what looked like three small suns of varying sizes and colors, and two moons, one nearly full, one crescent-shaped. Even the sky itself was strange, not the featureless blue he was used to, but a sky full of swirls of color that faded off into violet and rose or brightened into teal and silver, all of them in constant motion.

Somehow, the most astonishing thing of all was that a few yards away, a group of people were sitting around having what looked like a perfectly ordinary tea party. Atsushi blinked slowly. It was one thing to be told that tea ceremonies had sacred significance, and another to see a gaggle of gods sitting around sipping from delicate china teacups and eating finger sandwiches. They were most definitely gods - he could tell that just by looking at them. Here in this place, they weren't bothering to damp themselves down so that mortal eyes could bear looking at them, and they each had their own particular glow about them. There was Vesta with a wreath of rosy flames shimmering around him, offering a pink-iced cake to Pearlite, whose hair moved in a gentle breeze only he seemed to feel, one that carried flower petals that drifted out of nowhere and vanished again like snowflakes on warm earth. On Vesta's other side, Sulfur primly stirred honey into his tea. He was clearly in his aspect as the god of wealth and prosperity today, draped in glittering cloth of gold and so many strands of jewels and pearls that it was wonder he didn't get tangled in them, but he moved with perfect poise. Atsushi was a little surprised to see a man he recognized as the priest he'd known as En. The robes he was wearing now were no longer shabby and wrinkled, but sleek and glittering, the color of a deep blue evening sky full of stars. What was really surprising, though, was that Yumoto was also there, busily working his way through an enormous plate of cookies and looking rather smug about it. He was dressed like the other gods in a short-sleeved red robe, and the very air around him seemed to sparkle with excitement.

The only genuine human in the room seemed to be Arima, who was busily serving tea and bringing in fresh plates of snacks as if this were the most fun he'd ever had. His only sign of any discontent was that he kept glancing toward a door off to one side. Still, he found the energy to spare a glance in Atsushi's direction as he realized he was awake.

"What's going on?" Atsushi asked, a bit muzzily.

"What's going on," said Vesta, "is that we've been sitting around for the last I don't know how long waiting for you to wake up." He took a bite out of a cherry tart. "We got bored of that pretty fast, and your friend here suggested we should have some tea to pass the time, and it all kind of built from there."

En - Cerulean? - rolled his eyes.

"Will somebody help the poor guy up?" he asked the room in general. Atsushi realized at last that it had been he who had spoken earlier, announcing that he'd awakened and cautioning him not to sit up too fast.

"Why don't you?" Pearlite retorted.

"I'm tired. I've had a busy day," Cerulean complained.

Arima set aside his teapot long enough to give Atsushi a hand out of his nest. Atsushi was still feeling rather dazed, and it took him a moment to realize that someone had changed his clothes for him. He was now dressed in robes very much like what the gods were wearing, only his were a rich shade of emerald green. He touched the fabric wonderingly, marveling at the feel of silk and velvet, at the impossibly delicate embroidered borders and the wink of tiny jewels. If he'd saved every coin he made in his life, he might have been able to afford something like this, but he doubted it. He looked up at the assembled deities, suddenly wary.

"What's really going on here?" he asked suspiciously. And then, more hesitantly, "Am I dead?"

"Dead as dust," said Vesta cheerfully.

"Sorry about that," said Sulfur. At least he had the grace to sound genuinely apologetic.

Atsushi took a moment to absorb that. Now that he thought about it, he could almost remember how it had felt - the knife piercing his skin, the flood of warmth soaking into his clothes, the sinking into blackness, and then a sense of being held and protected, as if nothing could ever hurt him again...

He shook off that thought. There were more important things he needed to focus on. More important than being dead - there was a strange thought.

"Where is Kinshiro?" he asked. "Is he... does he know...?"

"Oh, he knows," said Pearlite. "You've missed rather a lot while you were sleeping."

Yumoto swallowed his bite of cookie. "He's with Big Brother. They had stuff to talk about. You want me to go get him?"

Atsushi felt something relax inside him. "Please." He still had no idea what was going on, but as long as Kinshiro was here with him, the situation couldn't be too awful.

Yumoto bounded to his feet, grabbed another cookie for the road, and sprinted for the door. Well, that would seem to explain why Arima kept looking in that direction. He was worrying about Kinshiro. There was something about that thought that tickled the back of Atsushi's mind, and he frowned, trying to make it come clear.

Then the door came open, and in came Gora and Kinshiro. It was probably only the fact that Atsushi had already undergone several shocks already that he was able to take this was some degree of calm. Somehow he was able to accept seeing the proprietor of the Kurotama surrounded by his own divine glow, carrying a golden axe casually over one shoulder. He'd always suspected that there was something a little strange about Gora. But standing beside him was... well, the man of Atsushi's dreams. There was Aurite, surrounded by his golden aura, dressed in his severe dark clothing and looking even more regal and imposing than he'd seemed in the visions. And he was also, unmistakably, Kinshiro. For a moment, Atsushi truly didn't know how to feel. A god. All this time, he'd been harboring a god, and he'd never even come close to guessing...

Then Kinshiro met his eyes, relief naked in his expression.

"Atsushi," he said. "I see you're awake. I'm glad."

"I see you got your memories back," Atsushi replied.

Kinshiro looked away, trying without success to hide embarrassment. "It's been an eventful evening."

"All this beating around the bush is getting boring," said Cerulean, cutting into what might otherwise have become an even more awkward moment. "Could someone maybe just explain to the poor guy what's going on?"

"Let's," said Gora. He caught Atsushi by one arm and Kinshiro by the other and began dragging them towards the tea party gathering. "Come on. Sit."

Atsushi found himself being practically shoved onto a sofa, and Kinshiro dropped down next to him. Gora made himself comfortable on a nearby chair, and Yumoto returned to his previously vacated seat to continue attempting to eat his weight in cookies.

"All right," said Gora, "where to begin..."

"Start by telling me why Kinshiro - why Aurite was wandering around Binan with no memories," Atsushi suggested. He was still struggling and failing to wrap his mind around this new perspective. Kinshiro was a god - not just a god, but practically the ruler of the gods - and Atsushi had been making him do the dishes and wash windows. They'd bathed together. They'd kissed. Was that even allowed? Well, you did hear stories about mortals and gods - according to everything Atsushi had ever heard, Vesta had been very sociable before he'd decided to get married and settle down - but none of those stories had ever been about Aurite. Aurite did not socialize.

Gora nodded. "That's a good place to begin. Aurite's job is to enforce the rules. That's what he's for - to make sure bad people get punished and good people get rewarded. It's important. Only..."

"He got a bit carried away," said Sulfur.

Atushi thought of the dreams he'd had of souls being sent off to their eternal punishment and felt a slight chill. "I believe it."

"The trouble with him is, he sees things all in black and white," Vesta opined. "No excuses, no extenuating circumstances, no second chances. You break the rules, you get punished. Nice and simple, right?"

"But it's not that simple, is it?" said Atsushi softly.

Gora shook his head. "Humans make mistakes. Sometimes they're in a situation where all their choices are bad. Sometimes they mean well and don't know any better. Sometimes they're misled by other people. The more he punished people like that, the worse their situation became, and the more desperate measures they had to take to survive, so the more things he thought they needed to be punished for..."

"And everyone makes mistakes," said Yumoto softly.

Gora nodded. "Left to his own devices, he would have destroyed the world, and felt justified every step of the way."

"But he's not like that," Atsushi began, and stopped. He was remembering how Kinshiro had been when he'd first come to the inn, screaming at an old man just for breaking a dish. He cast a look at Kinshiro, who was staring down at his hands, ignoring the teacup that Arima had reverently placed in front of him.

"Not anymore," said Yumoto.

"Thank goodness for that," Vesta piped up, and Sulfur shushed him.

"We sent him to live as a human for a while," said Yumoto. "We wanted him to know what it was like, so maybe he'd be better. And it worked!"

"Some of us weren't sure it would," Vesta admitted. "So we decided to stack the odds a bit more in his favor. That's where you came in."

"Me?" Atsushi repeated. He was still having difficulty absorbing all of this.

Kinshiro roused himself from his daze. "You were involved in leading me to him?"

The others nodded agreeably.

"I sent the storm," said Pearlite. "The one that made sure he found you."

"I sent him dreams," said Cerulean. "I figured it couldn't hurt for him to get to know you better that way."

"Sulfur and I picked him out," Vesta added. "And let me tell you, finding you someone you'd be compatible with was hard work."

"Especially someone who was fated to die in the right time span," Sulfur added.

"Someone I'd be compatible with?" Kinshiro repeated.

"Fated to die?" Atsushi repeated. "Why was it so important that I die?"

"We talked it over with him," said Vesta, pointing to Gora, "and he agreed it would do our pal here some good to have a, you know, mediating influence. Someone who'd be willing to hang out with him, keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't get carried away again. If somebody is going to have to keep him company for the rest of time, we figured it had better be someone who could get along with him."

"And it had to be someone who would die soon," said Pearlite casually. "The longer we left Aurite on earth, the worse things would get without him to enforce the rules. And you can't become a god without leaving your mortal body behind."

"We actually thought about this guy as a candidate for a while," said Vesta, jerking a thumb at Arima, who gave a little jolt of surprise. "They're not incompatible, but he's way too sure Aurite's right all the time, and anyway, he's slated to live to a ripe old age. We wanted someone who could start sooner rather than later."

Atsushi frowned, trying to comprehend what he was being told. "So you're saying you want me to stay with Kinshiro - with Aurite - forever, so I can remind him to..." He trailed off. "Wait, did you say 'become a god'?"

"Congratulations!" said Yumoto. "You earned it."

Atsushi shook his head, more in disbelief than protest. "I don't understand."

"It's simple," said Gora. "We're offering you a job. You don't have to accept it. You can choose to go with Sulfur to the land of the Blessed Dead and no one will fault you, but we'd rather you stayed here. It's an important job, and you'd be good at it."

"You don't have to stay," said Aurite quietly. "You were set up for this, and I won't blame you if you don't want to have to deal with it. It would be a lot of responsibility, being a god... and staying with me forever."

"But I want to stay with you!" Atsushi blurted. He took a breath and collected himself. "I don't understand all this god business, but we promised we'd be together - that if you went, I would follow, and if I stayed, you would stay." He laughed, a little unsteadily. "This is a little further than I expected to go, but I think I can get used to it."

Aurite looked at him with hope in his eyes. "You mean that?"

Atsushi nodded. "I do."

The others looked on approvingly.

"Don't worry about a thing," said Vesta. "We'll all help you get settled in. It's the least we can do, after getting you into this mess."

"At the least, we'll keep you company," Cerulean offered. "You won't get lonely, I can promise that."

"You'll like being a god," said Pearlite. "It's much nicer than being mortal. Trust me, I know."

Atsushi couldn't help but smile. It was all starting to sink in. This place was still strange to him, but it was clear that he was at least going to be welcome and among friends. And he was going to be with someone he loved. That would make even the worst situation bearable, and he had a feeling that this place was far from the worst situation.

"In that case," said Gora, "welcome to the pantheon. From today onwards, you will be known to the world as Epinard, the god of mercy."

Vesta grinned. "And consort to Aurite. That's the good part."

Aurite blushed and avoided Atsushi's eyes. "If you'll have me. You don't have to. You could do your job even if you weren't married to me, but if you really wanted to..."

"I think I'd like that," said Atsushi.

Aurite's smile was radiant. "I would, too." A sudden sly expression crept into his eyes, and he glanced over at Arima, who had been watching the proceedings unfold with rapt fascination. "Arima, you are my servant, correct?"

"Of course, my lord," he said humbly.

"And you would do anything I asked of you?"

Arima bowed his head. "Anything in my power."

"Good," said Aurite. "Because I have a wedding coming up in the very near future, and I'm going to need a priest to conduct it..."

Judging by Arima's expression, Atsushi thought, this was going to be the only wedding he'd ever heard of where the priest conducting the ceremony was more nervous than the happy couple.

In the end, the wedding went off without a hitch. Once he'd gotten over his initial shock, Arima had thrown himself into conducting a truly beautiful ceremony. His efforts were somewhat complicated by the fact that his patron deity was one of the participants instead of merely blessing the union, but in the end, everyone agreed that he'd been entirely successful. Now the ceremony was over, and everyone had gathered for a grand wedding feast. It was, to tell the truth, a little overwhelming. Atsushi had never quite realized how many gods there were, all the way from the most powerful, who ruled entire elements or concepts, down to the ones whose domain extended only over a single tree or stone. Add in the lucky mortals who had been claimed as the eternal companions of their patron deities, and it added up to a lot of people. He still didn't quite feel he merited all the attention.

Well, it is my wedding, he told himself, as yet another person approached his table to offer congratulations. He cast a sideways glance at Aurite and smiled. He still couldn't think of himself as a god - the idea was just too big to get his mind around - but it was slowly sinking in what a wonderful piece of good fortune had come his way, to be married to someone so special.

"Can I bring you anything else?" asked a voice nearby, cutting into his thoughts.

"Nothing for me," said Aurite to Arima. The young priest had declined to join the party, saying that he desired nothing more than to be the only one permitted to wait on his lord and master. Apparently that courtesy extended now to his master's new consort as well, because he turned an anticipatory look towards Atsushi.

"You could get me another piece of cake," Atsushi offered.

Arima nodded and hurried off. Cerulean, sitting at Atsushi's left hand, roused himself from his post-dinner doze enough to open one eye and look skeptically at him.

"Do you really want another piece of cake?" he asked.

Atsushi laughed. "Absolutely not!" If he were being honest, he already felt like he'd been eating for hours. Part of that was just because half the things he'd been offered were things he'd only read about in descriptions of feasts given by great kings and emperors, while the other half were things he didn't think even the kings and emperors had ever been lucky enough to try. He couldn't be blamed for wanting to sample a little of everything. The other part was that he was reasonably sure this party had been going on for hours, or possibly days. He still hadn't gotten used to the way time seemed to twist and loop back on itself in this place. He was sure that there had been long pauses between each of the courses, giving the guests time to enjoy the entertainment and chat with each other, and time for Atsushi and Aurite to hold hands, steal kisses, and generally behave like the newlyweds they were.

"So why did you ask?" Cerulean persisted.

"I didn't want to disappoint him," Atsushi admitted. "He looks so let down when you tell him you don't need him for anything. Besides, maybe he'll feel like he doesn't have to do anything more if there's something on my plate."

Aurite laughed. "You are going to be so good at your job."

"That's why we picked him out for you!" said Vesta cheerfully. "Hey, for what it's worth, you've got my blessing - and my blessing on your wedding day is nothing to sneeze at."

Pearlite offered one of his self-satisfied smiles. "I have such fond memories of my own wedding day. I do hope your new husband is as good to you as my darlings were to me. You're going to have so much fun learning all the things you can do now that you couldn't in a mortal body..."

Atsushi felt himself blushing brilliantly, and Aurite suddenly seemed fascinated by a speck on his empty plate.

"I'm sorry," said Sulfur to Atsushi. "We can't take him anywhere."

"We wouldn't put up with him if he wasn't cute," Vesta put in.

"You know you love me," said Pearlite serenely.

Sulfur gracefully changed the subject. "I hope you won't hold it against me, you having to die and all that. It would have happened no matter what. Even if none of this had ever happened... well, if Aurite and Arima hadn't been there helping you, you'd have been alone in your kitchen trying to deal with all those people, and you would have been tired and flustered. There would have been an accident. There was really nothing I could have done."

"It's all right," said Atsushi. "I know it wasn't your fault. Anyway, things seem to have worked out for the best."

"And they lived happily ever after!" said Scarlet cheerfully. "Hey, if you don't want that cake he's bringing, can I have it?"

"You can," Atsushi told him. "If no one minds, I'd like to go somewhere quiet for a little while. I need a break from all this noise."

Cerulean nodded, eyes closed. He had already gone back to sleep, but since he appeared perfectly capable of carrying on conversations in his sleep, that didn't seem to matter.

"We won't tell anyone where you went," he said. "Go relax."

Aurite stood up. "I'll show you the way."

The two of them slipped out of the feast hall and made their way to what proved to be a little balcony. It was higher up than Atsushi had ever been before, higher than the top of Mt. Binan, and let him look down on the whole gleaming spread of the city of the gods. Above them, he could see worlds and stars drifting by as gently as clouds. It was strange and breathtakingly beautiful, and, he supposed, it was home now. He leaned on the balustrade and gazed thoughtfully down on the golden streets and lush gardens.

"What are you thinking?" Aurite asked him.

"I was thinking, it was fun, you know? Our last day," Atsushi replied. "We did good work, and we went to the fair... it was fun. I'm glad my last day on earth was so much fun."

Aurite gave a small laugh. "Don't fool yourself. This may be the home of the gods, but we don't spend most of our time here. This is our retreat when the work gets to be too much. We'll still be spending plenty of time on earth, getting our jobs done."

Atsushi nodded, feeling a little better. It was good to know he'd be going back soon.

"But we're going to start," he said, "with going over some of those people you've already judged."

"But I..." Aurite began, and stopped. "No, you're right. I have to let you do your job." He shook his head. "This is going to take getting used to."

"It will be worth it, though, won't it, Kinshiro?" Atsushi asked, and winced. "Sorry. I guess I shouldn't call you that anymore."

"It's all right. That's my name - my real name," he replied. "'Aurite' is a title. Just like your real name is still Atsushi, even though you're also Epinard. It's like that with all of us. Pearlite is still Akoya when he's at home, Cerulean answers to En most of the time..."

Atsushi smiled. "Because it's easier to say?"

"Probably," Kinshiro agreed, smiling. "So don't feel bad. That was the one thing they couldn't make me forget - my own true name."

"That makes me feel better," Atsushi admitted. "And you're right, this is taking a lot of getting used to."

Kinshiro looked almost shy. "Is it worth it, then?"

"Absolutely," said Atsushi firmly. He took Kinshiro's hand. "Look at this. I'm here, with you, and we're going to be together forever. I can't think of anything better than that. The details can wait."

"I can't think of anything better than this, either." Kinshiro glanced back the way they had come. "Do you think the party can wait, too?"

Atsushi smiled. "It's our party. If we want to leave, who's going to stop us? Why, did you want to go somewhere else?"

"Well," said Kinshiro, cheeks flushing slightly, "I just thought, it is our wedding night..."

Atsushi considered that thought and decided that on reflection, there was more he could want. After all, they had Vesta's blessing.

It seemed a shame to waste it.

"...and so began the dawn of a new golden era," Arima said.

His listeners, a gaggle of bright-eyed new initiates, hung on his every word. They usually did, these days. He was something of a legend in his own time. He'd written books on the days leading up to Epinard's ascension to godhood and the subsequent founding of his faith that were well on their way to becoming holy writ to worshipers of both Epinard and Aurite. He was known as the man who had almost single-handedly introduced the world to its new god and overseen the founding of the first temple in Binan, which was no longer a sleepy little town, but a thriving city. The old inn itself was still there, lovingly preserved by Epinard's acolytes, who offered hospitality to all who passed through its doors. Arima had hung around long enough to make sure it would all run smoothly without his help before returning to his own beloved temple of Aurite, where he had ultimately served as high priest for most of his life. He'd long ago gotten used to young initiates looking at him with awe.

"That's enough for today," said one of the priests to his students. "You all have lessons to attend."

The boys and girls made disappointed noises before scrambling off. Arima remained where he was, leaning against the trunk of a tree and enjoying the late afternoon sunlight. He smiled fondly as he watched the children scamper off.

Ah, me. Where does the time go?

It had been close to sixty years since the day he'd performed the most remarkable wedding of his career. Time had been kind to him since then. He moved a little more stiffly these days, and his eyesight was a bit dimmer, but most of the plagues of age touched him only lightly. He had retired from active work not long ago, instead preferring to spend his time reading, writing, and tending his own little patch of garden, which hadn't had time to do when he was still high priest. He had never married or had children, but he'd never been lonely. It was just that no mere human could ever hold his attention when he was a friend of the gods themselves.

Scarcely a week had gone by that he didn't catch a glimpse of Vesta overseeing a wedding he was performing, or turn around to see Pearlite fussily rearranging the flowers on the altar, or have a dream where he was given words of wisdom from a man who looked a lot like Cerulean, or receive a message from Sulfur saying that a parishioner was approaching the end of his life and needed someone to keep him company in his last hours. Aurite dropped in at least once a month, sometimes alone but mostly with his consort, to offer advice and encouragement and drink a few cups of tea. Even Scarlet had been known to drop in from time to time, usually when there was cake available - or perhaps he had simply arranged matters so that there would be cake when he wanted to drop in. He'd never seen Gora again - the one time he'd tried going back to the bath house, it hadn't been there, and no one remembered it had ever existed - but he was always prepared to send a basket of treats back with Scarlet whenever he turned up. Arima had long ago become accustomed to laying in extra tea and snacks, just so he could be sure there would always be some at hand when his special guests came calling. Sometimes he found himself wondering if Aurite had really become so interested in the doings of his followers, or if he just appreciated his chief priest's skill at making tea.

Either way, I'm happy.

He closed his eyes, settling more comfortably on the cool soft grass. It had been, he thought, a good life. He'd been busy for all of it and enjoyed most of it. Now it was nice to rest, here in the warm sunlight, surrounded by the sounds and scents of his garden. On a day like today, the sun seemed especially warm and bright, as brilliant as Aurite's own arrows, as brilliant as the light that had shone down on him the day a voice had told him, " From here on in, you will be my servant, favored by me above all other mortals." Up until then, he had been a mild man, living a life of minor troubles and small triumphs. It had only been at that moment that he'd known true joy, the thrill of devoting himself utterly to a worthy cause. There had been other great achievements, but nothing else like that first breathtaking moment of hearing his master's voice. As long as he could hold that memory close to his heart, he could die happy...

"Hey," said a familiar voice. "Look at you, lying down on the job. Did I say you could sleep?"

Arima sat up suddenly. The sunlight was still shining all around him, dazzlingly bright, but even so, he could see two figures standing in front of him wearing amused smiles. Arima relaxed a little, realizing he was being teased.

"Come on, get up," said Aurite. "It's time for you to go."

"Go?" asked Arima, already getting to his feet. It dawned on him only vaguely that it was easier to do so than it had been in a long time.

"With us," Epinard elaborated. His smile was warm. "It's time for you to come back. We've missed you."

Puzzled, Arima glanced back over his shoulder, then looked down at himself. Oh. Well, that explained a lot. It looked like he had died happy, after all.

"I'm going to be joining you, then?" he asked hopefully. That had been his greatest hope for the future - that when the time came, he wouldn't be sent to one of the underworlds, but would be permitted to remain forever in the company of the gods who had been not just his masters, but his friends.

Atushi laughed. "We'd almost have to even if we didn't want to - which we do. People are already practically worshiping you as it is. Gora didn't even blink when we asked if you could join us... but I guess he'd know if something like that was going to happen. How do you feel about 'Argent' as a title?"

Arima just stared. Nothing like that had ever crossed his mind before. He simply didn't know what to say.

"Only a minor god, of course," said Aurite matter-of-factly. "You'll still be working for me. We knew you wouldn't be happy any other way." He held out his hand. "Hurry it up. It's not doing us any good wasting time here. We have a lot of work for you to do."

And wasn't that all he'd ever really wanted - work to do for his master? Smiling, he took the offered hand, and followed them into the light.

The End