Suddenly he felt something. Something... familiar. He looked down at Nara. There it was again. The small flutter of energy. "Nara?" Gaijan whispered, staring anxiously at her face. A second passes. And then her beautiful brown eyes open slowly. "Thank the stars," Gaijan breathed out, carefully enveloping her in a hug.

"Gaijan? What... what happened?" Gaijan pulled back, one arm still around her. Nara looked around her, confusion on her face. "I... I used the magic. I should be dead."

"You were dead," Gaijan said, not succeeding in keeping the emotion out of his voice.

"I... I heard you, Gaijan. I heard you calling to me."

"Yes, I was calling to you." He paused, but he had said it to her before, why couldn't he say it now? "I wanted you to come back. And I wanted to tell you... that I love you." Nara's eyes widened. "I love you, Nara, and I'm so sorry that I didn't say it before, that I tried to hide it, I was just... afraid..." Nara continued to stare at him. "I was afraid at first that you didn't feel the same way, but then you kissed me, and I freaked out because I... I didn't think it was right, that I... wasn't right for you-"

"Gaijan," Nara said softly.

~~~

"Gaijan," Nara said, stopping his flow of words that filled her heart with so much emotion she felt she would explode. He loves me. He really does. She couldn't believe it. She felt incredibly weak from using the magic on herself, but she also felt she would float off the ground if Gaijan wasn't holding her there. He was looking at her anxiously. Probably wondering what she would say next. Well, she wouldn't say anything. Actions speak louder than words, after all. So Nara reached up carefully, placing her hand on Gaijan's cheek, and felt a thrill in her chest as he turned so his lips were pressed against her palm. 

Gaijan. 

My Gaijan. 

He stopped kissing her hand, then leaned down and kissed her lips instead. Pure joy filled her. She never imagined that it could feel this way. But now she couldn't imagine not feeling this way. Not feeling love for this man who had done so much for her. Not looking forward to all the wonderful things her life had in store for her.

Epilogue

Gaijan breathed in deeply as he looked out over the rolling grassy hills of the Eastern Provinces. He'd been there years ago on one of his many journeys. But, obviously, Nara had never been there, and she had insisted on going to every place he had ever visited. He looked at his wife now, so beautiful, sitting on her black horse looking out at the view. He felt silly for worrying before. Apparently spending eight years trapped in crystal instilled the traveling instinct in you. 

Of course, now he was worried about all their traveling, what with the baby. But again she insisted, and he didn't want to argue with her. He looked more closely at her stomach, and wondered when it would become apparent that she was with child. Imagine that. Me, a father. He still couldn't believe it. How did I get so lucky? Just then Nara looked up, and laughed at his expression. He loved her laugh.

"What?" Gaijan asked.

"Oh, nothing," Nara said, and nudged her horse over so she could lean over and kiss Gaijan on the cheek. As she leaned over he saw the thin white scar on her throat where the talisman had once been. "Come on, the Eastern Provinces won't explore themselves!" She urged her horse into a trot. And Gaijan followed.

Gaijan often wondered exactly what had happened that made her come back from the dead. Whenever he brought it up she said it was his voice that brought her back. But he wasn't so sure. 

It was the magic. That much pure magic could not be destroyed. Nara was steadily learning how to control it now. He realized that it was the act of using it, even if it was to kill herself, that brought it under her control. She had never even tried to use it before, just tried to keep it bottled up until it became too much. 

He knew that it was the magic that brought her back. It needed a vessel to exist. Gaijan was surprised that Daro had just abandoned that much magic, but he must have thought it was lost along with the girl who's body housed it. Nara told him that she knew Daro would be gone for a long while. But when he did come back, she would be ready to stop him. Again. She was already much more powerful than Gaijan. He didn't mind that she was. He only cared if she loved him. And he knew that that was all she cared about, too.