Blaine.

I hate that I am writing you this note. Not because I hate what it is going to say, but because I hate that it is a note at all. You don't even know how badly I want to tell you this in person, how physically painful and completely agonizing it is...

Do you know what? Before I go any further, I'm just going to tell you the important part. I'm not going to marry Firae, and I want to go to Khryslee with you. I want to be with you in every way for as long as possible.

I've always wanted this, of course, almost for as long as I've known you, but now I am asking if you will do it.

Will you?

Will you come to Khryslee with me, Blaine?

Will you make a home and a life with me there?

I realize that I've never actually even asked you that. You always made it so clear that it was what you wanted, but now I feel that I really do have to ask, because I have put you through so much, and you've endured it all and you never stopped loving me.

Also. And I hope you can forgive me for this.

Blaine, I really was going to marry Firae. I was absolutely going to, and the only reason that I'm not going to is that he let me go. He let me go because he knows that I'm in love with you and because he doesn't want to stand in the way of that. I want you to know that about him.

Apparently, though, Firae's soul-walk had quite the impact on him, and has allowed him to see what is truly important. He is going to focus his energy on eliminating the slave trade in Villalu and I am going to help him and I hope that you will too.

Firae is my friend, Blaine, and I really do love him. I hope you can understand that. I hope it isn't something that will come between us, because I need both of you in my life. And I'm sorry that I was willing to let you go. But please know, Blaine, that it took something as monumental as a chance to abolish slavery to make me walk away from you. And as long as I'm never again made to choose between having you and eliminating the suffering of thousands, Blaine, I will never walk away from you again.

I love you so much that it hurts me from my skin to my core.

I can't wait to see you. I can't wait to touch you.

I hate how much I've hurt you.

I'm sitting in front of the North Tower right now, writing this to you. You're so close it aches. I don't even know why I'm torturing myself like this.

No. That isn't true. It's because I'd rather be tortured by how close you are than by how far away I am from you. I would sleep at the foot of the Tower if it wouldn't cause a scene, but I don't want to make Firae suffer that kind of humiliation.

And speaking of Firae once again- Please, Blaine, be sensitive. He told me that he is still in love with me and he's in a lot of pain right now. He wants to talk to you before you and I leave, and I don't want you to be upset and confused if I have to act a bit distant toward you while he is with us. Eventually he will have to get used to seeing us together, of course, but it's much too soon right now, and I'd like to give him some time to move forward. I think compassion is the least I can offer him at this point.

I'm not pushing. I promise that I'm not. But I hope the two of you can be friends someday. You're both such remarkable men, and you deserve to know and like each other.

Just think about it. That is all I ask.

I should probably go get some sleep now, Blaine. Firae and I are meeting with the governing council of Khryslee tomorrow and I need to be moderately articulate. I have so much to tell you!

I love you. I love you more than anyone or anything in any world. I can't wait to just be with you, assuming that you still want to be with me.

All right, I'll stop pretending to be nervous and humble. I know that you still want to be with me. I know you will still want to be with me no matter what kind of pain and frustration I put you through, and I sincerely hope to never have cause to see proof of that again.

We have spent far too much time crying together, Blaine. I just want to make you smile for the rest of your life.

And you're still the most beautiful man I've ever seen. The gods don't make them more beautiful than you.

I can't wait to see you again.

Did I mention that I love you?

Because I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

I will be dreaming of you tonight.

With love always and forever,

Kurt

Kurt awoke to Blaine tracing the features of his face lightly with his fingertips. He smiled, impossibly shy, when Kurt opened his eyes, continuing the movements.

"Good morning," Blaine whispered, and Kurt was so overcome with the sweetness of this, of how delicate it all still felt, of how neither of them completely believed that they could really have each other.

"Good morning," Kurt returned, smiling at the feel of Blaine's roughened fingertips ghosting across his skin. He closed his eyes and sighed into the touch, and then felt Blaine gently kiss each of his eyelids.

"I read your note," Blaine said softly. "I do wish I had gotten it when I was supposed to, but it was nice reading it now, with you sleeping right beside me. I'm keeping it forever, I hope you know."

Kurt smiled and pulled Blaine to him, kissing him softly on the lips.

"As long as I get to keep you forever," he murmured, and he could feel Blaine's smile against him, and then Blaine suddenly pulled Kurt into his arms and hugged him hard.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked gently when he felt Blaine shaking against him. "I thought we weren't going to cry anymore. I thought we-"

"I can't help it," Blaine managed, his voice trembling. "I'm just so happy, Kurt."

"I'm happy too," Kurt whispered into Blaine's curls.

Blaine sighed. "Let's just stay right here where everything is perfect."

"In this tent? On the outskirts of Cloudlen?"

"Yes."

"But what about Khryslee? What about my new job? What about your dairy farm, Blaine?"

Blaine pulled back from the hug to look at Kurt, their arms still draped around one another loosely.

"You're really going to let me have a dairy farm?"

"I don't think you need my permission, Blaine."

"I mean, that's all right with you? Living that way?"

Kurt kissed him. "As long as you're kind to the animals, which I know you will be. It sounds nice, actually."

"I'm not going to know what I'm doing."

"Well, that makes two of us, because I barely know the first thing about politics. But we figured out how to make it here from Villalu Proper in one piece. After that, I'm fairly confident that we can do anything we set our minds to."

Blaine chuckled. "That is a very good point."

They lay in silence, just basking in the moment. They knew that the sooner they could get to Khryslee, the sooner they could be together in their own home. But they weren't ready to leave the moment they were in. Not yet.

It had been so long since either of them had had a place that truly felt like home. The promise of it was almost as exciting as the fact that they were going to have it together.

They had already decided to stay at an inn until they could find some land and home-growers to get started on a house for them. They had spent hours discussing the type of house that they wanted.

Blaine's first and most firm request was that they not live in a tree. As much as he had enjoyed the inn in L'auhe, his recent experience in the cell had tainted the idea of a tree-house for him. It had been a time of such deep pain, and Blaine didn't want his home with Kurt to remind him of it in any way.

They both liked the style of the plant-mounds that Blaine had seen in the border towns as well as in Cloudlen itself. Kurt wanted a second-floor bedroom with a balcony, and lots of windows. Blaine just wanted Kurt. And anything but a tree.

Kurt had begun tracing patterns on a small area in the center of Blaine's chest, perhaps two or three inches below his collar bone. He seemed lost in the task, focused on what he was doing.

"What are you doing?" Blaine murmured. Kurt blushed.

"I just...maybe we're moving too fast," Kurt began. Blaine's heart began to sink.

Of course it was all too perfect. Of course it was.

"But..."

Blaine had never been so happy to hear a single word before in his life.

"I...I don't want to scare you, Blaine. I know we should probably take our time, because the gods know we have enough of it, but I just...I just..."

"What, Kurt?"

Kurt locked eyes with him, his gaze bright and intense.

"I just want to marry you, Blaine. So much."

Blaine grabbed Kurt's face, his thumb against Kurt's cheek and Kurt's earlobe between two of Blaine's fingers.

"Yes," Blaine said, so forcefully that Kurt's eyes widened in surprise. "Please Kurt, yes. I'm yours and I want to be your husband and your lifemate, and I want it now."

Kurt smiled lovingly. "Well, I don't know about now, Blaine. I want to get settled first, and I want a beautiful wedding. Nothing small and rushed. Not after everything we've been through to have each other. But soon." Kurt continued to trace the spot on Blaine's chest with his fingers while holding Blaine's gaze.

"So...I imagine Puck told you, in emotionally damaging detail, the significance of the red bracelet."

Blaine laughed. "Yes."

"Well, there are pieces of jewelry to signify other types of relationship status too," Kurt said. He moved to sit up, Blaine whimpering slightly at the loss of contact. Kurt moved to his satchel, continuing to speak.

"When a couple is mated for life, they forgo the jewelry in favor of something more permanent. A tattoo of the couple's own design...right on the chest in that place where I was touching you." Blaine reflexively brought his own hand to the spot at Kurt's words.

Kurt fished something out of the satchel and moved back to Blaine, sitting in front of him cross-legged. Blaine also pulled himself into a sitting position.

"But before that, when a couple pledges themselves to one another, they wear pendants of promise. The tattoo is supposed to symbolize the pendant melting into one's body, imprinting itself there, when the promise is fulfilled."

Kurt opened his palm. He held two necklaces; deep green gemstones on lengths of woven fiber.

"When a person puts this on, Blaine, it signifies that the promise has been made. It's very serious and it...it isn't something you just take off. It is almost as serious as the tattoo itself."

Blaine smoothed his fingers over both stones in Kurt's palm.

"Kurt, these aren't...these weren't yours and Firae's, were they?"

Kurt's eyes widened in horror. "Blaine, no! Firae and I didn't even exchange them this time, the wedding was thrown together so fast, and even if we had...no. I wouldn't do that. These are just for us. They've only ever been just for us."

Blaine smiled. "They're beautiful," he said.

"Blaine," Kurt said nervously, meeting his eyes. "Would you...would you wear my promise pendant? Be my lifemate?"

Blaine started to cry again. He couldn't help it.

"Yes, Kurt, of course," he said between sobs, and Kurt took one of the necklaces and tied it around his neck, adjusting it until the pendant sat against the very spot that Kurt had been tracing patterns into just moments before.

"You look amazing," Kurt breathed, taking in the dark gleaming green against Blaine's dark chest hair and olive skin, the color of the pendant emphasizing the green in his hazel eyes.

But the most beautiful thing about it was what it meant. It meant that Blaine was his. The boys of Khryslee could eat their hearts out.

Blaine smiled and reached to put Kurt's necklace on as well.

"Hey! No! You have to ask me first."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Kurt, we already-"

"It's tradition," Kurt said softly, in a tone that let Blaine know that this was important to him.

So Blaine took the necklace from Kurt, and looked at him with a watery smile, and now Kurt was crying too, and they really were bad at not making each other cry.

"Kurt," Blaine said, almost choking up before he could get any further than that, because God, this was real, and Blaine was going to marry someone he was in love with which was something he never thought he would be able to do, and he loved Kurt so much that he could barely take it.

"Kurt," he began again, making his voice as even as possible. "Will you wear my promise pendant? Will you be my lifemate?"

Kurt tried to answer verbally but had to just settle for nodding emphatically, crying softly as Blaine tied the necklace around his slender neck, sitting back to admire how striking it looked on Kurt, the deep green against his perfect pale skin, the color of the jewel emphasizing the green in Kurt's eyes.

"You look so beautiful," Blaine breathed, and leaned in to kiss the pendant, then moving to kiss across Kurt's chest, and then his stomach.

"Blaine..." Kurt sighed softly, leaning back.

Blaine moved on top of Kurt, straddling him, their pendants touching when he leaned forward to kiss him.

"One last time in the tent?" Blaine asked, before taking Kurt's earlobe between his lips.

"I will...oh...be so happy to be done with this tent and have a proper bed again," Kurt replied.

"Hey, come on. This is our tent. This was one of the first things I stole when I decided to help you escape from Dronyen. This was our first bed together."

"Are you referring to this pile of blankets?"

"Yes. Our pile of blankets."

"We are throwing these blankets away as soon as we reach Khryslee, and we are going to get some proper bedding."

Blaine kissed down Kurt's neck, and then moved off of him to gently turn him over so that he was lying on his stomach. Blaine then proceeded to trail light kisses down Kurt's spine.

"You're going to miss this tent," Blaine insisted. "You're going to miss making love with me on these blankets. I can just tell."

"Mmmm...the blankets aren't what appeal to me about the experience, Blaine."

"Do you remember the first time we made love in this tent?" Blaine whispered against the flesh of Kurt's back.

"Of course I do," Kurt murmured. "I remember every time with you..." he sounded like he was going to say more, but his words were swallowed by something between a gasp and a moan when Blaine gently parted the cheeks of his ass to lick across Kurt's entrance, hard and slow.

Blaine held Kurt firmly in place to keep him from writhing too much, Kurt making some of the most amazing sounds that Blaine had ever heard as he continued to work over and around the tiny, puckered hole with his tongue.

"G-gods, Blaine," Kurt gasped out, trying to push up against Blaine's tongue, to draw it inside. Blaine flicked the tip in and then drew it out quickly, teasing him.

"Please," Kurt groaned, and that was all it took before Blaine was reaching for the red blossoms they hadn't used the night before, and stretching him, fingers twisting against the pleasurable spot inside him.

Blaine sat back on his knees and pulled at Kurt's hips gently. Kurt wasted no time in scrambling to his knees and then sinking down onto Blaine's lap, his back flush against Blaine's chest, both men melting together with sighs of deep pleasure.

Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's chest and just held him for a moment, their bodies connected in the most intimate way possible, his fingers stroking the pendant below Kurt's collar bone.

"I never imagined my life could be this perfect," he whispered, and kissed Kurt's shoulder. "I can't believe you're really mine."

"Always and forever," Kurt whispered back, turning his head to kiss Blaine on the lips.

Blaine moved his hands to Kurt's hips and they began moving together, finding a rhythm easily and moving at a leisurely pace.

Their hips worked together, and Kurt allowed his head to fall back on Blaine's shoulder, the shocks of pleasure running through him seeming utterly at odds with the ability to hold his head up. Every so often, one of Blaine's hands would leave his hip, sliding up Kurt's chest to touch the pendant, as if making sure it was still there.

They began to move faster, Kurt pushing his leg muscles, if nothing else, to continue moving. When Blaine touched Kurt's pendant again, Kurt closed his hand on top of Blaine's, feeling the press of Blaine's pendant against his back, Blaine pressing Kurt's own into his chest.

"I love you," Kurt moaned, grinding down even harder onto Blaine and clenching around him. Blaine cried out and pulled Kurt even closer, moving his hand from Kurt's chest to grasp the flower and drizzle Kurt with it before beginning to pump him in time with their movements.

It barely took a few strokes before Kurt was coming hard, and Blaine rocked up into him as Kurt fell back against him, feeling boneless and liquefied. Blaine grasped both of Kurt's hips and lifted and dropped him while thrusting into him hard, and Kurt simply moaned at the saturation of pleasure and sensitivity until Blaine found his own release, wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist and placing one hand across his heart as he came, his cry muffled against Kurt's shoulder.

They fell back onto the blankets, panting. After instinctively moving into one another's embrace, Kurt let out a soft laugh.

"Well. I suppose I will miss this tent a little. And I suppose it wouldn't be too terrible to save one of the blankets."

Blaine smiled at him. "I love you," he said.

Khryslee was not exactly what Blaine had expected. Well, actually, it more or less was, but the border was what surprised him.

He had not expected something very like a shantytown about a half-mile from the border itself, near the bank of a creek. It was inhabited by all manner of human and Sidhe and...well, a few creatures that seemed similar enough to human and Sidhe as far as their size and shape were concerned, but clearly belonged to a different species altogether.

There were tents and lean-tos and small one-room plant-mounds. Children ran about chasing pixies, and the older inhabitants of the settlement bustled around them, preparing food and repairing clothing and speaking animatedly with one another.

The people seemed reasonably content, but there was an unmistakable aura of sadness about the place as well.

"Khryslee can be difficult to gain admittance to," Kurt reminded Blaine gently, as he drove them through the one road that intersected the settlement. "These are...well, refugees, I suppose. Most of them are from Villalu, but all would rather stay here and keep trying to live in Khryslee than go back to where they came from for one reason or another."

Blaine looked around. There did seem to be more humans here than anything else.

Blaine turned to Kurt, a worried look on his face. "Kurt, what if they won't let us-"

"Blaine. We have absolutely nothing to worry about. They have already accepted me as the King's ambassador. We'll be fine."

Blaine looked at all of the people around him, some of whom had probably been there for years, and felt a pang of intense guilt.

"That's why we're doing this, Blaine," Kurt said gently, as if reading his mind. "If Firae is successful, these people won't need Khryslee anymore. They'll have the whole world."

"Yes, but...I don't think they would let me in if it weren't for you, Kurt. I don't deserve to live in Khryslee any more than these people do."

Kurt placed a hand on Blaine's knee, and left it there. "Blaine, no one ever knows for sure whether or not they will be admitted to Khryslee. That decision is left solely to the Guardian. And from what I know of her decision-making process, I think you stand a very good chance."

Blaine was going to ask Kurt to explain more, but he was rendered absolutely speechless when he saw the gate.

Blaine had expected something like the border between Faerie country and Villalu. Instead, they were confronted with a single gate. The air was completely clear around it, offering a glimpse into Khryslee. It was completely obvious where Khryslee began and the Eastern Border Lands ended, however, because behind the gate, everything was different.

And of course there was the gate itself.

It was the largest thing Blaine had ever seen, and he had absolutely no idea how it could possibly have been built by any hands, human or Sidhe. It consisted of a simple stone archway surrounding heavy wooden double doors with brass pull-rings.

Each pull-ring was about three times the size of their carriage.

The gate extended so high that Blaine had to crane his head significantly to glimpse the top.

He was sure the doors had to be decorative. He couldn't imagine that it was physically possible to open them.

And behind the gate was a place even more beautiful than Faerie country.

The sky seemed to have a slight rose tint, even in full daylight, and the cerulean grasses seemed to actually sparkle as they rippled in the breeze. Blaine saw more trees that were familiar from home than he had seen anywhere else since crossing the border, and the array of flower-trees was simply stunning, casting a gloriously multicolored canopy across the mountain ranges visible in the distance.

Blaine was so transfixed by what he saw that it took a moment for him to realize that Kurt had pulled the carriage to a stop about a hundred feet from the enormous gate. Kurt climbed down from the perch and Blaine followed suit, and after a few steps the seeming lack of a proper border proved itself to be an utterly false impression.

It was difficult to put it into words, even to himself, but Blaine simply knew that he couldn't pass through. No matter how hard he tried, it would have been physically impossible. His body just wouldn't let him. There was no exhaustion or revulsion, just an absolutely clear and unmistakable inability to walk into Khryslee.

Kurt was looking up toward the top of the gate, and Blaine held his hand above his eyes, visor-style, and looked as well. What appeared to be a large bird was spreading its wings atop the gate, and then it dove down.

The closer it got to them, the more frightened Blaine became. He found himself clutching Kurt's hand and leaning into him.

"It's all right, Blaine," Kurt soothed. "It's just the Guardian."

When she landed before them, Blaine wobbled a bit, feeling his knees buckle, and Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist and held him tight so that he wouldn't fall.

Blaine had never seen anything like her. She was the most awe-inspiring creature he had ever laid eyes on.

Her wingspan was enormous; each wing was easily twice Blaine's height when fully extended. The wings themselves were a gleaming bluish silver, tipped with intense crimson. The lower half of her body was that of a large cat with a tail that seemed to swish continually. The tawny fur began to fade from her body around her chest, neck and head, and those parts of her looked completely and irrefutably human, complete with small but unmistakable bare breasts. Her skin was a bit darker than her fur, a rich, light brown, and the hair on her head was as dark and curly as Blaine's, falling loose across her powerful leonine shoulders. Her lips were full and dark, and her eyes were an impossible shade of aubergine streaked with violet.

She was beautiful.

And when she spoke, the earth seemed to vibrate with it. Blaine was sure that she could reduce him to dust with that voice if she so chose.

It struck him somehow, strangely, as a counterpoint to Kurt's voice. While Kurt's voice was high and soft and yet unmistakably male, this creature's voice was low and gruff but unmistakably female.

"Blaine Anderson," she said, and he almost passed out cold.

The creature waited, her eyes speaking of having all the time in the world and then some.

"I...I..yes...um...Ma'am," Blaine managed, his voice trembling. Kurt continued to hold him, and kissed his forehead softly to reassure him.

The creature looked amused. Blaine wondered what she was.

"I am Sphinx," she replied, as if hearing Blaine's thoughts.

Could she hear Blaine's thoughts?

"Yes," she said, and began circling around them. Kurt seemed completely calm and relaxed, so Blaine tried to force himself to relax as well. After all, if Kurt wasn't afraid of her, she must not pose a threat.

"Oh, I can assure you, I could kill you both quite easily without even trying if I so chose," she stated casually. "But I won't. You pose no threat to Khryslee, so I pose no threat to you."

Blaine let out a heavy sigh. Well, that was certainly good news.

"Why are you here?" She asked in the tone of a teacher who is looking for a specific answer.

"I...I want to live here. With Kurt. I...we...want to get married, and Kurt...well, I'm sure you know about Kurt's job here, and I...I...I think I was thinking about starting a dairy farm?"

The Sphinx settled in front of him, uncomfortably close. She smelled of lilies.

"A dairy farm."

"Um, yes?"

"And what skills do you possess that would make this occupation a fitting one?"

"I...um...like cheese?" She stared at him. "A...a lot. I like cheese a lot," he amended, trying to put force behind the words. Unbidden, Puck's argument for why Blaine's love of cheese qualified him to become a cheese-maker popped into his mind, and the Sphinx roared – actually roared – with laughter.

Blaine felt himself blush hard. "I..I just mean that I want to learn. I'm willing to learn. But I'll do anything, really, to stay with Kurt."

The Sphinx's expression softened and she looked at Kurt and then back at Blaine.

"You love this Sidhe."

"Yes."

The Sphinx returned her eyes to Kurt, and addressed him by his Elfin name.

"You know you will outlive this human by centuries."

Blaine could feel Kurt's arms tense around him.

"Yes," Kurt said softly, sadly, and Blaine hated that choosing to be with him could make Kurt sound so sad.

"Do you know how many years to expect together?"

"Well," Kurt ventured, "I know that with the healing...I mean, I've heard...maybe...two hundred?"

Blaine's eyes widened and he twisted in Kurt's arms to look at his face, mute with shock. Two hundred years? Two hundred years? Was this real? Was she serious? Did Blaine misunderstand? Was Kurt actually capable of keeping Blaine alive for another two centuries?

The Sphinx was still looking at Kurt.

"I wouldn't say two hundred, no."

Kurt's face fell. He looked utterly devastated.

"Well," Kurt replied shakily, "I'll take whatever I can. He will be my lifemate for as long as he is alive, And I will be his even after he is gone."

Blaine had no words, so he simply turned completely around in Kurt's arms and hugged him tight.

"Well," he heard the Sphinx say softly, more softly than Blaine thought she was capable of speaking, "I am happy to hear that, and I am sorry to have lead you astray and caused you pain. Because what I really meant is that two hundred years is probably the very least you can expect. You are of the Spiral caste, are you not?"

"Yes," Kurt answered, excitement rising in his voice.

"I am far, far older than either of you, my dears, and I have seen exactly one relationship between a human and a Spiral Sidhe. It was long ago. They are both gone now. But the Sidhe gave her lifemate more than four hundred years."

And this time, when knees began to buckle, they both had to catch each other to keep from falling.

Blaine was fairly certain that his brain was broken. None of this seemed possible in the slightest.

"A-are you sure?" Kurt stammered.

"Yes."

Blaine and Kurt tightened their grip on one another, hugging fiercely. The Sphinx was quiet, as if simply giving them a moment to be speechless together.

When they finally pulled apart, Blaine pulled Kurt to him and kissed him hard. They both had tears of joy in their eyes.

"Blaine Anderson," the Sphinx said, seeming to enjoy using Blaine's full name. Blaine forced himself to turn away from Kurt and face the creature.

After all, he had just found out that he would have four hundred years to hug Kurt. He could spare a few moments.

"Sit."

Blaine obeyed as if guided by invisible strings. The Sphinx drew closer, so close that their faces were almost touching. She looked deeply into his eyes.

And suddenly, he could feel his inner world opening itself up completely, his mind and heart and soul and memories baring themselves helplessly before this almost godlike creature, the creature that, though she could break him with the slightest thought, probed gently and thoroughly.

Blaine had no idea how long it took. Not very long, it seemed, though the sun seemed a bit lower in the sky when he finally came back to himself.

The Sphinx rested on her haunches and tilted her head at him in such a catlike way that he couldn't help but smile.

"You have a pure heart," she said. "One of the purest I've seen. The purest by far of any human I've ever seen."

Blaine could actually feel Kurt beaming with pride behind him.

"Sanya Forrester is looking for an apprentice at her dairy farm. She specializes in hand-crafted cheeses, and I think the two of you might work well together. I will send word to her to look for you tomorrow."

Slowly and silently, the enormous doors opened behind her. And all Blaine could feel was a sense of invitation.

"Welcome to Khryslee, Blaine Anderson," she said, before leaping into the air and soaring out of sight, faster than anything Blaine had ever seen.

Kurt looked down at Blaine, and neither of them could suppress absolutely idiotic grins. Kurt reached out his hand to help pull Blaine to his feet, and then kept pulling him into a long, sweet kiss. When they broke apart, Kurt lay his palm across Blaine's chest, over his promise pendant.

"Welcome home, Blaine," he said with a smile.

"Welcome home, Kurt."

They climbed back onto the perch and rode into Khryslee, hand in hand.