Is Bellona's body there?

It's -

Another Gate of Truth. One familiar to Bellona - a twisting fractal carved into the stone.

Before it -

Bellona's body, grinning, kneeling in the same position as El's Truth. She's skinny - looks almost starved -

She waves.

"I knew you'd make it!"

...Wow this is so weird.

She steps forward - "You're - my Truth."

"Yeah! We're connected to El, now - she's been keeping us alive." She stands, holding her hands out to Bellona. "And you should demand El's limbs back, too, you have enough for you both - it's just that El's Truth is a bit of a hoarder!"

(There's a sigh, from El's Truth.)

"My limbs, and the interworld travel array."

She scrunches up her face. "There'd be an interesting story, if you had to wait a few years..."

Pause, then, cheerfully: "But Father's Truth is a dick so I don't really care! And people Bellona likes shouldn't be sad, waiting for her."

"What else can you think of?" she asks Bellona. "Three rings are a lot."

"If our Truths are in the same place - we should be able to talk, whenever and wherever we want, just in our minds. It should be possible already - I want to know how." She wants to never be lonely again...

There's so much more she can ask for, but... She - has a feeling, looking at her Truth, that it should be -

What she wants, fundamentally, all her selfish desires. (Mostly El; at the center of her, as her truest self - Bellona loves a very few people, and she'll change the world for them. She wants what's best for everyone else - but it's like wanting to live somewhere pretty. Not desperate, not like her love for El and to a much smaller extent her teacher and September and Estel and her other friends.)

"I want our bond so strong neither of us can ever be interfered with mentally ever again, because we're protecting each other, and we can know when the other's okay or not, and if one of us dies we'll just hang around the other until a new body's made or the old one's repaired."

"I want to know medical alchemy. How to heal. How to reverse old age."

"All of that." She nods.

Bellona's body smiles, more gently.

"Deal."

Bellona steps forward, takes her hands -

Bellona's Truth goes up on her tiptoes, to kiss Bellona's cheek -

And the world goes white.

It resolves, and they're back in Arda -

And Bellona's a lot smaller and squishier. Still with El in her lap, though.

She laughs, flailing, and wraps her arms tightly around El - she can feel!!! - and buries her face in El's neck.

(She's naked and hungry and exhausted but she doesn't care she can touch her sister again - )

"Lion!" El's exclamation is punctuated by the clatter of her erstwhile prosthetics hitting the ground as she wraps both her (flesh) arms around her sister.

"El!"

She kisses her sister's cheek and nuzzles her and wiggles and - she can feel things it's all so much -

She's laughing, helplessly, pressing herself into El like she can meld them together if she tries hard enough.

(In the background, the three visitors make themselves scarce)

"You're back!" She laughs. "You're back."

She tightens her grip on El's arms.

"I have my body - "

(She tears up, then starts crying.)

She deserves it.

She kisses El's cheek again, still sobbing, body shaking.

And - seems to be crying herself to sleep, actually.

She's so exhausted.

El gently shifts them around so Bellona can lay down in bed.

Snugs.

She yawns, nuzzles her sister, and falls asleep.

Sleepy Lion.

It's been a long time since she's seen her sister make that face.

Her face smooths out, at first, as she sleeps.

Then she starts having nightmares.

Shake. "Lion?"

Groggy - almost scared - "El?"