Before Vanyel can turn to Cam and ask what the book is, Savil finally unfreezes herself, and struggles to her feet. 

"Van, ke'chara, I - I'm sorry. Doesn't matter what happened, it's all just excuses. We failed you, we did wrong by you - we hurt you - I'm so sorry..." 

She starts to hold out her arms, but that feels too presumptuous. Vanyel has every right to be angry. 

For a long moment, all Vanyel can manage to do is blink stupidly at her. 

It's tempting to reassure her it's fine, but - it's not fine. He feels all right, now, he's pretty sure that he's back in his right mind again, but he remembers how it felt, before. 

"You did," he says softly. "It was - I can't even describe how, how alone I felt. And - and Valdemar was going to be fine, right. Because you had Cam. So it didn't even matter, anymore. All those years of staying alive because you all needed me, now and - and later - and then all of a sudden it didn't matter anymore." 

It feels like there should be some kind of answer to that, but Savil doesn't have one. She looks down at her feet. "...I'm sorry." 

"So am I. It was still really stupid of me." 

"Valdemar might've been fine. I wouldn't have been." 

"I know. And Yfandes. ...That was the one thing that, that almost stopped me. That I - know what it's like... But, I mean, she left first. I guess I was mad. Which was stupid of me as well." 

Shavri finally hauls herself to her feet. "Van. Van, will you please, for just five minutes, stop calling yourself stupid constantly? I'm tired of it." 

And she steps over and throws her arms around him. 

Vanyel lets out a startled squeak. 

After a moment, he wraps his own arms - and wings - around Shavri in return.

"It's good to be back." 

"It's good to have you back. ...Please don't do that ever again, you scared the piss out of me." 

"...I think I literally can't ever do it again. Indestructible, right?" 

Shavri giggles weakly. She's smiling, but with tears in her eyes. 

Vanyel finds himself sniffling as well, but manages to lift his head and look over at Cam. "Could you, er, make Savil a blanket or something?" 

Savil is still standing awkwardly a few paces back from Vanyel, and shivering hard in her soaked Whites. 

"Oh - yeah, of course -" Cam tosses Savil a blanket.

She catches it without looking at him, wraps herself up. 

Andy casts one last miserable look at the body on the ground. (There was plenty of oxygen in the bloodstream when he stopped making Vanyel's corpse breathe, and the heart is still sort of beating, it's incredibly distressing to watch and he probably shouldn't but he can't stop himself.) 

"Should we, er, go insi–" 

This is the point at which Yfandes gallops in from the path, hooves flinging mud everywhere, and skids to a stop right before she would have collided with Cam. 

There's Vanyel, as she remembers him - well, mostly, except for the part where he's soaking wet, lying on the riverbank, and...dead. There's nothing there.

And - it's not him. Because a few yards away, standing with his - what - with his wings wrapped around Shavri - is also Vanyel. Except this Vanyel looks younger? Not quite as young as he was when she Chose him, he's clearly an adult, but his hair is still jet-black, his face unlined. For some reason he's also shirtless. He doesn't look cold or bedraggled, though, despite the rain. His wings are black and glossy and...fine, very stylish. 

She's missed Vanyel's vanity, she finds herself thinking. She teased him for it, but it upset her, when the war ground all of that down into dust... 

She doesn't know what to say. She's forgotten how to move. 

Vanyel hasn't forgotten. 

He gently disentangles himself from Shavri, and takes a step forward. "You - came back. I'm so sorry -" 

:Seriously? You're sorry? Love, I don't– I left, I ran away from you - I made a promise and I broke it - I, just, I gave up my right to be angry with you for how you reacted to that: 

"I mean, yes, you - hurt me a lot. But stealing all of Andy's drugs and throwing myself in the river about it was still...pretty disproportionate." 

Shavri is not going to laugh she's not she's not she's not, it would be so rude to Vanyel–

Yfandes lets her head hang down, muzzle almost touching the mud. 

:How are you doing now?: she asks eventually, hesitant. 

"Really confused! Sick and tired of gods! I'm not sure which of the Star-Eyed or the Shadow-Lover's god I want to kick across an ocean, but at least one of them and maybe both!" Vanyel shakes his head, shrugs helplessly. "I'm...all right. I think. I guess I'll see. Are you -?" 

:...I don't know. Nothing makes sense right now. But I - I want you back and I want to never ever leave you again. Just...: She hangs her head even lower. :Do you want me back? Because - as far as I can tell, you're not bonded to me right now. And...I would understand. If you couldn't forgive me for breaking the most important promise I ever made - if you're not willing to trust me again...: 

She sounds intensely miserable about it. But her mindvoice doesn't falter. 

For almost fifteen seconds, all Vanyel can manage is blinking stupidly at her. 

:- Are you crazy?: he squeezes out finally, in Mindspeech because his throat is not currently allowing him to talk.