When she woke up, she found she was surrounded by friends. Jinni was by her side, his huge head resting on her lap. She reached out and stroked his nose, and she noticed that her hands were covered in clean white bandages. Jinni closed his eyes, content now that she was awake.
Tom was pacing, but when he realised she was awake, he spun and rushed to her side, kneeling beside her. "Lumi," he said.
She blinked, and saw Sanna and Ari were sitting on armchairs below the window, bathed in brilliant light. Outside, snow was falling softly, and the sky was pure white.
Katja was on the other side of the room, in darkness. She was on a sofa, with her knees brought up to her chest. Lumi had never seen the princess of Norrlund look so undignified.
"Where's Tai?" Lumi asked.
"Both Virani and Tai disappeared," Tom told her. "And when they did, the fire army retreated. A few of your people have been injured and have remained in Norrlund. They're being treated in the Vulfholm hospital. The rest have fled across the border."
"I quelled him," Lumi said, remembering the watchtower, the feeling of Tai's magic slipping out of him. She looked down at her bandaged hands, and then she used her teeth to pull the bandages off.
Tom made to stop her, but she glared at him, and he dropped his hands. She ripped off the bandages, revealing blistering raw skin underneath. Lumi held out her bare, burnt palm, and tried to make fire.
She felt it inside of her. It was feeble, but it was there. When she concentrated hard, a tiny flicker of fire danced in her palm. She breathed out, and leaned back in her pillows. "I have magic," she said, feeling tears in her eyes.
"You can still be empress," Sanna said.
Lumi laughed at the idea, staring down at the tiny flame, the size of one single candle's light, burning in her palm. This was not the power of a queen, or an empress. This was a child's power, before she had a kinnling. Even with Jinni, she felt more weak than she'd ever felt.
"I suppose so," Lumi said. "When I turn eighteen."
"There's something else," Tom said. He glanced at Katja, and Lumi felt a moment of uneasiness, seeing the way Katja was lying on the sofa, unmoving. She hadn't even looked over at Lumi yet.
"Queen Lisbet was murdered," Tom said, his voice low.
Lumi opened her mouth, wanting to say something, anything, but nothing came to her. Katja didn't seem to hear anything that Tom had said.
"There was a funeral yesterday, but you were still asleep. Katja will be crowned tomorrow."
"Was it Virani?" Lumi asked.
"It was someone with ice magic," Tom said. "It could have been her, or Osvald, or any of the wolfguard. No one saw anything."
"I'm sorry, Katja," Lumi murmured.
Katja didn't look up.
Lumi felt weak from days in bed, but when a servant came with salty vegetable soup, she was able to finish it all, and she felt marginally better. The burns on her hands were sore, but she had had many burns in her life, and she was used to the pain. But now, she knew, she would never deliver this pain to herself again.
In the afternoon, she was able to get out of bed and walk around her rooms. The next day, she was given fresh clothes to wear and even had servants do her hair. They tied it back in a very Norrlish style which made her feel uncomfortable, so she ended up undoing it all and letting it fall down in its natural straight style.
They went to a grand cathedral, to sit in pews and watch as Katja became Queen Katja of Norrlund.
"I don't think I'll get used to calling her Queen," Tom said, helping himself to sandwiches at the reception after the coronation. They had just spent too many hours listening to sermons in Norrlish - Lumi had barely been able to keep her eyes open - and now the nobility were mingling in the drawing rooms of the palace, drinking sparkling wine.
"I don't think any of us will get used to calling you Prince," Sanna said.
Tom looked up from his sandwiches. "Stars, I almost forgot about that. Prince Tomas?"
"Prince Tomas of Lombardia," Ari said, with a hint of a smile. "There's hope for Lombardia and Vastier yet, Tom, if you're at the helm of it."
"I'm humbled you think so highly of me, Ari," Tom said. "I've only ever been a kinncharging champion. I don't know much about being royalty. But, it'll be my first task as prince to free Pythos Savvas."
Ari smiled. "It means a lot."
"I'm not doing it for you," Tom said with a grin. "Pythos is my most formidable opponent. I'm not having him waste away behind bars."
"Don't forget about me," Lumi said. "There's still room for me to be a kinncharging champion."
Tom grinned. "How about this? I'll train you to be a kinncharging champion, and you train me to be a prince."
"That sounds like a good plan," Lumi said.
The four of them were smiling. It was the first time in a long time they'd allowed themselves this time for respite. They were in Norrlund now, and they were safe. The war between Lombardia and Vastier was over. Tai would never be able to claim the Fire throne. But there was still the question of Virani, and her magic. But Lumi couldn't spend too much time thinking of her aunt. She knew, eventually, she would have to leave the safety of Norrlund and go back to the Fire Lands, to face her empire.
Queen Katja was sitting at a table at the end of the room, higher than the rest. Guests were lining up to wish her well as the queen looked over them all.
"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Lumi asked her friends.
"Yes," Sanna said, immediately. The strength of it surprised the three of them, who looked at Sanna. Sanna was looking down at her hands now. "She doesn't think she can rule alone. But she can. And she will."
"She has us," Tom said. "We'll be with her."
"You'll be in Lombardia, and Lumi will be in the Fire Lands," Sanna said.
"She has us," Lumi repeated. "Even if we're not by her side. There are letters. And we can visit. You're all invited to the Fire Lands, whenever you wish to visit. I'll take you to see the fire monkeys in the hot springs."
"And of course you're always welcome in Lombardia," Tom said. "Not that I want to invite you to Stone Tower, in New Hamilton. That'll always be Raphael's, to me. But I'll invite you to my mother's. It's wild, out there, where the wind blows. I can show you the huge rocks in the desert."
"Rocks?" Sanna laughed. "Lumi promises us hot springs and you'll show us rocks?"
"They're big rocks," Tom said with a grin.
"And maybe one day we can all go to Vastier," Ari said. She was tearing her napkin to shreds.
Lumi put her burnt hand on top of Ari's, and squeezed. She knew how terrified Ari was - of Pythos Savvvas in prison, of Zantiala being renamed Raphael City, of the Lombardian occupation of Vastier. She was worried for her people. But at this moment, they were here to support Katja through her grief and her coronation.
"I promise, Ari," Tom said. "As heir to the Lombardian throne. I promise I will fight for Vastien independence."
Lumi saw tears in Ari's eyes.
"Everything's going to change, now," Ari said.
"It already has," Sanna murmured, looking up at Katja. "I think we need to rescue her."
Tom clapped his hands together, and a thunderclap resounded far above them, shaking the glass and making everyone in the room jump.
"Terrible storm coming," Tom said loudly, in Norrlish and in Starg. "Best everyone be on their way."
When the nobility and the guests had gone, they pulled Katja away from her table, and took her outside to watch the suns set. Their kinnlings joined them - a three-legged tiger, three wolves, and a dragon. Tom slung his arm around Katja, but Lumi realised it was in a very brotherly, familiar way. Katja hadn't said much in days, but as the suns disappeared below the mountains, she finally spoke.
"I've been thinking," she said, and she shrugged out of Tom's grip and went to her wolf. "My mother's wolf is lonely," she said, pointing out across the snow, to where the pure white wolf looked golden in the light of the sunset.
"It's not unusual for a kinnling to take another starrling bond, if their starrling dies," Tom said. "My mother can arrange for someone, if needed. She's very good at connecting kinnlings with the right starrling."
"I know your mother is excellent," Katja said. "But I've already made my choice. Ari, I think it's time you had a wolf of your own."
It was so evident from Ari's expression of shock that she had never even considered this to be a possibility. She stared at Katja with complete bewilderment.
"Well, why not?" Katja said, taking Ari's shock as a rejection. "My mother's wolf is one of the finest kinnwolves alive. She deserves a good starrling, and you, Ari, are the best starrling I know. Not in magic, of course, but in character. You are a good person, and I think you would make a fine pair."
Ari stood up and stared out at the lone white wolf on the snow.
"Don't decide yet," Katja said. "You'll need time to grow to know each other, to decide whether the bond will be right. But you'll stay with me, Ari, won't you? You've got an education to complete, and it's my responsibility to see to it. And I've got a country to run, I suppose. And I think I could use your help. If you'll have me."
"Katja," Ari said.
Katja tried to smile, but then she was crying again.
So instead of saying anything, Ari just hugged her.
As she did, Tom leaned slightly closer to Lumi and put his arm just behind her back. She could feel the weight of his arm leaning against her. If she leaned back, she would lean into his embrace, but if anyone looked at them, it would just appear that Tom was leaning against the wall.
"Jinni and Kobuk are very good friends now," Tom said, watching their two kinnlings wrestle in the snow. "It would be cruel to separate friends for too long."
"Cruel indeed," Lumi murmured. "We won't let it get too long, at all."
"At all," Tom confirmed.