One year after the battle, Lee stood on the battlements of Last Light and watched the sunrise.
The world was different now. Better. The Great Nations were cooperating not perfectly, not without conflict, but trying. The Rust Sea was becoming a real sea, with real water and real fish and real sailors who weren't desperate scavengers. The children who had grown up in the shadow of the Shattering were learning to hope.
Lee was seventeen. He was taller, stronger, wiser. The spiral on his chest had settled into a soft, steady glow light and shadow in perfect balance.
"Brooding again?" Inyocha climbed onto the battlements beside him.
"Thinking," Lee corrected. "There's a difference."
"You're doing the furrowed brow and the dramatic sigh."
"I am not."
"You absolutely are."
Lee sighed dramatically and smiled. "Fine. Maybe I'm brooding a little."
"About what?"
Lee looked at the horizon. At the new sun rising over the new world.
"About what comes next," he said. "The Hollow King is sleeping, but he'll wake. The Sleeper is still in the Sunken City, still hungry, still dreaming. And there are other threats. Other things that want to destroy everything we've built."
"Then we'll face them," Inyocha said. "Together."
"Together," Lee agreed.
They stood in silence, watching the sunrise.
Below them, the city of Last Light came to life. Kira was already awake, training new recruits in the art of flame. Taro was meditating on a rooftop, his flexible body folded into a pose that looked impossible. Ren was walking through the markets, his calm presence reassuring everyone he passed.
They were a family. Broken, damaged, scarred but family.
"Hey, Inyocha," Lee said.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For choosing to be better. For choosing to stay."
Inyocha was quiet for a moment. Then he smiled that real smile, warm and hopeful.
"Thank you for giving me something to stay for."
They watched the sun rise over the new world.
And somewhere, in the shadows of the Sunken City, the Sleeper stirred in its sleep.
Not yet, it murmured. Not yet. But soon.
The story was not over.
It was just beginning.