Epilogue

Settled Thoughts

Calm Waters

Dàn watched as the groom kissed the bride. He envied the loving devotion he could easily feel rolling off of Athair and Hope. The connection they shared was almost visible to his sensitive eyes.

A vision of their future flashed before him, showing the two playing with their toddler daughter in the backyard. The child would be named Faith, and she would grow into powers that no Keeper of the past had ever known. But she would also have a decision to make about those powers.

Maura gently squeezed Dàn's arm to draw his attention back to the couple. Together they threw rice and wished Hope and Athair congratulations. Maura's touch brought another sight to his mind. He saw him holding hands with her and walking barefoot on a beach at sunset. A joyful vision that was ripped asunder as the scene changed to show the vast ocean between them. Dàn closed his eyes in despair as he heard Maura's cry of agony echoing over the raging water.

The cheer of the small crowd pulled Dàn from the vision's grip. The oracles blessed the union by binding the couple's hands with black, white, and red ribbons.

The council had finally been convinced to accept Athair and Hope's bond because the oracles shared his vision of Faith's future. They had debated for several days about whether a Keeper should be allowed to mate with one of the clansmen. In the end, they understood that all future paths included Hope and Athair together. The question then became whether Hope would be accepted as Keeper after joining with Athair. Since the only other alternative was to bring an end to the direct line of Keepers, they decided to allow Hope to become Keeper after Ella.

Personally, Dàn found it to be a silly debate. Hope would become Keeper, no matter what the council decreed. It was her destiny.

More than two months had passed since Ella had summoned the council to make judgment on Bequlf and address his claim that Hope could not become Keeper and bond with Athair. The time since then hadn't been wasted, but instead was used to plan the wedding. Hope and Athair had discounted any other possibility.

What Dàn didn't understand were the council's decisions regarding the traitors of the Bear Clan. They had judged that Bequlf would be exiled for his attack on Hope. His closest supporters had chosen to join him in exile. The attack against Athair, Rath, and Dàn were discounted as no more than territorial squabbling. And the danger to humans was dismissed entirely for lack of evidence.

Dàn closed his eyes, but new images continued to haunt him. A war was coming, and it would be terrible. Yet this war would also be mostly unseen. He knew it was unavoidable. Belquavir would encourage Bequlf to fight to reenter the Bear Clan and claim leadership, and that could never be allowed. Dàn could see what a menace Bequlf would be to all people if he was given any more power. Already he stalked the streets in nearby cities, using or killing people whenever he wished. He reveled in the pain of others, either wolf or man. He would never be anything but a cold-blooded predator. If he ever became an Alpha, he would be a killer with his own army.

Dàn saw the struggles of the coming years and knew that he and his family would place themselves between Bequlf's evil and the safety of the world.

But the darkness ahead was not without light, and now it was not without Hope.

The End