"So the fairies are like humans?" asked Marimeia.

"Yes," said Quatre. "The first of them gained their powers hundreds of years ago, in the Southern Wars, but their descendants today still retain human qualities." He stretched out his legs to the fire. "That’s why Hilde was able to become human, to marry Duo."

Marimeia squirmed in Wufei’s lap. "But," she began, and hesitated. "So will the baby be a fairy or a human?"

"A human," said Quatre.

Dorothy entered the room with a steaming clay mug in each hand. She handed one to Wufei and kissed Quatre on the cheek as she handed him the other. Then she said to Marimeia, "Yours is in the kitchen, with Trowa. He’s waiting for you there."

"Lesson time," said Wufei, lifting her off his lap to her feet. She promptly began making the usual complaints of a school child, but followed him out of the room just the same.

When they were gone, Dorothy sat on Quatre’s lap and placed both of his hands on her stomach. She turned her head to him. "Feel anything yet?" she asked.

Quatre looked at her. "Dorothy," he began, in a stunned voice. "Do you mean…?"

She broke out into a huge smile.

Quatre stared at her for a moment, then laughed loudly and pulled her down into a long kiss. Outside the window, snow whirled, white in the darkness of winter, and the fire’s warmth rolled outward, filling the room with the promising light of coming spring.

He can see to the ends of the earth. White snow blankets the Four Corners, but preparations for a magnificent spring are already beginning.

He sits with her in a place between the moon and sun, and tonight they will walk the earth, side by side. Watching the world below, he can almost remember another life, eternally distant, and long ago.

This is his true place. He can feel the pulse of their spirit bodies; their power is one, spreading like a dome over the sleeping world.

Together, they are a shield against evil, a guard against pain; always as a single soul, united above all the world. He feels a million souls stirring, a million hearts beating; all people and all spirits, intertwined with his own body.

He sees into season past, and eternal season future, and knows that they will always stand together, with the pulse of the world as their own single heartbeat.

He smiles, and the light spreads out across the world in a breaking, sparkling dawn.

Wow, that’s really the end. A great big thank you to everyone who’s been faithful enough to read the whole thing! I hope you’ve enjoyed Ironblood, and if you have (or if you haven’t), tell me about it at dragonmasterliz@yahoo.com. I’ve certainly enjoyed writing it, and I hope you’ll go on to read more of my fics (and send me feedback, of course *black light starts issuing from reader’s eyes*: "Must send feedback, must send feedback….). A very special thank you to my sister, who was my sole, and therefore most important, editor throughout the entire project. Luvya!