Selene didn't rise for a long time.
She stayed on her knees in the center of the Flame Hall, breathing slow, steady, as if relearning how to inhabit her own skin.
Her fingers twitched.
Her vision adjusted.
Her spine straightened inch by inch.
She wasn't weak.
She wasn't broken.
She was real again.
Cassian waited at her side, his hand on her back, saying nothing.
Ingrid stood near the edge of the hall, clutching a flame lily.
Elric stood guard at the door, but his sword remained sheathed.
No one gave orders.
No one dared move.
Because they all knew.
This was not a moment of command.
This was a moment of rebirth.
When Selene finally rose, her legs shook but only once.
She stepped forward, barefoot, leaving faint trails of ash behind.
Her voice, when it came, was hoarse but firm.
"Bring me a mirror."
The request was simple.
But it silenced the room.
Because there hadn't been a mirror in the Flame Hall since the Mirror was born.
Ingrid left quietly and returned minutes later, carrying a silver-framed piece no larger than a hand.
Selene took it.
Lifted it to her face.
Looked.
Her reflection stared back.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
But different.
Softer.
Older.
Wiser.
Scarred not by battle, but by possession.
"I thought I was gone," she whispered.
"You were," Ingrid said softly. "But you left a thread."
Selene looked at her.
"And you pulled it."
Ingrid nodded.
"I never let go."
Selene walked to the throne.
The massive seat still bore cracks from the moment she returned.
It was hers, still and always, but it no longer looked untouchable.
That was good.
Thrones shouldn't look like gods.
They should look like choices.
She didn't sit.
Not yet.
Instead, she turned to the gathered court.
"I owe you the truth."
Her voice rang across the marble.
Clearer now.
Full.
Whole.
"I fell," she said.
"To something I made. A shadow I didn't know I'd summoned."
"She wore my name. My fire. My crown."
"But she was not me."
Some lowered their heads.
Others stared in disbelief.
A few cried, quiet, restrained sobs from those who'd never stopped believing she'd return.
"She ruled without mercy," Selene continued.
"She made decisions in my voice. And you obeyed. Not because you're weak, but because she was convincing."
"And because I wasn't here to stop her."
A pause.
Then:
"But I'm here now."
"And I remember everything."
Cassian stepped forward, finally speaking.
"What happens next?"
Selene looked at him.
Her voice softened.
"We rebuild."
The palace changed first.
The torches were relit with softer flame.
The mirrors were unsealed.
The portraits restored.
Servants returned to old halls, finding the tapestries cleaned and the gardens regrown.
But most of all,
Her name returned.
Selene.
Not just The Flame.
Not Ashlight.
Not The Throne.
Just Selene.
She called a council of her closest circle.
Ingrid. Elric. Cassian. The surviving heads of the Ember Veil. A few brave nobles.
They gathered in the strategy chamber, unsure of what to expect.
Selene entered last.
No crown.
No armor.
She wore a simple crimson cloak and a steel pin in the shape of a lily.
Her hair unbraided.
Her eyes steady.
"I know what I let happen," she began.
"I know some of you doubted. Some of you feared. Some of you almost walked away."
"And I don't blame you."
She placed both hands on the table.
"And now I need you."
"To help me cleanse the cracks she left."
"To restore what we nearly lost."
"To remember who we are."
Cassian asked the question no one dared.
"What if she returns?"
Selene didn't hesitate.
"She won't."
"But if she does?"
Selene turned toward him.
Then toward everyone.
"I'll burn her myself."
They believed her.
Not because she spoke with power.
But because she meant it.
Because they could finally see her again.
The Queen.
The Woman.
The Firestarter.
Across the kingdom, the news spread.
The Queen had returned.
The true one.
Not the silence.
Not the shadow.
But the one who wept in war and smiled in sorrow.
The people lit candles.
Not in mourning.
In recognition.
And in the deepest chamber of the Drowned Ember temple, the High Flamekeeper whispered to the shadows:
"She chose herself."
"And the fire bowed."
--------------------------
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