Kira caught Katra as Marduke stood her on the ground. She collapsed into his good arm, while he winced at the effort of holding her.

“Kira?” she coughed. “Are we djinn?”

“No, Katra. We are alive! Marduke has brought you back to me!”

“How?”

Marduke explained, “A dragon is born to a pure loving soul, and Kira’s love for Olgoth was strong. But this love for a dragon and his rider must be tried by fire. Kira’s pain was so great at my loss that your willingness to die proved he had a pure heart, and a pure love. Therefore, once I was resurrected, my pure fire could ignite the pure heart in you, returning your soul to your body.”

“Where was my soul, when it left my body?”
“It was in me, in my heart.”
“Thank you, Marduke!” Kira and Katra chorused.

The flames still flickered on the pyre, and the henge stones were warm to the touch, but Kira and Katra walked hand in hand from the flames. The fallen mourners stood up in awe, Katra’s poor mother ran to give them a disheveled hug. The dragon roared her approval.