A few nights later...

Nosdyn sat with Xyllea and Tharak he had not yet opened the container with the Heirloom The Elder gave him. He wanted things to have calmed down a little bit before he did that. That night would have been appropriate. In front of his wife and child, Nosdyn opened the container and was surprised by what he found inside. Surface Dwellers often thought Demons were a cold and heartless lot...in some cases they'd be right. But The Elder hung on to this one Heirloom item to give Nosdyn someday as a memento of the past. Nosdyn knew what the item was immediately...a single locket style necklace his Father used to wear.

Nosdyn had not seen it in a long time and had been certain The Tribunal would have destroyed it. But no...they kept it as a keepsake of the past. He opened the locket as he saw his Father do in his youth so many times. The locket contained the only known visual record of Nosdyn's Mother. Nosdyn's life had come around completely full circle at that point. His Mother, had been the one Demon that he had not had to kill by The Tribunal's order. She'd been dead many years prior to that from a different situation. As would have been appropriate, Nosdyn, displaying the sheer amount of humanity and understanding he had gained placed the necklace around his wife's neck and clasped it around her.

"My Mother." Nosdyn explained. "Father always told me she'd been dead since I was very young. He never told me why though." Nosdyn told her very softly. He remembered something Illsandra once told him. "My people are war-scarred and battle-hardened tribe. But you and Illsandra saw something else." Nosdyn said quietly to her. "My Father never revealed to me the why of it...but it does not matter anymore." He said calmly to her. "I want you to always wear that."

Xyllea cried. It was the single most beautiful thing anyone had ever given her. She touched the locket gently, for some reason it retained the warmth of Nosdyn's people. She hugged her husband at that point. "Me and you...we've come so far together."

"She's watching us someplace...I'm sure of it." Nosdyn responded quietly, he was speaking of Illsandra. "I am certain you have much more to teach me and I have things to teach you as well."

She nodded to her Demon. "Nosdyn...you once asked me if I saw a Monster in you." She placed her hand on the side of his face. "From the day you saved me...a lowly apprentice...I never saw a Monster. I saw my Champion." She said truthfully, and she kissed him very deeply.