Sunny and Nephis remained silent, looking at Ananke with intense emotions swirling in their eyes.
He did not know what Nephis was thinking about, but in his mind… for a while, there were no thoughts at all. Sunny was frozen still, his heart unable to handle the implications of what Ananke had said.
'There are people alive…'
Slowly, tentatively, a profound emotion rose from the depths of his being and filled his chest, making Sunny draw a shaky breath.
'There are people alive.'
He exhaled slowly and finally allowed himself to feel it — a deep, overwhelming sense of jubilation. It was incredibly sweet… but also indelibly bitter. Because it reminded him of how much had been lost, even if he knew now that not everything was.
The River People were alive… Ananke had carried them through eternity on her delicate shoulders, never losing herself to the darkness. The others had fallen, but she continued on, braving the long years of peril and solitude to fulfill her solemn duty.
