Page 171 of Earthbound

We saw Golan yesterday, he seems to be enjoying life as a farmer. His land is the only place I can get mangoes.

I’m already counting the days until I see you again. Send my love to Furi, Amnan is penning his own letter as we speak.

Yours always,

Pila

‘Another letter from Pila?’ Furi asked.

‘Yes, they made it to Caperly. Golan’s there.’

‘Oh, good. Did she say anything of Amnan?’

‘She said Amnan was writing to you too,’ Yeeran said.

Furi shrugged. ‘Knowing him, it’ll take him three weeks to write it, and when it finally arrives it’ll be fifty pages long.’

She stood up from her desk and walked over to Yeeran, her hands snaking around her waist as her lips nibbled at Yeeran’s jaw.

‘I knew putting our desks in the same room would never work,’ Yeeran said.

‘What do you mean? We’re both working very, very hard.’

Yeeran caught Furi’s wrist as her hand tried to work its way through her blouse. ‘I didn’t realise my work today was going to be quite so vigorous.’ She pulled Furi onto her lap and kissed her.

They were finally home.

When Afa had said to Rayan and Furi that he had rebuilt their home, they had thought he had meant Mosima. But no, when the elves returned to the Bleeding Field, it was no longer the battlefield they had known.

From beneath the earth Afa had resurrected the cities that had once flourished there.

But the real work had not come in building the bricks, but in building the city.

First they had to prise the ownership of the land from the newly elected elven chieftains. ‘Ownership, what a ridiculous idea,’ Furi had seethed.

Mortah’s commandeering during Malak’s coup had gained her enough respect to nominate herself for the role of chieftain. She was a name many of the older soldiers recognised, and once her rank was reinstated, she was voted in with a landslide.

Partly because no one else wanted the job–the tribes were in turmoil. But either way, Mortah had proved herself capable of leading an army, and that gave her the support she needed.

Having Mortah as an ally helped the fae too. She guided through the legislation about the Fae Lands within days. It had also helped that the very thing they had all been fighting over–fraedia–could now be mined with ease from the fray, which Afa had pulled from Mosima’s ceiling and deposited next to the elven camp.

He had done everything with a purpose.

Meow.

Something furry jumped onto Furi’s back and she squealed, breaking the kiss.

‘Miller, I’ve told you before, you’ve got to stop jumping on my back! It brings back bad memories.’ Furi gathered the tomcat into her arms and gave him a kiss on the head.

He purred happily.

‘You know that’s why he does it, because you cuddle him afterwards,’ Yeeran said dryly.

Furi shrugged and gave him another kiss before putting him down.

‘Shall we go for a ride?’ she said.

‘I can’t. I’ve got to finish reading both these books before tomorrow. Jay is testing me on them.’