Hardin and the brethren of Müllenkamp fled through the forest in the early hours before dawn, hearing the sounds of the Blades' pursuit close behind. One of Branla's birds had reported movement to the north only a short time before, and he'd roused the rest of them to flee immediately, for it seemed that the knights were coming straight for them.

Though utterly exhausted, Hardin refused to give up. "Run!" he urged them, knowing in the deepest part of his soul that Sydney would rescue them.

Hardin drew his sword and turned, hoping to buy just a little time for those with him, who went on ahead with no one noticing that he remained behind. For the brethren - for Sydney's people, for Sydney himself - he would fight and die alone without regrets.

In the blackness of night, it was impossible to see the approach of those who followed with his mortal eyes, and so Hardin scryed for the source of those footsteps that crashed through the brush.

Crouched low to the earth, he waited for the Sight to show him his enemy... and his eyes widened.

"Sydney..." he whispered. It was not the Blades who followed, but a single slender figure with golden hair, almost silver in the moonlight.

Without hesitation, he rose from his defensive stance and ran to meet Sydney. The mage's eyes widened as he saw Hardin's approach, and he flung himself into the swordsman's arms with a sob.

Hardin's fear vanished as his arms tightened around Sydney, and everything that he'd been so fearful of seemed unimportant. "Sydney..."

Sydney clung to him, his face pressed tight against Hardin's shirt. "I'm sorry, Hardin - I'm so sorry!"

Hardin didn't understand, and he held Sydney away from him, though it pained him, so that he might see Sydney's face. "You have no need to apologize to me," he said gently. "Why should you apologize to me? You've given me my life back... you've given my life meaning."

"I was afraid," Sydney confessed, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "I am immortal, but you are not. Someday, my visions of the end of the world will come to pass, and you will perish - and I... I will live on."

"Hardin..." Sydney murmured, clinging closely to him again and bowing his head. "I couldn't bear to lose someone I care so deeply for. And that is why I've kept pushing you away... but I had a dream, a dream I could not stand to see..."

"Yes...?" Though it should have troubled him, instead Hardin was touched by Sydney's sincerity, and he listened quietly as the mage trembled in his arms.

"Müllenkamp came to me... she said you had died at the hands of the Blades." Sydney's voice was choked with emotion. "I'd sent you away, thinking to save you, and instead I'd brought about your death. When I woke, I knew I must find you immediately, for I could not bear the thought that such a thing might happen..."

"Sydney," Hardin said, staring into his eyes, "I love you."

Sydney never let his gaze leave the taller man's, even as the tears betrayed him and overflowed down his cheeks. "Hardin... I love you too. It took me this long to realize how much you mean to me, and I'm sorry."

"Oh, Sydney..." Fighting back sobs of his own, Hardin gently lowered Sydney to the ground, spreading his cloak for them to lie upon, and their lips met in the sweetest of kisses. "I promise I will remain at your side until the day you've seen.

Forgetting all else, they lay entwined in each other's arms for hours.

Hardin's sword lay forgotten in the grass beside them as he gently caressed Sydney's cheek, wiping away the traces of the tears Sydney had held back for so long - tears of sadness, and tears of joy for the birth of this new happiness they would find together.