The sound she made during the breakthrough was not a moan and not a scream and had no appropriate category.
She collapsed forward.
He caught her.
His arms came around her thick waist as her strength went out and her weight came down — all of it, the full warrior-woman density of someone who had been a Void Return bloodline descendant at Core Formation Peak for three years and was now something different — and he held her against his chest with the specific, unhurried grip of someone who had been here before and knew how long this part took.
Her face was against his shoulder.
Her eyes were closed.
She was breathing.
The glow faded slowly, the meridian-luminescence reducing as the breakthrough event settled into its new equilibrium, the specific cooling quality of something that had been brilliant and was now simply 'true'.
The clearing was very quiet.
The assembled warriors were looking at the two of them.
The husband was looking at the chieftain.
