On the day of the Festival, Cade enters into the tournament. His armblade is an untraditional but acceptable weapon to use in each melee.

• Each round of the tournament is progressively more difficult than the one before it. Better prizes are awarded to those who achieve a higher standing at the end of the tournament.

At sunset, everyone in the Festival is led across the Trosene bridge to the other side where an enormous bonfire is being assembled. Ko asks Rheya what's going on; she explains that this is the time when a storyteller recites the origins of the festival...

• A very elder woman retells the story of a young man. (To make the long story short...) He went on a great adventure, found a very rare and enchanting creature called a [yurp]. He brought it home, and marveled his friends and family with his pet. He spent all his time grooming and talking to the [yurp], that soon he no longer spent any time with those he cared for. His relations went sour, and he became a corrupt recluse. One night, the [yurp] crept away from him where he slept and into his kitchen. The creature tipped over the oven and started a fire. The clatter woke the young man, and he found that his [yurp] was nowhere to be found. The creature would never dare go into daylight, so the young man would not give up his search even while his house was consumed by fire. In the morning, it was found that both the young man and the [yurp] had perished in the fire.

• This story, the elder says, illustrates the caution one must take in the pursuit of happiness and a full life. Neither shall be gained if one mistakenly invests in material things and unworthy ideals. The Festival, then, is a time to cast away the things into the fire, to die in a death as the young man and his [yurp] did. Then, as soon as one sheds these things, he runs from the fire, across the Trosene bridge in great heat which"supposedly" is supposed to make one forget what he just cast away, and into the main body of the city, where there will be much song and dance and food and carp and anchovies and breakfast cereals (... er ... I mean ... ).

The fire is set, and flames lick the night sky. The Trosene bridge seems ablaze with torches and lanterns and freestanding fires. You'd certainly have to run across the bridge or else either suffocate on all the smoke or the heat.

• Ko asks what they're supposed to do next. Rheya explains that now, people who want to, cast things they no longer want to weigh them down into the fire. She asks Ko if there's anything he can think of. He thinks for a while, then says he wants to cast off his sadness about his brother's death, his admiration for Tyrus, and how he feels about what he did to Dell ... but he doesn't know how to throw any of those into the fire.

  • Rheya ponders, then finds a scrap of paper and writes down the things he'd said. Ko gingerly takes the piece of paper, holding it with a bit of reverence at what it represents, then slowly lets it float into the great fire.

  • Rheya leans over him, and tells him to run. Don't think, just run. He hesitates only a split second, then is off, and disappears in the smoke over the bridge.

• Rheya straightens and looks at the fire herself. She removes her visor, wincing at the burning of the flame. She glances at Enna, who is watching, and tosses it in with a small smile. She then turns and runs over the bridge.

• Enna approaches the fire.

  • Digging into her cloak, she produces the small hammer-pick that she got from Syne when they broke out of the Titan City prison (which will be added to Part I in the next revision ;D).

  • Syne's voice echoes in her head, and her brow furrows intently. We see she is very torn; her hand begins to tremble with indecision.

Screams arise suddenly from both the people around her and others far off across the bridge in Trosene. She steps away from the fire to get a view of what people are pointing at in the sky, and she sees it come down on her very quickly: an enormous dragon.

• As if the shock of a dragon wasn't enough, the next thing she sees is Syne slide down the thing's back and onto the ground. He's followed by Rush, Brooke, and Dell, all of them trying to calm the Festival-goers.

• Syne sees Enna and reluctantly goes up to her, asking what she's doing with the hammer-pick. She quickly stuffs it back in her pocket, making some lame excuse. They join the others to look for Rheya, Ko, and Cade.

In Trosene, they find Ko and Rheya dancing amidst a great host of joyous city-dwellers. Syne comments that he's never quite seen this many people having this much fun at any one time.

• Rush brings them all aside and tells them of their plans to go to Io and try to find this safeguard that he's learned about. Rheya agrees to help; Ko wants to tag along, if she goes. Brooke looks incredulously at the boy who was dancing only moments before. The group heads off to find Cade...

• ... except for Enna, who is in a thoughtful pause. Syne catches it, and returns to her to ask if she will be joining them.

  • She steps close to Syne and asks him why they came back to Trosene. He explains they had to get Rheya because she can read--but Enna knows that Syne can read Antarean as well (this is something else yet to be added, probably to Part III ... it's something that he now shares with Kydran, having been rezzed together). She wants to know why he really came back.

  • Syne nervously tries to say that he's already said why, but she doesn't believe him. She takes the leap of faith, stepping far enough for him to reach her hand (that was sort of a metaphor ... if you don't like those or romance, skip this part).

  • Syne finally stammers out that he wanted to apologize for what he said about doubting their beliefs earlier. They might have been wrong, but he acknowledges that he didn't have to attach her altogether to his denunciation. Awkwardly, he adds that he's glad he could see her again.

  • She leans over and plants a kiss on his cheek, when Ko comes running back, announcing that Cade is prepping the Eastern Wake, and that they'll depart the next morning after the Festival.

Syne and Enna spend the rest of the evening enjoying the Festival, talking, having fun, etc. Aequus takes his decision to land this close to the town and tosses it into the fire, but the party-goers convince him not to try running over the bridge.

-room for development-

They all depart from Trosene, some riding in the Eastern Wake, and some on Aequus' back (they can't all fit in one place). The ship and the dragon zoom across the water, heading down the Pylos River and out to sea.