35: Even a God Can Forget

Aurora rides through an unnaturally silent, Frost-stricken forest to the glacier, determined to resume her duty despite grief. At the lamppost, she finds dozens of roses improbably rooted in the ice, a living tribute to Caspian. She prepares to draw the Sun’s light for the village.

Addressing the Sun honestly, Aurora admits she does not love the Sun but respects her role. The Sun responds, chiding Aurora for endangering Reverie through grief and insisting on her responsibility. Bristling at the implication that Reverie is fragile, Aurora defends the mountain’s resilience, then pulls the light and hangs it in the lantern as villagers cheer in the distance.

Sitting among the roses, Aurora feels unexpected sadness. She travels to the phlox fields and, recalling her frantic research to defy death, recognizes it mirrored the Sun’s ancient desperation to save a beloved human. She pricks her finger on a rose and revives the phlox with drops of blood, planning Caspian’s burial for two days hence to further push back the Frost.

Reflecting on Caspian’s admission that he’d forgotten what it meant to live, Aurora realizes what unsettled her: the Sun’s words lacked any memory of love. Fearing that Reverie’s survival is imperiled if the Sun forgets why she saved it, Aurora resolves to retell the mountain’s founding story to the Sun until she remembers—seeking meaning in lasting things, beginning with a story.