When Stella reached the main center of the council of the clans, she was shocked to see that it looked like an arena where gladiators fought. The image made her heart sink, and that was before she saw two figures march out to the center of it. The stands were full of people, and for the first time, the women outnumbered the men. Some of them were dressed as she had been, others wore tunics that were far simpler. She remembered what Zan had said about harems, and she tucked herself into one corner of the seats, shivering a little.

Zan was easy to spot looking strong and powerful in his armor, but the other man in the arena wore armor that was as black as coal, and he looked larger than her upra. They both carried sabers, and she had to stop herself from hiding her face. It wasn’t easy, but she made herself watch.

“To the field combat comes the upra of Clan En, Lasan, accused by the dispossessed upra of Clan Mordra, Zan,” cried a man from a tall podium at one end of the arena. “They come to settle the matter of the destruction of Clan Mordra by right of combat, to the first blood!”

To the first blood, that's not so bad, Stella told herself, but then she gasped as the two men lunged for each other.

They were so quick and so strong that that first blow could very well be fatal. She resisted the urge to cover her eyes as her lover traded blows with a man who was taller and heavier than he.

She watched as Zan forced Lasan to one knee as the other man growled loudly, rolling away…

She watched as she was sure that Lasan’s swing would decapitate Zan entirely, but Zan dodged away, sure-footed as a cat…

Oh Zan, please, please be careful... I love you, I can't bear to watch your death...

She hadn’t said it aloud, but she’d thought it. It occurred to her almost absently that that was true. She loved him. He had taken her away from everything she had ever known, and he had shown her a world that was far beyond anything she had ever dreamed. He touched her, he made her smile, he was a man of honor, and yes, she loved him with all her heart.

She gasped as Lasan pushed Zan back with a flurry of blows, so powerful and fierce that Zan nearly tripped and fell onto his back. Then, with a roar that echoed through the stadium, Zan rose up under the blows, kicking the man hard in the belly. Zan's sword flashed down, and with a sprinkle of blood, there was a gash laid open on Lasan's face.

“First blood to the upra of Clan Mordra! The matter has been decided!” shouted the announcer, and the crowd burst into applause.

Zan looked stunned as he gazed around at the crowds, as though he was shocked that so many would cheer his victory. Stella's heart felt full to bursting. This, she knew, was the beginning that Zan didn't think he would ever have, that beginning that he deserved. And she was going to be there beside him because it was a beginning for her as well.

Lasan staggered to his feet however, the blood on his face livid against his pale skin. He roared like a wounded rhino and the crowd fell silent in surprise.

“It was no legitimate match!” he shouted. “Only an upra may challenge another upra, and there is no upra that stands before you now.”

Zan turned back to the man, murder in his eyes, but someone else took up the cry.

“He is a raider!”

“He does not know our ways, he has been exiled!”

Fierce debate broke out on all sides, and Stella's heart was in her mouth. She could hear the voices all around, but all she could see was the wildness in Zan's eyes. She could hear his thoughts almost as if he had been standing next to her and spoken them aloud.

Is this how it ends? Everything I've done, everything I've fought for?

Help came from an unexpected quarter. Suddenly, the man that they had met before, the upra of Clan Tahl stood.

“He has earned his place by right of combat,” the man thundered. “No one can say otherwise!”

It turned the tide. One man speaking for Zan became two, then four, then ten. Lasan would not be denied, however, and he turned to Asla.

“What upra stands without an upra-sa? Where is his mate, the one who will give a true heart to his home? He has no one here, he won entry through a con, no more than a slight of hand.”

Stella didn't think twice. She stood up to her full height, casting off the cloak.

“She is here!” she shouted. “I am the upra-sa of Clan Mordra, and you will not take this victory away from my upra!”

Her voice echoed throughout the arena, and then the cheers were deafening. Lasan had no choice but to conceded, and limped away before he was mobbed by an angry crowd. Stella was led down to the sand where Zan awaited her with open arms. She was waiting for the questions, but he only looked at her wide-eyed in wonderment.

“You stayed,” he said, touching her as if he couldn't quite believe she was real. In the middle of that thundering arena, they might have been the only two people in all the world.

“I did,” she said simply. “I was given the choice and I made it. I love you.”

Zan caught his breath, and then he did drag her into his arms, coming just short of crushing her in his grip.

“Ancestors, but I love you,” he whispered. “My love, my life, the heart of my home, my upra-sa...”

She could feel their future in his arms, strange and wild and so far from any life that she had ever pictured for herself. Ferex was her home now, and this Ferexian king was her man.

She had no longer had any qualms about giving up her planet of birth for her a new home, and new future, one she would make with the raider who had stolen her heart.