wake up, you stupid overloridian -Holli$-

The last two days had been a whirlwind. More like a shitstorm, actually, Tamar thought to herself, sitting by Holli$' hospital bed. Not trusting the Deilig doctors, but not wanting to move Holli$ when he needed immediate care, she had commandeered a Deilig hospital and put some of her army medics in charge for the time being. Kole may be dead, but Deilig wouldn't be free of his influence overnight.

Kole is dead. Now that brought a smile to her face.

She'd been furious when she found out Holli$ had sneaked away in the early hours of the morning, and she was still pretty angry with him, but she had to admit she was proud of the kid. He may have risked his life in the most idiotic way possible, but he had won. Kole was dead.

She'd wasted no time in rushing to Deilig with her most trusted team of soldiers when she realized where Holli$ must have gone. She'd also given the rest of the army orders to begin to make their way to Deilig. She'd wanted to wait for a more strategic moment, but Holli$' impulsivity had forced her hand. If Holli$ got himself killed, the only way to stop Kole would be to take Deilig by force. If Holli$ survived, he would need Tamar and her army to protect him from Kole's followers.

When Tamar and her team arrived, they found Kole dead, Holli$ half-dead, Amerie (!!!) more than half-dead, and Aran. Amerie was currently receiving the best medical care Amelia could provide. The star pieces were retrieved, and Tamar's army arrived and broke through the wall. They were now hunting down Kole's remaining "elite". They had won.

"Haven't you slept enough yet, you lazy idiot?" she said to Holli$' unconscious form. "Get up. You have an eilemaiden to run now."

Suddenly Holli$' eyes fluttered opened, as if he had just been sleeping peacefully and Tamar had woken him up. He immediately squinted as his eyes tried to adjust to the harsh light of the hospital. Small tears squeezed their way out of the corners of his eyes.

"Ugh," he grunted, then sniffled. Though it was hard, he managed to lift his arms slowly up to wipe away the tears. However, he regretted that choice of action as soon as a sharp pain pierced its way though his shoulder, back and arm. Then he remembered what had happened.

"I killed Kole," he said, while turning toward Tamar. "Didn't I?"

When Holli$ finally stirred, Tamar noticed that he had tears in his eyes. Whether the tears were out of emotion for what had happened to him, or just a reaction to the bright sunlight, Tamar didn't know, and she didn't comment on them either way. "That is the conclusion I came to as well, yes," she replied. She wondered how Holli$ felt about that. Kole had deserved to die, he needed to die, but it was still never easy to take a life. Especially for someone as young as Holli$. She thought maybe she should say some comforting words, or put her hand on his shoulder, but she had never been good at that sort of thing, so she didn't. "Of course it easily could have gone the other way, which is why I told you to stay put."

Holli$ closed his eyes to think for a moment. He killed somebody, he knew that he had to, but it didn't make him feel much better.

You saved all of Amelia, his little ptarmigan daemon reassured him. It would all be doomed without you.

He knew that Jasmine was right, and he had to admit that it made him feel proud. Despite himself, he smiled. This would be something he had to work on, but for now, he had an eilemaiden to worry about.

"If I had stayed put," he finally said, humorously. "Amelia would have been doomed."

Tamar rolled her eyes. "It would not have," she argued. "We had every advantage. Numbers, allies, resources. If you had stayed put, you still would have settled and Kole still would have died. You just sped things along."

She couldn't help but smile satisfactorily at that, though. While Holli$ could have died and ruined everything, he didn't. He prevailed, and less lives had been lost because of it.

"But that doesn't matter," she continued. "What's done is done, and you won. You're the overloridian of Deilig now, and you've got a lot of work ahead of you."

That was an understatement. No overloridian in recent history had inherited as big a mess as this boy lying here in front of her.

He wasn't going to say anything, but Holli$ felt like it had been fate for him to be the one to kill Kole. Fate did choose him to be an overloridian. He looked to Tamar and could see the pride on her face. It made him smile again. If Tamar was proud of him, he knew all was well.

"Oh hey," he said suddenly. "Where's my mom?"

He was sure that his mother was going to kill him when she realized he was awake. He felt guilty for risking his life like that, all his poor mother did was worry.

"In Dian, where it's safe," Tamar replied. "Deilig is still a war zone. We've secured the city, but Kole still has followers out there that we're weeding out."

She looked Holli$ in the eye. No point in mincing words. "Killing Kole wasn't the end. Now you have to clean up his mess and put Deilig back together. The other overloridians and myself will help you every step of the way, of course."

Deep down, Holli$ knew all of this, but it didn't make any of it feel better. He knew that he had a lot to do in the next few months. He just hoped he'd be able to do it well.

He sighed before asking, "What's the first step?"

Deep down, Holli$ knew all of this, but it didn't make any of it feel better. He knew that he had a lot to do in the next few months. He just hoped he'd be able to do it well.

He sighed before asking, "What's the first step?"

"The first step is letting your body heal," she told him. He wasn't going to be jumping up and diving into the fray in his current condition, after all. "After that, your next steps will be making reparations to the clio whose lives were torn apart by Kole, and deciding what should be done with the Kole loyalists we capture."

She knew what she would do with them, if she was their overloridian. But sadly it wasn't her call to make. She hoped Holli$ wouldn't go easy on any of them, and would do what needed to be done.

"Right," Holli$ replied with a sigh. He really didn't want to lay in this hospital bed when he had a whole eilemaiden to run, but he knew she was correct. He nodded as he listened to her.

Holli$ had a lot ahead of him, but he was ready.

END