At five in the morning, Julian was called back to the city by a phone call.

Rose’s condition had worsened. Complications had set in. After two harrowing hours of emergency treatment, she was finally out of danger.

Julian hadn’t slept all night, and exhaustion overtook him. He dozed off on the couch.

He dreamed. In the dream, he was back by the riverbank in Riverwen. The sunset that evening was as vivid as a painting, and there he sat, side by side ...