He nodded, winning that soft smile again. She had become so much more comfortable, her confidence growing every day with their love. It thickened his throat anew, made the ache in his chest increase.

Turning away, she proceeded until she knelt by Farida’s enchanted body, laying her hand on the woman’s shoulder. He saw her lips move, but respected her privacy, feeling that coil in his heart tilt as she touched her lips to Farida’s brow.

Right after sunset in the desert had always been his favorite time, for the heat of the sun lingered for a short time in the sand. And of course sunset heralded the freedom of the night, a new beginning.

Sunrise brought the need to sleep, endings. But now he was reminded an ending had its own peace and value. As the first ray of dawn speared over the horizon, he murmured the words that would lift the charm, that would allow Farida to become part of her beloved desert. He made himself watch, though it was difficult to see the flesh gray and wither, turn to ash, slowly disintegrating.

But then she began to float away, on a wind that rose as if called by the release of the magic that had kept her preserved for three hundred years. His heart. His love. His soul. She’d sent them all back to him, in the form of the woman who lifted her face, closing her eyes and letting that ash swirl around her like a desert spirit. She spread her hands and lifted them, a devotion, and he almost imagined Farida there, caressing this woman, giving her a blessing before she became part of the desert world in the way that nature had intended.

Once it was done, Jessica rose with a look of quiet reflection and came back to him. Willingly she stepped out of the sun’s embrace and into his, her arms circling his waist and back, cheek pressed to his chest as if she thought his heart was there, rather than beating inside of hers.

He didn’t need to worry about sunrises or sunsets. His endings and beginnings were a circle.

This circle; her arms.