"They look so strong," Sylvia said softly. "Sometimes it's hard to believe how fragile life is. How precious."

Who knows what we'll find on the mainland...?

Beowulf killed Grendel after all.

"Beowulf was killed by the dragon," Mary Ann murmured.

"What?"

A moment's chill went through her, and she wanted to cry out, to call him back, to end his thoughts of a new quest, a new frontier. "Why can't he stay here? Haven't we paid enough?"

Through her tears she watched him. Tall and strong, the gray more pronounced in his hair now. Her heart nearly broke.

She felt Sylvia's touch on her arm. "Love, what will be will be. We all came to die here. What matters is how we live."

Mary Ann picked Jessica up and held her in the air, kissed her soundly. Together she and Sylvia followed the men they loved up to the house.

It was too late for any of them to change.

And perhaps, just perhaps, there was no dragon after all.

THE END