The journey of Kael and Lyra aboard the *New Beginning* became the foundational epic of the Verse. They did not seek power or treasure. They sought stories. They traveled to dying worlds, to civilizations that had forgotten their own songs, and they did not offer a cure. They offered a conversation.
They taught the silent, logical machine-minds of the Technocracy the beauty of an illogical poem. They learned the silent, sad history of the Dream-Weavers of the gossamer nebulae, and in doing so, helped them to dream a new, happier dream.
With every new story they collected, with every new song they learned, the Fading receded just a little. Their quest was not to restore the old symphony. It was to compose a new one, a richer, more complex piece of music, made of a thousand different, harmonious voices.
The Chorus, Nox, and Serian watched, a proud, silent audience.
