Chapter 21

Bharon, weakened by cold and exhaustion, crashes to the frozen ground with the narrator still clutched in his claws. Realizing the dragon is dying, the narrator witnesses Bharon's final flight toward the moons, where he comes to rest among the other fallen dragons.

The narrator drifts in and out of consciousness during Bharon's increasingly difficult flight, noticing the dragon's claws growing ice-cold and his wingbeats faltering. Memories of the narrator's mother (Mah) provide brief refuge from the pain and guilt. As Bharon's strength wanes and altitude drops dangerously, the narrator spots jagged mountains and realizes they will not reach The Burn. Bharon suddenly loses altitude catastrophically and shoves the narrator away, depositing them gently in soft snow before crashing to the ground himself. The narrator, despite severe shoulder pain, crawls toward the prone dragon, recognizing the gesture as an act of care. Bharon staggers upright, and the narrator perceives a moment of mutual understanding—the dragon, like the narrator's mother's dragon before it, has chosen its final rest. With wind at his back (attributed to the god Clode), Bharon launches skyward one final time in an unsteady ascent. The narrator watches through tears as the dragon reaches a nearby Moonplume moon, nestles against it for comfort, curls into a ball, and turns to stone, joining the other fallen dragons among the moons.