On the fourth night of the Long Night, the god dreamed for the last time. The last time was not the ending, because the ending was not the feeding, and the feeding was the first of the stars.

Ashe had not put her hand to the body since the night of the Blackenings: the heart was the ash, the ash was the village, the village was the water, and the not-putting was all of it.

But the dream came to her on the fourth night, the way the Fall came: the sky was the first of the stars.

In the burning I am the sharing. The sharing is the six. The six are the lanterns. The lanterns are the hands. The hands are not closed.

What the sharing is is what I did ten thousand years ago, out of the fear of the dark between the stars. The dark was starving. The starving was the hoard. The hoard was the cup. The cup was drained. The draining was the thousand years. The thousand years were the Harvest. The Harvest was the burning. The burning was Cressen. Cressen was the two hundred and thirty.

But the sharing is not the hoard. The not-hoard is the feeding. The feeding is the dark. The dark is the sky. The sky is the first of the stars.

The sharing is the six embers. The six are the lanterns. The lanterns are the people, in the cities, in the grain country, in the ash, in the desert, in the sea, in the orchards, in the forges. The people are the night. The night is what the world did not do.

I will not wake. The not-waking is the sharing. I will not die in the cup, because the cup was dry. The dry was me, on the night of the Blackenings. The night was the heart. The heart was the ash.

I will go out the way the lanterns go. The going-out is the feeding. The feeding is the first of the stars. The first is not the ending. The not-ending is what the singing is for.

What the singing is for is not the empire. The empire was the cup. The cup was drained.

What the singing is for is the night. The night is what the world did not do. The not-doing is the lanterns.

Sing the world the name of the night. The singing is the first of the stars. The stars are the new sky. The new sky is the Orenthe of the lanterns. The lanterns are the hands. The hands are not closed.

The not-closing is the sharing.

And the sharing is not the ending.

The dream let her go. That going was the fourth night of the Long Night.

---

They shared the embers, on the fifth night of the Long Night. The Harvest had not done the sharing. The Harvest was the cup, and the cup was drained.

The sharing was the lanterns. The lanterns were the two hundred and thirty, in the village, in the ash, in the water that moved.

The Second Ember went to the forges of Korath. The Pyre did not take it: the not-doing was the rite, and the rite had gone out, on the night of the Blackenings.

The smiths did not feed the Ember. The not-feeding was the lantern, the hand not closed.

The Second Ember went out in the forges on the fifth night, the way the First had gone back to the body. The going-back was the feeding. The feeding was the first of the stars.

The Third Ember went to the orchards of Veranthe, and the orchards did not feed it: the not-feeding was the lantern. It went out on the fifth night, in the roots of the growing. The going-out was the feeding.

The Fourth Ember, in the fleet of Brayne, went out on the fifth night, in the storm of the sea. The letter had never named the command, and the rite the name served was out.

Brayne walked the Fourth out of the anchor on the fifth morning, the way Serath had walked the First out of Mourne-ash, a thousand days before the counting. The walking was not the command's: it was the name the command had never spoken.

The Fifth Ember went out in the ash-field of the Grey Quiet, on the fifth night. The spymasters had not walked it out. The not-doing was the Fall, a thousand years before the counting.

And the spymasters were not in the ash-field on the fifth night. The mind did the not-being. The mind was the word, and the word was the empire, and the empire did not do the ash.

The Fifth went out in the ash, the way the First had gone in the cistern of Mourne-ash. The cistern was the water. The water moved.

And the ford did not know about the moving.

The Sixth Ember went out in the tower of the High Pyre, on the fifth night. The seal had not walked it out. The seal was the banner, the banner was the rite, and the rite had gone out, on the night of the Blackenings.

The young ones of the Pyre were in the tower on the fifth night, and the rite was not there with them.

They did not feed the Sixth. The not-feeding was the lantern: the hand not closed.

The Sixth went out in the tower. The going-out was the feeding. The feeding was the first of the stars.

And the first of the stars was the sky. The sky was the dark. The dark was starving.

And the starving was the taking.

And the taking was not the ending.

---

The hoard came out of the sky, on the fifth night, the way the sun had swallowed it ten thousand years ago. The coming-out was the feeding, and the feeding was the dark, and the dark was starving.

The coming-out was not a pulse. On the night of the Blackenings the pulse had been the rite, and the rite the killing, and the killing the taking, and the taking the Orenthe of the Hoard.

The coming-out was the feeding, and the feeding was slow. The slow was the lantern: the hand not closed.

The stolen starlight came out of the hoard, into the dark, and the dark took it in. The taking-in was the starving, and the starving was the feeding.

And the feeding became the sky, and the sky became the first of the new stars, and the new stars were the new night the world had not made.

And the singing was for the not-doing.

---

In the burning the sharing is me. I am the six embers. The six are the lanterns. The lanterns are the hands. The hands are not closed.

The hoard comes out of the sky. The coming-out is the feeding. The feeding is the dark. The dark takes in. The taking-in is the new sky. The new sky is the night.

The night is what the world did not do. The not-doing is what the singing is for. The singing is the first of the stars. The first is not the ending.

What I am goes out. The going-out is the sharing. The sharing is not the ending. The not-ending is the world. The world is the night.

Sing the world the name of the night. The singing is the first of the stars.

— the last dream of the god, the fourth night of the Long Night, in the hand of the Frenzied of the Vault, who was not the Frenzied any more, because the Frenzied was the cup, and the cup was dry, and the dry was out