The woman said, "Her body is empty of the Aesir life-force. And yours
is burned out by the power we poured through it, so that no human could
live in it again unless--unless one more than human upheld you."
"Lorna--"
"We must part for awhile, John. We have been one for a long while. Now
we must be two again, for the sake of these two. Until the change...."
"What change?" asked Stuart eagerly.
"As we changed, so would you, if our lives upheld yours. Entropy would
move for you as it moved for the Aesir and for us. And that, too, I
think, is good. Mankind will need a leader. And we can help--John and
I--more surely if we taste again of humanity. After awhile--after
millenniums--the circle will close and John and I will be free to merge
again. And you and Kari, too."