Dana threw back her head and gave a harsh, inhuman laugh that set chills up and down the spines of her companions. "You're a good artist, but I'll tell you right now, strategy just isn't your thing."
"What?" replied Bara.
"Has it occurred to you that the great flaw in a fortress nobody can get in is that nobody can get out?"
Dana raised her hands, and energy flowed from them to the palace gate.
"There. Astara is now safely sealed away for eternity, or until I decide to let her out. Of course, she could try and break the bond I have laid on the palace, and she might even succeed, but if she does she breaks your seal as well."
Dana looked on her oldest friend, and there was a spark of pity in her eye. "Now, I will let you go into the palace and spend the rest of your eternal life with an insane demon princess. Or you can help me rebuild this world, into something better and finer than it was when we were human or that it was under Astara. Bara, you have talents, talents I need. But they're wasted trying to hope that Astara is going to change. How many millenia have we tried? It's time to move on."