The Waking

The end, when it comes, is not a battle. It is a question, asked at the same hour in three cities, of every dreamer by name: wake, or stay. The made citizens are asked first. The First is asked by his name, Ivo, and refuses the morning Corin prepared for him.

Bram chooses to stay, and Wren lets him. Maren chooses to stay, and asks to be asked again each year. Petra chooses her post. Corin, the man who planned every step, is defeated the only way he could be: by refusals, recorded in his own handwriting.

The Waking is Book Six and the end of The Stone Plague: the gate that opens both ways, and a father who comes home in time for supper.