Rona could see that Charlie had been crying and she immediately went to comfort him. He shunned her advances and curled up in a sobbing heap on the floor crying.
"Leave me alone" his gasped in between great long drawn sobs, "I didn't want her, I didn't!"
No amount of soothing sounds from Rona to stop Charlie crying, so she sat with him, confident that if Ronald had wanted her he would come to find her. She eventually convinced Charlie to come up in the lift with her and that he would feel better in the sunlight.
When the lift arrived, Ronald was in it, playing with the ball he had found. As this lift was one of the oldest in Albia, they could not all fit in the lift, and Ronald refused to be parted from his ball. As such, Charlie said that if Rona went up first, he would come up straight after her. Rona climbed into the lift and pushed the up button. Once she had left his sight, Charlie went over to the observation bubble once more, pushed his hand up against the glass and quietly he whispered. "Russell, how you will never know." He heard the ping of the lift announcing its arrival and spun around to see that it was empty.
Charlie entered the lift, and as it arrived at the island level, he saw that Rona was by the docks playing with Ronald and the ball, whilst trying to persuade Ronald to eat some of the coconut. Charlie opened his mouth, and as loudly as he could, he cried out "I'm sorry Rona, I can't go on" and he pushed down on the lift before she could stop him. Arriving on the lower level of the island underground system, he ran over to the cart and made it go to the east. As he passed through the connecting pipe under the ocean, he watched the fish in the water and sighed. How he was going to miss all this he thought.
As he arrived at the base of the lookout tower, he heard the showers running, but could not see anyone. He assumed that an irresponsible grendel had left the water running, and he turned it off. He continued along to the still. As he neared the large alcohol maker, the memories of his encounter with Quientia came flooding back. He sat for a while, staring at the still, and as he did, it seemed that Quientia spoke to him.
"I am sorry for what I did" she began, "I know now that you love Russell. Find him, and tell him. You owe him that much."
Someone else acknowledging his feelings was too much for Charlie, and he began to sob. As he lay, tears streaming from his large eyes, Russell ran over from the pictures he had been looking at. He saw Charlie crying on the floor by the still and immediately flung his arms around his friend. Slowly Charlie stopped crying and dried his eyes on Russell's soft fur. He looked at Russell, he gazed deep into his blue eyes, and whispered "Am I dreaming?".
Russell closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. Charlie also closed his eyes, revelling in the soft touch of the norn he loved. Without a word, Russell led Charlie to the cart and they both got in. Russell stopped the cart in the middle of the pipe, and as they gazed at the fish, together, they at last felt whole again. They faced each other, and gently kissed. And there, under the ocean, as evening fell over the island, Russell and Charlie finally had their Pipe Dreams, together, forever.