Following a long campaign that brought floods of relief for some and bitter disappointment for others, Scotland is still recovering after voting to reject independence.
Now, the task was to heal the divide — and use the energy the referendum unleashed to hold London politicians to promises of more powers for Scotland.
The result — 55 percent to 45 percent — was more decisive than pollsters had foreseen and prompted Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who led the unsuccessful Yes campaign, to resign.
But it meant almost half of Scotland's more than 5 million people woke up in a country, the United Kingdom, that they wished to leave.
Queen Elizabeth II, who has kept out of the political debate, said that "all of us throughout the United Kingdom will respect" the result.
In a statement from her Scottish home at Balmoral castle, the monarch said "despite the range of views that have been expressed, we have in common an enduring love of Scotland, which is one of the things that helps to unite us all."
Still, Yes supporters have first to get over their bitter disappointment.
Salmond's impassioned plea to launch a new nation fell short, with Scots choosing instead the security of remaining in union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Yet the independence drive tapped a wellspring of youth and energy that campaigners vowed would endure.
"My time as leader is nearly over, but for Scotland the campaign continues and the dream shall never die," Salmond said Friday as he announced he would step down as first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party in November.
In the last weeks of the campaign, Prime Minister David Cameron and other London-based politicians vowed more autonomy for Scotland if voters rejected separation. A visibly relieved Cameron said Friday he would stick to his word on further powers for each of the UK four regions — a pledge that could change the country forever.
Promising to give Scotland new powers on taxes, spending and welfare, Cameron told reporters outside his Downing Street office that the new plans would be agreed upon by November, with draft legislation by January.
Turnout in the referendum was just under 85 percent, the highest level in Britain for more than half a century.
The No campaign won by wide margins in the capital, Edinburgh, and in Aberdeen, the country's oil cent54. The Yes campaign won Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city.
The vote had riveted the world. The strength of Scotland's pro-independence feeling had concerned leaders of NATO and the European Union — and the result disappointed separatist movements from Catalonia to Italy to Quebec.
The No vote saved Scotland's 307-year union with England, bringing a huge sigh of relief to Britain's economic and political establishment, including Cameron, who faced calls for his resignation if Scotland had broken away. It also kept United Kingdom from losing a substantial part of its territory and oil reserves or having to find a new base for its nuclear arsenal, now housed in Scotland.
The decision spares Britain a prolonged period of financial insecurity. The pound rose to a high of $1.6509 Friday after the result, and London's FTSE 100 index was also one of the best-performing stock markets in Europe, trading 0.7 percent higher on the day.
"We have chosen unity over division," Alistair Darling, head of the No campaign, said Friday in Glasgow.
Yet in Scotland, deep divisions remain.
Many saw the independence battle as a "heads versus hearts" campaign, with cautious older Scots concluding that independence would be too risky financially, while younger ones were enamoured with the idea of building their own country.
In the end, the “heads” won.