Skana awoke splayed out on her bed as she always did, taking up as much space as she could. What awoke her was the scent of fresh tea, bacon, eggs, and warm biscuits. She took in a deep breath through her nose to take up as much of the scent as she could. "Wonderful, Enlaith." She sat up and gave a wrinkled smile to the maid. Behind her head cascaded gray hair that had once been a shiny auburn. The one green eye still sparkled as it always did, and her hands rubbed together hungrily. A warm smile was painted on her face.

"You're in a good mood today, ma'am." Enlaith said politely as she brought the tray over and laid it with its legs on either side of Skana's waist so that she could eat in bed.

"Of course I am, today is a special day." Skana said while she piled the bacon and eggs into the biscuit. Her hands trembled with age, gnarled and wrinkled as they were, but they were still swift and true for their current state.

"It is?" Enlaith inquired and cocked her head slightly. "Why is that, my lady?"

"Why…" Skana said with a big grin and then closed the biscuit, compressed it down tight, and took a large bite out of it, only after she'd chewed and swallowed did she gesture at Enlaith with the other half of it did she speak, "I'm going to die today, of course."

Enlaith stared at her blankly. "Ma'am?" Her elven ears twitched anxiously, "I must not have heard you properly.

Skana gave an arch smile, "I said," she raised her voice further, "I'm going to die today. Did you hear me that time?"

Enlaith's blank stare began to change to one of unmitigated sorrow. "Lady Skana… you shouldn't talk like that, how do you know?"

"Why not? It's true, I knew it the moment I woke up, remember I'm a follower of His Majesty. One of Black Justice, and someone like me should know how and when I'm going to die. So now that my last day is here, gather the scrolls and call my children and grandchildren, and get the letters ready to go out to my friends." Skana gave the order passively as she hungrily devoured her favorite breakfast.

Enlaith didn't move, except to touch the shoulder of her late savior's wife. "Please… can't you ask… you know?"

"To stick around? Get my youth back?" Skana asked when she deigned to look up at Enlaith's pleading blue eyes.

"Not a chance." Skana shook her head vigorously. "My Neia is gone, she's been gone two years now, and it's time I joined her. Only reason I didn't go the same day she did is because she wouldn't have wanted me to die with her. Besides, that was for the best, somebody had to answer those pesky questions from the interviewers." She chuckled with a cracked, cackle like laugh and lay back on the bed when she polished off the last of her food and washed it down with her favorite tea.

Skana lifted her hand and pointed from where she lay, directly at the elven servant, "Not that I don't love you all, you know I do. But my world is where my mate is. My children are all grown, and have children of their own. They've had their great adventures and are settled into good lives, and their children are grown, and have children of their own who are nearly grown themselves. I'm far removed from the world they live in. I did my part on the world stage, and if I did a good job of it, let the world applaud as I exit." Skana's eye went wet with pools of unshed tears.

"Now it's finally time, I get to go to her again, that's all I want, and dammit after a lifetime of one thing after another nearly tearing us apart, I won't let life do it, any more than I'll let death do it. Father-in-law and mother-in-law will understand that. Besides, not that he wants me to die or anything… but when I visited her grave, they were there already. They don't like her lying in that room, all alone, even with the eternal candle burning. I'll be her company, that's my job next. Till father needs to call us up again, if ever he does."

Enlaith reached out and cupped the wrinkled hand that was pointing to her, and lowered her lips to kiss the wrinkled old knuckles of the once mighty sword dancer. "Serving you and the Dark Savior was the only house service I ever rendered by choice in all my life… it's also been an honor I don't think I'll ever match. If you have to go today, I want you to know that."

Skana's dried, cracked lips held their smile in spite of the pools of tears that still had yet to fall, "I only wish that we'd gotten more of you out… that day has haunted me more than any other. Neia never got over it, but you want to know the truth, neither did I. I tried to moderate my wife to mercy so I wouldn't lose who she was. But if I'm confessing now, the truth is that if I hadn't been worried about that, if it had been just me? I'd have burned the whole Theocracy to the ground just like she wanted to do. You elves were right… humans are monsters, or demons, if you prefer."

Skana lost her smile and stared up at the ceiling, "But you know, monsters or not, I loved my monster, I loved our life, and looking back, even the dark times shine like the sun reflecting off the waters of the sea. We never did get the little cabin and private lake shore home in life, the place we wanted to retire to when all was done." She managed a laugh, "I didn't realize till the Noodle Incident that our work was never really going to be done. And you know, that mausoleum our god made for the two of us is close enough. Nice little stone thing on a small island on the sixth floor. My body will be beside her, my hand holding hers where it belongs, beneath the flickering flame so that she's never in the dark again."

"Mistress Skana, My Lady…" Enlaith started to say, only for Skana to cut her off.

"No, none of that now. Go, call my family, let them know it's time." Skana whispered and turned her head to look at the drawer where the scrolls were kept.

"Yes, ma'am. But not the rest? No big gathering like her?" Enlaith asked while she strode on quick, small steps that were one of the last legacies of her former slave status to linger on.

"No." Skana shook her head and bounced her long gray hair again. "That was Neia's way, never mine. True, I'm loud, bombastic, outspoken, irreverent… where was I?" She paused and scratched her head and furrowed her brow.

"Irreverent." Enlaith replied from over her shoulder and opened the drawer.

Skana snapped her fingers and went on. "Right, but I was never born for the public eye. I'm no great speaker, I was a good front liner, but I was never meant to command great armies or nations. I was born to simply live to the fullest, I only changed the world because I fell in love with someone born to do that. I don't need, or want, a big farewell like she had. I'll send letters to a handful, make peace with a few… and then? That'll be it. The rest won't begrudge me letters. We already know where we stand."

Enlaith didn't answer, she simply began sending messages one after the other as fast as she could.

The first to arrive, to her surprise. Was another legend, this one using a walker and partially supported by an impossibly beautiful red headed maid.

"Didn't expect to hear from you…." Enri said in a creaky voice as she shuffled forward to Skana's bedside.

"Well… since I don't know what's on the other side of life… figured I shouldn't put this off any longer." Skana coughed hard, her entire body spasming until Enlaith rushed over and helped her sit up with her back to the headboard.

"Yeah…" Enri's once long lustrous hair… was now old and gray and not what it had been in its prime. "Listen, if you wanted to get some more cursing in at me before the end… well here I am." She managed a wan smile, though her lips trembled as she formed it.

Skana managed to return a similar expression before her denial. "No… no I figure a few decades is long enough to bear a grudge." She snorted, "Probably a big waste, you were never really sorry for it anyway."

Enri shook her head, "No, I wasn't. And I made my point. But… I was sorry about what it did to you. I really didn't know about the baby then, and even if that wouldn't have changed anything… well, I never wanted to hurt you two. You were on my side, and your help made all the difference. I did find my third way in the end… I just couldn't find it when the war was raging. Still… I'm sorry for how much it hurt you both, I always told the truth about that."

"I know… and despite all my resentment, your help might have saved Gottfried's life the day he was born. Our boy might never have gotten the chance to become a man if it hadn't been for you. And for that I was always grateful, even if I stupidly couldn't manage to say it how I wanted. But now here it is, and better late than never. I forgive you for what you did, and I'm sorry I couldn't forgive you sooner. I couldn't let go before, but now as I'm going to die today, it's time for me to let go of everything." Skana managed to raise her shaky arms up, and aided by the steady hand of Lupusregina Beta, Enri made her way over, and was guided into a friendly embrace.

"This is goodbye, but… if there is a life on the other side of this one, we'll meet up there as friends. We'll be waiting for you, both of us, but feel free to keep us waiting awhile longer." Skana winked as Enri's eyes filled with tears.

"Sure… if we can farm over there, I'll share what I grow, if there's a river, we'll swim and fish, if there's something else… I hope I find you both. But if there isn't… then this is good enough."

Enri straightened up very slowly, and Skana bowed her head. "You were the better person, better than both of us in a way, and you always were. And I'm glad I knew you… but if there is another side beyond, don't tell my wife I said that, or I'll deny it!" Skana managed a laugh as Enri was aided in her retreat through the gate again.

Lakyus was the next to come, her hair white and bright like sunlight, her armor burnished to a shine and black as night, her entire body was seemingly aglow. "My friend… is this really it?" Lakyus asked softly with a trembling lip.

"Yes… yes it is." Skana held her arms out to welcome the embrace. "Don't be sad. I'm going to where she lies. That's my place now, and you know… this may only be a question of, 'till next time.' One day you may join us in the beyond, immortal or not. Or perhaps the wheel of time will demand we return to serve our lord again? Who can say? Only father knows what was in the letter my wife left him, and he's not talking."

Lakyus's body shook as if age had caught up with her in an instant, "One way or the other, I'll now have to miss you both for a long, long time. I'll never forget the time we shared. The war, the Synod, the Trial… how my whole world was turned on its head and made better because of it. I won't ask you to just wait around in whatever is after this one, I may be awhile." Lakyus managed a sarcastic, weak laugh and stroked the wings that sprang from her back.

"I know, but you're worth waiting for, thank you for everything, for being who you were, who you are, and for what you'll do. I'll rest easier, knowing my children and grandchildren and all their descendants will have someone like you to give them better advice than I ever could."

Lakyus bent over and kissed Skana's cheek, and let her own be kissed in turn. They clasped hands once more, and then finally Lakyus whispered, "I… I know you want time with everyone, so I'll be going. I've got work to do, and I promise you, I'll keep working to make this world better, and yes, your blood can always come to me. I'll be their guardian angel, come what may."

"They couldn't ask for better, and don't worry, I'll be making peace with Gagaran too, assuming that lunkhead isn't more stubborn than I am." Skana replied, and Lakyus backed out through the gate that appeared behind her saying as she went, "I'll drag her through myself if I have to!" And they parted with laughter between them.

One by one, visitors came for her. Zesshi, Evileye, Gagaran, Tia, Tina, Cocytus, Sebas, Tuare, Calca, Cenna, and then her many children and descendants.

Mu'Trieu and her family came and embraced the mother, grandmother, and great grandmother that was embodied in a single woman. Zyanya came, her half elven ears twitching still with anxiety and sobbing passionately as she embraced her birth mother, and children who shared the green eyes and auburn hair of their grandmother did the same. Gottfried, his wife, and Marcus Baraja were not long in coming after. So it was with all their brood, until the massive size of the ornate bedroom of the former Pope and her wife was nearly filled to capacity with five generations of the Baraja line.

Only after all those were done, did another pair appear.

"Father-in-law, mother-in-law. Forgive me for not bowing entirely, but I'm afraid a bowing of the head will have to do." She grinned sheepishly from her bed and rendered that respect.

Albedo spoke first, "You spent a life bowing to our god, death is your final bow to him, not this." her golden eyes looked down at the woman without the hatred or contempt she usually bore for humanity, and she clasped the skeletal hand of the Sorcerer King.

Ainz inclined his head to her and a path was made to allow the Sorcerer King to approach. "Yes, you've worked hard, a lifetime has come and gone in my service, that is enough. I won't ask you to stay, I know your heart's desire. I can't deny you that."

Skana's long pooled tears finally began to slip down her cheeks, "Thank you. Thank you so much…"

"For what?" Ainz asked with surprise.

Skana wheezed briefly, then wiped her mouth of spittle and said as passionately as she could manage, "Everything! The life you gave us! Even the bad parts, they helped make the good parts better when they were done… for helping my wife when I was too thick headed and too deep in denial to see she needed it! For giving her a chance to heal and come back in body and mind. For this wonderful home… for… for all of this that you made possible…"

"You're the rightful king and god of this world, but that isn't why I love you. I love you for what you made possible here." Skana whispered hoarsely and put her hand over her heart, and swept the other out around the room where generations of her family had gathered to bid her farewell.

The youngest of the little ones in the room, sensing the sadness of the elders around it, let out a little cry in the arms of the mother who held it. And Skana managed against all odds, to form a smile in that direction as weakness rapidly overtook the once powerful heroine. "Of course I'm leaving with some regrets… like not knowing if I'll see who that little one grows up to be, and what you all do with your lives after mine is over. I'll miss you. All of you, so very, very much. Forgive my selfishness, for just wanting to be with my wife again… please."

She wiped the tears away from her face and looked to where the sun was setting on the other side of the room from where it had begun that morning. "I don't know what's about to happen, but I like to think it'll be amazing. I've never been a great speaker, and I can't bookend my life as well as my wife did, but going with the setting sun is nice." Enlaith brought a mug of thick beer to her, which Skana held greedily in both hands, aided by her lifelong servant's gentle hand beneath the base, and drank deeply of it. "Dwarven stuff, good to the last drop." She winked a bit and began to relax.

"People are always looking for great last words, and I just don't have them, so instead I hope you'll all forgive me if my letters will do, and this. Don't mourn my passing into death, celebrate my life. And since I feel those last moments coming on fast, someone tell me a joke, if I've got to go, I'd like to go laughing."

"Why did Remedios really oppose Neia?" Zyanya asked hurriedly.

"I don't know, why?" Skana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because she didn't even graduate from a REMEDial education." Zyanya managed a grin, and the room collectively facepalmed at the horrible pun.

"Puns, the most evil humor, I love it." Skana said, threw back her head, and laughed as her eye began to close at last.

When her eye closed and her laughter faded away, Enlaith spoke, "Earlier today, she said that if she had played her part well, then applaud as she exited." Ainz brought his hands together and began to clap, within a moment, the applause echoed over the whole of the house, he paused only long enough to send word through his demonic messengers throughout the empire, that Skana the Bold, the wife of the mother of terror and one of the great liberators, had passed away, and called on his citizens with her request on how to say farewell.

Applause echoed so loudly over the empire from north to south and east to west that the healers were working triple shifts for weeks to cure everyone who had briefly been driven to deafness from the noise.

In the hours after her passing, the generations that gathered, took comfort with one another, and Ainz made the final arrangements for his daughter in law.

As had been done for the mother of terror, a great procession carried her glass coffin all over the Sorcerous Empire, where thousands upon thousands paid their final respects.

Elves lined the streets to pass her hand over hand from one end to the other, and a great state procession of those rulers who knew the last of the famous pair, led the way before it in the final leg, to Nazarick itself and the sixth floor. There, they acted as pallbearers, and carried the heroine into her final rest. Ainz of course, laid her down at last, being the final one to let go. Albedo removed the glass barrier between the two coffins and lifted the lids, while Ainz took the hand of his daughter and the hand of Skana the Bold and closed one into the other, before he and Albedo sealed the top again together, and when the other great leaders were gone, they walked out and sealed the mausoleum again in warm silence.

Albedo's hand covered his own, and her golden eyes shimmered brightly as she held his darkness and the red points within. "All I want to do is hold you as they do one another, let me do that, for both of us." She whispered, and Ainz relaxed, allowing her to draw much closer, and enfold him into an embrace that felt like it would never end, and which he hoped would not.

Epilogue

The days after the death of Skana the Bold were busy ones as the Three Hundred Champions of Black Justice selected the next Baraja to lead them. Games were held all over the empire, and Skana's famous duels were recreated on stages. Special brews were made by the dwarves and given out for free to the military order she and her wife had built up. Enough to keep them drinking for a year.

Many of the female elves born that year were named 'Skana' and the immortals who remembered the old days told stories of the peasant who became a legend in her own right. They spoke with awe of the one who stood beside terror and looked at it with love.

Enlaith remained on staff at the papal estate for some time, largely training the next staff members, and would not return again until a Baraja was named pope. She was not absent from the great estate for long.

Of the life of Skana the Bold, many things were said, these being but a few of them.

"I never knew a woman who loved life so well that she'd throw it all away to make it a gift to whoever she could. She was the beating heart of the pair, a conscience that calmed a demon. That's pretty damned impressive if you ask me." ~Lakyus 'Heroes in a Heroic Age p. 204'

"If she'd been allowed to live alone, she'd have drunk and screwed her way laughing to the grave. To this day, I think she was still trying to do exactly that. She was a passionate woman, and for her the whole grand adventure even with all its terror, was just the chance to be with someone she loved. There are worse motives to go into a fight for, I think." ~Queen Calca 'Heroes in a Heroic Age p. 210'

"She had a special hatred for my people, but mostly because of what we did to the ones she loved. For her wife there was a mildly personal part to it, but all in all it was a broad, grand crusade. But for Skana the Bold? It was personal because we hurt the few she truly loved. If Neia loved and hated broadly, Skana loved and hated deeply. Together they made an ocean, goes to show what the right matchup can be like. Still, she was also the conscience of terror's own mother. A lot more people would have died without her hand. So I guess I have to be grateful she was around." ~Boabdil the Unlucky 'Unreleased letters enclosed in 'Heroes in a Heroic Age 2nd edition p. 213'

"I trained many. But none so passionate, and none driven to the sword by love of another. It proved her strength, she was a good student. I was proud of her." ~Cocytus 'Heroes in a Heroic Age p. 218'

"If the world never sent anyone better prepared for her mission in life, than Neia Baraja, then nobody was ever better prepared to love their chosen mate, than Skana the Bold. Gentle, kind, precise and passionate, she wanted the whole world to laugh when it cried, and to dance when it was happy, and to screw itself silly when the alcohol flowed. She got the world a little bit closer to that kind of dream, and for that, we are eternally grateful. ~Enlaith 'Heroes in a Heroic Age 2nd edition p. 302'

"She was the one my daughter chose for herself, and rightly so it turned out, I gained two legends as my children, and I asked far too much out of them both in the process. In the end, I suppose it should be said that they simply completed one another, two halves became a whole in a way even I did not fully understand until I closed their hands together per the last written requests each made independently of the other. I still visit them both sometimes, but I'm never alone when I go there anymore. The last act in sealing them up, taught me that I didn't have to be. I often think of bringing them back, I admit it. But they earned their rest, like no others in life. The strange thing is, when I'm outside their final resting place, and the wind rustles the cattails and grass, and the waters lap at our feet as the two of us stand outside their slumbering bodies, I think I can hear them. Where once it was only my daughter cheering me on, now I hear two raised in praise, telling me it will be alright, that I can do it. That I can do more, be more, than even a god can be, to all the world as I was to them. In that, I will not disappoint them. ~Ainz Ooal Gown 'Heroes in a Heroic Age 2nd Edition p.313'

Join the Overlord Fanfiction Discord server, invite code is on the author profile page.