Epilogue
As Thomas and Alana waltzed happily around the ballroom, the three fairies heard a great commotion outside. Fluttering out the front doors, they found two women and a man on horses, calling out Alana's name. The fairies approached the elder woman, a stately and majestic figure.
"May we help you?" Faith asked.
"I demand the release of my daughter," the woman replied firmly. "I am her mother, and I am here to negotiate for anything you want, so long as my daughter returns safely home."
"Ah, well…" Faith began, but the queen would hear nothing of it. She barged past the fairies, followed closely by the younger woman and man.
Alana's mother paid no attention to the calls of the fairies, and instead stormed into the castle. She heard the laughter coming from the ballroom, but, as any distressed mother would, interpreted it as her daughter being tortured.
"Release her at once!" the queen yelled when she reached the ballroom. Thomas and Alana stopped abruptly, looking up at her in surprise.
"Mother?" Alana asked incredulously. Thomas, however, smiled.
"This is your mother?" he asked. But then his brow furrowed. "I thought you were a farmer's daughter," he said, confused, looking at the woman's regal clothing.
"I am the queen of this land and everything in it," the queen said, rushing down the stairs. Davina and Orivo followed her hesitantly.
"You're a princess?" It was Thomas' turn to be incredulous. "Why did you not tell me?"
Alana suddenly felt guilty. "It, well…it never came up," Alana said weakly, painfully remembering the time she had meant to tell him.
"But your father said he was a farmer," Thomas said.
"Well… he lied. He gave you a farmer's name instead of his own," Alana said, biting her lip. Would he be angry? She should have told him earlier…
Thomas fell silent. The queen took this opportunity to seize Alana by the arm and steer her up the stairs.
"Mother! What are you doing?" Alana cried.
"I am taking you home, where you belong!" her mother answered.
Thomas, however, was making no move to stop this. In fact, he was not even looking up at her. Alana, heartbroken, stopped resisting, and allowed her mother to maneuver her out the front doors, Davina and Orivo close behind.
The fairies, who had being flittering outside the front doors, were shocked to see Alana leaving the castle. Willingly!
Alana got onto the horse in front of Orivo, and turned to look at the castle one last time. Then the horse began with a start, and they were galloping away from the castle.
The fairies at first were so shocked, they didn't move.
"What is going on?" Hope finally said.
"I do not know," Joy said. Then she zoomed into the castle, and Hope and Faith followed her.
"Thomas? Why is Alana leaving? Without you?" Joy demanded when they reached the ballroom.
"You do realize she left," Hope said. "As in, gone?"
Thomas was standing right where Alana had left him, staring at the floor. A million thoughts were running through his head.
Alana wasn't the one who he had thought was coming… what if she hadn't come, and the true farmer's daughter had come instead? Would he have fallen in love with her? Had he forced himself to fall in love with Alana?
And why would the king have lied in the first place? To protect his own daughters, of course. But… what if Alana hadn't come?
"Thomas, listen to me," Faith said, flying right down to him and fluttering in his face. "You love her, and she loves you. Forget the past, just think about the future!"
"What if she hadn't come?" he said, finally voicing his thoughts. "What if the farmer's daughter had come?"
"Does it matter?" Hope asked.
"What if I'm not really in love with her?" he said, his eyes imploring. "Would I have fallen in love with the farmer's daughter, as well?"
Joy sighed. "Thomas, listen. What if you never see her again? What if you've just let her go, never to return?"
This caught Thomas by surprise. Never see her again? He thought of her smiling face, her golden hair blowing in the wind…
"What am I doing?" he said to himself. "Do I have a horse?"
Excited, the fairies nodded. He ran outside to the stables, and not bothering to put on a saddle, he mounted a horse and set off on a gallop.
Alana, meanwhile was miserable. This was all her fault… why hadn't she told him when she had the chance? But then again, what did it matter? Didn't he love her more than to care about what she was rather than who she was?
And her family… why, after years of disregard, did they suddenly care so much about her? She looked over at her mother. She sat rigid, poised on the horse, never once looking over to smile and say how happy she was to have Alana back. Nor Davina… only Orivo tried to sustain any conversation.
So there she was, alone with her thoughts, when a great galloping of hooves could be heard behind them. They stopped, and Orivo turned the horse around to see a great cloud of dust being blustered off the road. Finally, a figure appeared from the cloud, a figure on horseback. The horse was running wildly fast, and the figure was hunched over, urging it on.
The figure stopped abruptly at them, kicking up a great deal of dust and dirt into their faces. Coughing and trying to wave the dust away, Alana heard the figure say,
"I am so sorry, I did not realize how fast I was going."
"Thomas?" Alana coughed out.
"Alana? Where are you?" his voice cut through the thick veil of dirt.
"I'm right here," she said, sticking her hand out. She felt it being grasped into his, gentle yet firm.
"For heaven's sake," the queen said as the dust settled down. "What on earth do you think you are doing, young man?"
"Begging for forgiveness," Thomas said. The dirt at last thinned, and Alana saw Thomas, dismounting his horse, still holding her hand. He looked nervous and excited, and brown, due to all the dirt.
Alana allowed him to help her dismount the horse, so that she ended up in his arms.
"I am sorry," he said softly. "I was being stupid… it doesn't matter what you are… my life is worthless without you."
She smiled, and was going to answer when her mother's voice cut in.
"If you think you are taking her back to that prison, you are quite mistaken."
He seemed to brace himself, and then walked over to stand in front of the queen's horse, Alana behind him, holding his hand.
"Your majesty, I humbly apologize. But I love your daughter, and have every intention of marrying her, if you will grant it," he said nobly.
Alana felt her jaw drop, and saw her mother's doing the same. The silence hung in the air for a moment or two. Then, to Alana's great surprise, her mother smiled.
"Permission granted," she said.
And so, they were married in the gardens of the castle, once again in full gorgeous bloom. The queen was delighted to have both her daughters married to such wonderful men, and the men were quite happy themselves.
They lived in the castle until the end of their years, although they often visited the royal palace. Davina was a beloved ruler among her people, and ruled with a kind and resolved hand.
Thomas and Alana's days were filled with happiness, the fairies by their sides. Their children grew to love the romantic story of their parents, which you, my reader, have been the first to know.
And so concludes the story of the beauty and the beast.
The End