Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.

One week after Tuaparang.

When Sveta heard the echoes of a voice, she thought she must have been imagining it. After all, she had explored the ship top-to-bottom multiple times, and she was absolutely certain that she and Matthew were alone. There were no Tuaparang survivors. There weren't even any bodies. And Matthew was asleep in their room on the floor below; even if he called for her, she likely wouldn't have been able to hear him.

As with almost every other time she left the room to let Matthew rest, Sveta was waiting in what appeared to have once been a common room. The cracked windows that once split the light into a beautiful, chaotic rainbow now made the room feel forbidden; she was living in someone else's house, and from the sound of it, there might still have been someone home.

She leaped from the couch, pulse racing, and darted out the door, straining her ears to listen for where the sound was coming from. It was very faint and intermittent. Without her enhanced beastman senses she likely would never have noticed it. Could it have been a trap? Or maybe it was the sound of someone trying not to be heard? Regardless, it was the first exciting thing to happen to her in days. There was nothing to do on the ship... particularly because with Matthew's injuries, they were holding off on exploring the benefits of their "practice marriage."

Flicking her ears in anticipation, Sveta dashed down the hallway and up the stairs toward the first action she had seen in a week.

"...have settled... helping... doing well..."

It was a female voice, and it was definitely familiar. Sveta could barely make out any of the words. The sound was coming from the top floor, though; odd, considering how little there was up there. Just one room full of machines that she had never figured out how to use, and was too afraid to try.

She reached the top floor. The air was stale. She should have been able to smell if someone was nearby, but as far as she could tell, she was still alone. Yet the voice kept coming from the single, mysterious room.

"...but Isaac and Felix are heading to Goma Plateau to see if they can somehow reach that escape pod. If you're there... gods, if you're there, I hope you've had food or, or something... and I guess maybe your communications are down, which is why you aren't responding..."

Sveta's eyes widened. It was Jenna. There was no mistaking it. She stepped into the room.

Surrounding her were strange, metal boxes with all sorts of wires and knobs extending out from them. It was unusually chaotic compared to the rest of the Tuaparang ship. The boxes themselves had hundreds of tiny holes over certain sections of them. They reminded Sveta of breathing holes, perhaps...

"Oh, gods, Felix told me not to give up hope, but... I don't know. I feel like an idiot just talking to myself all day, hoping someone will answer. And I feel like nobody's gonna answer, because it's been a week, and if you were gonna pick up then you would have already..."

The voice was muffled and tinny, and now that Sveta was close enough to the source she could hear the underlying notes of hopelessness in Jenna's words.

The sound seemed to be coming from the "breathing holes" of the nearest box to Sveta.

She hurried over to it. "Jenna?!" she shouted. "Jenna, are you alright? I am here to help, just-"

"I guess part of me doesn't believe you made it off the ship. We all saw the escape pod go out, but... I don't know. What if it wasn't you? What if it was the Empyror who won, and Isaac and Felix are walking right into a trap, and I'll just keep losing people-"

Jenna kept talking. Could she even hear? Was she listening? Sveta struck the box with her fist several times – gently, as she didn't want to cause any serious damage – and when that didn't work, she started hitting buttons.

There was a loud "beep."

"-already lost my parents, and Garet, and- *BEEP* -Huh? What was... did I do something? Oh, crap, I broke it again somehow, didn't I..."

"Hello?" called Sveta. "Jenna, can you hear me?" She struck the device several more times.

"What?! Who... hello? Is someone there?"

"Finally! I am here to help," said Sveta. "One moment, I shall try to find a way to get you out of this box-"

"What are you...? Wait, no, hold on! Don't damage the box! Just... just hold on a minute. Okay? Are you still there?"

Sveta flicked her ears in frustration. "Why not?" she asked. "Have you really been in there all week? You must be starving. I can go get you some water if you need, I suppose I can run it through these air holes-"

"Those aren't air holes!" said Jenna. "Felix tried to explain this to me. It's like... it's a thing you can use to talk to people as if you're right next to them. I'm in Bilibin right now, not in the box. The Tuaparang had some technology that sends your voice through the air to other boxes like this one. That's a speaker, not air holes. I'm not in the box, Sveta."

Sveta sighed in relief. She didn't understand, but Jenna seemed to know what was going on, so whatever. "Okay, good," she said. "I am sorry to hear that you were worried. I only got to this room a moment ago, so I heard very little. Matthew is fine, in case you were wondering. He was injured in the crash, but he will be alright and can wait to see a healer."

"Where are you right now? Were you in the escape pod? What do you mean by 'this room?' Where's Matthew?" There was a wash of static and a loud rumble as Jenna's excitement built up.

"We never made it off the ship. Luckily, the rear half landed safely in the water and serves as a fair habitat until a better option appears. Matthew is in our- I mean, his room," she said, deciding that discretion would be the smartest path for now. "He has a broken leg and several cracked ribs, so his mobility is limited."

Jenna made an uncomfortable noise. "I'm sorry to hear that you've been stuck like that. The airship needs repairs, and Ivan and Karis haven't gotten all the materials they need to do it yet. The communicator works, so I've spent..." She hesitated. "I spent a short while every day seeing if I could get a hold of anyone, but aside from that it isn't quite airworthy. We barely made it back to land safely. They've said it's almost ready, though, and I'll be sure to keep in contact every day until we can come get you. I'll bring Mia or Rief."

Sveta nodded, not sure whether Jenna could see her or not, but deciding that it was safest not to make assumptions. "Thank you. I will return this time tomorrow, and Matthew and I will look into options for moving him without harm. How is everyone else?"

"I'm fine now," said Jenna, "Ivan's doing well, all things considered. Tyrell seemed to be coping last time I saw him, but he headed back to Kalay already. I think he needs some closure. The rest of us are mostly trying to help restore Bilibin in the wake of the McCoys' reign, and I think the plan is to move on to Belinsk once things are settled. We'll make sure to pick you up as soon as possible so you can be there. I know it'd be important to you. Some of Bilibin's troops are coming back from war with impressive stories of what your people were doing, so it might be better than expected. It must be nice to finally hear some good news!"

Oh gods, her people. Sveta had nearly forgotten all about them.

"Has... has anyone left for my city yet?" she asked slowly. "Have they brought news of me?"

"No, but it sounds like Kraden really wants to head out as soon as possible. There's some stuff he wants to study. I'll make sure he lets them know you're safe-"

"No!" She gasped. "I... I mean..."

What? What did she mean? No, it made sense to send Kraden with word of her safe return. Her people would be worried sick. Was anyone leading them? Would they survive without their queen? She should return, and as soon as possible.

But it was too soon.

"...I am married now..." she muttered. It was the beginning of the life she had always dreamed of. Could she really give it up-

"Wait, what? Sorry, I didn't catch that, it sounded like you said you're married now."

"Aaah! Uh, no!" said Sveta. "I said it... is very, umm, dour." Nice save. "My nation's situation, I mean, is dour. But I cannot return just yet, and if Kraden tells them I will be back soon, then every moment I wait will make them question my dedication. I have matters to attend to first."

"Oh, I see," said Jenna. "I understand. From what I hear, they're doing just fine without you, so don't worry about it. Take your time, recover from this whole ordeal, and go back when you're ready."

"Tell Kraden to go ahead, but to please let no one know of my situation." It felt wrong to ask a friend to lie like that, but Sveta had no choice. She had had almost an instinctual urge to get as far away from the castle as possible for as long as she could remember. It was just like running away from home again. Yes, an innocent excursion. That was all it was. The thought kept Sveta calm.

"I'll let him know. Thanks for finally answering, Sveta," said Jenna with relief. "I'll keep in touch. For now, I'm gonna go see if I can get Ivan and Karis to hurry it up a little with their repairs. You two stay safe, alright? I'll see you soon."

"Goodbye," said Sveta. She pressed the button once more to shut off the device, and there was another beep. No more sound came through the speakers.

It was odd. Just a moment before, she had been bored out of her mind. Now she and Matthew would have to return to the mainland with everyone else. It was all happening so fast. She should have been happy, but she was panicking. She couldn't go back. Not yet.

When she returned, it wouldn't be long before she had to take the throne again. That meant she would be swamped with work and responsibilities. The agony of leadership would compose her world once more. She realized that she was idly toying with her wedding ring. Already she had gotten so used to it that she barely noticed it was there. She couldn't bring Matthew with her to Belinsk – her people would never accept a human king. What was she to do?

Sveta trudged back downstairs to the bedroom she shared with her husband. She knocked gently on the door. There was no response but a quiet snore. She opened the door and slipped in, closing it behind her.

Matthew lay on his side of the bed, as he had when she left. But since then, he had apparently grabbed the pillow on her side. His arms were gently wrapped around it – it was partially on top of him, as he still slept on his back – and his head was tilted slightly to rest against it.

Sveta slipped out of her clothing and took the pillow's place. She would tell him about the talk when he woke up. Until then, she planned to savor every moment of her freedom while it lasted.

It seemed so empty now. Smaller, too. Other than that, it was exactly as he remembered it.

The house he grew up in. Now vacated, since both owners had passed away.

Tyrell wasn't crying. Not anymore. He had thought so long and so hard about losing both of his parents that the thoughts had lost any meaning. He missed them. He knew they were both in a better place, thanks to Sveta, but that didn't make it any better for him.

He was alone now. He still had friends, but no more family. He'd have to make his own way, and he no longer had anyone to rely on if things went bad. It would be hard. Responsibility had never been Tyrell's "thing."

All of his belongings, those he hadn't already sold or given away after his adventures, were still at the cabin on Goma Plateau. He'd head there later. But he had one thing left to do.

This house, his parents' old house, the one they got married in, raised a child in... it symbolized his old life. His life as a dependent teen. His life as a kid. He could move in, or he could move on.

The decision seemed obvious. It wasn't his house, it was his dad's, and his dad wasn't around anymore.

He raised his fingers and snapped.

A tiny spark of flame appeared on the corner of the house's thatched roof. It caught in seconds, spreading slowly but surely across the surface. Smoke started to billow out. It seemed fitting, Tyrell supposed, that Garet's house would burn to the ground. Comfortable.

He turned and began to walk down the path downtown.

Then he heard a scream.

"Ohmygawd! My house is on fire!" shouted a girl down the road, dropping her bags of groceries from the marketplace and sprinting the way he had just come from. "Someone help, please!"

Tyrell stopped dead in his tracks.

He and his dad had lived away from Kalay for four years.

Of course someone had moved in.

"I, uh, I dunno what happened!" shouted Tyrell at the girl. "It just caught fire! It was totally weird! Stay there, I'll go get help!"

It seemed he still had a lot to learn about responsibility.

Ten days after Tuaparang.

Karst really didn't fit in.

Beyond the window, all the townspeople of Bilibin were hurrying around, working busily to restore the city to its former glory – or, she had heard from the occasional optimist, "even beyond the level that tyrant bitch held us back at."

Somewhere else in the city, Isaac and Felix helped too, despite having returned from their journey in poor spirits; though after speaking with Jenna and learning that his son was still alive, Isaac was much less depressed about the awful bloody smear he found next to the crashed escape pod. So The Empyror had met his end at the hands of mechanical failure. Karst felt that fate lacked a certain punch. It was dissatisfying, but there was nothing to be done for it.

Jenna herself had gone with Ivan and Rief to retrieve the castaways. Their suicide mission had apparently been a complete success (aside from the lack of suicide, of course), and the whole group was counting their blessings that they wouldn't have any more people to mourn. The whole adventure with the Tuaparang had been rough on everyone. Rougher than it had ever been.

Except for Karst, of course, who had slept through half of it, lost no one she cared about, and who had been through much worse in the past.

She staggered back to the bed in the room she had rented at the inn, carefully following the half-walk rhythm she had taught herself that kept her upright with her crappy leg augmentations. The things got sweaty very quickly and chafed awfully. They didn't provide any sensation either, which gave the disconcerting feeling that Karst was being carried piggyback by an armless robot.

Karst scrambled out of the rig and onto the bed. Sitting down, she didn't need to rely on half-working technology to keep her going. She wasn't tired, but she was bored of looking out the window. And as there was a staircase between her and the inn's exit, she wasn't going anywhere until Felix got back.

Which meant she was still sitting around when the knock came at her door.

"Who's there?" she called tersely, knowing that if it was Felix he wouldn't care, and if it was anyone else she didn't want to talk.

"It's Karis. Can I come in?"

Karst said, "No," and rolled over to face the opposite direction.

"Please?" said Karis through the door. "It's important. I promise it won't bug you too much."

"Might I remind you," replied Karst, "that your family and I are merely having a temporary truce. I can choose to end it whenever I please. I tolerate you. I don't like you."

There was an audible sigh from the other side, but it didn't come from Karis. Her voice followed immediately after, though. "Then it's really important that you hear what I have to say! It'll only be a minute."

Karst squeezed her eyes shut. "If I say yes, will you go away immediately after?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Then come in. Make it quick."

The door opened gently, and Karis strode in cradling several books, as she had taken to doing recently. Following several seconds behind her was Mia, who still seemed uncomfortable about working with the Proxian warrior.

"This had better be good," said Karst.

Karis nodded, dropped all but one book on the room's single cabinet, and walked directly over to Karst's recently-vacated leg framework. The Proxian sneered, as this entered her rapidly-widening bubble of personal space. But Karis took no notice, instead flipping open the heavy hardcover and leafing to a dog-eared page. She glanced from the book to the framework and back several times.

"Yup," said Karis, "thought so. Mia, can you take a look at this?"

Karst glared. "No, she can't," she said. "Get away from that. You'll break it."

Mia seemed perfectly satisfied to stand well back from her former enemy, but looked at Karis questioningly. "Can you just tell me what you want me to do?" she said. "The woman wants her space, and I don't see a problem with giving it to her-"

"The problem," interrupted Karis, "is that over in Tuaparang, they built this thing just on the off-chance they needed Karst to do something for them, or to keep Felix in check. As I've looked deeper and deeper into their notes, I've been shocked at what an absolute crap job they did. Here," she said, walking back over to Mia and flipping to a different chapter before handing her the book. "I don't know much about human anatomy, but-"

Mia's brow furrowed. "Clearly, neither did they," she said. She pointed to several lines, one after the other. "That's accurate, that's halfway-accurate... that would kill somebody if you tried it... Honestly, I thought these people were supposed to know what they were doing."

Karis nodded confidently, folded the corner of the book, and snapped it shut.

"I can fix your leg-thing," she said to Karst. "Mia's going to help me. Hopefully you can accept this as an apology."

"Wait, what?" said Mia. "Since when am I apologizing to her? Thirty years ago she tried to kill my friends and I!"

Karst sat forward, aiming to look as intimidating as possible given the circumstances. "You killed my sister, you simpleton! Now tell me who struck the first blow!"

"Your sister did!"

"She was trying to save the world-"

"She could have just SAID something, instead of-"

"SHUT IT!"

Both of women turned in shock to the sixteen-year-old, normally so politely-spoken, who had had the outburst. Karis folded her arms, still holding the book beneath one of them, and glared at the women as if they were infants throwing a tantrum.

"You have a history. I get that," said Karis. "And I'm not suggesting you two become friends. But like it or not, Felix needs to be associated with both of our groups. We've been through rough times recently and there's no need to make it worse by causing interpersonal strife." She pointed at Mia. "You see Karst as your enemy, but she fought well enough alongside Garet and Tyrell. Without her, they'd both be dead, and as it was, the Empyror had to cheat to get one of them. We all miss him, but it could have been worse."

She turned to Karst. "As for you, we're sorry for all of the pain you've been caused. If there had been a way, I'm sure Isaac's group would have spared your sister. They probably wouldn't have fought at all if they hadn't been cornered like that-"

"Don't you dare make it her fault-"

"It doesn't matter," said Karis, "whose fault it was. The fact is, it's over. No one is happy it happened. I'm just trying to stop anyone from trying to kill anyone else. Step one of that plan is to forge a bit of co-dependence. Karst, we can give you your legs back, and not just through the use of a machine built less for convenience and more for necessity. We've got the best healer in Weyard, and I have pages and pages of research to draw from. We can find the problems and make it as if you were never injured in the first place. The only thing standing in the way of that is worthless pride. So, drop it."

There was a long silence.

Then Karst shrugged. "Okay," she said.

"What?" said Mia. "That's it?"

"Obviously."

"So you're just going to drop a decades-old grudge, one that nearly cost all of us our lives and could have ended the world?" Mia put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "We should have gotten a smart-mouthed sixteen-year-old to shout at you years ago."

Karst glared defensively, but her expression softened a hair when she noticed that Karis was glaring too.

"Stop acting like a child. I'm not forcing you two to be friends, I just want you to stop fighting," she said.

"She's obviously lying! She's just saying 'okay' so that we'll fix her, and then she'll stab us in the back-"

"I never said I was dropping the grudge," interrupted Karst.

She waited for the argument to subside before continuing.

"I still don't forgive you," she said. "I don't think I ever will, and I don't think you forgive me, either. But forgiveness isn't necessary. I have a problem, and if you're willing to solve it for me, then I appreciate that. Fighting will get us nowhere. After all," she said, baring her teeth, "you obviously already know which of us would win if it came to blows."

"Oh?" asked Mia. "What about your national pride? I was under the impression that you thought the rest of the world was foolish for appreciating things like friendship and co-operation."

"Then you obviously don't understand Prox in the slightest. We have nothing against co-operation. Have you ever seen a Proxian warrior set out alone? We always work in pairs. Always. What we despise is weakness, and right now, I'm weak... weaker than I should be, at least." Karst shrugged again. "If you're willing to help me get past that, I'll accept it, even if I think it's shockingly stupid of you to waste resources on an invalid. And by the way, it's not in my best interests right now to attack any of you outright. I'm far from home, and I've apparently been out of the world for a long time. I have only one ally right now, and I would not do anything to alienate him, especially if it was for no better reason than to spite another."

Karis smiled. She looked at Mia, and Mia sighed in acquiescence. She extended a hand.

Karst watched it carefully, debating internally, before taking Mia's hand and shaking it. It was not a soft handshake of friendship, nor was it a firm, respectful one. It was cautious, and above all, competitive. Neither of them gave any indication of yielding. But Karst didn't make any attempt to break Mia's hand, or to pull her in to attack, and she silently congratulated herself on her self-restraint.

Four weeks after Tuaparang.

Maddie woke up smelling bacon and smoke, and immediately assumed that her house was on fire. Without wondering why a house fire would smell like bacon, she immediately jumped out of bed in her nightclothes – a longish undershirt with short sleeves – and hurried downstairs.

She was about halfway down before she spotted a familiar, blue-haired figure standing in front of her stove. He wasn't wearing the heavy robes he'd worn when they first met; since he'd begun living in Bilibin, he had grown accustomed to actually wearing lighter, weather-appropriate clothing.

He turned his head at the clatter. "Morning," he said. Then he turned back to the stove, and the sizzling strips of meat in the pan on top of it. He grabbed a pair of steel tongs and flipped them one-by-one.

Maddie blushed and pulled her shirt down in an attempt to cover her legs a little more. "...Hey Rief," she said. "How'd you get in? Why are you here so early?"

"I used the key you gave me, like, a week ago," he replied. "And I'm here because we'd planned to meet for breakfast, but you slept in, and I didn't want to wake you."

"Oh," she said. "Um, wow. Okay, thank you. Here I was thinking the house was on fire for some reason, and you just got up early to cook breakfast for us..." She smiled sheepishly. "I don't deserve you. Really, I don't."

Rief turned to look at her, smiled, and turned back to the bacon again. "Well, I disagree. For one thing, you've retroactively earned this by coming downstairs pantsless. Again."

"Yeah, this happens way more often than it should."

"It happens exactly as often as it should!"

"I'm just not a morning person!" shouted Maddie. "I forget things sometimes!"

"It's practically noon, and like I said, I'm fine with you forgetting that particular thing." He grabbed another pan and a plate. "You prefer your eggs scrambled, right? If you feel like going to grab some pants, breakfast will probably be ready by the time you're done."

She nodded and ran back up the stairs. But just as she grabbed a simple pair of loose-fitting sweatpants, she heard a knock on the door. She raced back down, awkwardly hopping into one leg as she reached the main floor, and slipping on the other as she reached the door.

"Hi!" she said, gasping, as she opened the door while simultaneously pulling her pants on the rest of the way. She stopped cold.

It was the new Mayor, a man by the name of Branfeld, and his expression turned from political friendliness to embarrassment upon seeing her. Undoubtedly, he came to certain conclusions from her unkempt hair, her hasty attempts at dressing, her exhaustion, and the fact that her boyfriend was in her house preparing a very late breakfast.

"I'm dreadfully sorry," he said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"I swear this isn't what it looks like," Maddie replied. "How can I help you?"

Mayor Branfeld nodded and cleared his throat. "I, umm... I suppose this could have waited until later. But I wished to ask for your opinion on a certain matter. The rebuilding of Bilibin is going smoothly, as I'm sure you're aware, but some of our councilmen are taking opposing sides on certain issues, and at this point I'm convinced that they're just arguing because they dislike each other. It makes it terribly difficult to gain any headway."

"Tommins and Kenway, right?" asked Maddie. "Yeah, I noticed that. They seem pretty determined to hate each other."

The mayor blushed. "Yes, quite right," he said. "Well, I proposed a reasonably effective compromise between their two viewpoints on the matter of lumber exports, but neither of them will accept it because it seems too similar to the other man's views. I'm not quite sure how to proceed."

Maddie nodded. "Simple. Kenway loves feeling like he's getting special treatment, and Tommins hates feeling pressured. Ignore Tommins for now, focus on pitching your idea to Kenway. Eventually he'll break down, and even if Tommins gains some support, he'll come around to the idea anyway while pretending it was his idea all along."

"I... of course, I was about to suggest that very thing," Branford said. He shifted uneasily in his obvious lie. "I just wanted to know if you had the same read on the situation. Glad to hear you approve. Thank you, and again, I'm sorry for interrupting." He backed away, extending a hand in a wave before proceeding down the street. "Carry on, good day!"

As Maddie closed the door, Rief laughed. "Why the hell is he mayor and not you?" he asked.

She waved away the question. "Don't be silly! I'm friends with Tommins' and Kenway's daughters. I know the men pretty well."

"But you already knew exactly how you'd deal with the situation before the mayor even asked you!"

"Because he's been coming to me with questions since he was elected. I just had to get used to it," she said. "Besides, I made that whole thing up. The truth is that if he goes after Kenway, then Tommins will get jealous. The two are next-door neighbours, and they're always trying to one-up each other. The best way to keep them under control is to marginalize their conflict, and the only way to get Branford to do that is to make sure he doesn't realize he's picking sides."

Rief shrugged. "You should be mayor," he repeated.

Maddie pulled out a chair and sulked into it. "I don't wanna be mayor..."

They didn't speak for a short while. Rief split the bacon and eggs between two plates and brought them to the table, then took up a chair next to her. She ate quietly.

"You're not like her, you know," said Rief. "Not in the ways that matter."

"...Thanks."

"Is that why you don't want to try your hand at politics? You understand how people interact, and I know you have the people's interests in mind. You'd be good at it."

"I dunno. I just... I guess I don't want to see myself in her shoes. Not ever," said Maddie. "All I want is to live my own life again without worrying that I'm heading in that direction too much. I want to travel, I want to see the world... I don't want to rule it, though."

Rief laughed. "You aren't going to accidentally take over the world by going into politics," he said. "But I get where you're coming from." He paused, a fork halfway to his mouth. He put it back down again, and he tented his fingers. "What if you got them to make you an ambassador for the new, improved Bilibin? That'd give you an excuse to go out, meet new people, see new places. And you'd still be helping your people by showing the world that the city is no longer run by, pardon my frankness, a genocidal tyrant."

Maddie shrugged. "Maybe. It's a thought."

"Now that your brother's officially staying with family in Border Town, you've got a lot more freedom. I say, do what you want. Now's as good a time as any if you me to take you out and show you the sights, and if you've got a good excuse, all the better!"

She put her arm around him. "I think I'm happy here for now," she said. "Later on, yeah. But at this point, I'm happy just rebuilding the town, and... y'know, dating..." She shifted closer. "...Maybe getting married eventually..."

Rief pulled away. "Whoa! Umm, not yet!"

"Why not?! Matthew and Sveta got hitched, and they were only dating a week!" Maddie said in a sudden huff. "We've been seeing each other for a whole month now!"

"They never got married!"

"They did! They totally did!"

"When would they have gotten the chance?"

"I dunno, but they had rings on their fingers when Jenna picked them up!"

"Those were magic rings!" said Rief. "They probably wore them to help them on the assault!"

Maddie shook her head. "The way they were standing, too! I promise, they definitely hooked up. I guarantee it."

"They definitely didn't."

"Let's make a bet," said Maddie. "Sveta's a bad liar. Next time we see her, I'll ask her directly if she and Matthew got married. If she says yes, or she gets flustered, I win. If she says no, then you win."

"What are the terms?" asked Rief.

"If I win, then we get hitched next!" said Maddie. "If you win..."

Rief thought for a moment, then grinned. "If I win, you go without pants for a week. And you have to make me breakfast each of those days."

"Done."

"Wait, really? A full week, you're fine with that?"

"Rief, honey, I'd have agreed to going nude for a full week."

"...Is it too late to change it to that instead?"

Maddie shook her head. "It doesn't matter what your side of the bet is. I've already won, and you just don't know it yet."

"You didn't ask her yet. I mean... did you?" Rief paled.

"No, but I know I'm right. We should plan a trip to Kalay, so we can ask them. In the meantime..." She brought a hand to her chin. "Ring shopping, I think. You can afford something nice, what with all of your adventuring money, right?"

"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself."

"Just saying. You've got a ton of extra notice, I expect a magical evening when you end up proposing to me."

"This is madness..."

"No, this is Maddie!" she said. "I own your ass, snowman! That'll teach you to tangle with me! Also, thank you for making breakfast, this is delicious."

"Yeah, no problem."

When they were finished cleaning up and getting properly dressed, they actually did go ring shopping, but Rief complained the entire time, and they got absolutely nowhere.

Six weeks after Tuaparang.

The house was quiet again, with the kids having moved on. And now that the city had recovered from the Eclipse, Mia had a lot of time to herself. Lonely didn't cover it. It was just like before, except now she knew her children wouldn't be returning home. Karis's studies had already led to some surprising advances in non-alchemical medicine. Fewer and fewer people came calling every day. Mia was starting to feel as if no one needed her anymore.

Which meant it was a complete surprise when a knock came one day and Jenna stood on the other side.

"Huh?" said Mia. "I mean, hey! How are you doing? What brings you to Imil?"

Jenna smiled and shivered at about the same time. "Oh, I'm alright," she said, adjusting her new eyepatch. She was wearing a heavy winter jacket; ironically, the Mars Adept fared rather poorly in the cold weather. "We just decided it would be good to check up on you once in a while. You live pretty far away from everybody, and we figured it would be nice to stay connected. Especially when you take into account everything that's happened lately..."

"'We?'" asked Mia.

"Isaac and I," said Jenna. "He's coming along shortly. Just... some stuff at home held him up. He'll be on his way in a day or two. May I come in?"

They reconvened in Mia's living room with tea for the two of them. It was a little untidy, as Mia hadn't expected guests; even when the people of Imil needed a healer, she would go to the patient's house rather than having her own home serve as a hospital. There was a neglected-looking fire in the fireplace, which Jenna immediately rekindled. She boiled the water for the tea too, while she was at it.

"So how have things been since we parted ways at Bilibin?" asked Jenna. "I still feel bad that we didn't at least send someone along with you."

Mia smiled. "Don't worry, we all had our own places to be. I didn't expect an escort. It's been a little lonely, I admit. I don't begrudge Rief staying behind with his new girlfriend. And, well... while I have a great many questions to ask of Piers, I don't begrudge him and Nowell either. If they're happy, I'm happy."

Jenna nodded, but her expression was somewhat skeptical. "Hmm. Very... tolerant of you. Well done. I'm not sure I would feel the same way at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I dunno. I guess our situations are a little different, but Matthew just spent a week alone on what amounted to a private island with his girlfriend. I'm still freaking out a little, like, what did they get up to? Should I be worried? Should I be asking him more questions about it, or would that be prying? I guess I'm just panicking a little, what if something happened and I'm gonna be a grandmother in eight months?" The words spilled out all at once, and it was clear that Jenna had been holding them in for some time. "Gods, I just got finished with living alone for four years. I'm glad my family's back together, but my son's growing up! What am I even supposed to think about that?"

Mia blushed, but quietly sipped her tea before answering. "I, umm... I suppose I have considered some of those fears as well. Maybe I just never thought that I was allowed to think that way. Does it make me a bad mother that I want more control over my children's lives?"

"Not one bit!" said Jenna, obviously glad to finally have someone to talk about this with. "At least, that's what I tell myself. I mean, we want what's best for them, and that's why we worry, right? And rightly so! Matthew's dating a queen, Rief's dating... well, that girl – not that there's anything wrong with her, but you know what I'm talking about." Mia nodded. "And Nowell's dating Piers of all people! Piers was my friend, too, and all I know about him is that he's way older than I am! He looks about eighteen still, or he did last I saw him, but that's only because he still had the lingering effects of the Lemurian Draught when he got Sunned like we did..."

"Ugh, I know! He looked... I mean, when we traveled together, I thought he might..." Mia blushed. "Okay, I mean, he was dateable then, wasn't he? I thought so, at least. Obviously nothing came of it, but now he's with my daughter, and that just makes it even weirder..."

"Oh wow, really? You and Piers, wow, I could almost picture that... except not anymore, of course, that'd be..."

"Yeah. Even if he broke up with Nowell, it'd still be beyond awkward. Could you imagine? Us having a moment, and then he calls me by my daughter's name by accident?"

Jenna threw her hands over her mouth as she burst out laughing. "Geez, I can totally imagine that too! Like, it'd be weird enough if he called you by a different name, but-"

"Gods, yeah, not to mention the fact that he, again, looks eighteenish, and I'm forty-seven-"

"You look twenty-five tops, Mia! Don't sell yourself short!"

"Well I know, but his age is just question mark, so I can't help but think of him as eighteen!"

They laughed together at that thought. As the laughter died, Mia felt completely refreshed. The loneliness she'd felt only minutes earlier evaporated like a puddle in the sun.

"Jenna, we really should've hung out more. I mean, I know why we didn't, but it feels like such a missed opportunity now, doesn't it?"

"I know, right? We have so much in common!" Jenna grinned. "Same taste in guys, even!"

Mia went pale. "Right... yeah," she said. "Umm, sorry about all that, I should say."

Jenna blinked. Then she gasped. "Oh! No, no, that's not what I meant at all! That's behind us anyway. I'm trying to make a fresh start, we got off on the wrong foot and dwelling on the past won't help at all. I just meant, like... I remember when I was sixteen, and we were lighting the lighthouses, and I remember thinking to myself, 'if it doesn't work out with Isaac, or he meets somebody else, I could totally...' You know. I'm just saying, I considered other options-"

"Oh, don't you start!"

"I'm not! I didn't. It was an offhand comment."

"Sure."

"I didn't mean anything."

"If you say so."

"Stop it, Mia!"

"You're gonna make Isaac saaaaad."

Jenna started to respond, but trailed off. She ran a hand through her hair, pulled into a ponytail like it was when she was younger. But the unconscious motion caught the edge of her eyepatch, and she had to spend a moment readjusting that, too.

"I should probably tell you," began Jenna in a low voice, "the reason Isaac isn't here yet is because his mother passed away just before we planned to leave. We would likely have been here sooner, in fact. I stayed for the funeral, and he just needed to make sure everything was in order for his father."

"Oh," said Mia. "Gods, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say."

Jenna nodded. "That's fine. Dora was like a mother to me, too... without getting into another 'awkward moment' discussion, she did a good job of filling the second-family role for me during the years when I thought my family had died under the boulder. We'll both miss her deeply. It feels like everything awful is happening at once these days. Isaac hadn't even recovered from losing Garet yet." She gave a half-smile. "Neither have I, I guess."

Mia moved across to the other couch and gave Jenna a hug. "Me neither. You two knew him longer than I did, but I didn't have many friends. He was important to all of us. There was nothing we could do about it, though. Sometimes death just... happens. All you can do is remember them as they were, and try your best to live out the lessons they taught."

"Yeah," said Jenna. "I guess you're right. It doesn't make it any easier, though."

Mia swallowed. "Jenna... I'm worried. I think I've mostly recovered from what you-know-who did to me, but..." She hesitated. "Sometimes I'm not sure. Sometimes I find myself thinking in certain ways and wondering if it's normal, or if it's okay. I miss knowing that I'm being myself."

"Well, that's what we're here for. If you're worried, your friends can help you through that. But what were you thinking of, specifically?"

She folded her hands in her lap. "Jenna, my husband is dead. He's believed to have been on a ship that was found wrecked with no survivors."

Jenna moved to give Mia another comforting hug, but Mia stopped her.

"I suspected for a long time that he was cheating on me. You know how it feels, I realize. I never got up the courage to confront him, or even to acknowledge that anything was wrong. I was afraid of disrupting the peace. But a few days ago, a woman showed up in Imil looking for him. She was his other wife. It was the first actual proof I had of his wrongdoing. Turns out he had a whole family with her, too."

Jenna didn't react, and Mia couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"I know I should be mourning him, but he's been taking advantage of me for years. He knowingly left me lonely, and for what? So he could feel good about seeing someone else behind my back? He literally died betraying me. The ship he was on wasn't a fishing boat, it was a charter to his other family in Tolbi. I gave that bastard two children and a few decades of my life, and he gave me nothing back. How am I supposed to miss him?"

"I... I don't know," said Jenna. "He wronged you, yeah. I didn't know the guy, but didn't you love him at some point if you ended up marrying him?"

Mia shrugged. "Maybe. Probably. The thing is, I don't remember what love feels like anymore. Or when I do, it feels... corrupted. Forced. And I'm not talking about simple crushes, like what I had when I was a teenager." She wrapped her arms around her stomach. "I only remember what it's like to love one person, and it's the one person in the world I know for certain that I should hate. I still feel tingly when I think about him, but I know it's only because of what he did to my mind. It makes me sick."

"Whatever The Empyror did to you-"

"Please don't say his name," pleaded Mia. "It... it still makes me shiver. I just lost my husband, and... it's hard." She didn't want to put it into words, mostly because she didn't want to give her unwanted feelings credence by acknowledging them. She hoped Jenna understood.

"Alright," said Jenna. "Whatever was done to you, it can't be fixed easily. But we'll help you work through it, all of us, no matter how long it takes. You'll get better someday. I promise."

"When I heard he died, I almost had a panic attack. I think that's one of the things he did to me, to punish me for my failure. I still feel like I betrayed him, even though I know I did the right thing. He wanted me to hate you. All of you."

"Do you?"

"...Not anymore," said Mia. "I don't think so."

"Then you're already on the road to recovery," said Jenna. "Don't worry about a thing. Before this happened, you had an excellent sense of right and wrong, and if you listen to your heart I'm sure you'll get back there before you know it."

"I hope so."

They kept talking well into the night, making up for lost time and helping each other deal with recent hardships. They were friends turned rivals turned bitter enemies, and now they were friends again. A lot had happened, and it would all take some getting used to. But they would get through it as friends always had – together.

The flames in the fireplace fluttered out, but the warmth filled the room for a long time afterward.

Sveta woke with a start, her heart hammering in her chest. She'd had the dream again.

Matthew stirred behind her, his arm wrapped around her waist in slumber. But for all his moaning and groaning, he stayed asleep, and for that, Sveta was thankful. She desperately wanted not to have this discussion.

She'd known of Kalay's geographical location thanks to her time as Queen of Morgal – it sat on the edge of the body of water known as the Kalay Causeway – but the implications never occurred to her until she arrived. It was something most people never noticed, especially if they lived near water for a large part of their lives.

But the truth was, water meant wind. And in the evenings in particular, the gusts were fearsome indeed.

The house rocked and creaked, the air echoing outside the windows. Sveta tensed and squeezed her eyes shut, every part of her mind irrationally expecting the pain to come again and tear at every fibre of her being. When the wind finally subsided, she still couldn't relax, because she knew it would start again any second without warning.

It was better now than it was, but only because Matthew was there. Until recently, Sveta had officially been residing at an inn in Kalay, where she slept alone, on the rare occasion sleep was even possible. Once Isaac set out for Imil, though, she wasted no time in moving in with Matthew to share the temporarily-vacant house.

For what felt like the hundredth time, she brought her left hand to her face and gazed at the ring, fiddling with it with her right-hand fingers. She reminded herself that it was worth it, and she knew it to be true. This was what she wanted – the freedom to live her own life. But the price was steep. What good was happily-ever-after if she was woken up every evening by horrible nightmares about that damned prison cell?

The wind shook the house again, this time with even more force than usual. The windows rattled, and Sveta gave a little shriek as she cringed.

She felt Matthew wake with a jolt.

"Something wrong?" he asked, barely awake. "Hey, wait. Sveta, are you crying?"

She hadn't noticed, but yes, there were some tears gently streaming down the side of her face. She wanted to tell him not to worry, that she'd be just fine as always, but unfortunately she was too terrified to form coherent speech. She just turned toward him and pressed her face into his chest.

He traced his fingers along her bare back soothingly. But it wasn't until the windows rattled again several minutes later that he seemed to understand what was wrong.

"Oh, hell," he said. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even think... Hold on, let me take you down to the cellar for a minute. It'll be quieter there."

He led her downstairs carefully, bringing the bedsheets with them; it was a cold night, and they had nothing else to cover them at that moment. They had to pause every half-minute or so due to the gusts hammering the house. Once Sveta got her bearings again, they would continue, ready to stop again at a moment's notice.

They did eventually reach the door that led to the cellar from within the house, and the moment they started descending that dark staircase the noise seemed to subside. It still echoed, but to Sveta it at least seemed distant, and that was enough to keep her going.

Matthew laid the bedsheet on the cold, hard floor and helped her sit, then joined her before wrapping it around them both as much as possible. They sat upright at first. The cellar wasn't designed for sleeping, and it was far from comfortable. Rather chilly, too.

"Sveta," said Matthew, "I think we need to talk about our living arrangements."

She shook her head as she clung to him, still shaking, and only partially from the cellar's cold. "What is there to discuss?" she asked. "I will live where you live. I see no other acceptable option."

"Well, I agree, but I'm just saying that we don't necessarily have to live in Kalay," replied Matthew.

"I can tell where you are going with this," said Sveta. "Belinsk will never accept a human king, so no."

"Why not? I know you miss Morgal, and I know you feel guilty about leaving your people. You don't have to do that. I'm sure they'd get used to it, and I'm sure we could figure something out-"

"Except that if I showed up and declared you king, they would suspect foul play. I have been missing for nearly two months now, and if I just said, 'hello, everything is fine,' the people would be furious. I suspect some would accuse you of blackmailing me, for example."

"But-"

"And another thing... Belinsk Castle extends out onto the water. It would be exactly this windy, if not moreso. So taking the throne would not make the nights easier. Particularly if my regal duties keep us apart."

"You could live in the city itself."

"Not without you."

"You'd willingly never see Belinsk again just so that we could be together?"

"Yes."

Matthew didn't respond. The wind battered the house above them, and it took all of Sveta's willpower to stay focused.

"I will get used to living here," she said. "I must."

"You don't have to," said Matthew. "Let's move to another city. It doesn't matter where."

"But you grew up in Kalay. I would not deny you your home."

"I grew up here, but I'm not particularly attached to it. And if you'd leave home for me, why shouldn't I be willing to do the same for you?"

Matthew lay down, and Sveta did the same shortly after. She pulled the sheets over them for warmth. It didn't work very well.

He stroked her hair, thinking deeply for several minutes. Sveta wanted to say something, or at least to read him to find out what he was thinking. But she didn't want to ruin the moment. And if she was honest with herself, she didn't really want to come to a conclusion. Things were fine the way they were. Why risk stability?

"What's the most important thing for you when it comes to picking a place to live?" Matthew finally asked.

"Do you mean aside from ensuring you can be there too?" asked Sveta. She thought for a moment. A place with no wind, maybe? No, that was a secondary concern. Significant, but still secondary. "I would like to live somewhere that I may still take care of my people. I would be fine with Belinsk if I could keep you as my King without worrying about someone attempting to assassinate one or both of us. I think the people may riot, too, if they think they are to become slaves to non-beastmen again."

"What about just living in Morgal? You could see your people, at least. You'd be nearby in case of emergencies."

"...That would be satisfactory, yes. But where? Border Town? We would need to live somewhere that I would not be recognized, and with the amount of traffic that goes through that city..."

Matthew nodded.

"I hope this doesn't sound weird," he said, "but this whole conversation has just reminded me of a dream I had when we started dating. It keeps coming back to me. At the time, I thought it was sort of silly, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, the dream went like this," he continued. "We lived in Kolima, in a house of our own. We lived a normal, everyday life. No kingdoms to rule, no monsters to fight. And we had kids, too. Two of them. It was... peaceful, I guess. I don't know how else to put it. But I mean, maybe I'm biased, but I keep coming back to Kolima as a solution."

"Peaceful?" asked Sveta. "I suppose... That hardly seems possible, though."

"If you think about it, though," said Matthew, "it solves our biggest problems nicely. It's in Morgal, right near Belinsk. It's just on the other side of the village of Saha, and since Saha is in the way, people don't tend to go into Kolima unless they live there or specifically have business there. It means you're close enough to Belinsk that you could get there in a day, but that you aren't likely to encounter anyone who's seen you before or knows who you are."

Sveta nodded slowly. "I could preserve my anonymity," she said. "It would keep you safe, but would not keep me from helping my people in times of need. "

"You've never been to Kolima though, right? Because here's the best part: when you get deep enough into the forest to reach the village proper, the trees form a kind of barrier. It seems to keep out the outside world completely. When you're alone, and you listen carefully, all you hear is the rustling of leaves in the canopy far above. It's completely silent," he said. "There's no wind, Sveta. Not ever."

Sveta heard the house shake above them while they lay silently on the floor of the dark, cold cellar, and compared it to the idea of living comfortably in a quiet forest.

"...It sounds too good to be true," she said. "Is it really possible?"

"Is what possible?"

"After all we have gone through, it seems hard to believe that it could be so easy. But having a quiet corner of the world to ourselves to raise a family in..." Sveta nuzzled his neck. "That would be nice."

"There'd be some stuff to get used to," said Matthew. "Neither of us really knows how to live normally. You were raised in a royal setting, and I've basically been an adventurer my whole life. We'd have to learn to settle down. But we could do it. We could be happy," he added, taking her hand in his. "I think we've earned it."

"Perhaps... perhaps we should look into it sometime," said Sveta, trying in vain not to get her hopes up. "Just to see."

"Why wait?" asked Matthew impishly. "Let's go tomorrow. We don't even have to tell anyone. Just leave a note for my parents. 'Bye guys, we're going to go find our happy ending. Will write soon.' Nobody's gonna stop us, nobody will try to talk us out of it."

Her heart's pounding now had nothing to do with her fear of the wind. "We can get up early, pack our things, and just go," she added. "Why not? Yes, sure. That sounds fantastic."

"We can stop in Bilibin on the way and say hi to Rief and Maddie, see how they're doing. 'Hey, nice to see you two, just an FYI, Sveta and I got married like a month ago and now we're eloping to Kolima.'"

Sveta laughed. "We can sneak into Belinsk Castle, too. We can find my old advisor, Bentley, whom I trust well enough to keep a secret. 'Evening, sir, why yes, it is good to be back. Sadly, I shall not be staying, and if anyone asks, I am still kidnapped. Expect stern words from me if my replacement messes up the country!'"

"Well, Kraden's there too," said Matthew. "If anything bad happens, he can tell us, and you can show them how it's done."

"Yes, but I think I would be more comfortable telling someone I trust where I am, just so they do not continue to look for me. Could you imagine a palace guard or something showing up in Kolima in twenty-odd years, surprising us?"

"Heh, yeah. Probably best to have someone on the inside preventing that."

The cacophony continued above, but Sveta barely paid attention to it. Her attention was now miles away. In a certain forest town, specifically.

"I have just one question about your dream," she said. "Can you tell me about our children? I look forward to being able to have a family of our own, or at least to try. I still know not whether it will even be possible." She rubbed her thumb against his palm. "But I would love to meet them, someday, if I can."

"Well, no matter what happens," said Matthew, "I think our oldest son gets to be named after his uncle."

"Volechek the Second..." muttered Sveta. "I would like that."

"Me too."

"Matthew?"

"Hmm?"

"When do you want to start having children?"

"Well, uh..." he stammered. "Maybe once we've settled down for a little while. I'm looking forward to it too, but I'd kind of prefer to have you to myself for a while."

"My thoughts exactly," said Sveta with a grin. She shifted her weight, positioning herself on top of him. "Though do you know what else I am thinking about at this moment?"

"What?"

"If we will not conceive a child right away, that does not mean practice is off the table."

Matthew didn't respond, but Sveta had other ways to tell that he agreed wholeheartedly.

Most often, there are few immediately noticeable differences between one ruler's reign and the next. But once in a while, the nation is placed in the hands of a person of great ambition, great talent, or both. Paithos was a skilled ruler, but a traditional one. Ayuthay remained a solid, but modest, nation under his command.

As Karis approached the city walls, it was immediately apparent that King Amiti had some changes in mind for his people.

She headed across the new bridge that, while still under construction, was already wide enough for her to safely cross at the same time as a man with a massive, empty cart going in the opposite direction. There were stonemasons hard at work touching-up the outer walls, and the palace itself – which had looked to be a ruin when she saw it for the first time nearly a year prior – had a polish and a majesty to match any other seat of power she had ever seen. It was almost like the Empyror's tower in Tuaparang, but without the fear and malice that ran through every corridor.

Also, it was made of stone instead of steel. Ayuthay was famous for its stonemasonry, not its technology.

Not yet anyway.

"Umm, excuse me?" asked Karis of one of the men painting a brand new stone pillar on the path leading to the palace entrance. He wore no shirt, and his bare chest had a few splotches of blue and white where he had spilled paint. "Could you tell me where King Amiti is, please? I'd like to speak with him."

The man looked up at her with some disdain. Other than Amiti himself, the members of the group – already known in some parts as the Warriors of the Eclipse – were not particularly well celebrated in Ayuthay. They'd visited once or twice, but were not as instrumental or significant here as they were to Morgal or Champa, for example. It made sense that this man wouldn't recognize her. It would have seemed that a random teenager was asking for an immediate audience with the King without any warning.

"He's probably in the undercity somewhere," said the painter. "Look for one of the newer developments, he likes to be on the leading edge. But he's very busy, don't be surprised if-"

She ignored him and headed into the palace proper.

There were wide patches of cloth covering the remains of some of the statues destroyed by Kaocho back in the war. Some of the walls carried deep gouges too, likely caused by the rampage of the Eclipse monsters. It said a lot, in her mind, that Amiti had chosen to refurbish the path toward the palace and expand the undercity before repairing or replacing some of the older pieces of Ayuthay's history. The above-ground sections of the palace were all open for anyone coming or going, and the formerly-locked doors appeared to have been completely removed. What was more, the side passages appeared to have been widened, and cart tracks along the floor indicated that there were probably new ramps leading to the undercity for carts carrying stone or other building materials to traverse.

Karis just took a ladder.

The undercity looked very rough, but in more ways than one; in one sense, there were still tents, garbage, and the signs of wear that indicated that this chamber had held an entire city's population for the duration of the Eclipse. But on the other hand, there were scaffolds, strewn tools, and raw materials to suggest that work was well underway. Rough like a neglected street, but also rough like an uncut diamond.

More shirtless men and dress-clad women moved busily around the area. They all looked like they had places to be. Interestingly, none of them appeared to be merchants; Karis remembered the chamber containing several shops and stores, and they all appeared to have been taken down. They would likely have gotten underfoot during the construction anyway.

A good number of people seemed to be heading in one direction. Karis assumed that was the way to the busiest construction site, and Amiti would likely be in that area. She'd prepared her speech and her proposal ahead of time. Everything she needed was in the airship just outside the city limits. It would be nice to see him again after all this time, but she harbored no illusions in her mind: this was a business trip above all else.

She followed the crowd to the newest tunnel system. At first, she didn't see Amiti. But that was because when the painter told her that the king would be in the newest construction site, she assumed he'd be overseeing the work, or in a different supervisory position.

Not at all. It took some searching, but when she found him, he was right in with the common workers, fitting stones to construct the new tunnel thoroughfare.

She did a double-take when she saw him. And then she lost most of her composure.

The last time she had seen him, he was wearing his adventuring outfit: elaborate, and obviously regal, but it still preserved his modesty. The last time she had seen him shirtless was right when they met him, when he was a pudgy prince who wanted to see what an adventure was like.

Some part of her realized that he had spent most of the past several months training hard to become the groups combat-centric Mercury Adept. He was a master with a bow, and almost her match with a light blade. What he lacked in healing talent compared to Rief, he more than made up in versatility in battle.

The part of her that considered this, though – the rational part – was utterly drowned out by the rest of her, which was thinking nothing but Holy Gods, that man got in shape, didn't he?

She didn't know how much time she spent staring – blocking traffic, coincidentally – but he turned and spotted her before she could approach him. He waved, setting his tools aside and standing to meet her. She swallowed, blushed, and waved back.

He drew near her, and she completely forgot her pitch. It was to begin with something along the lines of, "Good afternoon, King Amiti. I have a proposal for you." Straight and to the point, respectful, and it set the tone for a professional meeting, letting him know that she wanted to get things done instead of simply catching up.

But she did not give her prepared speech. Instead what she said, after working her mouth uselessly for a second, was "Hiya."

Smooth, Karis.

"Afternoon, Karis!" replied Amiti, wiping his dusty hands on his pants. "It IS afternoon, isn't it? I've been down here since this morning, I have no idea what time it is outside."

She nodded. "Umm, yeah," she said. "So, er... hi." Her eyes kept snapping back to his chest and abdomen, which appeared firm, worked, and slightly glistening with the sweat of a good day's work.

Amiti followed her gaze and blushed. "Oh! Sorry," he said. "I know you aren't accustomed to the Ayuthay style of dress. I can take a break for now, just follow me, I'll put on a shirt, and we can catch up." He waved an apology to some of the men he was working with and set off back through the tunnels.

"That might help," admitted Karis, moving to follow him. "Thanks. Uh, sorry about that."

"Don't worry. If I'd known you were coming, I might have prepared."

"It was kind of spur-of-the-moment."

"You walked from Kalay to Ayuthay just on a whim?" asked Amiti, weaving through a crowd that smiled and saluted him as he passed. "That's dedication."

"I mean, it wasn't a whim, I had... a proposal, I think..." Karis trailed off, watching the way his back muscles worked as he led the way through the undercity's maze of passages. Gods, was she really that sheltered? "Can we talk when we're alone? A lot's obviously happened, and it'd probably best if we have each other's full attention- I mean, if we could pay full attention to the conversation."

"Of course," replied Amiti, who luckily didn't look back in time to see her face glowing bright red with embarrassment.

When they reached the royal meeting room, Amiti gestured for Karis to take a seat, disappearing into another room and reappearing a minute later, fully clothed. He looked exactly as Karis remembered, if with slightly longer hair now.

"I'm really, really sorry about that," Karis said. "It's just been a while, I guess, since I saw that much of a guy I knew... I mean, umm... Y'know."

"Don't worry," said Amiti, waving away her concerns. "I was sort of the same when I got back at first. It just isn't customary for men to wear shirts here, for the most part, and even though I grew up thinking that was the norm, it was a bit of a shock after seeing everybody fully clothed for so long."

"Yup, I get that," said Karis. "You've, uh, gotten in pretty good shape. Since I last saw you shirtless, I mean. Not that you were really out of shape, I should say-"

"No, I was, though!" said Amiti. "I was downright chubby when we met the first time. It was hard, but I knew I needed to be on par with the rest of the group. I learned a lot in my time out in the world with you. I learned about the value of hard work and motivation, and now that I have a country to rule, I'm applying those lessons to the fullest extent."

"That's why you were out there doing the manual work instead of just supervising?"

"I'm pretty convinced now that anyone who claims to be supervising is just taking the easy way out," agreed Amiti. "I can lead just as easily from the front, and I find that nothing builds morale like setting a good example. The fact is, Ayuthay came out of the Eclipse better than almost anyone else on the continent. It's our responsibility as a people to set the pace for the rest of Ei-Jei. We're already providing relief efforts to Sana, and even to Kaocho. Ayuthay needs a strong leader who can make the most of this time of recovery. I'm working just as hard as anyone else is, and that inspires everyone to give it their all." He scratched his head. "In theory, I mean. I'm doing my best. I want to honor Paithos's memory by being a great king. "

Karis laughed. "I'm certain you'd make him proud. Wow, all this coming from the guy who basically set out with us because he had nothing better to do? You've grown, Amiti. I like it."

Amiti gave her a gentle but sincere smile. "I'm glad you approve."

"Oh, actually," said Karis, "that reminds me of why I'm here. It was a spur-of-the-moment visit, but it definitely wasn't just whimsy. Long story short, I got my hands on a crapton of Tuaparang research data. I've spent the past two months or so working away at applying it all, and I've made a whole lot of progress, but there's only so much I can do alone."

"Tuaparang research data?" asked Amiti. "Sounds like you've got a story to tell."

She shrugged. "Yeah, we had a short-but-eventful outing a while back. Tuaparang made a push, we fought back and destroyed them once and for all." She paused. "It was... costly. More costly than anything we've ever done. But it's over now, and like I said, I got the chance to collect a good portion of their notes. I've been trying to decipher their technology."

"And you need a sponsor," finished Amiti for her, "so you can get access to certain rare or valuable materials for your research."

"Exactly," said Karis. "I don't want to take advantage of your generosity, of course. I'd be more than happy to place a higher priority on figuring out stuff that Ayuthay needs first-"

"That won't be necessary. You're my friend, and I'd do this as a favour anyway. Anything the nation gets out of it is just a perk."

"Aww, that's sweet of you. But don't worry, it'll be worthwhile. You know how I got to Ayuthay?" asked Karis rhetorically. "I flew here. On an airship. I didn't build it all by myself, but it was practically a wreck when I laid my hands on it, and I repaired it using the things I learned from my notes. What's more, with a little help from Rief's mother Mia, I managed to build what amounted to a full set of prosthetic legs for Karst-"

"Who's Karst?"

"She's, umm... nevermind. Complicated."

Amiti smiled. "Well, whatever you say. It sounds exciting. If you need somewhere to stay, I can find a place in the palace for you. I can probably set aside a room as a research lab, even. I'd gladly host you. It's nice just to have you around."

She blushed and smiled. "Thanks. It's nice to be here."

He looked away. "It's a shame that the world has seen so much sadness lately," he said. "I heard what happened to Sveta. I don't know what to say."

Karis paled. "You... you heard?"

"Yes," he said. "Abducted in broad daylight, and her people have no idea where she is or if she's even still alive. I wish I could send people to search for her myself, but Morgal is just too far away..."

After sighing with relief, Karis burst out laughing. "Oh, that! No, nonono! Don't worry! She's..." Karis lowered her voice to a whisper. "Is anyone listening? This is kind of hush-hush."

Amiti glanced around before leaning in. "We're alone, as far as I know," he whispered back. "Why? What's going on? Is Sveta alright?"

"Better than alright!" laughed Karis. "Okay, real talk. The Tuaparang kidnapped her almost two months ago. That was what set off the adventure I was talking about. She escaped literally the next day. The thing is, she and Matthew hooked up, and they just haven't gotten around to telling the beastmen that she's okay!"

"What?! Are you serious? Matthew and Sveta got together?!"

"Yeah! Oh gods, last I saw of them, they were making a beeline for Kolima," said Karis. "I think they literally plan to elope. No idea what they're gonna do about Belinsk, but I don't think she's going back."

Amiti's jaw dropped. "That's... That's so irresponsible, and yet so Sveta. Wow, her and Matthew... I mean, in retrospect, they WERE kind of all over each other-"

"That's what everyone keeps saying!"

"-But yeah, didn't expect that. Belinsk seems to be recovering alright, actually. Not as quickly as they were when Sveta was still on the throne, but they'll survive without her, easily."

"That's good news," said Karis. "I think she'll want to hear that, in fact. Once I get set up here I need to make a few trips, and I'll be sure to stop by and visit them on the way. I need to see Eoleo, too, I have this method of indoor irrigation that I think will be revolutionary for Champa-"

"How are you handling this, though, if you don't mind me asking?" said Amiti. "I don't want to kill the mood, but... Matthew with Sveta? Weren't you and him, uh...?"

"Huh?"

Amiti blushed. "Nevermind. I guess it was nothing, I just... I must have assumed-"

"Oh, you mean... oh." Karis frowned. "Yeah, no, Matthew and I were never together. To be honest... I guess I kinda had a thing for him for a while. But I'm over that. I'm just happy that everything's turning out so well for him and Sveta. They're kind of adorable together."

"Wow, heheh. And here I thought you were spoken for." Amiti cleared his throat. "I mean... nevermind. I'm glad you came to visit, and I look forward to hearing more about what happened. For now, I should probably get back to work, though. I'll find some people to assign you your rooms, and I'll get someone to help fetch your equipment and your notes."

"That's fine, and that'd be great. Thanks."

"Make yourself at home. And if you don't have anything else going on," he said, "maybe you'd like to join me for dinner tonight? If you plan to live in Ayuthay for the foreseeable future, it only makes sense for me to throw you a welcoming party."

Karis smiled. "I'd like that. I'll see you then."

Amiti grinned at her and waved goodbye, heading for the door to get back to work.

It struck Karis as odd that she hadn't even thought of her failed crush for such a long time. She'd admired Matthew since she was little, and yeah, she'd been bitter at first when Sveta won him over. But it seemed better this way. It felt so normal already for Matthew and Sveta to be a pair that she practically thought of them as a single unit now. With all of the research and experimentation Karis had been doing, she'd paid them little attention anyway. As long as she got to go to their wedding she'd be fine.

Yes, Matthew was long gone from her mind. It had been silly to dwell on one guy for so long, she thought.

She leaned forward, peeking out the open door.

Amiti took off his shirt and tossed it aside, hurrying through another doorway to rejoin the crowds, his every movement demanding the respect and admiration of those around him.

Yes, there were plenty of other fish in the sea.

Knock, knock, knock.

The door opened, and light streamed into the otherwise dark hallway. Matthew removed his hood, realizing that it would be wise to avoid spooking the famously skittish squirrel-man.

"Sir Matthew?" yelped Bentley, who jumped with so much surprise that his nightcap actually bounced an inch off his head before falling back into place. "What are you doing here at this time of night? Do you have word of the Queen?"

Matthew nodded. "That was actually what I came to talk to you about." He stepped aside, revealing the other dark, hooded figure standing in the shadows.

Sveta pulled her hood back very slightly – not enough to reveal herself if someone happened to come by, but enough that her former aide could see her face.

Bentley replied with a cartoonishly wide, buck-toothed smile. "Your Majesty!" he began to cry.

In an instant, Sveta was across the hallway, one hand clamped over his mouth. "Not now!" she said. "Someone may hear." She inclined her head toward her aide's room. "Inside."

The squirrelman nodded shakily. He led the way inside, and Matthew closed the door behind them.

Sveta pulled her hood off the rest of the way and let Bentley go, but put a finger to her lips to remind him to stay quiet.

"How fares Morgal in my absence?" asked Sveta. "I have heard little news."

"Your nation is thriving, Your Majesty," barely-whispered Bentley. "We're seeing less growth than we did when you oversaw matters directly, of course, but all things considered, we're well on our way to a full recovery!"

"What of the war?"

Bentley blinked. "That, umm, ended."

"I know, we were involved in Bilibin's revolution."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"But that was months ago! You were abducted! Were you really free all this-"

"Yes."

Matthew laughed. He had no idea what Sveta's plans were for this meeting... beyond the way it was going to end, of course.

"All I know of the war," said Sveta, "is that Morgal was apparently winning anyway. How is that possible? Bilibin was prepared for the Eclipse."

"I'm sorry to say that I know little about that issue," replied Bentley. "The majority of the war efforts were organized by a single soldier. He apparently employed a very successful guerilla campaign with only a very small group."

"One soldier?" asked Sveta. "Is he in the castle? I would like to meet him."

Bentley frowned. "I'm sure the feeling is mutual," he said, "but he was one of the soldiers who left the country to search for you. He's sure to return before long, though."

"What a shame. I suppose it is just as well, though," she said. "I would like to limit knowledge of this as much as possible."

"Your Majesty?"

"I admit I was still uncertain on this issue until you told me how well Morgal was doing," Sveta declared, "but now there is no doubt in my mind. I shall not be returning to retake the throne. Thank you for keeping the nation steady in my absence, and for continuing to do so in the future."

Bentley's mind broke.

"What."

Sveta smiled sweetly. "You have done such a good job that I cannot bear to take this responsibility away from you!" She stepped toward Matthew and wrapped her arms around him, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I will be retiring to Kolima Village with my new husband. We shall remain there in case of an emergency. We were married in secret, but consider this an invitation to out official wedding, whenever it takes place."

"Whaaaaaaaaaat."

"Oh, calm down. You have done well, and as before, I invite you to find a replacement if you yourself cannot handle the duties associated with ruling Morgal," she said. "You grasp, of course, that news of my survival must be kept quiet at all costs. This must be our little secret."

Bentley whimpered.

"Thank you for being so understanding," said Sveta. "Good luck." Then to Matthew, she said, "Coming, my love?"

For the squirrelman's benefit (or rather, quite the opposite), Matthew swept Sveta up in a startlingly passionate kiss. She seemed surprised at first, but reciprocated heavily before long. He pulled her hood back up, then they pulled apart and he opened the door for her. She moved through into the hall.

"Umm! Wait..." said Bentley, practically vibrating through sheer nervousness. "If, if you change your mind, and you decide you want the throne back, it's fine! Just tell me whenever!"

"Thank you, Bentley," said Sveta.

"Seriously, any time! If you want the power and recognition back... or, I mean, any of your line, if they want it, I'll make sure you can take it back! We love our royal family very much!"

"I appreciate the offer, Mr. Bentley," said Sveta. "Goodbye!"

Matthew shut the door behind them.

And just like that, Sveta was finally, truly free.

Ten years after Tuaparang.

"So what do you think?" asked Matthew. "Good idea?"

Sveta nodded. "Acceptable," she said. "I feel like it could have worked out a bit better, though."

"I think it looks great, and I also think she won't care how it looks." He stuck out a finger and swept up a bit of icing from the edge, popping it into his mouth. "It tastes great, and it's vaguely sword-shaped. She'll love it."

He deftly placed five candles into the "hilt" of the cake, then turned and went to the window.

Young Volechek was carefully working the knobs on one of his little sister's new birthday presents while she excitedly watched over his shoulder. Karis had sent Emily a fancy gadget, a sort of miniature airship that one could control via a small magic box. Vol had been the first one to figure out how to work it properly, and now he was showing his sister how it was done. The toy airship floated gracefully through the forest clearing.

Before long, she seized the box from his hands and cranked a knob to maximum. The airship spun wildly, flipped upside-down, and crashed.

"Aww, hell," said Matthew as he watched. "I hope that thing's durable."

"Did she crash it already?" Sveta asked with more resignation than surprise.

Matthew nodded. "We can figure it out later," he said. Then he opened the window and called the kids back inside.

He went to light the candles, but before he could begin, he felt a weak pulse of psynergy from outside. He turned to look, and Vol had fallen flat on his face. He was scrambling to get up and shouting something at his sister, who ignored him and raced past him toward the house.

Matthew felt a very uncomfortable feeling of deja vu.

"Is something wrong?" asked Sveta.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, I just-"

Then he heard Emily crying outside the front door, and he and Sveta ran out to see what was wrong.

She'd fallen and lightly scraped her knee. It was nothing serious, and she forgot about it a minute later when she saw her sword-shaped birthday cake. She hopped up into her chair and waited impatiently for the rest of the family to take their places.

"Five years old already," whispered Matthew to his wife. "Can you believe it?"

Sveta shook her head. "Gods, but it feels far longer than that," she joked.

Matthew laughed. A torrent of memories flooded into his mind. Moving into their new house. Their official wedding, which saw three full royal entourages arriving in Kolima Forest in secret. The look on Sveta's face when she told him she was expecting a child. Anniversaries. Birthdays. Winter, spring, summer, fall. All peaceful, all blissful. For once, everything was as it deserved to be.

He lit the candles, they all sang, and Emily blew them out. Sveta cut the cake and served it. There was laughter and celebration in the air.

In between bites of cake, Emily leaned over to Vol and whispered: "Technically, I still beat you home."

Matthew felt a sudden feeling of dread.

Sveta tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to face her.

For some reason he associated this moment very strongly with pain. Why?

His wife reached out and put her hand on his neck.

She pulled him down.

He cringed, expecting to feel the crack of his nose against the floor.

Instead, her lips met his.

Okay, he was fine with this.

"Guys, new birthday rule," said Emily sternly. "No kissing at the dinner table."

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

"For this is the end, I've drowned and dreamt this moment, so overdue I owe them..."

-Adele, "Skyfall Theme"

'Kay, now it's ACTUALLY over. Gonna start working on Chronicles and Means to an End shortly, MtE chapter 2 is about 3/4 done already but I have a few minor edits to do too before I put it up.

...It might also be a while because I had planned to take November off for NaNoWriMo, and I still want to get some work done on my project for that. But it turns out that writing original material can be really tough, and I got sick enough of doing research and plotting character arcs that I decided to take a break and write this 15k word epilogue. I'm sure that will happen again before the month is out. Seriously, I can sit down for two hours and write 3000 words of fanfics, or I can sit down for two hours and write 500 words of original content.

Anyway, I think this is a nice, long chapter. I think I wrapped up all the loose ends. If not, tell me and I'll fix it later. If any of you are particularly confused by that last section, go back and re-read the opening of Chapter 7.

Thanks for reading!

Oh, and stay tuned for the sequels.