AN: So... yes, indeed. The final chapter. It's a long one, but it's still the final one. *sobs* I'm pretty sad it's over, too, but, well, I figured there's no use in dragging it out - that would only make it boring. Plus, now I can focus on Wonderwomen again... and on the two other fics I'm currently working on *stares at feet in shame*.

I'm glad you all liked the Fiyeraba fluff in the previous chapter :). More to come here.

Siarenthander: No... Not really, I think. Perhaps subconsciously ;).

Musicgal: I'm glad I got you so... um... enthusiastic... about the previous chapter :P.

By the way, just a Sister Act rant: it was once again so very awesome! I saw Nurlaila Karim this time (she's the alternate for Deloris), she wasn't on the planning but I was happy I got to see her, and she was just plain amazing! (Wasn't there one of you who said Nurlaila was your cousin? Well, you were right, she completely rocks and she's so happy and bouncy, it was really awesome to watch :D.)

Now I've got all the songs stuck in my head again. Take me to heeeeeaaaaaaaven... (In Dutch, of course.) Ik wil genaaaaaaade... ^_^ So anyway, I loved it. I wish I could see a musical every day. I wish watching musicals was like working, or studying, or brushing your teeth - just part of the daily routine :D. But unfortunately, it cannot be ;_;.

Enough ranting - on with the story!

Chapter 43. Home

'It's my fault,' Fiyero said, panicking. Glinda placed a hand on his shoulder. 'Fifi…'

'It is,' Fiyero insisted. He sighed and sat down on the couch, his head in his hands. 'She must have gotten scared… ran away. I can't even blame her.'

'Fifi, what are you talking about?' Glinda demanded, and Fiyero looked up at her, a miserable expression on his face. 'She told me she loved me last night.'

Glinda squealed and Cohvu grinned broadly. 'Awesome.'

'Yeah, well, apparently not,' snapped Fiyero. 'Since she's gone now… and it must have something to do with yesterday, right? It's just… it's too much of a coincidence.'

'Then we go and look for her,' Glinda persisted. 'She can't have gone that far.'

They agreed on that. Fiyero, Glinda, and Cohvu set out to look for Elphaba, while Amaia and Boq stayed at their home to wait for her there.

They spent the rest of the day looking for Elphaba; they didn't find her. It was only when they were sitting down for dinner that Boq suddenly sucked in his breath. 'I know where she is.'

Utensils clattered onto plates and everyone was staring at him. 'Where?' Fiyero demanded urgently, but Boq shook his head. He hesitated. 'I… I think I should go to her,' he said quietly. 'If she is where I think she is…' He looked at his mother, frowning slightly. 'What day is today?' he asked her, and she screwed up her nose, puzzled. 'Wednesday?'

Boq shook his head, and then it dawned on Amaia. She gasped. 'Oh… of course.' She shook her head. 'Stupid! How could I not have realised that?'

Boq gave her a faint smile and pushed back his chair. 'I'll go find her,' he said. 'But don't expect us back until tomorrow morning.'

Amaia smiled at him. 'Good luck, Boq. Take a blanket with you!' she called after him, and he nodded and pulled two blankets from a closet before leaving the house.

'Where is he going?' Fiyero demanded in a high voice. 'Where is Fae? Is she okay?'

Amaia placed a hand on his shoulder. 'Don't worry about her, Fiyero,' she said gently. 'She's fine.'

'What's going on, then?' He wasn't reassured in the slightest. 'Does it have something to do with me?'

Amaia sighed. 'No, Fiyero. It has nothing to do with you.' She rubbed her head. 'She should have said something to one of us about it,' she muttered. 'But then again… she probably figured we'd remember. How could I forget?' She shook her head and looked up at the sky. 'I'm sorry, Mel.'

Cohvu suddenly understood. 'Mel, as in… Melena? Elphaba's mother?'

Glinda gasped. 'Is today the day she died?'

Amaia nodded, a sad smile on her face. 'Yes. It's been exactly ten years today.'

'"Look for it in the place I spend exactly one night each year",' Cohvu muttered under his breath, understanding suddenly dawning on him. The others looked at him, puzzled. 'What?'

'That's what she said,' Cohvu explained, 'when the Shadows kidnapped her. She told me to keep the locket safe, and she said that I had to look for it in the place she spends exactly one night each year. Well, obviously the locket wasn't there back then, since it was with Amaia, but… was she talking about her mother's grave?'

Amaia nodded. 'Frex was always worried about that habit of hers,' she said softly. 'Every year, she disappears on the day of her mother's death and she sleeps on her grave. For her, it's a way to cope.'

Fiyero exhaled slowly. 'Alright. I'd better leave her alone, then?'

Amaia smiled at him. 'I know you want to help her, Fiyero, but I think the best way for you to help her right now is to leave her be. Just for today. She'll come back, and she'll be fine, I promise.'

When Elphaba heard footsteps approach, she looked up, her face stained with tears. She had been alternately sitting on Melena, Frex, and Nessa's grave, softly talking to them as if they could still hear her; and she didn't want to be disturbed. Usually, she wasn't, since no one ever came in this far corner of the graveyard, but the footsteps were distinctly heading her way.

She smiled faintly when she saw that it was Boq. 'Hi.'

He smiled back. 'Hey.' He looked at her, noting that she was currently sitting on Nessa's grave, and she scooted over a little. 'It's big enough for the two of us,' she offered with another weak smile, and he chuckled sadly and joined her. They both started at the headstone for a while, neither of them speaking.

'We were worried,' Boq said finally. 'We didn't realise what day it was.'

She looked at him. 'Sorry. I should have said something.'

He shook his head. 'It's fine,' he said. 'We should have known.' He shifted around a little.

'Weird, isn't it?' he finally said, so softly that she only barely heard him. 'That only just over a week ago…'

He didn't continue, but he didn't have to – she knew what he was thinking. 'She was still here,' she finished just as quietly, and he nodded.

A sob escaped his lips. 'I miss her so much,' he whispered, and in a rare gesture of affection, she hugged him. 'I know,' she said, her voice sounding strangled with tears. 'I do, too.'

'And…' He sobbed again. 'And I know you keep telling me that it wasn't my fault, but…' Tears started pouring from his eyes, and Elphaba kept her arm around his shoulders. '…but I'm still so sorry!' Boq cried, and Elphaba cried, too. 'It's okay,' she whispered. 'Really. I know you loved her, Boq. She loved you, too. It wasn't your fault, I swear it wasn't.'

He hiccupped. 'It's just…' He tried to take deep, steady breaths, but didn't succeed. 'I… I lost her,' he whispered. 'I don't know if I can go on like this… It… it just feels… empty.'

Elphaba sat up straight, taking his hands in hers. 'Boq,' she said solemnly. 'I'm going to tell you something now that I told Nessa… the day that she died.' She swallowed. 'She said to me…' She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, picturing her sister's scared face that day, her pleading hazel eyes. 'She told me that she felt like it had all been too much,' she said. 'Mom's death, and then Dad… and everything else that had happened. She wasn't sure if she could go on, if she could handle it and move on with her life. I told her…' She swallowed again and licked her lips, which suddenly felt dry. 'Essentially, I pointed out how far she already came. She was hurt and she grieved for our parents, but she was getting better – she had you, and Amaia… you helped her get over it. Cohvu, Glinda, and Fiyero did the same thing for me. She found it hard to let people in, but she did and she fell in love with you. No matter how scared, hurt, angry, or sad she was, she didn't let it get her down. Not the way I did, right after it had happened. She was so much stronger than she ever gave herself credit for…'

For a moment, there was a faraway look in Elphaba's eyes, but then she shook her head and focused on Boq again. 'Boq,' she said gravely. 'I know it hurts, but you need to remember that you're not alone. Your mother is there for you, the way she always was… and so am I. Even Glin and Cohvu and Fiyero are there for you now. You're not alone, Boq. It feels that way, with her gone, but it's not the truth.'

He surprised them both by suddenly throwing his arms around her and crying into her shoulder, and she surprised him in turn by holding him and rubbing his back comfortingly. 'You're going to be okay, Boq,' she whispered. 'We're all going to be okay in the end.'

They sat in silence for a while. Darkness fell and the air grew colder, causing Elphaba to shiver; Boq handed her a blanket. The both huddled in their respective blankets, Elphaba moving to her father's grave, Boq staying on Nessa's.

'Hey, Dad,' whispered Elphaba, touching the headstone. She took a deep breath. 'I love you.'

She leaned forward, resting her forehead against the cold stone. 'I'm sorry I haven't said it before for so long,' she whispered. 'After Mom died… I guess I just got scared. But I always did love you. Thank you for everything you've done for me…' Her voice trailed off. It was as if she could hear his voice on the wind, and for a moment she closed her eyes and imagined him to be next to her, calling her 'pet' the way he always did.

She opened her eyes again and looked at her mother's grave. 'You, too, Mom.'

She moved back a little, lying down on her stomach on Melena's grave, staring at the headstone.

'Take good care of Nessie for me,' she whispered. 'I'm sure she could manage on her own, but I'd rather she didn't have to. And please tell her I love her.'

She looked over at Boq, who appeared to have fallen asleep on his girlfriend's grave. Elphaba pushed her hands in the pockets of her dress to keep them warm, but she frowned when her fingers touched something.

She pulled the object from her pocket. It was the locket – she had almost forgotten that she had put it there.

She turned the locket around in her hands. She had never meant for the three Objects to stay together. It was too dangerous to leave that much power into a single person's hands, even if that single person was herself.

She hadn't figured out for sure what to do with the other Objects yet, but she suddenly realised what would be the perfect place for this one.

She pressed the pads of her fingers against the soft earth just in front of Melena's headstone; then she started digging.

'It was always yours, Mom,' she whispered as she gently placed the locket inside the hole she'd dug. She started closing it up again, moving the earth back on top of the piece of jewellery until it was completely buried in the sand – buried with her mother. 'I took care of it the best I could,' she added. 'Now I'm giving it back to you.'

She pressed a kiss to the headstone. Then she curled up under her blanket and fell asleep.

When Amaia and Fiyero entered the small clearing in the graveyard together, early the next morning, they were both slightly stunned by the sight in front of them. Boq was curled up on Nessa's grave, fast asleep; his left arm was stretched out, reaching for Elphaba, who was sleeping on Melena's grave. She, too, had one arm stretched out towards Boq. In between them, on Frex's grave, their fingers had met, and they were clutching each other's hand tightly even in sleep.

Amaia moved towards her son. 'Boq,' she whispered, softly shaking him to wake him. He stirred, then opened his eyes. Amaia gently helped him up as he unlaced his fingers from Elphaba's, and she smiled at Fiyero before taking her son with her, in the direction of their home.

Fiyero, meanwhile, knelt down next to Elphaba, softly placing his hand on her shoulder. 'Fae?' he asked softly. 'Wake up, a chroí.'

She stirred and half-opened her eyes, then smiled and closed them again when she saw it was him, reaching out for him. 'Yero…'

'Are you alright?' he asked, laying down beside her and wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She turned in his arms to face him, opening her eyes now. 'Yes.'

'Are you sure?' he whispered, their noses touching, and she looked up at him and nodded. 'Yes. I am, actually,' she said. She snuggled closer to him, nuzzling his cheek. 'Don't get me wrong,' she said softly. 'I still think about them a lot. But I've thought a lot about it last night, and I've talked to Boq… and I realised that… that the fact that they're still always on my mind isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as I don't let it hold me back.' She looked up at him again, her eyes huge in the light of the rising sun. 'Does that make any sense?'

A sudden lump in his throat prevented him from speaking again, so he just nodded and drew her closer. He pressed a kiss to her hair. 'Yes,' he whispered finally. 'That makes perfect sense, a chiste.' He lowered his head and softly kissed her lips. 'I'm so proud of you,' he murmured, resting his forehead against hers and looking into her eyes. 'And I love you so much.'

She smiled and kissed him back. 'I love you, too,' she said softly, and he started grinning like an idiot again. 'Really?' he asked, pinning him down underneath him, and she laughed. 'You do know that I could still beat you within a clock-tick if I wanted to, right?'

He made a face. 'I think I should take some kickboxing lessons myself. I feel kind of stupid that I can't even beat my own croí eile, who is at least a head smaller and half as muscular as I am.'

'Don't take it personally,' she advised him with a smirk, but then she leaned up and kissed him again. 'But to answer your question… yes,' she said softly. 'Really.'

He kissed her again, and they stayed there for another while before Elphaba rose to her feet. 'I'm going back,' she said. 'I'm freezing.'

He nodded. 'Take a hot shower, that should warm you up.' He hesitated. 'You go on ahead,' he finally said. 'I'll be right there.'

She gave him a confused look, but nodded. 'Okay.' She left the clearing, and Fiyero turned back around to face the graves.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. 'Okay,' he said to the graves. 'Honestly… this would be hard enough if you were still alive, but like this, it's extra awkward. But I still want to do it, even if you can't really give me an answer… I don't know. It just feels right.' He cleared his throat again.

'Okay. So, um… Mr. and Mrs. Thropp… I haven't really known either of you all that well, but I know how much Elphaba loves you. And that kind of makes me love you as well, because I really, really love her, and, well… I love you already just for putting Elphaba on this world.' He flushed a little. 'That sounds cheesy, right?' He paused. Who was he kidding? He was talking to graves – it wasn't as if Frex would rise from it to scold the prince for being cheesy.

'I would have loved to get to know you better,' Fiyero continued quietly, 'but unfortunately, I didn't get that chance. The only thing I could still do for you now is to take care of your daughter, and I kind of came here today to ask you for your permission to do that.'

He licked his lips nervously. 'I mean… You know… I would really like your blessing to marry Elphaba,' he finally blurted out.

He was met with silence. The wind blew through the treetops, rustling the grass. Somewhere in the distance there was a bird singing.

Suddenly, he felt very stupid. What an idiot he was, to come here to talk to graves – and talking to them wasn't the worst part, no, the really idiotic part was that just for a clock-tick, he had expected that he would get a reply. As if Frex and Melena's spirits would suddenly drop from the sky to tell him if they agreed or not.

Suddenly, a small, brightly coloured butterfly appeared from the meadow behind the cemetery. Fiyero held his breath as the animal landed on Nessarose's gravestone, opening and closing its wings as if it was winking at him.

'Nessa?' he whispered, immediately after which he wanted to smack his own forehead. Don't be stupid, Tiggular. You're going insane now.

'Fiyero?'

He whirled around, still half expecting to see any of Elphaba's deceased family members standing there, but it was Elphaba herself. She had scrunched up her nose in thought and she looked incredibly confused.

'I know this probably sounds really stupid,' she finally said. 'But… I think I just had some sort of vision. I think my Mom was talking to me. And that in itself isn't even all that strange - I mean, she's done that before… or I think she has… you know, when she warned me to run, the day my Dad was killed…' She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. 'Anyway, it was kind of weird,' she admitted. 'I heard my Mom's voice, and I think what she said was, 'Tell Fiyero he's got it'. Only I have no idea what that means. I mean, I don't know, perhaps I'm still not entirely awake… you know what?' she finally decided. 'Never mind. It probably wasn't real, anyway- Yero? Why are you looking at me like that?'

As soon as she had mentioned what it was her mother had said, he had turned pale as a sheet; then his eyes nearly bulged out of his head, and now he was grinning so broadly that it seemed like his face was going to split in two. She shuffled on the spot, uncomfortable. 'Fiyero? Are you okay?'

Suddenly, he ran towards her, swept her off her feet – literally – and spun her around, before putting her back on her feet and running over to Frex and Melena's graves, making a big show of kissing them. 'Thank you!' he called up to the sky. 'Thank you so much!'

When he turned around, Elphaba was looking at him with one raised eyebrow – she seemed partly amused, partly confused, and partly worried. 'Should I call the mental hospital?' she asked him, only half joking, and he shook his head, still grinning. 'No need for that,' he told her. He lifted her up in his arms, making her yelp in surprise. 'Fiyero! What in Oz are you doing?'

'I'll tell you later what this was all about,' he promised. He kissed her. 'I love you.'

With that, he started walking back towards the Parlone's house, ignoring Elphaba's questions and protests. He looked back over his shoulder once.

The butterfly was still on Nessa's headstone, winking at him.

'See?' Glinda said smugly. 'I told you it would go amazifyingly. My parents loved you. They even asked me if you would come to Gillikin with me once in a vacation, so that the rest of the family can meet you.'

Elphaba was stunned. 'Really?'

Glinda nodded. 'And believe me, that's a thing. They've never asked me that before.'

Fiyero said, 'Mine were pretty enthusiastic, yesterday, too.' He put his arm around Elphaba's shoulders and she gave a slightly nervous laugh. 'I guess you could say that.' She looked at Glinda. 'They invited me to come with them to the Vinkus. To live with them.'

Glinda squealed. 'Oh my Oz, Elphie, that's amazing!' she gushed. 'You've accepted, haven't you? I mean, Elphie…' She hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to say this. 'You don't really have a home anymore,' she said quietly.

Elphaba smiled and squeezed her friend's hand. 'Yes I do,' she said simply. 'Home isn't the house you live in, Glinda. It's not even necessarily the place you grew up in. Home… home is where the people are that you love.' She leaned her head against Fiyero's shoulder and he planted a kiss in her hair.

Glinda sniffled, pulling out a handkerchief. 'Oh, that is so adorable,' she blubbered.

Fiyero chuckled and Elphaba was laughing, too. 'So… yes, I accepted,' she admitted, making Glinda squeal once again. 'Oh, Elphie, that's so wonderful!'

'It wasn't easy,' Fiyero told the blonde seriously. 'We've spent two hours convincing her that we would really love to have her come home with us and that she really wouldn't be a burden, etcetera etcetera…'

Now Glinda punched her friend. 'You're stupid, Elphie,' she growled. 'You should just have said yes right away.'

Fiyero laughed. 'Thanks for the support, Glin.' He squeezed Elphaba's hand. 'But the important thing is that she did accept. My parents will pay for her Shiz tuition, so that she can finish school, and we'll be living with them at the castle.'

The others had joined them, Amaia with her arm wrapped around Boq's shoulders. Boq himself looked uncertain. 'Elphie?' he said softly, and she turned to face him.

'You'll be coming back sometimes… right?' he asked her, and she let go of Fiyero and Glinda's hands to hug him. 'Of course,' she assured him.

Fiyero smiled at the Munchkin boy. 'We'll be paying an awful lot of visits to Munchkinland from now on, you can count on that,' he promised, and Boq smiled slightly. 'Thank you.'

'As if I could miss you for long!' Elphaba teased him. Then she sobered. 'Plus… I can't just leave Mom and Dad and Nessa behind. Their graves are still here, after all.' She looked up at him. 'And I really will miss you,' she confessed. She looked at Amaia. 'Both of you.'

They both hugged her. When Elphaba pulled back, she looked a little hesitant.

'I hid the locket,' she said. 'Somewhere I think it will be safe… at least for now. And I'm going to take the Grimmerie with me, but…'

She pulled out Nessa's ring, studying it for a moment before holding it out for Boq to take. 'But I hadn't found a place for this yet,' she said. 'Until now.'

Boq stared at the piece of jewellery. 'But…'

'It would be too dangerous for the Objects to stay together,' she said. 'But the locket is buried and the book will be in the Vinkus, so that won't really be the case… and I can't think of anyone better than the two of you,' she looked at Amaia, then back at Boq, 'to guard it. Not that it still needs guarding, but… well, you know what I mean.' She took a breath. 'And… it's something for you to remember her by.'

Boq took the ring, clutching it in his fist as he hugged Elphaba again. 'Thank you, Elphie.'

She smiled at him. 'You're welcome.' She squeezed his hand. 'Take good care of it.'

The next day, a few hours before they would be leaving, Fiyero found Elphaba in the gardens of the Governor's mansion, her old home. 'Fae?'

She looked over her shoulder and smiled. 'Hey.'

He went to stand next to her on the porch, gazing out over the gardens. 'Saying goodbye?'

She nodded, lowering herself onto the rocking bench. 'I guess I'll miss it, even though it wasn't really home anymore with my family gone,' she said. 'But I'll be fine.'

'Who is going to be the new Governor?' he asked her, and she looked up at him. 'That was supposed to be me,' she confessed. 'But I… I declined. For now, at least. I don't know if I'll ever want to take the position – that will depend on how my life will go from this point on, but… they've found someone to take over. He's a man I've known ever since I was a child, so I know that Munchkinland is safe in his hands.' She smiled and rose to her feet again, leaning her arms on the balustrade. She sighed. 'I still can't believe my life has changed so much in so little time,' she said quietly. 'Sometimes I feel like I'm still a child, like I understand nothing of what's happening to me… yet at the same time, I feel years older than my age because of everything.' She let out a soft laugh when she realised something. 'I'll be nineteen soon. That's going to be my first birthday out of Munchkinland.'

'We could come back for it, if you want to,' Fiyero offered, standing next to her, but she shook her head. 'That's really nice of you, Yero,' she said softly. 'But I'm ready for a change. I grew up here, and this place holds many good memories… but also many bad ones. And though of course I'll come back here every now and then, I don't think Munchkinland is my home anymore. I'm ready to leave it behind and start over somewhere else.' She laid both hands flat against his chest, playing with the buttons of his shirt. 'I can't wait to see the Vinkus.'

He grinned at her. 'You're going to love it there.' He paused, gathered all his courage, and said, 'Fae?'

She looked up at him, a little unnerved by the uncharacteristically solemn tone of his voice. 'Yes?'

He took a deep breath. It was now or never. 'You… you know I love you, right?'

She was still staring up at him, confused. 'Yes.'

'And… And I told you that… When I told you what croí eile meant, I told you I was serious about that, right?'

Her breath caught in her throat when she realised where this was going. 'Yero-'

'I meant all of that,' he said softly. 'I love you, and I fully intend to spend the rest of my life with you. Even though I know I don't deserve someone as amazing as you, you still love me, for some strange, unknown reason… and for that, I love you even more. A chroí, you deserve a person in your life to take care of you, to bicker with you, to love you, to laugh with you, to hold you when you cry, and to cherish you forever… and I would be so honoured if you would let me be that person.'

He took another deep breath and went down upon one knee, pulling out a small, silver ring. 'So, Elphaba Melena Thropp… a chiste…' He looked up at her. 'Will you marry me?' His heart was pounding in his chest. Oz, please let her say yes.

She stared at him, completely dumbstruck. She started shaking her head slowly. 'Fiyero…'

He immediately panicked. Had he moved too fast? Sweet Oz, he hoped he hadn't chased her away forever now – what in Oz had gotten into him that he was doing this now? He should have given her more time…

'I'm not going to give you an answer,' she said softly, and his heart sank. He was pretty sure that this was her way of politely telling him 'no'.

But then she continued. 'Not until you finally tell me what 'a chroí' means. It's driving me crazy not knowing.'

His head shot up and he stared at her. 'What?'

She was grinning at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. When she saw his face, she laughed and threw her arms around his neck. 'You're such an idiot!' she declared fondly. 'Did you really think I was going to say no?'

His heart started fluttering in his chest again. 'So… so you will marry me?' he asked her hopefully, but she placed one hand on his chest and shook her head. 'Not yet, princey boy,' she told him sternly. She brought her face closer to his, standing on her tiptoes to level with him. 'Not until you answer my question.'

He smiled and placed his hands on her small waist, pulling her closer. 'It means 'my heart',' he told her, taking her hand and moving it to his chest, to the spot where she could feel his heart beating under her palm. 'Because you, a chroí, don't just have my heart… You are my heart.'

Now her eyes filled with tears, and she pressed herself closer to him, kissing him deeply. 'I love you, Yero my hero.'

'Is that a yes?' he murmured against her lips, and she laughed softly, resting her forehead against his and looking into his sapphire blue eyes. 'As if I could ever say anything but yes to you.'

'That's still not an answer,' he pointed out, still uncertain, and she laughed again and quite literally jumped him, causing them both to topple over, off the porch and into the soft green grass. She pinned him down underneath her, studying his face. 'Yes, you stupid, brainless, idiotic prince,' she told him, smiling. 'Yes. Of course I'll marry you. Nothing in the world would make me happier.'

He kissed her again, pulling her closer, meanwhile taking her left hand and slipping the ring around her ring finger. He buried his face in her hair and breathed in her scent. 'I love you so, so much, a chiste.'

'I love you, too,' she sighed happily, leaning down once more to kiss him.

She rolled off him and he rose to his feet, helping her up as well. He kept his arm around her waist and she leaned her head against his shoulder. 'Now we have to tell the others,' he said, and Elphaba moaned in mock horror. 'As soon as Glinda hears this, we can say goodbye to our hearing,' she predicted, and he laughed, pulling her closer and planting a kiss into her hair, nuzzling the soft raven strands. 'We really should go, though,' he said quietly. 'The carriage will leave soon.'

He looked at her, still worrying a little. 'Are you sure you're going to be okay?' he asked her. 'I mean… you're going to have to leave everything behind. Amaia, Boq, the village… the graves of your family. The house. Everything… everything that's home for you.'

She looked up at him. 'I meant what I said earlier, Fiyero,' she said softly. She smiled at him, pressing her cheek against his shoulder. 'Do you love me?'

'What kind of stupid question is that?' he demanded, and she chuckled. He shook his head. 'Of course I love you, Fae.'

'And do you intend to stay with me forever?'

'Would I have asked you to marry me if I didn't?' he retorted.

'Then stop worrying.' Her smile didn't disappear; instead, she laid her head back against his shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment. It was almost as if she could feel the presence of her family, of her mother and father and of Nessa, close to her, watching them. It was a comforting feeling.

'How so?' he queried softly, and her smile widened as she leaned up once more to kiss him full on the lips, slowly and meaningfully.

'As long as you're mine,' she whispered, 'I'll always be home.'

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, tightening his grip when she locked her arms around his neck and kissed him back fervently.

As always, they understood each other without words.

I'm not really sure about the ending, but I just couldn't think of anything else to write.

Thank you all so much for staying with me throughout this story, and for getting me over 500 reviews. I've never had so many reviews before, not even when you calculate it back to the average amount of reviews per chapter, and it means the world to me. I love you guys.