The Fell War - Epilogue (Patreon)

“So, you’re really leaving us,” Spica said, hands on her hips and a frown on her red lips.

It was spring again, or the Siniy equivalent of it – barely melted snow allowing what few flowers grew in Siniy’s taiga soil to sprout.

“Not really,” Alfre admitted. “Just going to find myself a weekend home, really. Trust me, you’re not getting rid of me that easily. Besides…I really want to find that cottage again. It’s important to me.”

“We can go with you, if you’d like,” Elias offered. “Help you find it.”

Alfre shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it marked on my map. Might come back and grab you to help fix it though.”

“We could just go with you,” Traveler said. “Save you the trip.”

“The trip is half the fun though!” Canus reasoned, tail wagging happily behind him.

“Well, when you do want us to come, I’ll bring you a few plants to help start your garden,” Wally offered, smiling gently.

Alfre returned his smile with one of her own. “I’d appreciate that.”

Elias, Spica, Traveler, and Wally bid her a safe journey, watching her until they could no longer see her shape on the horizon. Canus walked beside her, hand in hers like it belonged there. They passed by the ebony doors of Abital’s new temple, Alfre’s shadow taking on a new weight as they did.

“Welcome aboard, Abital,” Alfre greeted in jest. “You gonna stay in there the whole time or are you going to greet me properly?”

She felt the weight in her shadow disappear, replaced with a hand on her back and a soft kiss to her cheek.

“Hello, beloved,” Abital whispered, dark, smoky shadows swirling about their feet as he came into physical form.

“And here I thought you didn’t do nicknames,” Canus teased. “Don’t tell me you’ve been lying to snowbird all this time.”

“Hardly,” Abital sniffed. “I was simply waiting for a more appropriate time in our relationship.”

“Whatever you say, gloomy,” Canus said with a roll of his eyes.

“Boys, we haven’t even left the city yet,” Alfre chided lightly. “At least wait until there’s no one around to hear before you start bickering.”

Alfre waited until they reached the city gate before mounting Beira. Canus slipped into wolf form and Abital once again settled into her shadow. She pulled out her map, finding the dot of blue that marked the location of her cottage. She lowered the map for Beira and Canus to see.

“Can you take us there?” she asked. Beira wuffed confidently, taking off into the open farmland the moment Alfre had tucked the map away, nearly sending her rider flying back.

They rode throughout the whole day and well into the night. Alfre couldn’t remember how long the journey took them the first time, when Alfre was but a newbie and Elias spent the whole trek training her. Days, probably, a week even. With Beira’s help, the Wilds gave way like grass to fire.

“This is the place you’ve been so obsessed with?” Canus asked incredulously as he sniffed about the clearing. “Snowbird, it’s a wreck.”

“I told you we’d have to fix it up,” she reminded, slipping off of Beira’s back. She walked towards the cottage, her boots crunching in the thin layer of snow that still covered the ground. There were no flowers yet, but she was sure that by the time they were done fixing up the tiny house, the whole clearing would be covered in them. “This place means a lot to me. It saved me from all the nasty things out here my first night. I guess I want to pay it back for that.”

Abital slipped from her shadow, his arms settling around her shoulders as he hugged her loosely from behind. “I’m sure you’ll make it lovely.”

“That’s the goal,” Alfre agreed. “Might need to add on to it. Don’t think there’s enough room for the three of us as it is.”

“Probably not,” Abital mused, eyeing the cottage like a real estate agent.

“Well, it doesn’t do us any good to stand around talking about it,” Canus said, morphing back into his human form. “Let’s get to work, yeah?”

Alfre beamed. “Yeah!”

They set to work dusting the whole place while they still had daylight. Once night came, they set up a small sleeping area of bedrolls and warm blankets they’d ‘stolen’ from the guildhall (they had no memory of packing them, and Alfre suspected Wallace of stuffing them into their packs before they left). The next morning, they found a set of old rags in a kitchen cabinet and set about scrubbing down every surface of the cottage, removing furniture from the space as they went and depositing it outside.

“Hey, what are these?” Alfre asked, running her hand along a line of unfamiliar markings she’d uncovered while scrubbing the outside of the copper bathtub.

“Looks like that’s how they get away with not having any running water in the house,” Abital said, taking a close look at the markings. “It’s a spell. It summons and heats water when you turn the tab. And then it removes it when you turn the tab off.”

“Wouldn’t that make the water overflow the tub?” Alfre asked, continuing with her scrubbing.

“I assume it stops filling the tub once it reaches the inscription,” Abital said, peaking inside the tub. “Ah, yes, that seems to be correct. The runes are inside as well.”

“We’ll have to test it out later,” Alfre decided. “I’ll certainly need a bath when this is all over. Check the kitchen sink to see if it has the same spell on it too.”

Abital drifted off, leaving Alfre to her cleaning. She wasn’t left for very long, however.

“Oi, Alfre!” Elias’ voice drifted in through the open window. “The cavalry has arrived!”

Alfre stuck her head out the window, grinning at the small army of people arriving in the clearing. Elias, Spica, Traveler, and Wally were all expected faces (though she hadn’t expected them so soon), but she hadn’t even begun to imagine that the others would show up as well. June, Doremi, Atticus, Lance, Ren, Ran, Silver, Izo, even Hunter, Maldrom, Ludovico, and Cherry had come to lend a hand. Maldrom had even brought along a small cart piled high with building materials.

“Hey, hey!” she greeted. “How the bloody hell did you manage to drag this lot out here?”

“We didn’t drag them anywhere, darling,” Spica corrected. “They simply realized you were gone and asked where you had run off to. The moment they learned about your little project, they offered to help.”

“Really?” Alfre was more than a little surprised. “Even Hunter and Ludovico?”

“You make it sound like we hate you,” Hunter grumbled, crossing his arms like he always did.

“To be fair, I’m pretty certain that you did for a while,” Alfre admitted.

“Yeah, well, times change,” Hunter said with a shrug. “Do you want our help or not?”

Alfre made a show of thinking about it. “Yeah, sure, why the hell not? Grab a rag and start scrubbing, you lot!”

Rags were grabbed until there were no more rags to grab. Those without went about other tasks, such as removing the cracked and broken windows. Izo went about gathering up what linens there were in the house and carting them off towards the nearest river with June for a good washing. Ren and Silver set up a clothesline using some old fishing line they had from their early days and a random pole from Maldrom’s cart. Spica and Wally went about making a list of housewares the cottage was missing – things like silverware and plates and better dishtowels (seeing as the old ones would never be truly clean again after being used to scrub down the house). Maldrom and Cherry, who Alfre quickly learned had once been going to college for interior design, gave the whole place a once over before sequestering themselves off in corner to pour over blueprints and rough sketches.

“Alfre,” Cherry called sometime later, waving her over. “We’ve been doing some thinking, about how to best add on to the cottage to make it work for the three of you, I mean. And we wanted your opinion.”

“I would hope so, it’s my place,” Alfre joked, crouching down to look over the drawings. “Whatcha got for me?”

“Well…” Cherry shuffled through the papers. “The easiest thing to do would be to simply add a bedroom onto the side here, have that be a separate space with a large bed. That would give you all this space as normal living space. We also thought about raising the roof and adding a loft up there instead. Or, we could leave the bed alone and imply extend the living area, move the kitchen back a few feet, you know. Which do you like?”

Alfre stared at the concept art, absentmindedly noting that Cherry really did have a knack for drawing. “Hmmm, well. Could we not do all three? I think the separate bedroom is important, of course. But I also really like the idea of a little loft up top, maybe have a guest bed up there or a small reading nook. And honestly, I’d like to have a larger kitchen space. I’ve only got two counters here, you know.”

Cherry and Maldrom exchanged a look. “That’s a lot of work,” Maldrom warned her. “It’ll take a long while to get it all done. Are you sure that’s what you want?”

Alfre smiled. “I think it’ll be worth it.”

“It’ll look very different from how it does now if we do all three,” Cherry said. “Are you okay with that?”

“I think it’ll be fine,” Alfre replied, looking about the cottage. “It’s not like we’re gonna be tearing it down. The old space will still be there. Besides, what’s the point of changing something, if you’re not gonna make it the best thing you can make it?”

Maldrom and Cherry shared another look, this one far more confident than the last.

“I suppose you’re right,” Cherry agreed.

“Best be ready to work your arse off, lass,” Maldrom said, shaking his pencil at her.

Alfre beamed. “If I wasn’t prepared for that, I wouldn’t have come out here.”

“Fair enough,” Maldrom grunted as he stood. “I’ll have to go back to Spade for more supplies, and probably more workers. Ones that actually know what they’re doing.”

“Rude, but fair enough,” Alfre said, sticking out her tongue at the dwarf. “I look forward to it.”

Maldrom and Cherry left that very night, along with Hunter and Ludovico. Elias, Spica, Wally, Traveler, Ren, Ran, Izo, Silver, June, Doremi, Atticus, and Lance all crowded together on the cottage floor, only barely fitting. Alfre couldn’t help but laugh to herself. Even when she went out into the Wilds to find some time to herself, she ended up surrounded by friends. Not that she minded terribly. It was good to have people you could count on.

Maldrom and Cherry returned two days later with an actual elk-drawn wagon full of supplies and a good dozen or so builders from their guilds. They set to work, half of them starting on the extensions to the cottage while the others went about making new furniture.

“But I liked the old table,” Alfre insisted as she watched one of Maldrom’s guild members cart off the table she’d spent so long scrubbing down.

“That table was going to give you splinters, darling,” Spica informed her tartly. “Let the nice young man build you a new one.”

Alfre didn’t pout, she promised. “Can I at least pick out what wood they build it out of?”

“If you ask nicely, I’m sure they’ll let you,” Spica agreed.

Alfre glared at her friend half-heartedly before stomping off to talk to Maldrom about how much control she had in the project.

With the roof being raised, no one was allowed to sleep inside the cottage. Instead, Cherry had brought along several unusually large tents.

“Is this a tent, or the Taj Mahal?” Traveler joked as they set out their bedrolls.

“It’s the Tent Mahal,” Ren replied with a tooth grin, earning a groan from Silver and most of the others even as Traveler gave her a high five.

“Don’t encourage her,” Ran pleaded, burying his face in the travel pillow he’d brought as best he could.

“Are you sure you can fit a bed up there?” Ren asked as she, Alfre, and Maldrom watched one of Maldrom’s guild members lay down the flooring for the loft.

“Well, it’ll be more like just a mattress on the floor,” Maldrom admitted. “But it’ll be plenty comfortable. You’ll be able to stand up there, probably. Dragonlings like Atticus probably won’t, but Alfre here won’t have an issue.”

“It’s perfect,” Alfre assured him. “Just what I imagined.”

“That’s what we’re aiming for,” Maldrom agreed. “Now, about paint…”

It was the first day of summer before the project was finished, the sky blue flowers that Alfre loved so much already spreading over the clearing. Two years since Alfre had fallen into Wonderland and spent her first night holed up in a tiny, broken down cottage, and now she was back where she started. Only, they were both far better now than when they’d started, she and this little cottage she’d decided to call home. Moss still grew a bit on the rough stone that made up the base of the cottage’s walls, but the windows were new and clean, no cracks in sight. The dust and cobwebs were gone, and so was Alfre’s fear of the Wilds. They’d both been alone that first night, but now they were both surrounded by friends.

“It’s lovely, Alfre,” Elias said, his voice soft and little bit in awe.

“Thank you,” Alfre replied, smiling softly. “You’re welcome to visit anytime, as long as I’m here anyway. But, I’ll have to admit…I miss the city right now.”

“Really?!” Ren said incredulously, her voice louder than strictly necessary. “You spent all this time and effort on this place and now you want to go gallivanting off to the city?”

“Well, not right now!” Alfre shot back playfully. “Maybe in a day or two. My guild needs me, you know. I can’t spend all my time out here.”

“What? Are me and Abital not enough for you?” Canus teased, ears twitching playfully.

“I’m hurt, beloved,” Abital added, his expression completely deadpan even as his eyes sparkled with mirth.

“Oh shush, both of you,” Alfre chided.

“I’ll keep your bed made and your room clean at the guildhall,” Wally offered. “Whenever you need to come back.”

“Thank you,” Alfre said, smiling gently.

“Don’t forget, you have a duty to the Guild Council,” June reminded her. “Can’t have you escaping to the woods too often, you know.”

“I know,” Alfre agreed.

“And you’re still our commander,” Atticus said, a hint of reverence in his voice. “We will call upon you when we need you.”

“Oh, I doubt you’ll need me for that.”

“I do expect you to come along when we ask your guild for a quest,” Ludovico insisted. “It’s not really the Alliance of Frozen Stars if there’s no one to freeze anything.”

“See, now you’re just being selfish,” Alfre grumbled, causing a ripple of laughter to run through her friends and comrades.

“We’ll miss you when you’re out here,” Traveler admitted easily. “The guildhall just won’t be the same without you and your adoring fans.” She eyed Abital and Canus she spoke.

“I’m taking that as a compliment, by the way,” Canus drawled, grinning wolfishly at the hero.

“Good,” Spica spoke up before Traveler could. “If you didn’t, I’d be concerned you didn’t love Alfre nearly as much as she deserved.”

“Don’t worry, Champion,” Abital assured her. “You never have to worry about that.”

“Champion,” Spica echoed, tasting the word on her tongue. “I quiet like that. Did you hear that, dear? He called me Champion.”

“I’m not going to call you that, starlight,” Elias said, stopping that train before it even left the station.

Spica pouted. “You’re just no fun.”

“That’s not what you said last night.”

“I know for a fact you two didn’t do anything last night,” Alfre snipped. “Because you were in my bloody loft and if you did do anything, your heads would be mine.”

Spica smirked. “Oh?”

Alfre hand went to the hilt of the Vorpal Blade. “I swear to God, Spica, if you two did anything…”

“Alright, everyone calm down,” Silver sighed even as Ren chanted ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’

“All of ye, get outta here.” Alfre shooed with a wave of her hand. “Me and my boys would like to have some peace and quiet. You know, the thing I came out here for.”

Elias laughed, reaching out to hug Alfre, lifting her right off the ground. “We’ll miss you, Alfre.”

Alfre rolled her eyes even as she wrapped her arms around her oldest, dearest friend. “I know, you sap. I’ll miss ye, too.”

Elias set her down, only for her to be scooped up once more by Traveler.

“Don’t be a stranger,” she said. “Or like me. I’ve learned the hard way that disappearing on your friends is probably the worst thing you could do.”

“Aye. And if you pulled that shite on our guild like you did on Ren, I’ll hunt you down myself,” Alfre warned.”

Traveler pulled away with a mischievous smile. “Noted.”

Each of her friends hugged her in turn, Atticus and Lance lifting her easily from the ground, and Ren full out spinning her about. The last to do so was Spica, who waited until everyone save her guild mates had left.

“You know,” she said, her voice soft and almost a bit shy. “You’re my very best friend. I’m very glad I met you all those months ago.”

Alfre smiled, taking Spica’s hands into her own. “And you’re mine. I’m grateful to you and Elias both. You gave me the confidence to lead an army. I hated it when you ran off with Ren to take the cathedral. It felt like a part of me left with you. You’re both so important to me. Thank you.”

Spica took a deep, shaky breath. “Oh, stop it. You’re going to make me cry, and then what will happen to my reputation.”

“I don’t give a damn about your reputation,” Alfre said with a laugh. She pulled Spica into a hug, honestly delighted when she hugged back despite her protests about her ‘reputation.’

“You come back as often as possible, you hear me, darling,” Spica demanded, her voice wavering and Alfre thought she could feel drops of wetness soak into her shirt. “We’ll all be terribly lonely without you.”

“Of course,” Alfre agreed, pulling away. “But you have to leave before I can actually visit. Go on, Elias is waiting for you. And I’m sure his shoulders are much better to cry on than mine. They better match your height.”

Spica inhaled deeply once more, dabbing at her eyes with her black scarf. “I suppose you’re right.” She turned her sharp gaze on Abital and Canus. “You take care of her, you hear me. If I hear one bad thing about either of you, I’m going to make you pay.”

“Aye, we hear you, girlie,” Canus agreed. Abital simply nodded, a reassuring look in his eyes.

Spica nodded stiffly. “Good.” And with that she turned on her heel and marched out of the clearing, taking Elias’ hand tightly in hers we she reached him.

Alfre stood in the middle of the silent clearing for a long moment, taking in the smell of the blossoms on the crisp wind. The silence, after so much talking, both weighed heavily on her shoulders and felt like a relief.

“Beloved.” Alfre turned to see Abital waiting for her even as Canus was already trotting towards the open cottage door where Beira stood watching them expectantly. “Shall we retire?”

Alfre breathed deeply, taking in the air of the Wilds, letting it fill her lungs and renew her. “Aye. Let’s.”

She took Abital’s offered hand in her own, and went home.