In Stone

Epilogue: "We're celebrating, of course."

Epilogue: "We're celebrating, of course."

When McKenzie requested the help of a few strong members of the Chiselers to help bring in the wine that she brought, no one was really surprised. Boxed wine could be heavy and, even when it was someone else's turn to buy it, they were all happy to bring it in.

What surprised them was that McKenzie had not brought boxed wine. She had brought boxes of wine that was actually in a bottle. It wasn't exactly top shelf stuff, but it was still far more fancy than anything their poor group had splurged on before.

"What's this?" Kayden asked, turning a bottle over in his hands.

"We're celebrating, of course," McKenzie looked at him like he was slow. "Don't you remember? I told you that Caia had gotten married."

"I didn't realize that came with bottled wine," Kayden laughed as Hope came forward to grab one as well. "If I had known that, we would have celebrated earlier."

"It's a shame we could not have seen her new home," Esther said dramatically, flipping her hair over the dress she wore that looked like it was made of balloons and duck tape. "I would love to see another world. Galmora, you called it?"

"Yeah, that's right," McKenzie nodded. The Chiselers, being full of the most eccentric of eccentrics, had taken the news of Caia's cross-world marriage well. Hamish had composed a poem that she would have loved to hear, Donald had cried, and others had bemoaned that they couldn't attend. No one questioned the sanity of what McKenzie told them.

The wine, the best wine they had ever drank, was passed out and everyone smiled as they lifted their glasses to honor Caia. Though they would never see her again, she had still been one of them and they wanted to celebrate her new happiness.

~~~~~~

Across town, in a house that was cold and empty, a single telephone would occasionally ring. It had been recently installed by a confused cable man who wondered who could have wanted a landline set up in an empty house. The answering machine's memory was completely full. It was filled with the harsh words of two people that had never truly loved the life they created.

They would never see their daughter again either. Detestable people though they were, they had still served the goddess in her plan. To reward them for their obedience, she never let them feel love for the daughter they would never again see.

In that way, they never missed her. Her absence didn't hurt them. They remained hateful, but their hatred could never again hurt Caia. She would never hear the hateful words left for her because the stone circle would never open for her again.

~~~~~~

Caia slept for nearly two days. A few times, her consciousness would emerge long enough for her to drink or eat a bite or two. But those moments never lasted for longer than a moment. Caspian didn't leave her side any longer than he had to. He was there each time, patiently giving her whatever she needed without speaking to her. He could tell by looking that she wasn't truly awake. He would need to wait until she was truly conscious.

It was the morning of the second day, just before it had been a full two days that she had been sleeping, that Caia finally woke up.

Caspian was sitting in a chair by the fire, reading to himself when she sat up. When he stood at seeing her move, already reaching for the cup, he finally noticed that she was well and truly awake. She smiled at him. He very nearly cried with relief.

It took over a month before Caia allowed anyone inside the temple. The damage that Rowan had done to it was more than just physical. There were things that needed to be fixed that she didn't fully understand. The voice in her head would guide her gently. Though she could and did lose herself during those times, she always came back with the setting sun.