TBATE: Let The Truth Be Known {Completed}

Epilogue 1: A Happy Day in Zestier

VIRION ERALITH

I never knew if I'd see the day. My little granddaughter is getting married. Years and years of turmoil are finally culminating in a great crescendo of emotion and joy.

"Alduin, what did Arthur ask you when he spoke to you about having Tessia's hand in marriage?" I ask. My son, my only son... Lost for so long, but back once more to watch his daughter get married and live his life unabated by war. It's all thanks to Arthur. As he would say:

'They weren't Fated to die yet.'

"He didn't even ask. I practically begged him, not that he was against it," he answers with a chuckle and an embarrassed scratch of the neck.

"Not exactly the most honorable action of a king, Alduin, but I can't say I'd do much different," I joke as I reach my arm over his shoulder and pull him into a side hug.

"Then what did he ask you, Father?" he asks.

"He asked just as you'd think he would. 'Can I marry Tessia?'" I mimic in response. We howl at the mockery of our soon-to-be family and his inability to make serious questions like that very compelling.

"I'm going to go find Tessia. I'm sure she's almost done getting dolled up by the maids," Alduin says, ending the hug. He exits as a calm, cool, and composed man that will surely be a blubbering mess very soon.

He never was a man for war, but he thrives in times of peace. The council has been civil and that's largely due to Alduin. Of course, it's also due to the council members' immense debt to Arthur for bringing them back to life.

The boy vanished for nearly a year after he returned from Epheotus. He spoke with each family that lost someone in the war. Every person he could find, each person he could get information on, he brought them all back. Both Alacrya and Dicathen have been restored. I don't know how he did it, but I don't need to. This city, this nation, this continent, hell even the whole world hasn't experienced this level of peace since the dawn of time.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A few rhythmic knocks echo throughout the room as a voice calls out from the other side. "Elder Virion! The ceremony begins in five minutes!"

"Thank you! I'll be right out!" I shout in response.

Sigh.

It's customary for the eldest of a family to preside over the wedding ceremony, but I'm terrified. I don't know if it's because I'm marrying off Tessia or because she's marrying Arthur, but I'm nervous beyond belief.

I collect myself mentally and emotionally before exiting. My footsteps ring out in the marble hall as the vines from Elshire forest string through the colonnades of the balcony railings.

It's all back thanks to him: Elenoir, Elshire, Zestier. Our home is back because Arthur intervened in the very nature of reality to right an injustice placed upon the elven people. With each elf he brought back, he would ask them as well. Today, nearly all of Elenoir's people are back.

"Elder Virion! This way," a voice shouts, breaking me from my train of thought. She's a human maid, a young woman that fell in love with an elf in New Zestier. Ever since this place was restored, elves, humans, and dwarves have been migrating. Populations have begun to intertwine as even some inter-continental immigration has occurred. Today, nearly 1.5 million Alacryans live in Dicathen. Legally this time.

"Yes, Terestra, I'm on my way," I reply, taking a sharp left into the hallway she called out to me from. "How much longer?"

"Two minutes, Elder. Prince Arthur is already at the altar," she answers.