Wither

Chapter 33-Epilogue II

Poof Snoward plopped down next to her fiancee, sighing. She had shared most of her secrets with him, but this one was the most important (not necessarily the worst, however). "Hey, River? I need to tell you something," she started.

River Mistrol grinned easily at her. "Sure, go right on ahead." He had learned a lot about Poof and was eager to know more.

"It's about my name. When I tell people it's Poof, they look at me queerly, like what kind of a name is that? They're right. It isn't my real name. It's a nickname that Sora and I developed around ten, when I showed her my powers. She said it reminded her of a poof of snow. The name stuck..." Poof trailed off. River motioned for her to go on, encouraging and assuring. "The point is, my real name is Lily. Lily, not Poof. I've been lying to you this whole time," she bowed her head, ashamed.

River smiled and tilted her head up with his finger. "Hey, hey, it's nothing to be ashamed about. This just means you're my little Lily Pad." Poof - well, Lily - smiled, her eyes tearing up. River wiped her eyes with his thumb, grabbed a bowl off of the coffee table, and filled it with water. He left for a few minutes and then returned, putting a lily pad in the little bowl and placing a lilac in Lily's hair.

"But doesn't a lily pad belong in a serene pond, not with a rushing river?" Lily frowned, doubting herself.

"But what if I'm a serene river?" he grinned. "You don't always need to be what they want you to be. Be what I want you to be. Just...be happy, Lily. Do whatever makes you happy."

With that Lily leaned forwards and kissed him. River tried - and failed - at disguising his blush as Lily broke away, smiling shyly. "That I will, River. That I will."

***

Lizzy gazed at the castle, what used to be her home. The flags, emblazoned with a golden curly symbol faintly resembling a C with a crimson background, were currently being torn down and replaced with a white swirl on a sky blue background symbolizing the new Fallwind family.

Liz was happy for her friend, but happiness was always drowned out by the ever-present depression carving a hole into her soul, having moved on from her heart. The Endastin princess cast one melancholy look at the castle and turned away, her purple cloak streaming behind her.

*

Lizzy couldn't sleep. Not that she had been able to for the past few weeks. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw him. The person she couldn't love after he betrayed them, but couldn't hate after everything they'd been through.

She knew all of her friends went off with their partners and lived happily ever after, but not her. Happily ever after was just a façade. Eventually one of them was going to end up just like her; lost love, lost life.

Liz knew she was a princess from a fierce clan. She knew that it was her job to be ruthless, so why not accept that? Whenever I think about anything but cruelty, anger, hatred...I think about Kai. She knew she was being irrational. "He's dead, Liz. Dead," she muttered to herself. She turned over, squeezed her eyes shut, and fell into a fitful sleep.

*

The next day Liz ventured into the Endear Forest on horseback. All light seemed to be sucked out of the air with every step, even though it was nearly midday. The thick canopy swayed, casting eerie shadows across the forest floor.

Suddenly an arrow flashed by. Instinctively, Liz ducked and it embedded itself into the bark of a tree. "Halt!" she yelped at the bowman. "P-Princess Eliza Endastin, Ender Sorceress!"