Legend Reborn

Epilogue

"What happens next, mama?"

"What do you mean what happens next?" I ask my little daughter. She and I are putting wet laundry up on clothes lines in our sunny yard.

"What did you and daddy do next?" She hops through the air while fluttering her delicate white wings, wings I was afraid she wouldn't have because of my lack of said wings.

"Well..." I place one of my husband's white shirts on the line and pin it down with some cleverly crafted wooden pins. "What do you think daddy and I did?"

"Hmmmm." The little girl scrunches her face up in concentration. She really looks like her father when she does that. "I think you went home and had a big party so you and daddy could live together."

I can't help but laugh at her idea. She hasn't quite grasped the concept of a wedding yet. "Yes, it went something like that."

My beautiful daughter becomes distracted by a line of ants crawling across the lush green grass, and I continue to put up the laundry alone. She likes to think she's helping, but I'm the one who does most of the work. I don't mind though. She's a sweetheart like her father, and they both tend to spoil me on occasions like my birthday.

I giggle softly to myself thinking about the years gone by. My little girl asks to hear the story of our quest quite often, and it takes me back every time. It had taken a few days to clear the valley of the wounded and fallen after the battle. Each group took their casualties back to their respective Territories to be honored in whatever fashion is customary for those people.

We were at a loss as to what to do for a long time after that. It seemed wrong to go back to our own Territories after all we've been through, so we went back to the building on the ceremonial grounds where the whole thing started. From there we went our own separate ways until the wedding.

The wedding was a huge commotion across all three Territories. There's an unspoken custom that a couple must be from the same clan to be married, but that was a problem in my case. Since I'm not actually from one specific clan, there were allegations raised from a certain member of the Eagle Council that the union should not be allowed. Needless to say the wedding took place anyway with the blessings of all the other Council members from the three Councils.

"Mama, when are we having lunch? I'm hungry."

"When your father gets home with the rabbit for the soup, sweetheart," I tell her.

"When's that?" she asks with wide pink eyes. Those she got from her father too, but she inherited my odd hair color.

"Whenever he gets here," I say with a sigh. My husband isn't known for being the most punctual.

"There are my two favorite girls, kesesesese!" Gilbert comes strolling into the brightly lit yard from the forest surrounding the house with several rabbits strung on his back. He wraps an arm around my waist and kisses my forehead. "How was your day been, Lizzie?"

"Better now," I say with a smile.

"Daddy!" Our little girl jumps at Gilbert, and he lets go of me to catch her. "I missed you, daddy."

"I missed you too, baby." He gives her a big kiss on the cheek.

"Did you see Uncle Ludwig today?" the little girl asks excitedly.

"Yup! And he said he can't wait to come over for your birthday!"

"Yay!" She flaps her wings excitedly. "Will he give me flying lessons?"

"Maybe you should ask one of your other Uncles about that when they come over too," Gilbert suggests. He tactfully spares Ludwig from having to do any flying.

"Okay, I'll ask Uncle Lovi," she decides with a nod. She's the only one the Wolf let's call him that other than his own brother. The two seem to get on surprisingly well.

"But won't that make Uncle Feli and Uncle Kiku sad?" I tease.

"I'll give them hugs instead," she replies with a wide grin, another thing she got from her father.

"Alright, I have to go inside and get these rabbits ready for your mama or she won't be able to make any lunch," the white haired Bear says as he puts our daughter down. "Why don't you help her finish the laundry?"

"Okay." The little girl runs to the basket full of clothing and hands me a pair of pants. We work together for a while as she hums a familiar tune. Suddenly, the music stops. "Mama?"

"Yes, dear?" I pin the last shirt to the clothes line and turn around to look at the little girl.

"You wanna see a trick?" she asks me.

I kneel down on the soft grass in front of her. "Sure, I'd love to."

She smiles and cups her hands in front of her. I have no idea what to expect, but my mouth practically drops open when she does the trick. She throws her cupped hands into the air, and tiny little flowers come raining down out of nowhere.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" I ask her in astonishment.

"A little boy taught me," she explains. "I met him by the woods, over there." She points to a tree growing near the forest that shades about half of our yard. "He said he could teach me magic and showed me how to do this."

"Did he tell you his name?"

"No," my daughter says, preoccupied by creating more flowers. "But he had funny looking eyebrows. They were really big."

I look into the dim forest, but there's no sign of the little boy. Shaking my head and laughing softly, I pick up my empty basket and take the little girl's hand. "Let's go inside and see what your daddy is up to."

"Okay."

I pause before entering the house to take one more look at the woods. "If you ever see that boy again, you can invite him inside for a snack. I'd really like to meet him."