Always Be Appreciative of Opposable Thumbs

Epilogue: Happily Ever After

Four months later.

Hugo took a deep breath as he gazed at himself in the mirror. This didn't look quite right. Or maybe it was right and he just wasn't used to it. Either way, he felt like a clown in these fancy clothes. The deep-blue tunic that he wore over a very clean, white shirt was made of some of the finest material he had ever seen and was embroidered with silver feathers. His dark breeches were a little stiff, though. Or was that from the new boots?

"I am not cut out for the royal life," he mumbled to himself.

A knock came from behind the door. "Are you decent in there?"

He sighed and glanced down at himself. "As decent as I can get."

The door opened, and Lana walked into the castle's guest room with a big smile on her face. When she caught sight of him in his new outfit, she gasped and clapped her hands excitedly. "You look so handsome, Hugo!"

"I look ridiculous."

"No, no, you look splendid," she said, fussing over the wrinkles on his shirtsleeve. "Willow will certainly agree."

"I'm a cabbage farmer. Cabbage farmers don't wear things with embroidery."

She took a comb to his hair. "Oh, Hugo, you haven't farmed cabbages in months. And until you let me fix your house for you, you won't be farming them anytime soon."

He gently batted her away. "I told you, we're not going back there. I'm tired of having Giants toss their refuse onto my cart."

"So what, you're going to be a traveling farmer? I don't think that's how farming works."

"No, I know. Willow and I have talked about it a bit, but we haven't really come to a decision. I think she wants to stay with Jyoji and Sera."

"And where are they going?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly, if Sera could have her way, she'd live here and gorge herself on food and wine until her dying day."

Lana laughed softly as she brushed some non-existent dust off his tunic. "Well, I'd be more than happy to have her stay. To have all of you stay, in fact."

"Yeah, but you don't really want us lounging around here doing nothing, do you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why not? It's pretty much all Fallon and Marisol do."

"Sera might be all right with that, but I'm not."

"Well," Lana said, taking a step back to admire the results of her fussing, "I was going to mention it earlier, but I got so caught up in the preparations for today that it kind of slipped my mind. Now that I'm ruling over Elaric in addition to Galinyth, I could certainly use some help."

He eyed her suspiciously. "What sort of help?"

"People who would be willing to correspond with the elders in Elaric in order to keep up-to-date with the goings-on there. They'd also need to make some in-person trips, just to keep things friendly and peaceful. Make the subjects feel like we haven't forgotten about them. I thought that you and Willow would be perfect for the job."

"Why us?"

"For one, you're very personable."

Hugo let out a short laugh and made a face at her. "Me? Personable?"

Grinning, Lana wrapped her arms around his and gave it a squeeze. "I think you're plenty personable. And Willow is even more so."

"Well, that part is at least true."