Nicola was visiting the castle in Camelot one day to find Agatha showing her daughter Nyx a new step in the gardens. Though she was there to speak with Tedros, she lingered for a moment, arrested by memories of school lessons, Evil teachers, and endearingly awkward princes and princesses.

She was still watching when a stray noise startled a flock of birds from the trees, and for a moment their wings blotted out the sun.

Agatha froze, and Nicola flinched and reached for a knife she no longer carried. She only found a pen. But the dark-haired girl in front of her kept dancing, her serenity unbroken until she noticed her mother had stopped counting the beat. 

She broke form, ran to Nicola, and said, "Aunt Nicola! Aunt Nicola! Have you brought me my story? I want to know what happens to the princess!"

The adults' eyes met over her head as their panic drained away. Nicola walked over to Agatha and embraced her. 

"It never goes away," Agatha whispered when she pulled back. "The fear. It feels like he’s going to come back, and attack us again. It’s been years, Nicola, and I still can’t forget it."

Nicola returned her pen to her pocket and smiled at Agatha sadly. "We'd be missing too much if we did forget it."

Agatha looked at her with heavy eyes. “What if he does come back? I don’t want Nyx to have to go through the same stuff that we did.”

Nicola sighed. “He’s not going to come back. That’s impossible.”

“Rafal came back, didn’t he? Why wouldn’t his son do the same?” Agatha’s voice held a bitter tone to it. 

“Agatha, our story is over. His story is over. He’s nothing but a memory anymore. He’s not coming back. He’s dead,” Nicola said reassuringly. 

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Agatha looked over her with intense eyes for a second, then sighed and relaxed, looking slightly guilty. “I know. I’m sorry. I just-”

Nicola smiled. “It’s fine. I completely understand.” And she did. She’d had nightmares almost every night after Japeth died. She still did, but they were less frequent, and less vivid. 

Japeth was gone from this world, and soon he would be done haunting her dreams. They were all healing slowly, but they were still healing. 

“How is Sophie?” Agatha asked. Her eyes were still haunted, but the color was slowly returning to her face. 

Nicola grimaced. “A pain in the ass, like always.” But she spoke about Sophie with a fond smile on her face, which contradicted what she said. 

Agatha laughed, and said, “Shouldn’t you be a little more polite about her? She is your wife now.”

“Which is something I still can hardly believe. I never would have thought that…” She didn’t finish the thought. She couldn’t finish the thought. 

Agatha smiled. “She’s definitely changed a lot hasn’t she? I never would have thought she would go after you. I was almost completely sure it would be her and Hort that ended up together.”

Nicola wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, that was never going to happen. I’m pretty sure Sophie never liked Hort that way. Though to be fair, I didn’t know she liked me that way, until she slapped me in the face, yelled at me, then kissed me.”

Agatha raised an eyebrow. “I always wondered how you two had gotten together. She never told me, no matter how many times I asked.”

Nicola snickered. “She probably didn’t want to tell you that I slapped her right back after the kiss.”

Agatha threw her head back and cackled. “I knew there was a reason I liked you,” she said between gasps. 

Just then she felt a tug on the bottom of her dress, and looked down. Oh. She had completely forgotten Nyx was there. 

“Aunt Nicola?” Nyx was looking at her with big brown eyes. “Did you bring the story?”

Nicola frowned, feeling a bit guilty. “Not this time, Nyxie. I didn’t exactly plan to come here today. I’ll bring it next time, okay?”

Nyx pouted, looking adorable and sad at the same time. “Promise?” She held up a pinky, looking at her with hopeful eyes. 

“Promise.” Nicola reassured, holding out her pinky and wrapping around Nyx’s.

“Yay!” Nyx squealed, and ran away, twirling around with her hands in the air. 

Nicola looked back at Agatha, who was looking after her daughter in amusement and shaking her head. 

“So, what exactly did you come here for?” Agatha asked curiously, looking back at Nicola.

Nicola let out a huff of exasperation. “The Queen of Jaunt Jolie sent me to tell Tedros that Jaunt Jolie was attacked by some man-wolves, and she requests that he send some Camelot knights to deal with it.”

Agatha raised her eyebrow again. “Man-wolves?”

Nicola smirked. “And they were led by Hort. ”

Agatha blinked, then snorted. “I’m assuming Jaunt Jolie is completely fine then?”

“Yep, the knights blocked them from getting into Jaunt Jolie, but now the man-wolves are just hanging around the kingdom, waiting for them to drop their guard.”

“Well, I guess you better go tell Tedros then. He’s in the training room, taking a break from his work.”

“Thanks Agatha.” 

Nicola spun around and walked towards the castle, faintly hearing Agatha answer back, “You’re welcome.”