After we returned to the village, life settled into a comfortable routine. With the treaty no longer looming over us, the sense of impending dread that I could never previously shake was gone. I felt a sense of freedom like none I had ever experienced before. My original escape from Vrayna paled in comparison to the knowledge that Albrecht could never come after me, and that my father could never force me to go back. Thanks to the King revoking my noble status, I had no obligation whatsoever to my former nation, and I could finally relax.

Not that relaxing was remotely close to what I did. As I had promised, I returned to Adelia’s apothecary almost immediately upon my return, and I didn’t get another day off for a full fortnight. When I walked through the door and looked around the closed shop, Adelia’s shelves were almost completely empty and I found her in the back room, brewing potions and looking frazzled. The hug that she gave me when she saw me took my breath away.

“Don’t you ever leave me again!” she demanded when she finally released me from her stranglehold, “I have no stock, a backlog of orders waiting to be made, and people won’t leave me the hell alone! Did you know they like your sleep potions better than mine? Rosco, that damn bastard, refuses to buy from my stock and has been showing up every day to see if you’re back. What took you so long?!”

I stood there in shock, barely managing to blink as Adelia continued to rant. It seemed she’d had a hard time while I was gone. I realized then that she’d probably only expected me to be gone for the trip to Vrayna and didn’t think I would go all the way to the trading city.

When she was finally done unleashing her woes upon me, I managed to say, “Adelia, I’m sorry I was gone so long. I didn’t think to tell you, but I had to go to the trading city before I could come back.”

“The trading city? Why would you want to go– oh, I see,” Adelia seemed to understand what going to the trading city meant, “but… why? Surely they didn’t need you to testify again?”

“No, I went there for me,” I explained, “I needed proper closure on that chapter of my life. There’s a lot more to everything than what I’ve told you, mostly because I really didn’t want to talk about it. This is usually the place I would go to forget about that stuff.”

“Well, if you ever decide you want to tell me, you can,” Adelia offered with a gentle smile, “but feel free to keep it to yourself too. I don’t mind if you want to use this as an escape. And just in case I’ve never told you, your potions might be my favorite thing about you, but they're not the only part of you I care about.”

I chuckled as though I thought she was joking and decided not to tell her that I’d had that very concern.

From that day forward, Adelia worked me like a dog from the crack of dawn to early afternoon, day after day, refilling her shelves and learning new recipes for her backlog of custom orders.

I would have felt bad for being so busy, except Andrian was in a very similar situation at the school and had even less time off than I did. Though he didn’t have a stressed out potion maker breathing down his neck, he did have a couple new cubs, a mountain of maintenance and testing to catch up on, as well as a class of students who had just come of age and were preparing to go to the eastern front.

I remembered what Vargas had said about increased monster activity in the east and hoped that the students were ready for whatever was out there. The beast army had recently put out a call for all available soldiers to head east in preparation for some sort of invasion. I hadn't heard much in the way of details, but every time I got a snippet of news, I thought of Evan and Vargas and wondered how they were faring. Thalton, who held no official position in the village, had been sent east while we were in Vrayna, so the three of them were probably off fighting monsters together by now.

I missed Vargas far more than I’d thought I would. His constant companionship had become an integral part of my life, and I hadn’t realized how hard it would be to get by without his visits.

Perhaps Vargas had been worried about that too, as Willow, Orion, and Gregor all started stopping by more often. I couldn't shake the feeling that Vargas had asked them to look after me. At first I was worried that they were only spending time with me out of obligation, but they all seemed to genuinely enjoy our time together.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Willow liked to take me on random adventures around the village. She was easily bored by mundane activities and was always looking for something new to catch her interest. It quickly became apparent why she and Vargas got along so well. It was through her that I became familiar with parts of the village I had no reason to visit and discovered a multitude of interesting shops.

On our first time out, Willow took me to a jeweler who let us purchase scrap materials at a discount then guided us through making our own jewelry. I made a simple set of bronze rings for Andrian and me to wear, as neither of us liked wearing our cumbersome Vraynian rings. Along with the bronze rings, I purchased two premade chains so we could hang the Vraynian rings around our necks with our joining pendants.

Gregor, who only liked going out to taverns, preferred to spend time around the house. He would come over for sword training or wrestling, or just to chat and play games. I became particularly fond of a simple board game played with colored stones and a wooden cube with numbers on it that you rolled to decide how many stones you could use. I wasn’t very good at the game, but that didn’t dampen my enjoyment one bit.

And finally, there was Orion, who preferred to spend his time outside in the forest. He taught me archery and took me hunting and fishing. At first, I worried that he didn’t like me, as he barely spoke to me at all, but I quickly realized that he just didn’t like talking. So we spent our time together in a comfortable silence, something that I found surprisingly soothing.

Then one afternoon, while he was showing me how to clean a fish we’d just caught, he said, “You know, just because I’m not a talker doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be.”

Confused, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“I’m not good with words, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like it when other people talk,” he elaborated, “I like listening. Don’t feel obligated or anything, 'cause I’m comfortable with the quiet, but don’t hold back for my sake.”

I didn’t answer him right away, uncertain of how to respond. Once I’d gotten used to his reticence, it had felt natural to remain quiet, but I wasn’t sure whose sake that was for.

“Let me put it another way,” Orion continued, “I know you used to talk to Vargas about the stuff you went through in Humanland and now you can’t. Vargas used to come to me when he was having a hard time, ‘cause he liked that I just listened. So feel free to do the same. Or don’t. Your choice.”

“I think I was just comfortable with the quiet,” I finally replied, “I’m not much of a talker myself, thanks to the whole mute for ten years thing.”

Orion nodded and went back to cleaning the fish. We spent the rest of that afternoon, and many afternoons after that, enjoying simple activities and a comfortable silence between us.

Another change that came about was Andrian’s father started visiting the village on a more regular basis, claiming he wanted to see his boys. However, I soon realized that he had ulterior motives for his visits.

Whenever he could, he would follow me to Adelia’s shop, sometimes spending the whole day fawning over her. She was more receptive to his presence than I’d expected, and soon he was walking her home instead of me. When I asked either of them about it, they both informed me that they didn’t kiss and tell, which told me everything I needed to know.

Andrian was really happy to see his dad showing interest in a possible mate, as he'd been alone for Andrian's entire life. Even if he didn’t say it, I knew that Andrian worried about his ranger father living all alone in the woods. When we were younger, Uncle Alek at least had Andrian to keep him company, but since he'd returned to the cabin the year before, he'd had no one.

Then one day Adelia informed me that she was leaving me in charge of the shop for a few days so she could spend some time at the cabin. Her regular clients, now familiar with my work, had no complaints regarding her absence, and everything ran smoothly without her. When Adelia returned, she had a glow about her that told me things had gone very well.

It wasn’t long after that trip that Uncle Alek decided to retire from his position as a ranger and move to the village.

Life in the village was good. I had friends, a job that I genuinely enjoyed, and I no longer felt like an outsider. I was able to put my past behind me and live life to the fullest.

Andrian was, as always, my perfect mate. He respected me, supported me, and loved me. Our home was warm and harmonious, and no matter how busy our lives were, we always went to bed in each other's arms.

Things were almost perfect.

But there was one problem that I didn’t know how to address.

Except for kisses and cuddles, Andrian hadn't touched me since our wedding night.