Epilogue: Not Done Yet

In the movies, you always woke up to the beeping of a heart monitor, everything swimming in and out of focus in a sterile white hospital room.

Well, in this setting, I guess you’d actually expect someone dabbing away at your feverish brow with a cool cloth, only to run out of the room in excitement the moment you regained consciousness.

Of course, I didn’t expect to wake at all.

They didn’t swim around me, because I couldn’t even see the far wall in the darkness. I coughed, tapping at my arms for a solid five seconds before I realized I wasn’t in my armor.

That sparked another coughing fit. Finally, I managed to get a solid breath in, pressing a hand against my aching chest. “Swear to god if I left my armor again.”

I shook my head, slumping back into the bed. My entire body ached, a soreness that ran all the way down to my bones. I felt like I’d been sandblasted inside and out. Hell of a come down from a trip, but that’s what happens when you snort strange substances: you don’t always get to wake up the way you want.

I took a second to catch my breath before feeling my surroundings. My hands found the edge of a table next to my narrow bed, and I used it to pull myself into a sitting position. That alone made my head spin, and I found myself doubling over its smooth wooden surface. Plus side, I bumped a pitcher that was, I quickly discovered, full of water.

I considered feeling in the dark for a cup before picking up the whole thing and drinking as much of it as I could.

When I finished, I was breathing heavily again, but at least my throat no longer felt like a desert. Officially not the worst bender I’d ever been on.

With a grunt, I pushed myself to my feet. Shuffling along, I found the wall, then the door leading to another dark room. Quickly, I found an exit, stumbling out into the night.

I blinked again, my eyes slowly adjusting to the starlight overhead. The moon cast a pale glow over darkened street lamps and quiet houses. For a moment I feared that I’d been left in Lady’s Port as some cruel joke, after the town had been scoured of life.

Then, the door banged open again behind me. I glanced back just in time to see Rel rush out of the house, a frantic look on her face.

She paused at the sight of me. “Mistress.” She slumped. “You’re awake.”

“Looks like it.” I turned back to the night. “Did we do it?”

“We did.” Relia walked up next to me. “Are you…”

I waved her off. “I feel like shit, but I’m not dying. I thought I would.”

She nodded. “We found you in the castle. Fortunately, we had a deacon with us who was able to address the damage.”

I blinked. “A deacon?”

Rel nodded. “Ishanti brought quite a host with her.”

“So she came back.” I laughed. “Where did she get to, anyway?”

“She went to the capital to rally support.” Rel gave a quiet laugh. “She was…most confused when she discovered that four of us had already toppled Silverwall before she could arrive.” My minion paused. “She was instrumental in diverting the stampede, though.”

I sighed. “I guess it was too much to hope that we’d fly under the radar forever.” I waved off her confused glance. “We can worry about Ishanti tomorrow. I’m sure she has plenty of things she wants to talk about.”

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Rel nodded.

“Did both the boys make it out?” I asked.

“Yes, my lady,” Rel replied. “Dee and Dum both got scratched up a bit, but they’re recovering. Just like you should be.”

I shrugged. “Put me back to bed then.” I waved at the lights. “Is there a reason the lamps are out?”

“The Lighting Mill was damaged during the stampede.”

I sighed again. “No rest for the wicked.”

“You have time to rest, Mistress.” Rel took a step closer, hand pausing an inch from my shoulder, so close I could feel the heat of her skin through the thin fabric of my clothes. “Everything…everything is stable, our enemies are defeated, and our allies more than willing to wait.”

It was a novel feeling, having allies.

But there was something else bothering me far more. “Why are you suddenly so formal?”

Rel pulled back her hand, fingers curling. “I…don’t take your meaning, Mistress.”

I tilted my head towards her. She stood half-hunched in the moonlight, so far from the confident young woman I’d seen her slowly grow into since we’d started building Lady’s Port. Instead, she looked a mirror for the street urchin Electra and I had first stumbled upon in Silverwall, before I’d helped her stand on her own.

I took a step towards her, pausing when she leaned back. “What?” I asked. “Am I contagious? Did taking that Ash of Creation stuff disfigure me hideously? It happens to all villains eventually, or so I’ve been told.”

“H-huh?” Rel shook her head furiously. “N-no! of course not! How could you think that?”

“What else am I supposed to think, when you recoil at the sight of me?” I asked.

“I am simply…” she trailed off, unsure what to say.

I took another step closer, and this time she didn’t pull away. “Are you afraid I’d still be disappointed in you?”

Relia flinched.

I chuckled. “It would be a bit hypocritical of me, wouldn’t it?” I reached up, placing my own hand on her shoulder. “To be so upset after everything played out so well, in no small part because of your plan?”

“I…I didn’t have a plan.” Rel shook her head. “I was flailing in the dark, and I was tricked by Ishanti, and—”

“Sometimes, the best plans involve a lot of flailing.” I smiled. “Believe me.”

Rel slumped, leaning into my hand. “She still played me for a fool.”

I shrugged. “That doesn’t explain why you’re acting so standoffish all of a sudden.”

She looked away mulishly “I’m…not.”

“You haven’t said my name a single time,” I replied.

“Lady—My lady—”

“There you go again.” I tightened my grip ever so slightly. “Now tell me.”

She remained silent, face half cast in shadow from the building. I saw one eye sparkle in the moonlight, flicking to my face and away again. In the pale white, her eyes looked so impossibly dark, like a well I could fall into if I wasn’t careful.

“I tried…so hard to be worthy of you,” Rel said. “Now you say that everything is alright, but in the moment, you rejected my aid, rejected me, because I did not listen to your orders.” Her deep, dark eyes locked on mine. “Is what you truly want just a minion who obeys your every command?”

“Ah, so it’s my fault then.” Despite that, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. “I was cruel to you, in my anger, even though it turns out you were right. And…I don’t know what I want.”

Rel’s eyes widened in surprise and confusion.

I laughed. “It seems nonsensical, doesn’t it. I always forge ahead, unerring.” My eyes flicked down. “I know what I need to do, I know what I need to change. For so long that ember has burned inside me, growing into a fire so bright that I lose sight of myself in the blaze.” I laughed. “Look at me, waxing poetic about how I’m a such a workaholic that I forgot how to sit still.”

I looked back up, meeting Relia’s eyes once more. “What I needed…” I paused, hand shifting on her shoulder. “What I thought I needed was people who obeyed my orders, so I could steer us out of this mess.” I laughed again, this time, lighter. “Then I wake up and find you’ve done a pretty good job of steering from what you’ve told me, you and Ishanti both.”

“Ishanti acted for her own gain.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “People are allowed to have their own motivations, but I don’t want to talk about her right now.”

Rel blinked, eyes still locked on mine.

“You asked me what I wanted.” I smirked. “Let’s start with a reward, for my victory and yours.”

“A reward?”

I pulled her forward. Kissed her hard on the lips.

Rel froze, arms stiffening halfway in the air. I laughed as I pulled back. “I told you pursuing me wouldn’t be easy.” I shifted my grip, stroking her cheek. “But you’ve acquitted yourself masterfully.”

“Mistress, I—”

“Ah, ah!” I tapped a finger on her lips. “Say my name.”

Rel gasped. “Via.”

“That’s my girl.” I leaned forward, kissing her again, softer this time. She kissed back, hands coming down gently on my shoulders.

It felt so much more real, now that our intentions were more than words spoken across a mirror.

I pulled back, quirking my lips into a smile. “Tomorrow will bring more work,” I told her. “And I will no doubt be domineering, headstrong, and grumpy more often than not. Are you up for that?”

Rel nodded. “Yes, Via. That’s what I want.”

I chuckled. “I think I might want that too.”