"Baldric." Gerwulf said to him. "We have to make a choice soon. You know that right?"

"I know." By the night of the fourth day in the village, they could not deny it anymore. At some point, they have to accept it.

No one wanted to, but they had to.

Baldric stared at the group of people sitting in the cove where he spends his time hiding from everyone. Before dusk, Max joined him in hiding there. Soon Annie joined them too, and she brought a picnic basket full of food. Gerwulf came next and brought with her a pot of tea that she heated over the fire. Tinkerton-G, Sylvie and Ada joined them as well, with the GEA’s sitting with them in silence.

Vhlad brought with him a cask full of wine. Solomon, Oichi, Elizabeth, and Shiny joined in the cove as well.

By late in the evening, his once lonely cave was filled with people, with even Elaine, Theo, Groti, Thandos, and Alexander joining them. Gerwulf hummed a song while everyone listened and sat around the small fire. It wasn’t a song for mourning, but the tone was quite sombre. Everyone joined in humming as well with Baldric the only exception.

After hours of silence, Baldric was the first to speak.

"Vhlad... Is your airship ready?"

"It ain’t pretty yarr… but she will do."

"After one more night… We will hold a service for them. Then me, Max, and Doctor Gerwulf will personally guide Princess Elizabeth to Richtenguard. Does anyone object?"

No one raised their hands.

Midnight came, and Elizabeth was the first to fall asleep. Solomon personally carried her back to the village, with Oichi escorting him. Soon the crowd slowly vanished, leaving only Annie, Baldric, Max, and Shiny left in the dark cove.

Soon even Annie fell asleep and leaned on Max’s shoulder. Baldric then heard a rustling outside of the cove.

"Annie… Max…"

They both groggily awoke. The rustling continued. The three of them set out to find the source of the noise, with Shiny leading the way when they heard the cause of the sound. It was a raven with a sprig of spearmint tied to its leg. All three of them looked at each other, then back at the raven. Baldric cautiously extended his hand and the bird flew on to it. Annie gripped onto Baldric’s arms.

"Think we should tell them?"

Annie hesitated to answer. {Not yet. It means two things, remember?}

"Yeah, it means someone is found. But it could also mean a body is found." Max added.

{I know she is still alive. I can feel it.}

All of them made their way to the outside of the village and waited there ever since. The three of them barely slept as they took shifts to let each other sneak a few minutes of sleep, but soon it paid off.

Max and Shiny went back to the village to get them some food. Baldric sat on a stump when Annie came from behind him, holding three mugs of coffee. As both of them watched the dark sky turn to a cool blue and orange, he saw someone approaching from the forest.

It was Luna, wearing her damaged clothes and armor with Shinaki’s sword on her belt. She was covered in bandages, missing her left arm and carrying Willow on her other arm.

Baldric slowly got up while Annie dropped all the mugs she was holding. She dashed towards her and gave her a big hug that tackled Luna to the ground. Annie cried as Luna returned the hug tightly, the two of them crying happily.

Baldric helped them both up. "Had to admit, you almost had me worried there." He said while Luna saw that he had red eyes with dark bags underneath.

"Woah, did you cry?" Luna said as she smiled. "Annie did he cry?" Annie laughed and nodded. Baldric gave Luna a tight hug as well.

"Is… Elizabeth…"

"She’s fine. I bet she is still asleep."

The three of them walked towards the village, with Annie taking Willow in her arms. Luna was afraid of seeing the child again after what she showed her. Baldric seemed to have picked up on what she was thinking.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"We talked with Elizabeth." He said as they all walked together.

"Does… she hate me?"

"Nope."

Luna stopped and looked at him.

"Well not hate. Scared, but not anymore. Me, Annie, and Chi talked to her. Just keep that in mind when you two meet."

When all three of them entered the small village, the first one to greet them was Vhlad and his crew. The big man roared in delight. He ran up and gave Luna a bear hug and pulled Baldric and Annie in as well.

As Vhlad’s crew cheered, Max, Sylvie, Ada, and Tinkerton-G emerged as well.

Max gave Luna a hug and then punched her hard in the right arm while all of them laughed. Ada tried her best to feign concern and even tried to insult Luna for being reckless, but Tinkerton-G told everyone that the GEA was most concerned for Luna, third only to Annie and Baldric.

The four members of Vhlad’s crew, Groti, Thandos, Elaine, and Theo, came out to welcome her as well, and soon the small village seemed to have come alive. Shinaki emerged from the largest house in the village that was nestled on a small hill, and soon Solomon came out as well. Both of them waited until everyone finished welcoming Luna.

Shinaki only nodded at her, and Luna finally approached Solomon. Both were unsure of what to do. Luna extended her hand for a handshake, but Solomon pulled her in for a hug.

"How is Oichi?" Luna asked when she let go.

"She is inside with Gerwulf and the children."

"So is it a boy or a girl?"

Solomon smiled. "It’s both."

"Wha?! What?! Twins?!"

Solomon only nodded happily at her.

"May I?"

"Of course." Luna took Willow from Annie, and only her and Solomon entered the house, with Shinaki closing the door behind them. They had turned the house into a makeshift hospital as they passed by some rooms that had some of Vhlad’s and Alexander’s crew resting or recovering. Solomon led them to a room upstairs and gently knocked.

Inside was Oichi, on a bed near a makeshift crib. She quickly shushed them as Luna cautiously approached her. She gave her the tightest hug she could. Oichi then guided her slowly towards the crib.

"Meet Finn and Quinn, your godchildren." Two beautiful new born babies were sound asleep, and Luna did not realise that she was silently crying.

"They are beautiful Chi."

"Solomon wanted to name our girl after you, but we did not know the name of a boy that rhymed with Luna."

"It’s a good thing you didn’t. The name Luna has a lot of baggage. Also, it can be easily teased." Luna looked back at Oichi and Solomon. She saw Oichi’s right hand was missing her ring finger.

"Ah this." Oichi caught her staring. "We certainly had worse-"

"I’m sorry, Chi. I’m so sorry." She continued to cry, and Oichi quickly approached her. "You went through all of this because of me. You suffered through this-"

Oichi shushed her.

"Look at me, Luna." She held her face as she wiped Luna’s tears. "You did not do this. This was not your fault."

Oichi helped her calm down. The three of them started to catch up when the door opened and Doctor Gerwulf slowly entered the room.

Luna almost stumbled as she made her way towards her and gave her a tight hug. Gerwulf then wiped away Luna’s tears. The four of them did their best to stay quiet as they had their reunion. Luna’s aches and pains vanished when she saw them, her family there all around her.

"Alright, now that everyone is well awake, Luna I need to have that arm looked at."

"Take all the time you need." Solomon said. "I will keep Alexander at bay."

"Mother before we…"

"You want to see her?" Luna nodded. The two of them left quietly, and Gerwulf led Luna to another room. Inside, Elizabeth was sleeping and snoring, even with Shiny gently floating above her. Willow jumped off Luna and ran towards the child, not rubbing herself on her so as not to wake Elizabeth. Shiny headed straight for Luna and hovered around her happily.

"Now that you have seen her, we need to have your injuries looked at first."

"Actually, can I stay here for a bit?" Luna asked, not wanting to be separated from the child again.

"We will clean your wounds and dressings first, then you can stay here for as long as you want." Luna knew Gerwulf’s words were law and she agreed.

=0o0=

Once she was all cleaned up, the morning sun was now in the sky and Luna returned to Elizabeth’s room. She quietly took a chair and sat down beside her.

In a way, she felt scared of Elizabeth’s reaction when she saw her. Will the child be terrified of her? angry? Will she hate her for what she has seen? Will Elizabeth ask her to leave and never come back? Will she yell at her? Call her a monster?

Luna was so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she did not realise Elizabeth had started to stir. The child slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Luna smiling at her.

"Morning Sunshine."

"Morning." Elizabeth smiled back as Willow started to rub itself fully all over her. Luna watched in silence as the child giggled as the blotking played with Elizabeth.

It felt like there was something between them. Luna felt like there was glass separating her from Elizabeth. She was right there, but the painful silence divided them and she could not take it anymore. Luna knelt on the ground and finally spoke.

"Elizabeth… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry about everything. It was all my fault. Everything was my fault. I’m so sorry about what you saw… about what I truly am. I know… I know that you hate me or you’re afraid of me, and I know that... If you probably never want to see me again, and if you say the word, I will leave-"

Elizabeth approached her and slowly gave her a hug.

"You… you are not scared of me? You are not… angry?"

"No."

"Why? How? How could you… forgive me so easily? I’m a bad person. You should hate me, you should be angry at me…" Elizabeth did not respond. She just continued to hug Luna. She shakily returned the hug as tears kept streaking down her face.

"Luna… you’re not a bad person."

"I am… I am."

"No you’re not. You’re a good person."

"If you knew what I really am… you would not-"

Elizabeth put her hands on Luna’s cheeks. She stopped while the child directly looked into her eyes.

"Luna... You always try to be a good person, and when you do something bad, you always try to make it right. As long as you try to be a good person, you are one to me."

Luna slowly nodded, and Elizabeth smiled. No words were needed between them as both of them just held each other.