EPILOGUE
“SO…THIS IS ALL THAT IS LEFT OF THEM?”
Aleksia shrugged. “I have no idea,” she replied to Ilmari. “But those trees weren’t there before.”
There was no sign, now, that anything had ever been here. Palace, walls, servants, even the original stone tower, were all gone. All that was left was an expanse of ice and snow that would probably be a fine meadow in the Spring, with two trees in the midst of it. One was an ash, one a linden, and they were twined so closely about each other that there was no telling where one ended and the next began. They were leafless now, but Aleksia sensed a vitality in them that meant that when Spring came, they would make a glorious show.
Behind them, the village once called “Misery” was now looking a great deal less dour. People spoke to each other in the streets, houses were being repaired, children played. Lemminkal and Annukka had performed six marriages already, and there was talk of building a church and finding a priest.
No one wanted to talk about the way things had been. Aleksia did not blame them. She actually hoped that the Spell of Restoration had cleansed some of that from their minds, and replaced it with dimmed memories. No one deserved to have the memory of that kind of inhumanity on his shoulders.
Kaari and Veikko had already been sent home with Urho pulling their sledge. They would be living in Annukka’s house for now….
And now the four who were left were waiting for the Godmother’s sleigh that Rosemary had sent, and surveying the changed landscape.
“Spring will be beautiful here,” murmured Annukka, at Aleksia’s left. “And if ever there was a place in need of a Wise One…there are vacant homes in plenty here, sad to say, and if I were to remain, Veikko and Kaari would not need to build a place of their own.” She smiled a little crookedly. “Kaari will make a good Wise One, I think.”
“I am too old to be a warrior anymore, Autumn Flower,” Lemminkal murmured. “But it occurs to me that it might be in me to be a good leader of such a place. Of course, if you would have me—”
Annukka’s enthusiastic embrace would have confirmed her thoughts on that subject to the most skeptical of men—which, of course, Lemminkal was not.
“It is time for me to go back to my place.” Aleksia sighed. “I will be glad to sleep in a bed…and have someone cook for me…and, yes, even to steer the lives of feckless children who are not careful of what they wish for.” But she felt a pang as she said it. She was going to miss having adventures.
And she was going to miss the company of others. Ilmari, especially….
He cleared his throat. “As to that,” he said cautiously. “Would you be averse to a neighbor? There is much I can learn from you. And perhaps I can give you a little help with those feckless children.”
She smiled, broadly, feeling warm inside. “A neighbor would be very welcome,” she replied. “And a little help would be useful.”
He coughed, and looked down at his feet a moment, then up into her eyes, as he flushed. “And more than that?” he asked hopefully.
She smiled, as unaccustomed warmth filled her heart. “One never knows,” she said. “We’ll…see.”
* * * * *
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A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms Volume 2 © 2014 by Harlequin Books S.A
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Fortune’s Fool
Copyright © 2007 by Mercedes Lackey
The Snow Queen
Copyright © 2008 by Mercedes Lackey
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® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
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A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Volume 2 Page 62