вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

Epilogue

"Mamaaaaa!!" The redheaded ten-year-old girl yelled, sprinting madly into the room. "Look what Zoe and I found!"

Linh looked up from her latest painting, swiping a fallen piece of silver-tipped hair from where i had escaped her hasty bun. "What? Don't tell me you two went through the attic..."

"She did," Zoe announced, stalking into the room behind her twin sister. "I was being a good person and helping Dad make a bigger mess in his workroom."

Linh barely hid her smile, trying to stick to the stern-mom role. "Chloe, hon, you shouldn't have done that. But what did you find?"

"This." From behind her back, Chloe brought out a beautifully preserved sketch of two elves, clearly siblings. The boy looked slightly grumpy, as if he didn't want to be doing whatever it was that he was doing. And the girl...Linh knew that her daughters had recognized her younger self right away. "We know that it's you, Mom...but who's the guy?"

"Hm? A guy?" A strawberry-blond man wearing a thick apron asked from the doorway. "A guy, Linh?"

"Yep. The girls found one of the sketches Keefe made for us."

Zoe, who had been following the exchange very carefully, nibbled on her lip. "Um...is that...Uncle Tam?"

"Huh? Uncle Tam?" Chloe goggled at her sister. "But...oh yeah, that does look like how Aunt Biana and Uncle Wonderboy described him."

Dex snorted with laughter. "I still can't believe that old nickname is still in use."

"Neither can I," Linh agreed. "And nor can Fitz. Oh, uh, girls, how about you go outside for a while?"

Thankfully, the twins didn't question their mother's motives as they trooped out, arguing all the way.Dex closed the door softly behind them. "You okay? I mean, you haven't had a flashback in quite a while, so..."

Linh turned away, so he couldn't see her chin was wobbling. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

***

"Morning, Biana." Fitz waved as he entered the dining room of Everglen. "You're up early today."

"It's a Saturday,Chandelier Head," Biana reminded him through a mouthful of brattails. "You know what I do on Saturdays."

"Oh! Oh, yeah. Don't mind my sieve of a memory."

"I never do, Fitzypoo. I never do."

Twenty minutes later, she was hiking up the final stretch of the mountain and the tree was in sight. "Hey there, Tam. How you doing? Hopefully you didn't miss me too much."

The tree barely rustled its leaves in response, but to Biana,that was enough of an answer.

"Cool. I missed you, though. I always will." Absentmindedly, she sat down at the base of the tree, leaning back against the cool bark.

The murcat stuffed toy was still there. It wasn't the same one from all those years ago, obviously. That one had been taken away a long time ago. Now, they all pooled their cash to get him a new one every year.

She picked it up, running a nail along the seams on its head. "See, I told you I'd get you one of these, didn't I? As some sort of weird surprise. And I did. Look at it now."

The leaves stayed silent.

"Oh, come on. You don't need to go all emo on me. Sparkles make everything better, and look at that!" Biana jabbed at the sparkle-adorned tail and ears with a vicious fingertip.

Still no answer. She sighed, slumping further backwards against the trunk.

"I miss you, you know. And you'll never really know how much, because I'm terrible with words. So...I guess I'll just keep saying it every time I stop by?" Biana didn't even bother wiping the tears that were running silently down her face.

"I miss you, Tam. And I love you."

{fin}