Three months later.
Ted leaned back into the soft embrace of the newly grown memorial bench and let the tree-song’s warm joy and excitement dance through him. Even devoid of all magic, the five stone blocks of the ruins loomed tall and proud still. Once a monument to the Empire sealing away Wood Elven magic, it now stood as a memorial to victory and restoration.
Dad sat beside him, dressed in simple brown robes, staring at the same stone circle. What did he see—the site of his enemy’s destruction, or the ruins that took away his son’s humanity?
A wave of giddy joy washed over Ted, and he found himself chuckling.
“Good joke?” Dad asked, still staring at the ruins.
“Probably one of Gramok’s tall tales.” Ted smiled to himself. “Doubt it’s the time we trudged through the sewers with the Emperor’s assassin.”
Tension sprang into the air and Dad leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “That tree-song’s something, huh?”
“Yeah.” Ted bit at his lip. “So. You and Alenia…?”
Dad shrugged his shoulders without looking up. “I don’t have a dagger in my back yet.”
“That bad, huh?”
He sighed before giving an even more half-hearted shrug. “Can’t say I blame her.”
Ted stared at his father. Even in those simple brown robes, it was all too easy to see the Emperor who’d snapped Orlanda’s neck. Who’d killed Ted. Who’d ordered Cara slain. “You’re not to blame.”
“Not to blame.” Dad laughed bitterly and held his head in his hands. “Do you forgive me? Truthfully?”
A cold swept over Ted. He opened his mouth to say yes, of course he did, and mumbled, “No.”
Several seconds scraped by, each more awkward than the last, until Dad muttered. “Good. You shouldn’t.”
Ted frowned. He didn’t, couldn’t, forgive him, not yet, maybe not ever, but even so… “Thank you,” he said, setting a flutter of warmth free within his chest.
Dad dragged his head out from his hands and turned to Ted with wide, incredulous eyes. “For what?”
“Without you, I’d have made the Destroyer an immortal god.”
“Without me, you wouldn’t have had to rush.”
“You think I’d have spent years combing through code while the world withered and died around me?”
Dad’s brow creased and his eyes narrowed. After a time, he sighed and leaned back into the bench. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“Nor would you, without Death’s bargains.”
“Everything I did, everything I said—it all came from me, not Death.”
Ice cold words stabbed at Ted from his memory. I’m ashamed to have you for a son. “Everything?”
“Everything.” Eric leaned back and stared up at the sky. “In some ways, Ted… I’m disappointed by you, much as one day you will be disappointed by your kids, if you ever have them.”
Ted’s heart sank like a rock, though the way his father said it, like it was his failing not Ted’s…
Dad turned and looked Ted up and down with a gleam in his eye. “In other ways, far more important ways, you are so much more than I could ever have hoped for.”
Water pooled in Ted’s eyes, unbidden and unwanted. Through trembling lips, he mustered, “Thank you.”
“No,” Dad said, “thank you.”
Ted stared at his father, looked into eyes beaming with pride, and hugged his dad. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” Dad said, patting him of the back like no time had passed at all. Then he froze up and pulled away, and gave Ted a weary smile. “Until I gave it up for Protection magic.”
Ted squirmed on the bench. “Death’s a bitch, huh?”
“Yeah.” Dad looked away and chuckled. “Made a mean cheese burger, even if he never did nail the pickles.”
“I never tried it.”
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“Good call. Soggy pickles ruin everything. First meal I make myself back home, I’m slappin’ together a good old Thursday night burger together.”
“Even if it’s not Thursday?”
“Especially if it’s not Thursday.”
Ted couldn’t help but laugh. “So. You’re really leaving then?”
“Yeah. Gok’s sure the patch will hold, the MEM node’s charged, and my little boy’s all grown up.”
“Stay for the celebrations, at least.”
“You normally invite the Emperor to the celebration of his own overthrow?”
“Oh, every time.”
“Tempting.” Dad stared at the ruins for several seconds before shaking his head. “No. They should have their celebration without me, I’ve done enough harm as it is. But… I could hang around one more day, if you’d like?”
Ted’s chest fluttered and tensed. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
“Great!” Dad smiled widely. A little too widely. “You’re sure she’ll still want me?”
“She never gave up on you. Never.”
A shadow of a real smile peaked out. “Fourteen years is a long time.”
“You know mom. Never let a damned thing go in her life.”
Dad chuckled. “Shame she’ll never meet her.”
“Who?”
“Cara.”
A smile came over Ted, imagining the scene. “She’d go apoplectic at the age gap.”
“That she would. Can’t say it doesn’t feel a little weird. She’s what, a hundred? Hundred and ten?”
“She’s got a few springs on me.” Ted smiled to himself. “If it makes you feel better, I have the body of at least a centennial now.”
“Guess you do, old man.” The creases in Dad’s face faded with that same laugh Ted remembered. “Speaking of Cara, she is coming, right?”
“She said she’d be here.”
“Cast iron guarantee of the century.”
“She’s not that bad.” Ted frowned. “Mostly. With Jeremy away, she’d got a lot on her plate.”
“How’s the Alliance going, anyway?”
“Gramok’s holding it together, somehow. Still hasn’t found another poor sap to dump the problem on yet.”
“Give him my best. Being in charge isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
“Don’t I believe it.” Ted said, smiling as a prick of mischievous joy tickled for an instant in the tree-song.
Was that—?
Yes! A wave of warm joy fluttered closer in the tree-song, bringing a smile to his face, and he cried out, “You’re late!”
“I know, I know,” Cara said, coming in full pelt. She pounced onto Ted’s lap and kissed him on the cheek. “Sorry, was busy with… er…”
Ted’s smile grew even as he shook his head. “Celebration preparations?”
“Maaaybe.”
“The celebration preparations you said you did yesterday?”
“I meant to do them last night while you slept! How am I meant to get anything done now you don’t sleep all the time?”
Ted chuckled and gave her a peck on the lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said, kissing him back, then glancing apologetically to the side. “Hey, Dad. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Dad said, his face glowing. “Just make sure you look after it when I’m gone.”
“Oh, I intend to. Except for all the adventures, of course.”
Warmth spread through Ted’s chest and he kissed her on the cheek. “You’re incorrigible, you know that?”
She beamed. “Thank you for noticing.”
Dad rose and bowed his head to them both. “I should get going; the Forest isn’t going to heal itself. Same time tomorrow?”
Ted smiled and his heart soared. “Same time tomorrow.”
Dad bowed his head and strolled away, humming to himself, and they watched him pass out of the clearing and disappear into the Forest.
Cara straddled Ted and kissed him on the lips. “We’ve got a little time before the celebration…”
He raised an eyebrow. “Here?”
She pressed a finger against his lips, weaved purple magic with her other hand, and whispered, “Za-enshka do ki.”
Telepathy magic rippled out from her finger tip, cloaking them from prying eyes, and her lips planted kisses on his neck.
***
They walked back to Tolabar hand in hand with a bounce in their step, surrounded by the chirping of birds, the floral aroma of flowers in bloom, and the jubilant cheers of the tree-song.
Waiting for the lift to descend, a warm glow filled Ted’s chest, and every glance they shared was another skip of his heart. “What would I do without you?”
“Break your own arm,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “Get lost.” Another kiss. “Make yourself explode.” She gave him a grin, then suddenly froze, and her smile faded. “You are staying, aren’t you?”
He took her other hand in his and pulled her close, bending his knees to press his forehead against hers. “I’m not going anywhere. Not without you.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Her smile leaped back and she wetted her lips. “And you keep your promises, right?”
“Right…”
“Great!” She beamed and squeezed his hands. “You owe me one of Gramok’s ‘stupid drinking songs.’”
“And here I was thinking you’d forgotten all about that.”
“I never forget a bet.”
“Says the woman who forgot—”
She pulled him down into a kiss. “You’ll enjoy it.”
“That a promise?”
“Nope.”
“All aboard,” cried out Nola from the now-descended lift, giving Cara a wide, knowing grin. “Everyone’s waiting on your two love-birds.”
Ted hopped onto the lift and shot Cara an accusatory glare. “We’re late?”
Cara sauntered up and pressed her body up against his. “Is that a complaint?”
A grin came over Ted and he kissed her on the forehead. “Not in the least.”
“You two,” Nola said, shaking her head. “Worse than Kegan and Brianna.”
Cara tried, unsuccessfully, to look embarrassed. “They still—”
“Yuuup.”
“Urgh.”
“I dunno.” Nola smiled wistfully. “Kinda hot, actually.”
“You told them that?”
“Of course not! They might stop.”
Cara broke into roaring laughter that spread. When the laughter faded, Cara and Nola chatted away until the lift reached the top.
“Come on,” Cara said, grabbing Ted and Nola each by a hand and pulling them towards the mess hall.
There, dozens of wood elves and dwarves were gathered around Gramok, who towered above them, holding his mug up high. “Look what the wolf dragged in!” he yelled, grinning from ear to ear.
Cara laughed and grabbed two mugs, shoving one into Ted’s hand. “He’s mauled up, and ready to sing!”
Dozens of assembled faces stared at Ted, waiting for his response. Even Jeremy held a drink in hand, and a glint in his eye.
“Well…” Ted held his arms out and gave them a grin. “Can’t say no now, can I?”
Gramok downed the rest of his drink, slammed his mug down on the table, and broke into a guttural Orcish round before Ted could flee.
When the tune came around again, Cara and Nola jumped in, singing the song like strangled cats, and Cara gazed into Ted’s eyes, daring him to break his promise.
Warmth spread through Ted. Too late to back out now. He took a swig of the bitter beer, kissed Cara on the forehead, and, when the tune circled back, added his voice to the song.
