The Telsenlore guards left. It wasn’t immediate; Sara had to express her rage that her “citizen” was assaulted because they wouldn’t let a foreign dignitary into their walls. They accused her of bringing trouble to the city; she told them that if they wanted to go to war over the incident—she would oblige them. They left, pending a meeting with the Kalif. Then, Sara sat down at the table, looking at the alcohol bottles as Raul and Emma chatted.

Tiber tugged on Sara’s sleeve, breaking her out of her reverie. The little girl had been silent, not knowing what to say, but she wanted attention, as all kids do.

Sara pushed out her chair and turned to her, “Do you want up?”

“Up?”

“Yeah. On my lap?”

Tiber’s face lit up. “Really?”

Sara smiled and lifted her up, placing her on her lap. “I bought something for you,” she said.

“For me?”

“Yeah.” Sara reached into her spatial ring, and pulled out a stuffed spined rabbit with surreally large eyes. It was a zerco, an animal famed for attaching itself to humans and large herbivores. It was a symbiotic plant of an animal, foraging food for larger beasts in exchange for protection. They were extremely rare to find in the wild because their “life mates,” as they’re called, were hyper-protective, and zercos died if they lost them. So the only way to acquire one is by being there on the date of its birth.

Tiber looked at Emma and Raul’s pleasantly bewildered expressions and then at the plushie. Then she hugged it with teary eyes. “This’s really for me?”

“For you,” Sara said. “If your brother doesn’t hate me when this is over, I’ll buy you a real one. But we gotta get it on the birthing day, okay?”

Tiber’s eyes sparkled. “Really?”

“It’s a promise.”

Sara hugged her from the back, making the little girl squeal in happiness.

Raul turned to Emma and whispered, “She’s like a different person.”

“Right?”

“I’m here,” Sara said.

“Can you imagine her as a mother?” Emma giggled.

Raul shook his head. “Never.”

Sara sighed and closed her eyes, tuning the laughing group out by listening to the rogga bugs that had made it through the broken door and were now (probably) having sex on the walls, given how loud they were. She was getting married. She was actually getting married. That…. She didn’t know how to feel about that. Kye wasn’t the man that she was marrying in her last life. She had fallen for him again during their letters, but he was still new and couldn’t replace the other Kye, right? Was she betraying the other one for being so happy with this one—a man who hadn’t suffered alongside her? One that was much happier and free from harm? Those questions didn’t deter her love or desire to marry this Kye, but they weighed on her—

—until she heard Kye singing.

“And oh, the woman’s callin’, and she knows that she is right. So she comes along—comes sailing—and she fights for it all night. Oh she~says she~says she waitin’ for her man to come a round. But I don’t have the heart to do it, so I guess I’m leavin’ town.”

Raul and Emma laughed as Kye brought trays of aromatic foods and meats from the kitchen, filling the entire bar with his voice. As for Sara, she covered her mouth and started crying sporadically, smiling brightly. He couldn’t see the smile, so he stopped singing.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

The place turned silent.

Sara uncovered her mouth and laughed, flashing everyone a bright smile. “No. I mean, yes. It’s just…” she laughed again, coughing up phlegm and wiping her tears. “You used to sing that every time we had an argument.”

The world turned still as everyone processed her words. Then they all burst into laughter.

Kye smiled and put the plates of reska with locks, a steak and vegetable dish served with a thin gravy, on the table. Then he continued singing.

“But tomorrow brought a city where no woman knew my name, and I done a miss the missus, so I come on back again. And oh, a was she waitin’, for her man to come around; and I~did, I~did with promises, and a ring that ties us bound.”

He added another dish on the table—this one with a single item—a ring.

Sara’s tears streamed down as she hugged Tiber, who wiggled and grunted to break free. Sara released her.

“It wasn’t just ‘cause the risk,” Kye said. “I’ve wanted to marry you for almost five years now… since the day I saw you.” He laughed as she took deep breaths. “I give you hell for askin’ me so bluntly, but… I would’ve said yes if you stayed for tea.”

“You never have tea.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty expensive.” Kye shrugged, and Raul and Emma exchanged chuckles. Then Kyritus blushed and looked at Sara. “So?”

“Yes,” Sara said. “Yes!” She moved Tiber out of her lap, stood, and hugged Kye—a man she had never hugged or kissed yet was somehow marrying.

“Well?” Tiber asked as the two looked at each other. “Smooch already!”

Sara rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “And it’s ruined.”

Kye laughed and nodded. “Later.”

“No, now!” Tiber said. “You’re such children!”

Raul covered his eyes. “It’s okay. You can do it.” He spread his fingers to watch, and Emma laughed.

Sara’s cheek twitched, and she began silently chanting. Suddenly, her body disappeared—along with Kye’s since she was touching him. Then, as Kye panicked and the others started complaining, she kissed him.

Suddenly, their bodies melded together, and all the fear and loneliness she felt in the last week drifted away. Those five years of being a chaste leeta woman had ended. Her battle with Agronus and Daniel and Jason and Mary and Escar ceased to exist. And at that moment, she wished that she had said fuck you to the world and the Escaran Kingdom and all the bullshit and just found a way to trick everyone into thinking she was dead so she could have come to Kye from the start.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Kye released his lips and laughed. “I can’t even see you.”

Sara smiled. “Does it matter?”

“Yes, it matters!” Tiber screamed.

Everyone laughed, and Sara released the invisibility. Then she pecked Kye on the lips and sat down with a smirk. “That’s all you guys get.”

Kye touched his lips with a smile. “I’ll be back.”

He came back with a dozen bottles of different liquids.

“What’s this?” Emma asked.

“Everything but booze,” he replied. “So long as I’m runnin’ this place, there’ll be no shortage.”

Sara nodded and bit her lip. The others looked at her and smiled. She smiled back.

Sara closed the door to her room that night, overwhelmed with emotion. She couldn’t get Kye’s proposal out of her head—and it didn’t help that he was staring into her eyes in her bedroom. Her heart pounded—her mind felt hazy. They were finally alone after the best dinner of her life, and despite being well over thirty and practically married to the man in her past life, she felt as nervous and vulnerable as the first time they met.

“I’ll warn you…” Kye said. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Sara said. She connected their lips, reveling in the sea of emotions and sensations before leading him to the bed, where their shadows danced on the walls under the red moonlight, becoming darker as the moon waned outside the window. Then their shadows faded once morning overtook Telsenlore, ushering a new day of heat and sand and wind. Only then did they stop and lay down, chests rising and falling, wide awake and passionate, regretting nothing but unable to keep going.

Sara rolled onto her side, placing her head on his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat. “I love you.”

He brushed her hair. “I love you, too.”

Sara swallowed. “I’ll find a way to break it.”

“I know you will.”

“Do you?”

“I just had sex with a queen. I don’t know anything about politics, but I’m pretty sure that’s not allowed.”

“I’m not a queen.” Sara slapped his chest. “What does that have to do with anything, anyway?”

“You do whatever you want,” Key said. “What’s some magic compared to becoming a queen?”

Sara put her ear back on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. He wasn’t lying about his confidence in her. “As long as you really believe me.”

“I do.”

Raul sat at the table with Emma in the morning, watching the sunrise filter through the mangled door of Delina Oasis. They were both trying their best not to think about everything that had happened. It was their fault, in a way, as well-meaning as they were. They couldn’t have ever thought that it was even possible for Daniel to be able to teleport—Sara didn’t think so either. He tried not to think about it. There would be plenty of time to do that after Sara got her moment. This was her moment—and they wouldn’t ruin it.

But he was hungry, and he wondered if Sara was ever gonna come out of that damn bedroom. He didn’t mind, but she could at least let him know whether he should risk a confrontation with guards to eat… dried lizard or whatever was sold out here.

Emma rested her cheek on her forearm with a sigh. He thought she was hungry, but the way she drew circles on the smooth table with her index finger suggested she was depressed.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

Emma opened her mouth but shut it and kept quiet.

“Just say it.”

Her face contorted into a grimace.

“Please.”

“Are… you okay?” Emma asked.

“Are you talking about fucking up?” he asked. “Of course not, but I’ll keep it together.”

“Yeah… but not just that…” Emma looked up the stairs toward the bedroom. “That.”

Raul’s shoulders tensed up, and he leaned back. She was asking if he was okay with his decade-long crush sleeping with another man. “I’d be lying if it didn’t bother me a bit,” he confessed. “But it’s not as bad as I thought. I don’t even love her anymore, and I was so deep in the friend zone that I was numb when I did. So it’s not a big deal.”

“Oh….”

Raul looked at her. “Besides….”

Emma looked up.

“I…” Raul paused. “I didn’t want to bring it up now or during this conversation….” He wiped his face. “I really like you, Emma.”

Her eyes widened.

“A lot. Like… in ways I’ve never felt before. And this trip… most of it…” He chuckled bitterly and shook his head. Then he took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes. “Was the happiest I’ve been since coming here.”

Emma’s eyes trembled, and she looked down.

“Shit…” he said. “I’m I don’t know how I’m supposed’a follow up that guy, but…. Well, will you go out… with me?”

Emma’s eyes shot open, and she almost choked, smiling and panicking and laughing and saying, “Yes,” and yes and Yes! Raul stood and walked to her, but before they kissed Tiber snuck her head out from the stairwell, and Raul coughed lightly. “This is karma.”

Emma giggled and then kissed him.

That kiss set off the most surreal days Raul had had since being stripped from his family. It was like a fairy tale where the world was collapsing, but there was a brief respite of absolute bliss that shouldn’t have existed.

Sara convinced everyone to stay in Telsenlore for a few days, citing the need to fix the door. It was a joke excuse, but no one complained, knowing that leaving that meant facing Daniel and Agronus. And aside from sweating their balls off around the clock and being forced to listen to the rogga bugs that sang on the walls until 3 am… it was a great time.

Sara was in a nearly surreal mood, flashing bright white smiles and telling hilarious stories around the table. The remarkable thing about her tales was how ironic they were. On one notorious occasion, Sara told a story where she and a party were hired to slay a grenka, which, according to Sara, looked like “A wombat fucked a crocodile and gave birth to a chainsaw.” Everyone got stoked to hear about this death machine, but Sara explained that on the way, her fellow adventurer got drunk in a nearby town and accepted a gift from a woman. The next thing they knew, the villager was throwing a wedding for him, and the whole thing turned into a fiasco. Raul and Emma were snorting with laughter for about thirty minutes as they played a game of Queens, the Escaran Kingdom’s version of poker, but had to stop. At the end of it, Sara tried to move on to another topic. But when Raul asked, What about the grenka? she raised her eyebrows like he was stupid and said, We killed it. What’s more to say about it? That irked Raul something savage, but Tiber giggled, and everyone’s moods brightened again.

Tiber…. That girl had some strange spell over people. By the second night, Raul would’ve murdered anyone who looked at her wrong. She was glued to Sara’s lap, getting heaped with praise and small gifts that Kyritus couldn’t even comprehend. It was like he was watching new sides of Tiber evolving before his eyes, and it kept him in a perpetually good mood.

Kyritus, Raul learned, raised Tiber alone since she was an infant, making his fatherly bond nearly absolute. Yet somehow, Sara walked in and assumed the mother’s role as if she had also been there since birth. On one notable occasion, Sara was midway through saying, I’m going to find a cult that does surgery on living people and donate Daniel’s paralyzed body to their cause— when Tiber rubbed her eyes and said I’m going to bed. Suddenly, Sara’s entire body shut down like an unplugged robot, and Tiber found herself in Sara’s arms, pouting and yelling, I don’t need help anymore!, while Sara replied, Yeah, yeah. But you won’t be able to sleep if I don’t cool the room. Then Sara returned twenty minutes later, took a deep breath, and said. I’m going to kill that prick.

As for bedtime, it happened early and often—even during the day. Raul and Emma didn’t make it a night before Raul steeled his resolve and knocked on her door. She opened. After that, they were glued together. Tiber was grumpy from the constant PDA, but everyone lavished her with so much attention when they were around she never complained for long. Then food would come out, everyone would eat, and Sara would pick up the cards and say, You playin’ or what?

It was a fun time, almost like a vacation—memorable and immortal. And, like all good moments in life, it ended far too quickly.

Sara returned to the table on the fourth day with a letter and a long face.

“What’s wrong?” Raul asked, feeling his stomach tighten up.

Kye swallowed and looked down. Tiber balled up.

“They can only preserve Edico’s body so long,” Sara said. “No one wants to face it, but time’s moving on.”

“Does that mean you’re leaving?” Kye whispered.

Sara furrowed her brows. “We’re leaving.”

Tiber’s eyes widened. “We’re coming?”

“Well, yeah. Escar’s gone, and Daniel’s… Daniel’s probably fucking off in Drantal, suckin’ up to Agronus. He wouldn’t bring you anywhere near there. You’re safest with me, and his life’s countin’ on that.”

“So… we’re going to live with you?” Kye asked.

“Unless… you regret it,” she whispered. “Yeah. I mean, you can have your own room, but I just figured—“

“It’s fine!”

“I bet it is,” Raul grinned.

Emma blushed and looked away. Raul’s grin faded, and his heart thumped. Tension bloomed until Sara shattered it. “Either way,” she said. “It’s time to go home. There isn’t much time.”

Raul grimaced. Sara had a year to build an army, find a way to break the soul link, and kill Agronus—four years earlier than the last time she said she did it. Time was ticking. It was time to move.