-The Revisionist Histories-
-Table of Contents-
-1- Untitled - A post 'Outcast of Redwall' fic, Bryony struggling to find closure in her return to the abbey. Just a one shot scrap so far, may be revised.
-That's all for now-
(Author's Note: The first part of this piece was taken from the source and therefore I have no claim to it whatsoever even if it is not exact and the second piece of it is going on four or five years old in spirit. Anyways, I'm sure there are still some plot inconsistencies and some less than spectacular writing, but I just kind of felt like getting this out of my system since the ideas been there a while...it's really more of a One-shot scrap than anything else… Anyways, spoilers galore for Outcast, of course and I make no claims of quality, but this was kind satisfying to write, I can only hope it translated well enough to be tolerable. Feel free to suggest a title and R&R I s'pose, there's always a chance I might revise it further…)
-1-
-Untitled-
A soft breeze blew through the trees of the old apple tree, its gnarled limbs shifting in the winds as the maid sat beneath its branches. She stared up at the sky, the clear blue as pure as the river moss, the tale pouring out. The recorder sat nearby, putting the story onto parchment for the future generations as he and the abbess paid their attentions. Finally the mouse maid lapsed into silence as she came to the ale's end.
"So, Bella and I were wrong, there was some good in him, even though it cost him his life to show it. Can you accept my apologies, Bryony?" The abbess asked, putting a paw gently on the maid's shoulder as a stray tear fell from the mouse maid's eye.
"There is no need for apology," Bryony replied, staring up into the abbess's kind eyes, "Veil was bad, I know that now…Bella was right. Some creatures cannot help being the way they are. In all the time we knew him, Veil did not perform one act of kindness to any living creature." She paused for a moment, looking to the sky as the words left her, suddenly leaving her empty.
"But the javelin…" Barlom cut in for a moment, but Abbess Meriam silenced with a mild glare.
"I have thought a great deal since he died. I just wonder if he would have saved me if he knew his father was going to throw that javelin," the mouse maid paused again, looking to the abbess, "I couldn't help loving him—that's just the way I am—but I know that the world is a better place without Veil or Swartt bringing death and misery to it."
"You have grown, Bryony," the abbess replied, giving Barlom a knowing glance, "You have returned to us a wiser beast, far more mature than I ever was at you age. Wouldn't you agree, Barlom?"
"I think in the seasons to come," the recorder began, giving a nod, "Redwall shall not lack a good Mother Abbess. When you feel the need to pass on your title, of course."
" I could think of no one better suited to be the Mother of Redwall, some day. Of course, that's if you're willing, my child." Meriam said, smoothing down a bit of the mouse maid's head fur that had gone astray.
"Me—Abbess of Redwall?" Bryony asked, a bit shocked by the proposition, the offer seeming to be the height of absurdity to the young mousemaid.
"The same as Togget will be made Foremole when the time is right. You have earned the admiration of many beasts this, Bryony."
---
The moon had long since reached its peak in the night, but the young mouse maid still found herself wide awake, tortured thought filling her mind, leaving her restlessly pacing the western wall of the abbey. She paced slowly back and forth, shivering in the cold night air, wearing only a simple nightgown. Every once in a while she would glance towards the darkened woods, a faint hope flickering within her heart. She half expected Veil to materialize out of the shadows and that somehow everything could go back to the way they had been… for better or for worse.
"Why couldn't you just have given yourself a chance?" she whispered softly to herself, staring up at the moon as she leaned against the western ramparts, "You couldn't even allow yourself that…" She felt the tears stinging at her eyes, but she refused to blink as she stared at the moon, but though she condemned him verbally, she found herself coming to the same end time after time.
It was me, wasn't it, Veil? I didn't defend you during all those seasons here…and when I finally did…it was just too late… She thought silently, falling to her knees as the tears streaked down her cheeks, little dark lines forming in her fur as she set her head against the cool stone of the ramparts as a cloud passed in front of the moon. Winter would come too soon for the maid and she would be alone with her thoughts, the diversions of abbey life limited by the snows to come, she didn't know what would happen with so much time in thought.
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Bryony…" a voice cut the silence, causing the maid to fall onto her side, startled by this unknown presence, but in the darkness she couldn't see anybeast.
"Who are you?" she asked in no more than a nervous whisper, feeling her heart pounding in her chest as she glanced around in the darkness, grasping at the shadows.
"You did your best, Bryony…nobeast could have asked for anything more," the voice continued, its familiarity growing with each word.
"Veil?" the mousemaid whispered, a tiny flame of hope suddenly rekindled in the depths of her heart. "Is that you?"
"You shouldn't worry so…" the voice continued, but finally the mouse maid could see him or at the very least his silhouette. "All children must leave their parents sometime."
"It was too soon…it shouldn't have been that way," Bryony replied, moving closer to the shadow, a paw steadying herself.
"Perhaps not…but you mustn't blame yourself. Maybe the badger was right, maybe not…it's just how it had to happen. I can accept that, why can't you?" the ferret asked, a pair of eyes staring back at the mousemaid as she drew near.
"I can't accept it because it isn't so," the maid decreed, stopping a mere few feet away from the ferret she had called her son.
"Come now, Bryony, you know the truth," the ferret sighed heavily, the silhouette visibly sagging as he slipped to the ground, "And that's why I need you to do something…"
"What? What is it?" the maid asked, pulling herself closer to the ferret, putting a paw on his shoulder, feeling the fur beneath her fingers, just as soft as she remembered.
"You have to agree, Bryony. If you don't then all this…all this will be for nothing," the ferret muttered softly, putting a paw on the mousemaid as he stared up into her eyes, "If not for yourself then do it for me."
"What, Veil? I'll do it, just tell me," the maid pleaded, the tears having come back to her eyes, blurring her vision as she wiped them away with her free paw.
"I need you to forget, Bry…I need you to hate me, I need you to let go," the ferret asked, voice shaking as he rose from the wall, the maid rising with him.
"Wha? Veil, you know I can't do that…you're, you're…" the maid sputtered, uable to collect herself as she felt herself shaking, "You may as well be my own flesh and blood…"
"I know…but it's what you have to do. I know it's not easy and I hate to ask you to do it…" the ferret responded, unable to meet her eyes as she stared up at him, "but know that it's for you."
"How can you do this, Veil? How can you do this to me?" Bryony demanded, tears of anger flowing freely as she grabbed the ferret's arm, but he merely stepped away, disappearing into the shadow of the gatehouse, "Why?"
"You have to see it, Bryony…all the things I should have done…it doesn't mean anything anymore, but you…you've still got a chance. You just have to forget me, hate me if you have to. Blame me!" the ferret replied, shouting at the mousemaid by now, unable to shed a tear as he stalked towards his mother, "It was me and you know it, don't you?"
"But—"
"No, not this time…it was me this time, you can't take that away from me…you have to let it go, Bryony…for you," now a whisper, the ferret seemed to fade as he stepped towards the maid, the moon rising again, "Do it for you," he begged, glancing up at the moon in resignation.
"Okay…" she spoke the words in naught but a hoarse whisper, following the ferret's gaze to stare at the moon, the pale orb slowly beginning its decent. "It'll be morning soon…" she whispered, turning back to the ferret, but she found nobeast there.
Goodbye, Veil… she found herself alone once more, a soft wind blowing over her tearstained cheeks as she leaned against the wall, watching the moon fall towards the mountains. Wiping the tears from her face, the mousemaid walked slowly towards the main abbey building, the moon keeping a watchful eye.
-End-