A/N: This will most likely be my last drabble for this fandom. Hope you enjoy, despite the shortness. :)
The air was a beautiful spectrum of dark blue and pink and deep purple shades by the time that Toan finally left the cave. A soft sigh, almost a whimper, escaped his lips when he let himself collapse on the ground near the Divine Beast Cave to rest. Oh, how good did it feel to finally be able to sit! His latest encounter with those nasty enemies had been anything but pleasant and the brunet teen needed to spare his energy. Especially now that his favorite sword was broken... again.
On the bright side, Norune Village was slowly but surely getting back that radiance that it once had, before all this mess happened. Things had changed so much since the night of that festival, but it looked like everything would finally be normal again...
Now that the evening was falling, the few trees that he had saved cast a playful shadow on Macho's house, which was located near the cave, at Macho's own request. The sight of something so simple yet beautiful managed to bring a small smile on the brave teen's face. It was so promising, so... like home.
Toan let his gaze slowly travel to the Fishing Pond and Paige's house that gave a silent impression during this time of the day. If the dark-haired teen squinted his eyes and turned his head in a strange angle, he could vaguely see Pike, Paige's dad, near the pond, most likely fishing again. Well, that was no surprise at all.
Then there was Claude's and Alnet's house, placed very closely to each other, as though they could share some warmth this way. If houses were living things instead of objects, then everyone would think that those two places were a couple. Claude had asked for his house to be placed near Alnet's house, because he absolutely loved the smell of her cooking that would waft through the opened windows. Toan couldn't blame him; even his stomach would growl whenever he smelled her different cakes and cookies and rice dishes. Alnet was a great cook.
With every house and person that he managed to bring back, Toan's hope grew. Would he really be able to make Norune Village the happy and serene place that it used to be? Surely, the Fairy King would help him and that alone gave him the power to go on. And who knew, maybe he was closer to complete this part of his journey than he thought. Perhaps, the dark days were almost over...