.


CONCLUSION

This has been a long and interesting journey. I'm sure you're all aware of that, since I published the original story in 2010, and I'm posting this finale on the very eve of 2015.

I went back and read the introduction to this and had to laugh at myself – the plans went very awry, after all, from what I suggested I might do – and the dates and years are all screwed up, because my notes have been crossed through a thousand times, and the dates I went with in publishing are not what were in my rough drafts and notebooks, and now it's all to hell. That can happen when you write something starting when you're 17, and ending when you're 21!

But, never mind that. The Rat King Era ended up ranging form 1992 (ish) to about 2020 (ish). The Orchid Thief started when Kelly was eight, and I decided to end that a whopping twenty-four years later.

I light-heartedly apologize for the roller coaster of continuity mistakes I've made, and I hope it's been enjoyable anyway – I'm a little giddy, because I think the last chapter here read a little ridiculously – it reminded me of the quick mouthful of stuff at the end of the last Harry Potter novel - but I wanted it to be like that: happy, chaotic, and normal: a sharp divergence from what the entire story was - that way, you know how far they came.

The only thing I've got to say now, is that now, this universe (excepting – and excepting only this, a wedding fic that I will try to produce in the next year) is retired.

It's the first AU 'verse I've officially retired, and I'm going to stop now before I sound like the biggest pretentious shit on earth.


A reminder, though:

let me take a moment to say sexual violence is unacceptable and unjustifiable in any imaginable facet. Male or female, old or young, virgin or slut, gay or straight, no one deserves to have their sexual autonomy stolen from them.

YES MEANS YES, and anything else is inarguable.

Rape is a violent crime of power and control, and each and every one of us should fight against it every single day of our lives. It isn't a subject would should be silent on. The victim is never at fault, and the perpetrator should always be brought to stand trial for their actions.

So speak out.

And know, that you can recover. And you are not broken. You are better than anyone who ever thought they had the right to make you feel like you were nothing, because to someone, you are everything.


Dedication:

This collection is still dedicated to Nina, because the original story is one of her favorites, and to Alivia, who will always be my little protege - and to both of them comically, even though they've long since moved on from my beloved Jibbs.


-Alexandra