Chapter Twenty-five and Epilogue. Yes, this one is a double-whammy. and yes, it has come to an end. enjoy.

I don't own Neopets. Tamara and all them are mine.

Why?
Chapter Twenty-Five

I had always imagined death—heaven really—to be comfortable. Like, laying on a feather bed of clouds. To die is easy. It's all a matter of letting go. For the past five months, I had been wanting to let go. But, with my friends being so persistent on my survival, I hadn't been able to let go.

With all the pain I was feeling all down my back, it would've been a nice reprieve. I could only imagine what sort of injuries waited for me there. For only a few seconds, I thought I was in heaven.

Until pain in my back flared.

It felt like I was laying on a bed of coals with flames licking my body. I half-expected to see Lucifer standing over me with his pitchfork (a stereotype I know but it was how we depicted him) laughing maniacally while leering and saying "Now I have you!"

But, to my surprise, when I opened my eyes I only saw stalactites of a dark brown and mossy green hanging over me. I was laying flat on my back on the hard floor of the cave. I tried to remember how I got here. Then, the memory of the hooded man came into my mind.

Movement caught my eye off to the side. I turned my head; hissing with pain as my muscles screamed at me to lay still.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A shadow said, crouching over the fire. I couldn't see his face, but I knew it was him. "You bruise very easily, for a girl. And, you fell quite hard." He sounded amused. "You handle yourself very well. For a girl."

"I think we have established that I am a girl." I snapped.

"Forgive me. I wasn't implying that you, yourself, didn't know your own sex. I was merely commenting on the fact that Morrowville doesn't often see female Trainers. Most girls would runaway screaming at the first sign of an Eyrie. You didn't seem surprised that Mufasa was there."

"Mufasa?" I asked.

"He's the king of the Eyries, basically. Mufasa means 'king' in the ancient tongue of the Africans on Terra. That is why the Morrowville locals have dubbed him such." He said.

I twisted until I was laying on my side; relieving pressure on my back. "Do you consider yourself a Morrowville local?" I asked.

"No." He answered. "I am originally from Centerton. I have a wife and two kids there."

"Do you see them often?"

He stopped stirring what smelled suspiciously like beef stew. "I haven't seen them in nearly a decade."

I looked around. My pack rested nearby as did Dilasca; curled up next to the pack—still unconscious. I couldn't see the other three. Until Fangore moved from a shadowy corner to lay by me. His tongue rasped my face and neck.

"Your Lupe's injured. Apparently so is your Ixi and Grundo. Your Blumaroo is okay though." He said.

"Why didn't you help them?" I asked.

"Because he wouldn't let me." He jabbed at Fangore who growled, menacingly at him. "Wouldn't let me do anything more with you other than let me remove your cloak."

I stroked Fangore gently between the ears to get him to calm down. Then, I checked him over while speaking to the man. "He's very protective of me."

"I see." The man said. "Is he yours?"

"All but the Grundo is mine." I said.

"Hmm." He watched me as I fumbled with the bag Fangore had just brought to me before attending to the neos' injuries. "You might want to attend to your back. If you need help with that, just holler."

I nodded my thanks but didn't reply. I focused on Fangore's injuries.

For the most part, my Lupe was only razed in a few places (needing only a disinfectant and numbing elixir compound) but had some bleeding holes that needed more, careful attention. Arco was razed, too, and only needed the compound—I was a little more careful with him. As for Dilasca, she needed more attention. As I stared at the blackened mark in her yellow fur, fear welled up in my mind. I was afraid of infection. Even worse, I was afraid of losing her. And losing a piece of myself along with her.

I patched her up and waited fearfully for her to come around. Then, I rubbed at my shoulders; trying to relieve the pain and tension my muscles were screaming about. He was suddenly behind me tugging at my vest.

"Lift up your shirt." He ordered, picking up the container of the compound.

I hesitated. I was uncomfortable with having a man tell me to do that. As I unbuttoned the vest and pulled it (painfully) from my shoulders, I hissed at Fangore to settle down. Then, I lifted the tunic up over my head. I felt him fumble with the hooks of my bra so that more work surface was available to him.

"How bad is it?" I asked. I couldn't see but was sure I didn't want to.

"There's a black bruise from your spine-crevice out. Then, it goes purple, gray, and yellow. Your back is basically one big bruise." He said. He spoke calmly, probably amazed I was crying from the pain he thought I must be feeling. Personally, I thought he was sexist.

His hands were rough but gentle as he smeared a bunch of the smelly concoction down my back and across my shoulders. All the while, he shot questions at me.

"So, what are you doing up here?"

"I'm looking for someone."

He chuckled. A sound I recognized too well. "I think you found someone." He said, wiping off excess material with the back of his knife. "Who were you looking for?"

"Someone." I said. I didn't want to admit who. "Just, someone I haven't seen in a long time."

"How do you know they're still around?"

"Why are you so curious about who I'm looking for?"

"Because you would have to be an idiot to climb up here just to look for someone."

"Maybe I am an idiot." I agreed. "But, who are you to decide my sanity?"

His grip tightened on my shoulders and I winced. "Only a man concerned for a green-vested Trainer." he said.

So, he was more concerned about a girl he didn't know but not about his own family. Maybe Codax was right about him.

"You didn't answer my question." He said.

"Because I got a letter from the Neopian Exploration Organization saying they were alive." I said, slowly trying to reel him into my true identity. "Know anything about them?"

". . . No. Why would I?" His response faltered. If there was anything that Maya ever taught me it was that when people lie, they take too long to come up with an answer. Or, answer a question with a question. Most times.

"You look more like the kind of man who would leave his family to join them." I said. I realized I was guilting him. I heard him swallow hard.

He stopped rubbing at my bare back when I said that. "How do you know so much about me?"

I looked over my shoulder at his angry face. "Because I do."

"Who are you?" He asked, now suspicious of me.

I straightened up and turned around to face him as I slipped the tunic back into place. I had been waiting. "I was sent after you; to find you and bring you back to where you belong. To the family you belong to." I let him absorb this information before saying names. "These are my followers: Fangore the Lupe, Arco the Grundo, Dilasca the Ixi, and Bluehopper the Blumaroo. I am their master, teacher, and protector. I am Tamara."

He was shocked. I backed up as he slid down the wall like I had struck him. His hand flew to his heart as though to keep it in his chest. His mouth gaped open and shut and his eyes wide with fearful wonder. It was like he had seen a ghost.

"Tamara?" He said, finally. "Little Tam?"

"Yes." I said, sharply.

"I . . . I didn't know—no, expect—you to still be around or to come after me." He said. "Or that you would grow up to be so beautiful or strong."

"That's what it means to be human. To grow in size and stature. And to learn from your mistakes." The village elders had said that so many times.

He curled his legs up close to his body. I saw him shake as he sobbed shamefully. I was moved. I had never seen a grown man cry. I had seen men cry (Bo and Thor did) but never a grown man. I sat beside him and touched his shoulders.

"I have been afraid that my past would come back to haunt me. I was going to go back after a few years of service but I just couldn't face my family again. Not after everything I did to them. Not after abandoning them like that." His meaty hands suddenly grabbed me and I was pressed against him in a hard, hug. I let him cling to me as he cried. "I had been afraid they wouldn't forgive me."

I waited a while before saying, "I had been asking myself that same question."

"Really?" He raised his face to me; streaked with tears and red-eyed.

"Yeah. I had been asking myself, 'if my father were to come back—or if I were to see him on the streets—could I forgive him for what he did to me and Mom and Codax?'" I said.

"What was your answer?"

I hesitated. "It varied from what I was feeling." I said.

"What are you feeling now?"

My feelings was a messy broth with no substance. Nothing to scoop out. I felt almost empty. Then, I dug around and found it . . . a tomato slice. My favorite and a sign of peace on Neopia.

"Forgiveness." I said.

He smiled through his tears. This time, he gave me a real hug. One that wasn't clingy or needy. One that was sincere. The first in my whole life. When I had fallen off my bike, scraped my knee and cried while sitting on the gravel driveway, Dad called from the porch: "Did you break a bone? Do you need your mother to see to you?" "No." I would say tearfully. "Then don't cry. You're a big girl and crying is only for babies, losers, and the weak."

Needless to say that I had more than he would allow. Painful tears had coursed down my face more than once. I couldn't think of what he thought of himself now. A baby? Weak? A loser?

"Do you think your mother and brother can forgive me?"

I hesitated. Mom didn't want much to do with him after he left. I didn't know what she would do now. As for Codax, I wondered what he would do now.

"Only if you're willing to come home today." I said.

He smiled, nodding. "Sure, daughter. Come, eat. Bring your neos too. Let them eat. Then, we can leave."

The stew was good. But, what was better wasn't the food. It was the fact that I had found him, my father. The man who had abandoned us.

And, he was coming home.

Epilogue

Excerpt from the journal of Timon

Tuesday, August 20

I have to say, I wasn't expecting to see my little girl, Tamara, come find me. I admit, she's not so little anymore. She has grown since I last saw her nine years ago. And, she is a strong, young woman.

I feel bad for leaving them. Nine years ago, I was only thinking of myself. The stresses of being a father is nothing like what my own father described it to be. I oft think myself a failure for not teaching my son the "manly ways" or my daughter how best to live like a girl. From Tamara's description, they both seem to be fighters and their mother—my wife—are all hanging on despite my extended absence. I knew Naomi would hang on. My kids weren't so weak either.

When Tamara found me in the cave and told me who she was, I could see the old ghosts I had runaway from coming back to haunt me. I thought I wasn't ready to face them. But, today, we are making our descent from the First Mount Eyre. We decided to go a few hours after dawn to be sure that Mufasa and his cave-mates are all sleeping. They are nocturnal beasts after all.

I wasn't sure how we were going to make it down there with four neopets in tow. Tamara showed me that she had a rescue cage with her, borrowed from the Morrow-ville locals. First, I repelled down and she sent the Ixi and the Lupe down in the cage. Then, she repelled down herself with the Grundo and the Blumaroo hanging onto her. I was surprised by how strong she seemed to be . . . for a girl of thirteen.

It was a long way from the mountain to Morrowville. Luckily, we had only gone a few steps when a Merch came to find us. He took us back in his wagon to Morrow-ville. Later, we hitched a ride from an out-going Merch to take us to Mercellas then to Centerton. A three-day trip made in one. And, we made it home in time for supper.

It had been a long time since I last resided in Centerton. Hadn't changed a bit, this place I once called "home". Still as busy and chaotic as ever. Tamara took us to the clinic my wife used to run. Apparently she still does. As expected, all activities halted as soon as we came in. I recognized Naomi working among the Assistant Veterinarians. She looked up and, when she saw me, she ran toward me with tears of joy streaming down her face. I knew she had missed me more than Tamara's words could explain.
She felt thinner than usual. I held her like I had on our honeymoon. Had it really been that long? She made me swear I wouldn't leave her again. I did promise, proclaiming (rather loudly at Tamara's request) that I would quit my job with NEO. It just wasn't for me. Not to mention, it was bad for my family.

Codax was a very strong lad. Naomi explained that he had been hanging out with his buddies and lifting weights to stay in shape. Tamara whispered to me that this was the first in nearly a decade that Codax ever smiled. It was a shock to me that he had been holding so much joy back under a stack of anger. All that anger must be harmful to human mental capabilities.

I decided to spend the evening with my son (having spent nearly all day yesterday with my daughter and I will be spending the night with my wife). Codax had much to tell me. Everything that happened in the nine years of my being AWOL. He said he missed me but couldn't let his emotions get the better of him since he became the man of the house. I asked him why he hadn't gone to the academy. He explained that he didn't see a need to since Tamara was a better advocate and she went. And, he was too old now. Made sense since training usually began at their thirteenth year.

Night with my wife was very enjoyable. The first that I had had in a long time. Oh, how I missed laying beside her with her frail body against mine and just hold her and smell the sweet shampoo in her hair.

Sincerely,

Timon

Wednesday, August 21

I paid a visit to my parents and told them that I wasn't going to leave. I sent a letter to my associates at the headquarters of NEO. I cannot say that they were pleased with my choice to leave their ranks. They were sorry to lose me but I thought there were more important things. Like, family.

Sincerely,

Timon

Thursday, August 22

I was able to see my daughter off to the Academy. She is excited about introducing me to her friends. She had made so many there in the short year. Naomi told me that there is one friend that Tamara made that is not there. The twin to the one named Alison, who died last March in an Eyrie attack. My heart goes out to the family.

Naomi mentioned that the girl, Maya, and Alison were both like sisters to Tamara. To lose her like she thought they had lost me was very heartbreaking.

Naomi said that Tamara had been deathly frightened of Eyries since that day but she was willing to face her fears to find me.

"You should be proud of your daughter, Timon." Naomi told me. "She normally avoids the things she is afraid of. It took guts to face such terrible beasts as Eyries."

I agreed. Then, I gave Tamara the very thing she had been waiting for. Her father's blessing. I thanked her for getting me off that mountain and bringing me home. Then, I wished her good luck and promised to be down to take her home on holidays.

'Tis wonderful to be home, at last. To be back at the place I belong.

Sincerely,

Timon