Ashes by Stelmarta

At long last, here is the epilogue. No, there's no extra chapter, I decided not to drag it out anymore. I really, really apologize for it taking so long, there was the end of year squeeze, exams, family visiting, writer's block, the summer lazies keeping me from doing anything productive writing-wise. And then when I had it all ready, on the night before I left for camp, ff.net was down. So, three weeks later, I'm back at my computer for the first time in a while. The next chapter is author's notes.

This final installment is dedicated to Shoji Kawamori, the creator of Escaflowne and a genius in my opinion. Without him (or Escaflowne, rather), I would probably not have started writing.

Also to my parents who have actually read my story and do a good job at pretending they like it.

Enjoy!

EPLIOGUE

The rain cascaded down in sheets upon a large clearing in Graemoon forest. After three days much change had occurred and the temple that once stood there had been reduced to obsidian rubble. All that was left besides the ruins were long rows of black bricks marking patches of newly upturned soil. There were nearly seventy of them, and all but two had been prisoners of the Order: Rhys and the wolf woman. Laesha, once she had regained consciousness, had demanded that the Forsaken be honored for her sacrifice. She was rather unpopular for a while, but she managed to convince them in the end.

Owl stood quietly by one of the headstones. It was the only white stone in the graveyard, fashioned from the pale marble of what had once been the Altar. On it was inscribed in careful script "Crowmariqel of the Tori".

He had been standing there in the pouring rain for a while now and Laesha, standing unobtrusively in the woods a few meters away, was getting worried. To be sure, Owl had shown no signs of imbalance since the Eclipse and had, in fact, been unusually pleasant and congenial. But that didn't mean she was going to let down her guard. He looked tired and sorrowful, almost pathetically so. Soaking wet, his wounded arm bound up in a sling and standing by a gravestone, it took every mote of Laesha's stubborn soul to keep herself from turning into her mother and trying to cosset him.

Owl let fall a single black feather on the ground by the marker. "It's all right, Laesha, I'm almost through here," he called without turning to her.

"How did you find my hiding place?" she asked with a smile, coming up to his side. She offered him a spare rain cloak, but he waved it away.

"You've never been good at sneaking through the woods," he replied with a faded grin.

"Hey, I was out cold for two days. Try that sometime and see how sneaky you can be."

"By the way, how're you feeling?" he asked.

"Ugh," she moaned. "Who would've thought it was so exhausting to turn into a dragon? I mean, really."

"You have no idea how strange that would sound out of context."

"Yes I do. I make a point of only saying things that fit that criteria." She had been hoping for a laugh, or at least a smile, but he turned back to the grave in front of him. "Is there anything wrong, Owl?" she asked cautiously.

"I'm alright, really."

"Sure, whatever you say." Laesha replied blandly.

"No need to be sarcastic, that's my job," he said with an edge of involuntary sarcasm, "You're supposed to say something utterly tactless but nevertheless refreshing like 'now you never have to worry about family reunions.'"

"Are you really alright?" she cut in, "because you sound a lot like you're not."

He didn't say anything for a while, instead just standing there in the rain looking pathetic. "No," he said quietly, "I'm not alright. But I will be. It's a lot to deal with you know, being orphaned twice."

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And look on the bright side, now you never have to worry about family reunions," said Laesha.

"Thanks for being hopelessly tactless," he said with a blurry smile.

"Thanks for being insufferably angsty," she returned, then sighed. "You're making this goodbye very difficult, you know."

"You're leaving?" he turned to her with some surprise.

"Well, there's no reason to stay in a pile of rubble in the middle of a forest, is there?" she tried to hand him a rain cloak again; it had begun to thunder off in the distance.

"I guess not," he sighed, "but that does bring up the perilous subject of what I'm going to do with myself."

"Well, whatever you do, take care of yourself," she went on tiptoe, kissed him softly on the cheek and dropped her pendant into his hand. "We'll meet again."

She walked off into the woods, leaving Owl clutching the necklace and a rain cloak and blushing furiously, "Goodbye, Dragon-girl!" he called to her after he had gathered his wits.

"See ya', Birdbrain!" Laesha called back as she disappeared into the thick underbrush of Graemoon forest.

THE END