Epilogue
Colourful path
Several months later…
The sound of the lute gently filled the street on this sunny morning, each note clear and lilting.
"Let the memory of our love be
like a piece of polished glass…
But do not carry it with you openly all the time
You might loose your step and the glass
Will break and cut you with its pieces
But for the memory to be unbroken
Lock it away in your heart
As a remembrance of what is yet to come…"
The music stopped.
"That was beautiful!" The pretty young girl clapped her hands. "For whom did you write it?"
The bard, a young man with golden locks and bright, aqua-blue eyes, smiled. "I wrote it for my love." He bowed before her. "But I sang it just for you…"
The girl giggled and blushed slightly. "That is sad - and sweet at the same time… But say, don't I know you from somewhere?"
The bard was still smiling, but was now taking his instrument and turned to go. "No, I doubt that you have met me before… in this life."
Leaving the still giggling woman behind, he crossed the market place of the little town he was currently staying in, enjoying the flowery scent of the summer air around, the pleasant crunching of the gravel beneath and the brilliant azure sky above him.
"I wish you could see this… But I will see it for the both of us."
He stopped, as he noticed a woman that was sitting on the edge of the town well, her head buried in her lap - she was crying. No one seemed to pay any attention to her and after a moment of hesitation, he approached her.
"Milady, what is the matter?" He asked, concerned.
The woman looked up - even with her tear stained face, she was beautiful with her long brown tresses and emerald eyes. "You… You're the wandering minstrel everyone talks about, right?" she asked shyly, trying to swallow her tears. "Do you know some merry tunes, as well?"
"Of course. Why don't you tell me about it and I'll find out what song would suit best to you?"
The blond man sat down next to her and started to listen to her story, a story in which dawn was lost and dusk the only perspective, a story in which the past was present and the future not existent, a story in which keeping something was feared, but giving it away even more so.
It was a story that was different from his own one and still the same and as he listened to it, it crossed Edward's mind that soon, he might not only be singing for another person, but also be writing for one…
xOx
On Mt. Ordeals…
"So father brought the moon back just to reunite us again?" Cecil bowed his head, kneeling before the simple memorial that was now the grave of his father. "I told you all along that he wouldn't abandon us… Still I wish that I would have been able to talk to him once more…"
"Cecil, I-"
The Paladin gazed up at Golbez and smiled. "Do not worry about me. I now have my big brother at my side, eh?" He looked the other up and down - although Golbez had still a fondness for black and was wearing dark trousers and boots, he also wore a white shirt and the red cape of Baron around his shoulders and looked no longer as frightening as he had once.
"I fear that I usually make more problems than I'm of help of…" Golbez raised an eyebrow, though the smile that followed was genuine.
His brother grinned. "That is true, but I had not expected otherwise… Especially your friend-"
Golbez shrugged. "I told you not to allow Tristan to stay at the castle. It was no surprise to me that he fled with the silverware and one of the chambermaids during the night…"
Cecil sighed and stood up, brushing the sand from his white garb. "Yes, obviously not all people change…"
"Have I changed that much?"
His brother reflected for a moment. "Well, there's still a lot of the "old" Golbez in you, but you also possess some… sociable sides now. Maybe you had these in you, all along. It often seems to me that you didn't really change, but just… found your true self. I still haven't understood, though, why you are no longer able to use black magic…"
"Sometimes you just need to let go of things." Golbez murmured with a look on Klu Ya's grave. "It is something I had to learn painfully…" His face darkened.
"Golbez. Are you alright? How are you feeling?" Worried, Cecil laid a hand on his brother's arm.
"I feel… white."
"White?"
The other nodded. "Yes… And sometimes I feel blue, because I miss… someone. And then I will feel red because your soldiers don't follow my orders, although I'm responsible for the safety of the castle. At other times I might feel black, because I remember that my past still is heavy on my shoulders… In short - I feel like every colour that exists. I feel alive."
Cecil frowned. "I... I'm not sure if I understand you…"
Golbez smiled - it was his old smile, a bit ironical and haughty. "Then don't worry too much about my words, Cecil. You worry too much already. Since you are about to become father in probably a few days, you should maybe learn to take things more… relaxed."
Cecil looked at the other with big eyes - these words seemed not like the brother he knew, at all. "Relax?"
"Just go for a walk," Golbez suggested friendly. He turned around and started to descend down the mountain path before him.
Cecil's confusion grew: "...Go for a walk?"
"Not 'a' walk, but 'the' walk…" he said over his shoulder. "The walk of life." Suddenly, he stopped and gasped for air.
"Golbez, what's the matter?" Cecil shouted, but his eyes widened in utter surprise, too, as he heard a female voice:
"Thought I'd had to wait forever for you to come down the mountain…"
"And - was the wait worth it?" Golbez asked and calmness and contentment were swinging in his dark voice.
"We'll see about that." There was a bright laugh echoing through the warm mountain air. "So - can I walk with you a while, Golbez?"
He smiled and opened his arms to embrace her.
"Yes, you can. All the way down the road if you wish."
The end
Author's notes:
And thus, the journey ends and I feel sad and happy about it at the same time. Speaking of the end –I'd like to comment a bit on the Leah/Dawn mystery, in case that some readers still wonder about her identity: Golbez (it is his and Edward's story, after all) would reply: "It isn't important." For others, it might not be that unimportant, but still, there is no "true" answer to the question. During the course of the story one could find many little and not so little hints concerning Leah's identity and although many points seem to indicate that she is a Lunarian, there are other factors that speak against it – just as the "Dawn version" has its pros and cons. Or is the latter option not possible? Please decide for yourself – I have decided too, but as I said before, I don't want to tell anyone how to "read" my stories. ;)
Concerning future writing projects (in the blatant assumption that you are interested in them): The new semester has started and I don't think that I'll have much time to write, but I have plans for some shorter FF4 works (which are all completely independent from the TSOTM storyline).Check my bio for any news or drop me a line.
Now to my favourite section – the thanks section. Writing is a great adventure, especially if you can share it with others and without the help of several people, I probably wouldn't have brought this story to an end:
I always write while listening to music and although they won't read it, my thanks go to Aimee Mann, Dido, Franz Ferdinand and The Stranglers.
A BIG THANK YOU goes to my reviewers, as always. I'd especially like to thank "long term" reviewers like Eagle- Owl, PhiloWorm, Sarpedon and Sorceress Ash, as well as some great and gifted fellow FF4 authors like Reddo Meijisu and SpacemanSpiff for their constant support. I won't list all names here, but be assured that I really appreciate every single review I received and (hopefully) will receive in the future! Every review makes (and made) my day! Yes, also your review! ;)
Other important thanks go to Biggy for listening to my ideas and ramblings once more and for motivating me.
And most of all, once again, I have to thank my dear friend Doc aka C.R. Carter for her input, her support and the wonderful job she did with beta-reading my story. I'm sorry for always causing you so much work when you have your own stories to work on. Btw: For some really brilliant masterpieces check out her works!
Reading your stories, Doc, shows me how much I still have to learn! (asterisk)hugs(asterisk) :) (What has this site against asterisks, anyway...?)
This story is dedicated to everyone who is currently trying to find his/her way or has already found it.
Until we all meet again.
-Titania, April 2005
