Chapter 48

A/N: This is the last chapter! It has almost all the poems from the story in here!

Amyl's POV

The night tonight is beautiful, though my thoughts are dark. The moonlight dances upon the snow-covered ground and the stars twinkle in their innocence. I sit here now by the fire that is crackling softly and gaze out the window and remember the simpler days when Midori and I would play outside in the snow and pretend to be warrior-maidens like the late Alanna the Lioness or the aging Protector of the Small. We were only ten and foolish to what horrors knighthood would bring.

Playing games by the old oak, of a knight in shining armor and damsels oh so distressed

Falling down in the autumn's leaves, tired and wanting to rest

I dream of riding down the hills, sun to my back and wind at my face

It has been ten long years since the battle with Scanra and since Sir Merric of Hollyrose, my father, died in that battle, the responsibility of our home has fallen heavily on my shoulders and for me to manage the fief I gave up my shield and title. The shield hangs now above the mantle, with my sword.

I think of my bravery, my fame

And how I brought glory to my family name

I pause for a moment in the winter frost

And wonder about the people whose lives have been lost

I have turned to the way of the priestess, training in the convent for those ten years, and now am staying at Hollyrose for a while. Without the bustle of servants being heard or the usual crackling of the hearth and the sight of candles in the room next door, my father's room, the castle seems empty and I miss the usual busyness it used to have.

I have received few letters from Oriana, Emrys, and Sheba. They have been busy since the Midwinter festivities began and with their duties of knighthood. I will join them tomorrow in Corus, after finishing my own responsibilities here at home.

Ten years ago, Nicola of Cria gave birth to Faithful's kittens. It was a long and difficult labor, we thought that Nicola would die in childbirth, but with the assistance of the wildmage, Nicola was able to birth two healthy kittens. It was when Nicola's pain increased we began to worry: A third kitten had tangled itself in its own umbilical cord and couldn't be moved naturally. Daine used her wildmagic to carefully move the babe but when the shifter gave birth to the female kitten, she burst into sobs of grief, the third kitten had been born dead. Since then, the shifter hasn't been able to have any more children because the movement of the third kitten tore her womb. Nicole's never been the same carefree, sarcastic woman we knew.

The two children, a boy and girl, are fast learners and can shift like both their parents, the girl, Kia, can shift into a white cat with purple eyes and the boy, Brassal, into a black cat with hazel-green eyes. Nicola, although still saddened about the loss of her two kitten's sister, still raises them. Faithful has returned to the stars and we have never seen him in human form again.

Seven years ago, Oriana married Emrys and became Oriana of Northwatch. It was a simple wedding and I was surprised how our circle of friendship had changed since the battle and of how few of us were left. Only two of our members gone and yet our group felt incomplete without them.

Sheba has brought honor to her family and avenged her father's death with the demise of King Denvar and the Queen Narcissa. There have been recent reports of a young girl by the name of Kynatra Autumnleaf living in the wood on her own and scavenging food and clothes as she travels. Gossips say she has the same ash-black hair and orange eyes as Queen Narcissa, and many others think she is the queen's daughter. I just believe it to be fate's twisting of events.

The last letter I received from Oriana said that she and Emrys were doing well and that she was four months pregnant with her first child. If it was a boy, Kalen II, in remembrance of our friend, and if it was a girl, they would name her Midorè. I sent my blessings when I wrote back and told her I'd be there when the baby was born.

Sheba is courting a young man who, in fact, was a childhood friend of hers. I only hope they are doing well and that Midwinter brings many happy things for them.

Thinking now of Midwinter brings tears to my eyes for I remember the night when Midori and Kalen descended the grand staircase, looking as happy as ever, and when they danced at that one ball, their romance just blooming from that point on.

I imagine I'm dancing in a dress of fine silk and lace

Dancing in the black of night

Twirling with the moonlight

I remember when Kalen and Midori would ride together with us, laughing and having a good time, stealing kisses and hiding glances every so often. It was a romance stolen by death and brought back again by death. Like a rose after winter, it bloomed without darkness and no darkness remained.

Roses symbolize love

Red symbolizes darkness

Is love dark?

Or is there darkness in love?

I remember Midori's grief upon seeing the burnt feathers and puddle of blood. She ran out of the Chamber, screaming to the gods and sobbing. We, Sheba, Oriana and I tried to consol her, but she wouldn't listen. Neal came by later and Midori talked with him for a while.

He later told us that Midori was very upset and in need of rest and some time alone. We agreed and I went to speak with her about Kalen and found the door to be, surprisingly, unlocked. I peered inside and gasped. I don't really know why she had not locked the door but I had known her reason for the knife against her throat. Suicide.

Tears were in her eyes as she saw me enter, knife glinting in the candlelight. She held it against her throat, the tip just kissing her windpipe. I yelled for her to stop and she dropped the knife and fell to the ground in sobs. "Why?" She had cried, "why him?"

I had kneeled with her and tried to calm her. I told her to relax and that I knew what it was like to lose someone close. She had only sobbed harder and kept murmuring Kalen's name. I felt tears come to my own eyes as I thought of my mother and of Kalen.

As the months wore on, battle soon came and King Denvar threatened Tortall with war if the king did not surrender to Scanra. King Jonathan IV, killed later by natural causes, would not stand for his kingdom to be in jeopardy, so he ordered the troops to ride out at dawn. We agreed and Oriana, Sheba, Emrys, Midori and I rode out with the Third Company, Fifth Company and a group of the Riders.

I still hear the screams of the dying men and women in my ears, still see the pale face of my father, smell the warm blood on my hands and feel the rain as it pelted down upon us in torrents, slapping my face.

The climax of the battle brought me face to face with Denvar for the first time. His face was heavily scarred and bleeding from many reopened wounds, but the blood he bled wasn't red: it was gold. His eyes however were the color of rubies.

I knew ten years ago you were slain

Now there is only pain

Regret, sorrow and self-disdain

I stand now from the chair, the memory of Midori's lifeless face frozen in my mind. Oh gods it is ever so fresh that I can still feel the breeze carry the stench of blood and hear my own weeping as I try to explain Midori's death to Owen. I still see his face as I explained; see the tears and shame on his face as he touched Midori's cheek. I still remember the faint words he spoke: "I didn't teach her enough…this was my fault…I failed her."

I remember the shocked faces as we carried her through Corus on a stretcher:

"Their back from the war…" Neal whispered.

Neal met the Lioness' gaze but she then looked away.

They saw two soldiers carrying a stretcher with the body of a young woman, Her face was pale, bruised and bloody, her tunic was blood-soaked. Her eyes, so like Neal's, were closed in eternal sleep.

The healer walked over to her and stroked her cold cheek; his eyes were glazed over in silent remembrance. "Goodbye sprout…" He whispered, tears falling to fall on Midori's face.

Yukimi of Queenscove walked over to him and saw their daughter. At first she stood in shocked silence then, forgetting her Yamani training, buried her face in her hands, sobbing. Neal walked over to his wife and held her as she cried and begun to fade. "No." Neal murmured as his wife finally disappeared on the wind, her time as a mortal spent.

I remember the alarm that was caused the next morning when a maid found Nealan of Queenscove dead, a knife through his heart and a note on his bedside table, explaining his reason for suicide.

I remember their funerals, so short and yet so long. The line of mourners was short and yet many tears were cried. That day the four of us, all of our group that remained, took Midori's casket down to the burial grounds and watched as our friend's body was put below ground, down to the shadows. Her father's casket followed, put in another hole.

I remember the sky, seeing it as rain poured. It soaked through our clothes but that didn't matter at the time. I remember the wind whipping at my hair, tugging it from the pins. I remember crying and seeing past memories flash before my mind's eye.

Midori was with us from the time the third-year page Emrys of Northwatch sponsored her, from when she was made a squire, and all the things in-between, until this. Three months, almost four, since knighthood was granted and death had already taken her.

I remember everything from that one rain-soaked night.

Nicola sighed, holding two bundles close to her chest. She shook her head, "All this time training for her knighthood and…this is what it comes to?" "At sixteen?"

I saw Emrys nod, "I received my shield at eighteen and still I live to be almost twenty."

"We'll outlive her as we will Kalen." Sheba murmured, golden eyes facing the weeping sky.

I lifted my black veil and sigh, "At least they won't be separated…" I placed the hawk token on Midori's grave and turned to leave. "Death has come, so you must obey, go in peace my friend. " I whispered.

Watching the rain

Watching as it wets the ground where you were lain

It washes away my pain

The memories, however, still remain

The other three nodded, turning from the gravestone and walking back with me to the castle. I looked back for a fleeting moment and noticed a golden hawk, what used to be the token, take flight and a black hawk beside her. Their spirits had passed together into the Peaceful Realms and I smiled at the thought.

That night I sung the song Midori had taught me two years before:

"Taken by the sunsets glow, the seas so calm, I wait for you lover, I'll wait for you.

Taken by your charm, hung from your kindness…Love has slain me on fields of red roses, oh love has spilled the blood of a fair maiden whose heart was aflutter."

"Love has slain me in the glow of sunset, but if my heart shall fail me now, oh let the gods be wrong, I know I'll wait for you lover, I'll keep on waiting until the suns stop setting and darkness banishes all…"

It was a song she must've made on a dreary night with nothing more to do except drift into a pleasant daze and think.

We sorted through Midori's things, the next morning, and I kept her books of poetry refusing to give them to the castle's huge library, I also kept Midori's bow. Oriana kept her sword; Sheba got to keep some of Midori's jewelry and Emrys most of the maps and a few daggers. It was heartbreaking for all of us to pilfer her things like this, but I knew Midori would understand.

I pause and notice a long sheet of parchment, folded and tucked inside a book of poetry. Curious I opened the book and unfolded the paper. It was a letter:

Midori,

It is only three more years until the dreaded Ordeal, if you're as scared as I, don't be. The gods have a good plan for the next Queenscove and lady knight. I look outside my window and see the sun is shining bright and the grass is finally starting to turn green, the scene is beautiful. Off to the left I see the stables and I remember our ride early in the morning in the winter, some time ago, and how you asked me if I had ever been in love.

I was not so sure then, but I am now. I am completely sure that love has blessed us, as it has many others. Emrys has been assigned to border patrol this spring and Oriana told me that after she is knighted, she would join him. Sheba is well and so is Amyl, so I've heard.

You're turning sixteen this spring aren't you? I remember when you nearly forgot to get a gift this fall for my birthday; it still makes me laugh the way you hurried on about a simple thing I could've done without. Still, it amazes me how much we've changed over the years.

I will always stick by your side this life and the next. Remember that.

Happy early birthday love,

Kalen

This letter was possibly sent just months before her birthday, before Kalen's ride in the forest and his death, before his chance of immortality. Midori must've kept it in the trunk and tucked it inside this book.

I look inside the book of poetry and smile at the poem. This poem spoke of love after death…

I Will Always Love You

When the seas are rough all you can do is wait

But when morning comes it'll be too late

You'll stop at my gate

And remember the good times we had

Before the ship sank, and all was sad

You knew love was fragile, you knew love was dear

But all was forgotten when I was near

Left far behind was your grief, and all your fear

Know this and know it well

Even if you die and go to hell

Even if you feel love is gone and that fear is born anew

I will always love you

I put the book back on the shelf and sighed, staring out at the whipping gale of snow outside. "Rest in peace, Midori of Queenscove, soar in honor and sing to the deep blue skies. Love with your final heartbeat, go in peace, laugh in joy and carry your shield in pride."

Her gravestone reads:

Sir Lady Midori of Queenscove

Spring 633- Early Autumn 649

Beloved daughter, friend, lover, squire and lady knight

Live with the gods today and until the end of time…

You may pass into Death—So that Love may never…

Out of Amyl's POV

And so ends the tale of Midori, a young dreamer, born in the spring of 633, who grew to be a strong woman, a woman who loved and lost and persevered even in the bleakest moments. A woman who gave her life in the War of 649, dying at the age of sixteen, but dying for her realm and for her lifelong dream. The dream of knighthood that was stolen so soon.

Even in death, Midori's soul still wanders, some say in the form of a golden hawk.

I imagine my heart has taken wing

Soaring over to the old times, over to when my heart could sing

It's been so long since I felt you near

Too long since I saw you here

Down my cheeks slips a tear

Am I to wait for another year?

And they're suspicions are correct.

It is said, that when the rain pours down and the moon is bright against the sky, two hawks can be seen soaring through the sky. One with feathers as golden as the sunrise and the other as black as night with traces of red upon his feathers. They are mates and free from the horrors of death. For death has already passed them and brought them together again. They once were truly humans but are now blessed with the shapes of hawks for reasons unidentified. Only the gods have known.

I dream of running down the hills, sun to my back and wind at my face

I imagine I'm dancing in a dress of fine silk and lace

Back in another time another place

Dreaming with you in the moonlight

Dancing with you in the sunlight

Morning brings me back to my plight

Night brings me back to your calming light

I look in the mirror and see my eyes have lost the glow

The shimmer that I always let you know

How could I have lost you, or let you go?

All that we see is a dance of love, and of freedom through the rains of despair. It gives us hope now and there is a fire where there should have been a chill.

After the hard winters, spring comes again with green grass. The changing of the seasons, but in this case, the death of one generation to let another generation live.

The image of the hawks brings us from the wintry chill of the Yuki to the Midori days of spring.

The changing of the seasons…the changing of a generation.

I couldn't tear my gaze; you had caught me like fish in your net at sea

You've opened my heart and forever since held the key

That shall never last. For when Midori of Queenscove died, besides being the youngest knight in history…

She was also the last of the Queenscove bloodline.

Kalen, you're a part of me

You were, you are, and you will always be.

-The End-

A/N: That last poem isn't mention earlier in story at all until now, BUT it's Midori's last poem to Kalen…

Thanks to ALL the reviewers who reviewed this story and to those who gave me ideas when I was stuck. I feel sad that I killed both Midori and Kalen off without Midori at least having children or getting married. Then I could make a sequel hint /hint

Should I make a sequel anyway? With Midori living in the Divine Realms with Kalen? Should they have a son or daughter who travels to the Mortal Realms to seek something that will bring great demise to Tortall if used in the wrong hands? Like something MADE from a fragment of the Dominion Jewel?

Please tell me in reviews and if you do want a sequel I'll try and create something…

Regards,

- Notebook