It is with a heavy heart, that I upload this epilogue and end the "Something Celestial This Way Comes" adventure. It ended up being a lot longer than I had originally planned and our heroes have come a long, long way. I enjoyed writing every chapter of this adventure...
Think of this as an end-credits scene (a type of scene, a certain studio has become famous for) which connects two minor characters. They may seem minor, but they remain two of my favorite original characters. I wish I could have written more of them.
Thank you for reading, commenting and remaining interested in this story.
Thank you, all those who have added my story to their favorite list!
Thank you, Li, hellokotu, Toni, Jansaav for your comments and for reading!
And a special thanks goes out to GuestfromFrance. Your comments are hilarious! You seem to love BAMF Pepper...
The next adventure is going to end the Iron Knight saga. I'm going to take a two week break to write it. It is going to have angst, magic, smut and of course, Pepperony.
See you soon!
Milene finished going through another giant historical tome and sighed tiredly. Ever since the Iron Knight and Lady had destroyed the Menolestes, King Rheiner had appointed her as the High Priestess of Patait. She was also the chief historian, an honor bestowed upon her by Duke Rorsach, because of her immense knowledge of Patait's history.
While these appointments were something she had previously only dreamed of, it also meant she had very little time to herself. Her days and evenings were spent in either the Royal Seminary or the Palace.
Duke Rorshach had assembled a number of learned scholars to head Patait's religious and education systems. These scholars had previously been shunned by the Menolestes and had remained in exile for many years. She and them were now responsible for Patait's learning. While the scholars were there to help, ultimately the sole responsibility rested on her shoulders.
All this responsibility meant that some days she would collapse on her table for sheer exhaustion but then... she soon got a reason to stay up late and enjoy her nights of solitude.
And that reason, strangely enough, was the mysterious voice from the moon who would talk to her.
A few days after Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had left, Milene had been settling down to another silent night at her workbench, when a deep voice began to speak to her from the starry sky.
At first, she had thought she had gone crazy and had ignored the voice. Who had kept talking to her, asking about her day and finally had wished her good night. When she had ignored it for the third night in a row, it had wistfully wished her goodbye and fell silent.
Oddly enough, she had missed the voice and had spoken to some of the learned elders about her experience. They had hemmed and hawwed but had not given her a clear answer. It had been the straight talking Duke who helped her. He had simply told her to ask the voice what it was. There were mysterious things in the universe and she should not fear them out of ignorance.
So on the fourth night, Milene had opened her window and had nervously whispered a greeting to the crescent moon up in the sky. At first, all had been silent and she had wondered whether it had all just been a dream. Then the voice had spoken back.
One small greeting had grown into a conversation about the Menolestes, then a lively debate. She had not noticed the time and had ended up talking to it till the wee hours of the night.
The voice had been friendly and interesting and fun. As she had yawned, it had gently urged her to sleep and whispered good night. When she had asked for a name, it had not responded, so she had simply named it the Moon One.
The next night, she had started the conversation again. And that was the beginning of her nightly talks with the Moon One.
It was a wonderful companion. The Moon One seemed well-versed in almost everything under the sky. And it would leave her small but thoughtful gifts. Like a silver spoon with her name on it. Or a bouquet of Moonflowers, completely in bloom on her windowsill. Or her favorite of them all, a silvery scarf of the lightest material.
They would talk about every topic possible and she was glad to have a friend, someone who was there for her, who listened to her patiently and who seemed interested in almost everything she had to say.
Tonight was a moonless night and Milene whispered to the pitch dark sky sadly. "Where are you tonight, my friend? I wonder... where do you go when the sky is empty?"
She sighed and shut her window slowly. As she blew out the lights in the room, the floor was illuminated in a shimmering, shining light.
Milene gasped in wonder as the light began to glimmer, pushing away the darkness. It was if the moon itself was here in her house, outside the window. She heard a gentle clinking and clanking coming from the ceiling.
She asked nervously, "Who is there..."
Then a familiarly deep male voice answered her. "Milene, it is me... I have come to see you..."
"Voice?! Moon One!? Is that you?"
She opened her window and stuck her head out. She could vaguely see a shadowed form standing above her. A firm, broad hand extended towards her. She did not know where her sense had gone but Milene climbed out of her window sill and caught the hand, who hoisted her upwards.
She clambered up onto the roof and nearly lost her grip but strong hands held her steady and helped her stand up.
Milene straightened, only to look at the tall man, standing against the night sky. It had been pitch black but to her surprise, the sky was now dotted with thousands of twinkling little stars.
The man stepped closer to her and she muffled a gasp because he was a very attractive man. Silvery white hair and a regal profile with a beautifully sensual mouth and a straight jaw. He stood in front of her, the scent of the Moonflower around him.
"Good heavens, you are even more attractive than Lord Stark!" she blurted out before she could control her tongue and his dark blue eyes twinkled at her.
He bowed deeply at the waist.
"Milene, it is I, do not be afraid... I am the voice from the moon... we know each other... we have been talking for nearly a month now..."
She mulishly shook her head. Her mind was full of questions about this man from the moon.
Then he held out a single flower in his hand. She gasped as the bloom was a delicate, lily-like flower, colored in a deep rich purple.
"For you, Milene, your own variant of the Moonflower."
She finally found her voice. "You made your own variant of the Moonflower?!"
She peered at him, smiling down at her. "Who, what, who are you?!"
He backed away slightly, holding his hands up. "Call me Amaris. I am the one who has been talking to you all these days... as to what I am..." he shrugged, "well, I am a ... I am a being of light from the stars."
Milene felt her brain implode with his statement. "You came from the stars?! Literally? How? Can you fly?"
He smiled at her and sat down elegantly. "Sit and we shall talk... as we often do..."
Amaris kept himself still, trying not to frighten Milene any more than she already was. The beautiful young woman was skittish and he knew he had to be slow. Just because he was used to surprising humans with his presence, that did not mean they were used to him.
He watched as she swallowed hard and bent down, sitting a safe distance away from him. She primly tucked her skirt around her.
He whispered in wonder, "I must confess I have never seen hair of your shade before... I mean I come to Earth very rarely but I have never seen that color before..."
She shrugged nonplussed. "It is just plain brown blonde, nothing unusual. Plenty of others have it, especially in Patait."
"But it glimmers like honey with sunshine in it!" He blurted this out and flushed. She covered her hand with her mouth and giggled cutely.
He had heard that sound before but was transfixed by it coming from her, the way her nose crinkled and her beautiful eyes shimmered at him in the darkness.
"Now your eyes... have you been to the stars, Milene?" She shook her head in the negative.
"Your eyes are the exact shade of the third, broad ring of Saturn... that shade of brown... so familiar to me..." He swallowed because he had forgotten what little earthly manners he knew. "I am sorry, may I call you Milene?"
She smiled widely at him and her eyes softened. "Of course you can, Amaris! I ... I feel as if I know you..."
He placed his hand over his heart. "You do know me, we talk practically every night. I know you, that you love cats and chocolate, you love history, you are the High Priestess and the Chief Historian, you love the colors blue and purple, you like music and song-"
Milene held up her hand and said pleadingly, "Stop! It is evident that you are here and we talk but..."
He shut up, watching emotions play across her face. "Do you... do you fear me?"
"I do not fear you but... I am a little curious... I mean, what are you exactly?"
So he explained. His origins, his life so far, how he had helped Virginia from Cumbria.
Amaris looked at the woman sitting away from him, with his heart in his mouth. She gazed at him in awe.
"My god, you are the Celestial Beast! I mean..." she waved her hands excitedly, "You are the Great One! The Being that spoke to the Goddess all those years ago!"
He said quickly but firmly, "I am no Great One! I am... just a simple being... and when I knew the Goddess, she was just a girl... and I used to talk to her, just like I speak to you..."
And just like all those years ago, I have fallen in love with another young lady on Earth, this time without even meeting her until now.
Milene was wringing her hands in her lap and he said slowly, "I see you have more questions..."
"Yes, I do! Where do you live? Is it an actual planet or a plane of existence or a dimension? Do you see other beings? What do..."
She had an endless list of questions and he tried to answer all of them as best he could, charmed by her curiosity.
When Milene had finally exhausted all her questions, she sat there quietly, just looking at him.
Amaris asked laughingly, "Are you thinking of a new set of questions?"
But he sobered as she gave him a quiet pensive look. "Amaris, how did you find me? Why me? Why do you want to talk to me?"
He swallowed. "This is a difficult question. I met your friend, Virginia and after she left, I grew curious. I could not interfere in the goings on at the Palace because... well, I cannot interfere in the affairs of men directly... but... "
He looked into her eyes, seeing the brown depths pool and darken. "But... one day... I heard you singing... in the night..."
She gasped and flushed. "Good lord, you heard me singing! Oh no! God! My singing is horrible!"
He laughed as she covered her face with her hands. Then he gently tapped her on the shoulder. "Milene! It wasn't horrible! I was very charmed by your song to the Moon... I accepted it on my father's behalf. You sang so beautifully and such a touching song."
He paused, trying to recall the words but she looked straight at him and began to sing, softly and sweetly.
"Moonlight nights,
The whole world sleeps, I stay awake
To talk to the stars
Moonlight nights"
"Yes," he whispered back as she stared away from him, "that's the song... I felt... I don't know how to describe it, I felt you were talking to me... and I had to talk to you..."
"Amaris... I..." she pushed her honey-colored hair back from her face and whispered slowly, "You know, I saw Lord Stark and Virginia together... and I... I admired the love they had for each other... but that... romance, love... it is not for me... I know that... I would much rather have good friends and that is why," she smiled at him softly, "I am so glad you found me, Amaris... I really appreciate your friendship, our conversations together... truly I do..."
She bent her head. "I am sorry for not being more accepting of you, when you came here but I was..."
Amaris had stopped paying attention to her because he felt his heart break at her innocent words. I love her but she sees me as nothing but a friend... just like young Milene... all those centuries ago.
Milene had stopped talking and was looking at him wistfully as he remained lost in his thoughts.
Can I do this again? Can I spend time with another human... knowing ... knowing she will never feel anything more for me than friendship? Can I do this to myself again, watching her grow old and remain her friend? Never letting her know how I really feel... Should I walk away before I hurt myself again?
She searched his face and then looked down at his hands, holding the flower he had made for her.
"May I?" She held out her hand and he gave it to her, still remaining silent.
Milene very delicately tucked the flower in the neckline of her dress. She sniffed it lightly. He stared at the contrast of the rich purple against the alabaster skin of her neck.
She whispered softly, "Thank you for this, Amaris... thank you... I shall treasure it always..."
Then she looked into his eyes and he was captivated by the way they lit up from within, like the rays of the Sun shining on those dark rings of the distant planet. He felt the same light in his heart, filling him with feelings of affection and joy.
And he had his answer.
Surely it is better to feel something, better than nothing. Cold empty stars of light... do I want to become like them? Or do I want to feel the emotions of humans and feel alive? As long as I remain in her life, in her memories, what does Love matter? Friendship is equally important. And she is my friend first. After all these centuries alone... it is nice to have a friend...
He held out his hand and she slowly touched his fingers. Then Amaris shook her hand firmly. "Thank you for being my friend." He said, slightly stiff, very unsure of how to proceed.
Milene smiled impishly and shook his hand back. "Amaris, I am glad you listened to my song... I pity your ears, I hope you haven't gone tone-deaf due to my singing!"
He laughed at the humor in that statement and began to object. "My dear Milene, do you listen to your own songs? I mean, come on, you sang so sweetly and you pronounced the words beautifully... I heard it so well, all the way in the sky! My only tiny complaint, you should sing a little louder...
"And upset the neighbors!" she exclaimed. "Break their ears as well..." she tsked at him and he couldn't help but smile. "You are just biased, Amaris, biased toward me! I take it you haven't heard many humans sing..." she said primly and he snorted at her.
The fact that he could snort, astounded him momentarily and Milene laughed at his comical expression. He grinned back at her.
He said softy, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
She smiled back at him, the stars in her eyes and said equally softly, "I think our friendship has already begun, Amaris, visitor from the stars..."
As the stars twinkled above them, the Celestial Being and the Historian sat on the roof, talking about this and that, ignoring the passing of time, as friends in deep conversation are wont to do.
