Warning: This episode contains material unsuitable for fierce feminists. Please be advised that if you are a feminist it may make you throw up and convulse involuntarily. The author of this piece disclaims all responsibility and advises you that you read at your own risk.

XXXII. Epilogue

The three of them were sitting demurely drinking tea. Not fire whiskey, not tundra vodka, tea. Ginseng, Jasmine and Hibiscus.

"I can't believe it," Katara said frustrated, rubbing her belly, "I can't believe it how we managed to get knocked up."

"At least you're no dealing with the fact that Avatar Kyoshi never designed the maternity version of the Kyoshi garb. Try wearing that now." Suki grumbled.

"You've wardrobe problems?" Katara asked in disbelief, "try being accused by an entire nation of getting pregnant to snare away the heir to the throne from his intended aristocrat."

"You guys are all sissies," Toph dismissed them with a wave of her hand, "try being accused of stealing your best friend's Very Important fiancé, while at the same time cheating on your own Forced Royal fiancé. That's a true offense." She crossed her arms behind her head. "I'm the Queen of the Floozies, Toph the Monk Seducer."

They pondered about this for a moment. Suki then asked,

"Is Mai still sending you packages of dead fish speared by senbons?"

Katara nodded. Toph was happy. She was back on earth, she could see everything.

"Yes. Zuko got me a new detail. His name is Lee, Zuko says he is the best in the entire royal guard to protect me against Mai. Seems like he can feel her coming or something."

"I wonder why," Toph mumbled, picking her toes.

"You may be in luck, though," Suki interjected, "Ty Lee told me in confidence that Mai may be in love now. Get this, she may be totally in love with … El Tuerto. Ty Lee says that at the beginning Mai would get really angry every time the bird would show up, but soon it became the only thing that would snap her out of her boredom. Ty Lee also says that now she goes with it everywhere, hunts for the bird and calls him 'Baby'. She says that Mai almost looks happy."

"She hunts for the bird? I thought it was vegetarian, like Momo. At least, it used to be. That's a bastard of a bird if you ever found one." Toph sighed, el Tuerto going from 'he' to 'it' again. "It broke Momo's heart. After chasing poor Momo all over the South Pole, now the evil bird doesn't write, doesn't visit, nothing. Twinkles has been trying to distract Momo, but the poor animal keeps looking at the window waiting for that ugly piece of chicken. The only thing that makes Momo less unhappy is Aang's poetry. It breaks my heart."

Katara patted Toph's hand in understanding. Toph decided to change the topic, too sad to talk about it anymore.

"I still don't get why are they criticizing you, Sugar Cakes: you are ensuring the royal line, you make Sifu Hotman look human and approachable, and you were the victim after all. It was not your fault that your fiancé publicly ran off with your best friend."

Katara assented.

"I know! By all accounts, I should be the victim here, but somehow the word on the street is that the honorable fire prince was consoling me from my broken heart and I seduced him in return, getting pregnant in the process. It's so unfair," she grumbled, "he's like the honorable guy doing the honorable thing and I'm the trashy water tribe hussy that get's knocked up."

Suki fanned herself.

"No, you are the Fire Lady. So what if you're almost nine months pregnant on your coronation ceremony?"

"It's the almost nine month pregnant belly during the royal wedding that got people talking." Toph mumbled. Katara was offended.

"What did you want us to do? Elope? Zuko wanted a big wedding, he kept quoting his family's honor, and that took months of preparations. By the time everything was in place, well I was showing."

"Well, at least you got to do your water ceremony at the South Pole, whatever the Fire Sages may say about the validity of those rites. So if you force the math a trimester it may look like you guys were legal during firebaby making, that should count for something."

Katara sipped her tea.

"I heard Sokka choking when the Fire Sages started praising my virtue in front of the entire nation. My brother is so silly sometimes. He still doesn't get that those vows were written centuries ago. He took it personally, like the Fire Sages even know about sarcasm."

Toph wiggled her toes.

"You know, we never talked about it Katara, but good thing that you were on Appa that day of the Ebi. Lot of explaining to do to Sokka if it wasn't because of Appa."

"I know."

"Zuko seemed very proud," Suki commented, remembering the recent ceremony, "he kept pointing to your belly and comparing its size to mine."

"Better than Sokka pointing yours to everybody and yelling 'I AM THA MAN!' in the middle of the reception. That was crude." Toph concluded.

"Yeah, getting you pregnant was all that Sokka needed to overcome his commitments issues," Katara assented.

"Yep," Suki answered thoughtfully, "but let's not talk about the morale issues among the Kyoshi warriors right now. Seems like having an openly stupid loose woman (one of those that get knocked up by mistake) as head warrior have made them lose some moral ground in the village or something." She shrugged. "Well, they were the ones who started running around with the Code, so I guess is a toss up."

"Men." Toph mumbled.

"What about you and Aang, Toph? Are you guys finally tying the knot?"

Toph drummed the table with her fingers. She thought about telling the truth or playing it safe. She opted for the later.

"Twinkle Toes is the pits," she said suddenly, "he wants his stupid Commitment Ceremony at my house. My mother is still recovering from the suggestion of a vegan menu and a tofutti egg custard cake. I'm slipping Azula's happy pills on her tea just to help her survive the idea, imagine if I we ever get into real wedding preparations."

"Does that mean yes?" Katara insisted. Toph tried something else.

"Hey! Did you guys get our wedding gift? We sent it early on purpose. The idea was to consume it before the real summer heat started."

"Frankly," Suki groaned fanning herself, "who does a coronation in the middle of summer?"

"Fire nation royalty, it's all about summers here," Katara said tiredly, "and yes Toph, we got the crate full of bananas. Zuko was excited and I was exhausted. Hopefully he would let go of the stupid banana obsession now. Anyway, I don't know why I bothered sending a list of suggested gifts to you."

"I won the bet, my airguy kicked you fireguy's butt, that means, my gift. Anyway, my bridesmaid dress was really cute, that's what Twinkle-Twinkle said. No way of stealing the show from you, though, with the pregnancy scandal and all." Toph prodded Katara's belly with her toe. "You are right on season, a royal summer baby in the middle of summer." She prodded Suki's. "Suki is out of season. A Water-Kyoshi summer baby? Hum!"

Suki stopped fanning.

"You know Toph, it's time we talk to you about the facts of life. You need to run very fast. If you don't, when that flying monk finally catches you is going to be like this," she gestured towards her belly and Katara's, "if you are not fast enough, who knows what that monk is going to do to you. Sokka keeps saying that Aang files his nails every time he mentions your name. I'm deeply concerned."

Toph did not answer. Katara was watching her.

"Toph," she asked sternly, "you are running, aren't you?" Toph hid behind her cup of tea, drinking like it was going out of style. "Oh, by Yue! I knew it! You're letting him catch you!"

Toph spitted some tea.

"It's not my fault! It's my feet fault! See?" She raised her feet and wiggled her toes in Katara and Suki's faces. "They refuse to let go of the monk."

"Oh by Kyoshi!" Suki said, sounding so close to the hag that Toph almost got confused, "so all those rumors out there about the ear-rubbing are true? Katara, it seems like the monk is not allowed to run either!"

Toph was offended.

"Hey," she said, "I'm not the one about to pop here! There's such thing as moral authority, so quit it! Anyway, why don't we talk about you two instead? Didn't you drink precaution herbal tea and stuff?"

Suki was nonchalant.

"The apothecary forgot to mention the fact that the tea may not work on freezing temperatures," she shrugged. "Stupid South Pole. And I, genius that I am, took almost all my Kyoshis on the trip. We're doubling the island population thanks to that vacation. Seems like the face off between the Kyoshi Code and the Agni Code was a complete defeat for Agni. Not that Zuko's men were complaining or anything. By the way, Chin says hi. He doesn't really know how many of the future Kyoshi babies are his, so he's officially moving to the island."

"That Chin," Katara said sipping her tea, thoughtfully, "we actually offered him a high advisor position and he turned it down. He said, listen to this, that he's ambition-challenged. He prefers to hang out with Sokka and the Kyoshi on a tropical island. He did promise Zuko to give him his opinion on matters by messenger hawk for two copper pieces per question." Katara sipped her tea. "He's very cheap for such a good advisor." She concluded.

Toph was lost in thought.

"You never answered about firebaby, Katara," she said, prodding her friend's belly with her toe again. "You don't do herbs, you do fancy fluid bending. How come you got knocked up?"

She could feel the embarrassment.

"I was distracted," Katara said quickly, "so Suki, how you like your room?"

"Don't even try it," Toph warned, "Tell the truth. I finally can tell if you're lying. I'm back."

Katara sighed.

"I tried," she said, "I honestly tried, but every time he would pine my hands over my head to stop me from bending. He was adamant."

Suki and Toph were impressed.

"Wow," Toph shook her head, "Isn't Sparky the romantic? Forcing you to make a decision by making it irrevocable for you. And you say that he doesn't love you."

Katara was smug.

"Oh, he does love me. He tells me all the time now. He curses Agni, his honor and then tells me he loves me, in public." Toph felt her smile happily. "What about you Toph, does Aang tells you that he loves you?"

Toph smiled a secret smile.

He would say more than that. He would say things like "You never talk about us in terms of forever, but you give yourself to me like there's only one day left for us to love. Come here my porcelain earthbender, let me adore you."

"Oh yes," she answered instead, "he tells me that he loves me every time he sees me. He grabs my feet and says: Throw something at me, Sifu T. That's romance with a flying monk for you."

Suki nodded. She knew that kind of romance, that was Sokka's romance too.

"The only time that Sokka has been into poems was that night before the Agni Kai. He came to my room banging on the door screaming that he loved me and saying: 'Suki, I'm yours and only yours, and I will kiss you under the moon until you fall on your knees or I fall on mine!' It was really romantic. I still don't know what you told him, but it worked."

Toph didn't like to remember the Sokka episode. It reflected poorly on both, Sokka and Aang. Every time she thought about it she would get upset and mistreat T.T. for a while. He would bear it, in penance, until she would feel remorse and let the resentment go … pending next time. So she changed the topic.

"Hey Suki, are Sokka and Zuko keeping that scrupulously measured physical distance between them? Poor protocol guys were going crazy at the wedding making sure there were twelve inches of separation between them at all times."

"Well, yes," Suki answered, fanning herself a bit irritated, "at least Sokka is not carrying the ruler around anymore. You know, the one he would use to measure the physical distance between him and Zuko? I know that the Agni-La thing gave Sokka nightmares for months, but frankly!"

"Tell me about it," Toph sighed, "poor T.T. being dragged to stand between them at all times for the last year. Last time we went to the circus we had to get them two boxes of fireflakes. They even refused to share the fireflakes. 'Not manly' they said."

They drank their tea. Katara bended more on their cups.

"And how is Appa?" she asked Toph, "he looked kind of sad when I saw him at the stables."

Toph tapped her cup with her fingers.

"He's fine. He's just sad because he had to leave Nyla back at the temple while traveling here with us. Nyla can't travel with the pregnancy. That shirshiu is humongous. I don't know how many ugly little Appas she's carrying, but I can tell when she walks that it feels like four times her original size."

Katara was curious.

"What happened with the custody fight with June? She was really worked up that Nyla would like to stay with Appa."

Toph shrugged.

"I paid her off. Basically, we struck a deal where Nyla spends six months of the year with us, and any calf born stays with us too. Cost a pretty penny, I won't lie to you. But I'm rich, so it's OK."

"I thought you wouldn't see a copper piece until you were twenty five." Suki said in wonder.

"Didn't I tell you? The Fireguys gave me the most amazing gift ever. Seems like when they were at the South Pole intercepting Kuei's messages and tampering with the order of things in the kingdom they intercepted messages between Kuei's and my parents. Kuei wrote to them telling them of his intentions of making me queen, and my mom was so excited with the idea of being Queen Mother that she started making all these crazy offers to Kuei regarding my dowry. And the fireguys drafted some terms on Kuei's name and send them to my mom, who got the family's attorney to draft them, seal them and send them back to Kuei. So after everything was solved happily, the fireguys gave me the sealed dowry contract. They were fantastic. I only needed to promise to marry a guy (any guy, nothing in the contract says that it had to be Kuei) and cash-ing! Of course my mother added an incentive provision that says that as soon as I become pregnant I would get another bucket full of money. Which is great for the future, because everything with my monk is a charity exercise. No fiscal sense whatsoever, only the greater good. Anyway, we're having a lot of fun right now doing stuff like tourist traveling and reconstructing the temples. My poor mom, though, she was so excited at the idea of being called Lady Di Bei Fong instead of Mistress Diamantina Bei Fong. Poor woman. I keep shattering her dreams."

Toph smiled happily. Katara and Suki chuckled too.

"I wonder with what else those fire soldiers tampered with." Suki wondered in awe.

"The concubines."

"What?"

"Kuei concubines. The Fireguys sent a royal decree officially granting them the possibility of divorce if they wanted. Any concubine interested in divorcing Kuei just had to yell "I divorce you" four times, once towards each cardinal point, and then she was entitled to her jewelry and a hippo-cow. Any children had to stay with Kuei, though."

"You don't tell! How many concubines does he have left?"

"Not sure, I think someone told me that the last tally was fifty four. It's not a bad number for an Earth King."

"Kyoshi knows that's still 53 too many for my taste. Have you heard from Kuei?"

"Aang … I mean, Twinkles has." His name had become their secret code. Reversing all orders, in public she always referred to him by a nickname, in private, he was Aang. The same for him in a less uncompromising scale. Whenever he called her by her name she would get goose bumps, and those were private. "Kuei writes to him on matters of state. He was deeply offended at the fast one T.T. pulled on him, but eventually relented because he cannot get into an open fight with the Avatar. Anyway, the fireguys caused so much havoc in the kingdom with the counter-intelligence that Kuei had been really busy putting out fires for the last year. I love those fireguys!"

She then added, thoughtfully.

"For a while I thought about dumping Mai on Kuei. I mean, she's totally his type, but Aan … Luv-Monk forbade me. He was very serious, but now that he's dealing with Momo's depression, he may change his mind. I mean, that way Mai gets her dream of becoming royalty, and maybe she will break the chicken's heart. That won't make Momo happy, but it will make me happy."

Suki touched her with her fan.

"You know, Toph, listening to you talking about Appa and Momo, I think that against all predictions the day that monk finally catches you for real, you're going to be an excellent mom," the warrior said with conviction. Toph shrugged.

"Twinkle Toes and I, we really have fun. I don't know if any eventual children we may have will be able to survive us or their childhood, but if they manage to do either they are going to be really happy kids."

She touched her toes again. The skin on her feet was smooth, really smooth. Aang would rub them with almond oil often. The original argument was that it was needed to protect her skin from cracking, due to her barefooted-earthbending habits. The truth was that after rubbing her feet and finishing the foot massage sessions, they would invariably end up finding other uses for the oil. Naughty uses that would bring laughs and faint pink cheeks the morning after. Her Luv-Monk was fascinated by every curve of her body, not only her feet, and she was equally captivated by his. And truth be told, one of those secrets she hadn't shared with anyone, not even Katara and Suki, was that they were in no rush to alter their current situation. After all, he was a skilled waterbender and, thankfully, the tea had work the first time so they had the freedom to choose when.

They were on her parents' home in the north, trying the winds, when they had made a decision about their future. It was the end of winter and the Tramontana was banging against the houses in anger. Aang had been enthralled by the pull of the air currents, while she mostly stayed on the ground, seeing the haul of the wind with her feet. He would come down sometimes, to grab her and get her to fly with him, her usual repulsion at being away from her element subsiding after everything she went through in the South Pole. They would laugh, the strong draw of the breeze on their faces, getting lost in the mountains. It was then when La Tramontana took their senses away, or filled them with its craziness - who knows? - and made them decide that shouldering a lost race was too much for a single monk to tackle and that they could try to figure out his destiny together. The result was that they got engaged (ensuring financial and social freedom in the process), but promised each other a couple of years of liberty before officially settling down and trying for a first batch of flying babies. Aang was the one to put down the condition that if they happened to like the entire parenting adventure, they would try for more down the road, but were not obliged to do so. She was the one to put the condition that they should at least enjoy their relationship and their youth before facing marriage. He had been happy at her saying yes, but had been equally quick at accepting her condition, eventually confessing that his previous engagement experience had made him wary. So they both kept weaseling out of the Commitment Ceremony in front of her parents, (the dowry contract didn't say anything about when), their friends, acquaintances and society in general because another decision that they had reached was that even if his role as the Avatar was public, their lives were private and they would keep them as such.

Katara next to her was sighing.

"I'm not sure how things are going to be for me," she mumbled wistfully, "this baby is a firebender, it makes me sweat all day, it kicks me every time I waterbend too much. I don't know, I've so many doubts."

Toph patted her hand.

"The firebaby is not the problem Sugar Cakes, as much as the fact that your in-laws are into murder, world domination and lunacy. Look at the positive side, at least there's no divorce. You can be sure that your marriage won't end because of some baby problems. And if the baby carries the five-generation-Ozai-Azula genes, you are the right person to nurture and waterslap some sanity into him or her."

"I don't know if I should feel comforted or terrified at your words, Toph."

"Probably both. Look at your mother in law, she had managed fairly well and she can't divorce either of her psychos, neither the husband nor the daughter. How is she doing by the way?"

"Fine. She's really excited with the idea of the baby. Dad is visiting, waiting for the birth of his grandchildren and they have become great pai-sho pals. They play long matches and keep each other company. I'm so happy my dad and my mother-in-law get along well. It saves us so much awkwardness."

"I'm sure of it," Toph changed the topic, fast, "Is Iroh back at Ba Sign Se? I heard he's opening a tea chain."

"He is. He was so quick at passing down the fire crown to Zuko, you have no idea."

Katara still sounded concerned. Toph felt pity and decided to help.

"Listen Sweetness, I'm going to give you a secret that rich people around the world share. It's called the nanny. If by any chance you don't feel like being with your firebaby for a while, the nanny will be there for you. Time alone with Zuko? The nanny. Don't want to breastfeed? The nursing nanny. Want to be with your child? Nanny goes out for tea. I saw you on that cave Katara, my advice: get a nanny. Everything will be easier afterwards."

Katara sounded distrustful.

"I thought you didn't like nannies. Would you hire a nanny?" She asked. Toph shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. T.T. and I are playing everything by ear. Neither of us really had parents: he was raised by monks, and I was raised by nannies. So we have decided that the day I get pregnant, we are going to try and be parents. It may be a complete disaster, who knows, we may not even like it, but we are not forcing the issue. Anyway, the Pebble is living at the temple with us now. We adopted him. The Hippo decided to stay at the South Pole and the poor guy seemed lost. So he cooks, cleans and he's really excited at the idea of being the nanny when we finally have kids. Aang is happy to let him help. I'm telling you, my Luv-Monk is a charity depot."

Suki and Katara leaned over Toph.

"What about the airbenders? Zuko says that Aang was really adamant for a while on reconstructing the way of life of the Air Nomads, with everything that entails."

Toph smiled faintly.

"Remember how he promised me that he would get a harem and repopulate the temples on his own and what not? Well, guess what? He now denies everything."

"He's not going to do the festivals?" Katara asked in shock, effectively surprised "Zuko said that he was planning to invite the four nations and everything!"

"That was before he understood fully what a foot massage is," Toph groaned, "so now he's all like no, only you and you are my numero uno." She imitated his voice remarkably well. "He doesn't want anyone else. Lucky me. Anyway, I told you already, he refuses to raise any children in a commune. I tried to remind him the other day that he has an obligation, but he refused to pay attention. You know how he is. He chases me, catches me and then says that his destiny is his to find. He is going all Sparky on me. Stupid Sparky. No offense, Sweetness," she sipped her tea, "so, it seems like my future Committed Guy's destiny is monogamy and a conventional family, and my destiny is to repopulate an entire race."

A chill ran through the air.

Toph could hear them, faintly, in the back of the room.

"So many blessings bestowed in the Chosen One and there she is, so uninterestingly happy. A boring disgrace."

"At least she's not pregnant in a kitchen. She has a big guy wearing an apron in the kitchen, that should count for something."

"Are you going to be exercising some powers here to provide us with entertainment? Forget about my Chosen One, that one only cares about the flying tattoos and vice versa. Those two are blissfully tedious. But the painted warrior, that one looks interesting. Maybe a tryst with Agni's kid?"

"Fate, you confuse adultery with debauchery. Leave the kids alone. Where is your cigar? What did you do with your cigar, woman? We agreed that you wouldn't quit again during this century!"

"Sod off, Tlatli, I need some edge. Eternity can get boring without an edge. Hey, what about Agni's kid's sister? That one looks good. What if we break her out of the loony-house?"

"Fate, stop it. If what you want is entertainment I can do something exciting. What about Agni's kid finding out about his father-in-law real pai sho game? or better still, what about psycho husband finding out?"

"What about we get the happy Uncle (you know I like the uncle) and throw it in the mix of Fire Mom and Hawt Warrior?"

"You know what? The Dragons are right. You have no shame, no sense of decorum, nothing. And I'm the Goddess of Adultery, I know about lack of decorum. Let's go before you do something really stupid like getting the flying monk to end up this story with the waterbender, or get Agni's kid to remember suddenly that he's in love with the Knife-girl. You know, dumb stuff like that. Right up your alley."

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The End - El Fin - Finale

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This is all folks. It was a fun ride for me.

Now, dear reader that haunts the halls of fanfiction, if you smiled at least once through the entire ordeal, I have a favor to ask:

Would you let me know (1) which one was your favorite chapter? and (2) your favorite character, if you have one?

See, this entire fic is a test of sorts, where I'm trying to assess not only myself as a writer but what makes people tick. You have all surprised me with some of your reactions in the past and (definitively) you all helped me figure out many things (among them my English grammar).

So, even if you have never done so, drop me a note with your answer. You don't even have say hello if you don't want to. Just write the number and the name. This TOTALLY counts as charity! :-)

And so just you know, my favorite chapter is "La Rosa de los Vientos", by far. My favorite character in this story is Toph. She was always true, even when she was lying, and I love her for that. My favorite original idea is the Cave of Sorrows, as I often feel that I'm living in my own Cave of Sorrows of dreams denied.

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Morals of this story:

Abstinence Only only works if there is abstinence, so if in doubt, go get some tea!

You never know when the fortune teller may be drunk, so beware of prophecies and predictions of the future.

Don't be in such a rush to grow up and have babies. If you're seventeen and in love, enjoy the ride, don't burden your life before your time.

You can never go wrong with the classics.

Bad poetry is evil, but good poetry makes the world go round.

Always leave space for humor. Man does not live on drama alone.

Be careful while teaching seduction arts to a monk.

Don't confuse lust with love, but don't underestimate the power of either.

Be wary of writing Zutara from Toph's point of view. Earthbenders are sneaky, they go underground, move the soil under your feet until you find yourself in a pit, not being able to let go of the girl.

Secret: I'm totally a Zuko girl. First cartoon crush in my life. But then I fell for the blind girl and had to get her a boyfriend. Aang was at hand. So I added some spice and voila, monk-a-la-hawtness. They are still cute and adorable, so I'm a Zutarian who wrote herself into the most unashamedly Taang shipper!!

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Trivia

(Just in case you are interested)

Ius Primae Filia: My take on Ius Primae Noctis (Right to the First Night) or Droit de Seigneur (Right of the Lord), that controversial medieval practice of the lord of the land having the right to claim the first wedding night (presumably the virginity) of the wives of the serfs. Controversial because historians can't decide if it really happened or not.

Names of the OCs: I went into an English Chinese online dictionary and this is what I got (I'm not sure about the Chinese dialect these translations reflect): Lu Shi: lawyer. Guo Du: Caretaker. Nu-er: Daughter in Law.

Movie references that I remember:

"Highlander" (there can be only one!)

"Mommie Dearest" (I saw it in cable years ago. Fate is an angel compared to Joan Crawford)

"Driving Miss Daisy" (I saw it during a phase of only watching Oscar winning films. Yep, that romance scroll was about a lady, fifty years younger than the one in the movie, and her chauffeur…)

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (Somehow, the name of this movie makes me think about the Kamasutra. Yep, exactly, that's the same image I get. So, Jumping Tiger, Kicking Curtains is not that far off…)

"Clash of the Titans" (Andromeda chained to a rock)

"The Godfather" (Never go against the family, dead fish messages …)

"Lord of The Rings" (My precious),

The Contest: I made it up, but the concept is classical. Folk and fairy tales are full of stories of suitors doing three tasks to win the hand of a maiden. The idea of the maiden attached to a rock held captive by, or offered to, a monster is from the Perseus/Andromeda myth and from the legends of Saint George and the Dragon.

The idea of a King's Champion that is sleeping with the maiden he's championing is purely classical: Arthurian legends. La Morte d'Artur and all the Arthurian cycle is full of love triangles. Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere. Tristan, Isolde and King Mark. Even in the saga of the Nibelungs, Sigfried wins Brunilde for King Gunther, while she used to be his lover. (Really, why bother with cable, the classics are full of racy stuff …)

The rest of the story, the weaving, the plot and the dialogues are mine. I hope you enjoyed it, I sure did. But mostly, I enjoyed all of you.

I started writing and posting without following what I understand now are the unspoken rules of fanfiction. I posted the first five chapters at the same time, I updated often, I didn't get that reviews are the currency to understand interest, I didn't even know what a beta was. If I had to do it again, I still would do it like this. I have met so many interesting, wonderful people this way, and it amazes me the things that all of you had to say. Even the flames. Writing is shouting in the dark, I am so excited and humbled that someone out there got to hear me.