Epilogue: For a devoted and patient reader, here is the epilogue you have asked for. I hope you enjoy the chapter.
"Okay, okay," said Anwen the elf as he frowned across a dusty courtyard. It was dusty because two pre-teen, rowdy, brown-locked half-elf boys were practicing their knight skills with fake, wooden swords. Another, taller, boy child was practicing archery down the lane. Before the plain edifice of an unpainted, clapboard house, a small girl with slightly pointed ears and curls of blond hair sat on the stoop reading a book. "I won't forget the carrots. Or the cabbage. Let me be, will ya?"
"Don't spend the whole day out the woods chasing rabbits!" Godric, in a blue plain-blue blouse and riding pants, affectionately cuffed her husband. "You have a family to be responsible for."
"Bah," Anwen spoke with mock-enthusiasm. "Responsibility is tiresome. Maybe it would have been better if I'd stayed the girl."
"Knock that off! Dear," Godric amended in a more feminine way. "The boys will be old enough to be soldiers soon enough."
"More fodder for the wars of Ashan, probably," Anwen remarked softly, yet his face was painful in the truth as he pulled on his shaved chin. "But you you train them well."
"Thank you. I hope they will be heroes someday. Like us."
"Your faith is ever inspiring, love. I'll be sure to bring plenty of carrots. After all, our old friends are coming over to visit." Humming, Anwen strolled out of the courtyard of a city home and into the city where he had made a home for himself, and his family.
The transformation magic had caused an uproar in both their families when the truth was found out. Their elf and human marriage had caused an even greater uproar, so they had both taken all the money and resources they could grasp from their hometowns and moved to a metropolitan trading city on the coast. Land was scarce and the houses overpriced, but at least no one made much of a quarrel about the oddity of their marriage. So Anwen had started "Anwen and Son's Meat-Trading Company," because as former generals, slaying things was all both she and Godric knew. But from time to time, there was mercenary work. Perhaps Anwen and Godric would take up the military trade again once their children were full grown, but for now, Godric was more dutiful a mother than Anwen ever would have been. So things were not all bad, on the balance.
There were even things to look forward to. Godric's brother, now turned sister as was he, was here to visit. Things were never cemented, always stirring in disorderly change when it came to Aiden. Godric's sibling Aiden had spent enough time in Sheog to be influenced by the succubus in their taste in lifestyle. Which meant never committing to a single man. Poor Varkas, the noble knight, had been her flame for only a few months before her hips had attracted the attention of a romantic rival. So Aiden had bounced between attractions, turning the heads of many folk before possibly turning, well, lebian. Godric was never sure, for Aiden never delved too deeply into her own romantic secrets.
Sure enough, when Anwen returned home from the market with a basketful of cabbage and carrots, Aiden was there. Seated on a stool and leaning by one arm against the counter, she was as scantily clad as ever, with a tight-leather bodice, tall boots, and revealing waistband, and two daggers resting in blade sheathes against her hips. Aiden at least, had not forsaken the military trade. She was the leading general of a small army which took great delight in chasing bandits up and down the coast.
"And then she laughed at me!" Aiden complained with mirth. "She laughed at me! And she said, 'Oh are you going to turn into a succubus next? I think you'd make a good recruit.' And I said, 'Well, you're cute sweet-heart, but not that cute. I like the work I do now.' Speaking of which, we've been making a lot of money off these bandits. So I'm thinking on investing in your company."
"Actually," said Godric sensibly. "I've been thinking that maybe some of your men could guard the ships which carry our goods?"
"Let's buy our own ships!" Aiden exclaimed. With glee, she forced a high-five on the much more stoic Godric. "I'll take my men to the seas and rule the coastline!"
"Ahem," said a new voice with much more gravity. A dark foreboding rolled over the house as their former sister, Fiona, strolled in, along with a skeleton to carry her travelbag for her. An undead horse stood outside the door. It gave Anwen the shivers.
"Sisters. I have returned."
"Ugh, don't do that Fiona! You should leave your necromancy pets outside of the house," Aiden complained with a sharp grimace.
"The dead are everywhere," Fiona remarked sinisterly, "as is death. It is the second sister to life. Indeed, there are many cattle bones in the yard of this house. There is the couple who used to own this house buried beneath that tree on the hill," said Fiona pointing off to the north. "You will pass on, too, dear sister, in due time."
"Ugh, I see spending all your time with Markel hasn't made you any livelier," Aiden groused with crossed eyes. "How is your 'ol, half-crazed mentor anyway?"
"Keeping to Heresh. He is unwelcome in Griffin lads for doing things not quite legal. But his studies into the truths of Asha go well."
"Please refrain from becoming a criminal element, Fiona," Godric pleaded. "You are of a noble house."
"I will not forget the due diligence I owe to the Unicorn Duchy," Fiona agreed with liquid nobleness. "But we are missing one more guest. Our dear friend, Nadia. She sends word that she will not be here tonight."
"Why not?" asked Godric
"Why not?" echoed Aiden. She stood up on her tiptoes, eager to hear more. She had been looking forward to seeing the powerful mage whom was a close friend to all of them.
"Well, Fiona is going through a difficult time in her life, again. The First-Circle of mages is trying to sort out whether or not to leave her in her position as newest member of the Highest Order. As you know, Fiona had worked her way up their ranks. But some are newly questioning her position because of bias. She has sent a long a message that she is too busy proving herself at her post."
"What happened?" Anwen could not help but ask. Wizard folk were curious people.
"Well, it all started at the tournaments," Fiona explained. "Nadia was sparring with are rare mystical creature- a female djinn. He swung his staff out to vanquish it, but then a curious thing happened. It took a … romantic interest in Nadia. After all, he has become a finely muscled mage quite skilled in magic arts and potent in magical harmonies. The djinn wrapped itself around his torso and called the match. So Nadia won. Nadia could have walked away from the strange turn of events. But it seems he was becoming accustomed to his male form, so years later, when he came in possession of a female djinn himself, a questionable relationship began."
"Ah! Terrible news," Godric grieved. "So the wizards of the First Circle wish to remove him from his post because of it?"
"Um. No," Fiona said with great reluctance. Her cheeks were so pale she could hardly blush, but she did so, which relieved Anwen. It meant she had not chosen to give up her mortal lifespan to become a necromancer resurrect. "The most bizarre portion of the news is yet to come. After some time, Nadia quarreled with the djinn and proposed to sell it back to its previous master. In retaliation, the djinn did something which djinns on occasion do. It used trickery on Nadia. It asked him if he wanted her to fulfill one of his wishes. Nadia was not wary enough. Most know that you can never trust genies, but Nadia imprudently agreed. The wish the genie granted was a deep-buried one- to become a woman once more. So Nadia has now become a woman again. Some of the First Circle are trying to remove her from her post for this reason. Their Order has never before included any women." Aiden slapped a hand against her forehead.
"So you are telling me, all we had to do to transform back to normal was to anger a genie? We did not need a gate stone or anything?" Aiden put her chin on her hand, leant forward more so that her cleavage showed and pouted. More modest, Anwen coughed and looked away.
"Hm," Godric mulled, deep in thought as she looked up at Anwen by the doorframe. "Sit down, dear. What do you think? Should we…"
"Transform back?" Anwen pulled on her chin where the stubble of a beard was beginning to grow in. "It is a thought." He closed his eyes to remember his youth. The rush and thrill and beauty of being a young woman, treading the the forest, pursuing after deer in her bare feet. The day she was was promoted with ceremonial rites to elven ranger. The women's hair comb her father had given her before he died. But then Anwen opened his eyes and what he saw before him was the present, his four children crowding at the door with a unified perplexed, worried stare.
"I think we should stay as we are for the moment," spoke Anwen at length. "After all, you never know about genies. They could transform us into mushroom pie on a whim. Besides, we are fine. We have all we could ever wish for. Different, but fine."
"I am in agreement," Godric said with a small smile slipping onto her face as she looked at Fiona. Fiona shut her eyes and sighed.
"So be it. It has become irrelevant to my own future whether I am male or female. My current magical studies may take more than a lifetime to complete and there are more mentors besides Markel to gain knowledge from."
"Ew. Just never brings your undead armies into these regions, okay?" said Aiden jabbing a finger in Fiona's directions. "Me and my mercs will be forced to deal with 'em."
"So we all are to accept our current situation? You will not seek a cure to reverse the changes we suffered because of the broken mana gate?"
"Nah," Aiden spoke for all of them. "We've adapted. Why try to bring back a past that was always uncertain anyway? We are older and wiser these days. That's what counts. I won't waste my time crying for the good ol' days when happiness is just a product of imagination."
"It's also the product of warm meals and good beer, I think," Anwen interrupted. "Which we have. Godric?"
"Yes," Godric affirmed the half-uttered question. The occasional knight, full-time baker opened an oven to pull out a full tray of good, hot, deliciously-buttered dinner rolls. And so everyone had a bit of paradise for a moment in a world ever full of the unexpected. End of Epilogue!