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I come back from the garden with a basket full of vegetables.
Well tied behind my back, Tamlen is sleeping peacefully.
No sooner have I entered the house than Lyna burst in in a tornado of red curls and lay her big hazel eyes on me. She asks enthusiastically:
“Mom, can we have a picnic with Shannon?”
“Who is Shannon?”
“The blacksmith’s daughter. She’s my friend. She came to play at home.”
“Good morning Ma'am'”.
A shy little girl enters into the house looking at her shoes. It makes me smile:
“Hi Shannon, nice to meet you. I am Ymlaïs.”
Shannon looks up at me and says : “I know who you are. Everyone does”.
Oh! So true …
The little girl’s gaze is drawn to the back of the room and her whole face suddenly lit up before she exclaims:
“Whoa! This armor is amazing! This blue leather… This is… Drakeskin!”
“It is. Well, you know your business !”
My daughter reminds me haughtily: “Mom, her dad is a blacksmith. Shannon is an armour expert! Right Shannon?”
“It wasn’t my dad who made it for you. He’s never made that kind of armor. He says Drakeskin is very rare and only a few master blacksmiths can craft it.”
“Your dad is right. The man who made this armor was named Wade.”
“Wade? Master Wade?? Master Wade made your armor!?” the little girl’s voice goes higher and her eyes open wide.
“He did. A long time ago...”
This sudden light in the eyes, this jaw that slighly opens. Here we are. In about three seconds she’s gonna ask me...
“Say… Is it true that you defeated an Archdemon?”
My daughter, who knows the story by heart and seems to appreciate less and less that her mother steal the show, returns to a more interesting subject.
"Yeah, yeah, it was mom who killed the big wicked dragon. Now, can we have this picnic?"
It’s crazy how kids have an acute sense of priorities, isn’t it? I smile even more.
"Why not? Will you ask the boys?"
Lyna comes out of the house as quickly as she has entered, leaving her friend standing in the entrance, a half-admiring half-intrigued gaze fixed on me. The look. Which I ended up getting used to after all these years.... A little.
“The drawings on your forehead are pretty.”
“Thanks, Shannon. Come, let’s see if Lyna gets her way with the boys.”
Arriving at the beach below, Lyna runs to the men who are practicing in sword combat. Her cries can be heard from here.
« Kiiiieeeeran ! Daaaaaaddy ! We’re having a picnic!”
In the distance I can see her leaping around her father and her half-brother. The three of them come home, Kieran carrying the swords and Alistair carrying his daughter on his shoulders.
My eyes cannot help slipping along his bare chest in sweat and his skin tanned by the sun.
"How was your training?" I ask when the trio enters the house.
"Oozy" answers my beloved, rubbing his wet cheek against mine.
"Ew, go wash up before lunch!"
“I don’t think I’m cut out for sword fighting,” adds the slender, chestnut-haired, hazel eyed teenager.
“You did very well, son.”
"You think so?"
“Sure! It was not bad for an intellectual”. His father replied with a smirk.
The boy pouted.
“It’s okay if you lost to Dad you know, Kieran. It’s because he’s stronger than you, and he has more training, that doesn’t count.” says his half-sister with compassion. I’m not sure it is really working. I have a hard time trying not to laugh.
"But his head is better fulled than mine will ever be." Alistair added as he ruffles the boy’s hair.
I point out:“That’s not putting the bar very high.”
“Hey!”.
“You deserved that one.” Do I answer, winking at Kieran’s attention.
The boy laughs: “You sound like Mum!”
Alistair rolls his eyes and sigh: “True”.
Then smiling at his daughter he adds: “So, I heard about a picnic?”
---
« Do the sparkles Kieran ! Do the sparkles ! Pleaaaaase » Ask the girls fervently. For the sake of appearances, the teenager let them coax him a little. Then he let out a few sparks from his fingers to the delight of the little girls who run after as if they were butterflies.
I look at the scene with tenderness. The remains of the picnic scattered on the blanket where Falon sleeps. Alistair who plays with Tamlen, whose bursts of laughter are shining to my ears just like Kieran magical sparks are shining to my eyes.
Happiness, at last.
This so desired happiness.
In the evening, the joy of watching my sleeping children cute faces, while Alistair and his son are still chatting on the beach, enjoying those few moments spent together as the sun set on the horizon.
Happiness when I join my man on the sand, putting my head on his chest to feel his skin, hear his heart beating, huddle me in his arms once more.
So much happiness that tears come to my eyes. When Alistair looks at me with concern, I shake my head in silence and feel his arms tightening against me. I abandon myself in there, body and soul.
When everyone has fallen asleep, I kiss my son and daughter one last time:
“Good bye my loves. To have had you for a while, is to have you forever.”
I look at Kieran with gratitude. Although he is not aware of it, all this happiness, I got it thanks to him.
I lean over my man and kiss his beloved lips:
“Goodbye, Mir Elgara*. Sun of my life. I hope our roads cross on the other side.”
I walk out of the house and take a few steps in the sand under the stars. The dog joins me. That dog whose eyes shine with a supernatural glow.
I sit down and watch the coming and going of the waves at my feet and the immense starry sky for a while. All is so quiet, so peaceful. Then I ask:
"I owe all this to you, don’t I?"
“You have understood? How?”
“I have already experienced this kind of trap in the fade. The first time it didn’t work either. But if you want to know what tipped me off: you. Falon died a long time ago. And your gaze is not that of my dog. But I’m glad you added it to the picture, I miss him.”
“You didn’t try to escape, though.”
“I didn’t want to. It was so beautiful. For a reason I can’t explain, I felt safe here. And could I? I’m dead, right?”
“You’re dying, But it won’t be long until you pass away.”
"Ah. So that’s how it is when you die."
“Not exactly. But the ripples in the veil make it much easier to connect the tangible world with the spirit world.”
"Did you created this for me?"
“For the two of you.”
“The two of us?… Alistair ! It was him? Really him?”
“It is really him. Although he is dead. It was hard to bring him here, even for a while. But I knew you’d appreciate it.”
“So that’s why the beach… And Kieran.”.
I look at the spirit. “Thank you. But why doing this for us?”
“Because you deserved it, because I owed you and because it is what I am.”
"Who are you?"
“I am Justice”.
* Dalish words for My sun - Ymlaïs' nickname for Alistair.