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Ren woke up slowly, then all at once.
He was lying in the grass- but it wasn’t the grass he had died on.
He grabbed fistfuls of it, looking up at a familiar archway of dark trees.
“But I died,” he whispered, to himself. “What…”
Ren staggered to his feet, moving forward almost without thinking. He unlatched the gate with practiced movements, the way he’d done a hundred times before, and stepped inside the fort.
There was no sign of the fire that had taken the place. The trees stood proud, the mushrooms tall. The whole place was lit with the soft light of glowberries, hanging everywhere. There were clusters of small mushrooms on the ground, and lily pads in the pond, and flowers everywhere. The cottage looked a little bigger; like a home, rather than just a place to get away from the elements. Three dogs were playing, chasing each other around the circle.
And she was there. She looked as lovely as the day he first saw her, standing around a circle of bedrock. She was wearing a simple blue dress, her skirts flowing around her. She was barefoot, and she wore a crown of blue flowers. Her long pink hair fell around her in waves, much longer than she’d kept it in the game.
“Ren!” Lizzie gasped. She leapt into his arms, and he caught her easily. She was smiling, her eyes bright- her eyes.
They weren’t the deep emerald green that he had sworn his life to. They weren’t a bright jade, either, nor were they golden. They weren’t the ruby red that haunted his dreams.
They were blue. Blue as the sky, blue as the petals of the flowers in her hair, blue as anything, blue blue blue.
Those eyes stared up into his. “Your eyes are blue,” she said softly.
“So are yours, my lady,” he said, just as soft. “Blue as morning glory.”
She smiled, pleased. She kissed him, slowly and softly, like he was something delicate.
He set her on her feet. “My queen, where… where are we?”
“This is it.” Lizzie put a hand on his chest, right over his heart.
“This is it?” he asked. His voice was deathly quiet, like the whole world would fall apart if he spoke too loud.
“This is it,” she repeated. “This is home.”
“Home,” he whispered. It felt like a promise.
He found he couldn’t keep himself standing, and sat down in the grass. She sat with him, lying against his chest. She gave him a butterfly kiss on his cheek. The sky above them was blue, blue, blue.