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Lucy is the first to come back.
The guards on duty see her stumble towards the city barefoot, her hair dishevelled and her gown ripped to pieces, they take her for a drunk or a mendicant and don't pay her much attention. It is only when she is about to cross the bridge that the youngest of them recognises her as one of the monsters, the one who had almost escaped, before being slaughtered right on that bridge.
She doesn't try to flee as they run to face her. When they surround her, swords unsheated, she doesn't attack or threaten them or tell them a riddle, as she had tried to do during her escape. She just stands there, unsteady on her feet, her eyes glassy and her hands shaky; so different from what she'd been like on the day of the wedding that those who were there suspect another trick.
When she speaks, however, it is with a different voice; more than a voice is a whisper, really. "Help me," she says. "I'm Lucy Grizzwald, do you know where my sister is?"
Most of them don't believe her. Why would they? She lied before, pretended to be someone she is not. But some knights protest against killing her - killing her again, that is. How did she come back, anyway? - without talking to the queen first. What if she is telling the truth?
They end up bringing her back to the castle, shakled. When they arrive, the queen is already waiting for them in the courtyard; maybe someone informed her, or maybe she just knew, as she seems to know many things since she's come back.
"Ella!" screams the girl, breaking her silence, but she doesn't try to move; she just lets the Queen come close, followed by Sir Tadius and Sir Crumb. Queen Ella doesn't say anything; her expression is unreadable as she looks and looks. Nobody knows how long they've just stood there, waiting for something to happen, when the Queen lift the other girl's left sleeve, running her fingers on the bare skin. She lets her do it, docile and still trembling.
Whatever the Queen is looking for, the answer must satisfy her, because her shoulders slump in relief and she lets out a shaky sigh.
"Lucy."
And then they're hugging, fast and tight and desperate, and everyone looks away and pretends not to see their teary eyes.
Lucy Grizzwald -because there's no doubt anymore about her identity- is freed. The Queen herself sustains her as she's lead inside, because all her strenght seems to have disappeared.
It's not long before everyone in town knows about her return to life; a messenger is sent to inform her father. How did she come back? And how did the queen recognise her? Whispers start circulating, feeding on the newborn legend that the Queen has gifts unlike anyone else. Only Tadius thinks of asking her, later that day. They're outside Lucy's newly assigned apartments, where the girl is sleeping after a warm bath. Ella is sitting in the windowsill, staring absentedly at he garden outside. It's the first thing they either of them says after a long silence.
"Rancilda's seam," Ella explains, "it was on her left arm."
It is a few days before Lucy manages to tell her friend what happened. How, after what happened in the clearing , she slept for a long time. No, not sleep, some part of her knew that was death; but her conscience was numb and distant, like sometimes it happens in a dream. She was in the dark, feeling nothing and barely remembering who she was; then, as suddenly as it add started, it ended. She woke up in the clearing, as if she'd never left; she instinctually looked around for Ella and Justine, but found herself alone. Every part of her ached, so much that she had to wait for a long time before being able to lift herself up and stumble back towards Ella's house, the only place she could think of. Walking was painful and slow and useless, because when she arrived there the place was empty, but she couldn't bear to be alone, confused and afraid as she was, so she kept on walking, this time towards the town.
After hearing this, Ella insists on going back to the clearing, escorted only by Tadius and Crumb. And just like she hoped, when they arrive they find Justine, sitting with her back against a tree and a pained expression that melts in relief. "Ella!" she cries, as the queen jumps down the horse to hug just as warmly as she did with Lucy, tears on her cheeks.
In her heart, Ella knows who brought them back. The reason, however, is a mistery; but to know it will require to go back to the clearing and shed somebody's blood, and she won't do it.
Eventually, the Grizzwald girls will be all right. Even though Lucy's throat will hurt for days, a sharp pain as if somebody had shot her there. Even though Justine will wake up screaming some nights, rushing out of the bed to go check on her sister, just to make sure she's alive. But they will be alright.
They will reunite with their family, write them lots of letter and go visit them often. But they won't move back with them. They just couldn't bear to be apart, and Justine...well, the castle servant have a lot to say about the many nights she spends in the Queen's bedchambers, not unlike Sir Tadius. So they will keep on living in the castle on the hill, the Queen's oldest friends and confidants: and sometimes the three of them will feel just like they did before everything went downhill, three young girls joking and laughing with each other.
It will take time, and many many bad days. But they will be all right.