Victor of Tucson-Chapter 47Book 12: : Epilogue

47 – Epilogue

Victor sat on the hillside, looking down at his villa and the flickering, firefly-like Energy bugs Deyni had “domesticated” for the party. The ocean crashed off to his left, and he turned to gaze down at the moonlit waves and the people mingling around the nearby bonfire. It was a beautiful, almost idyllic scene, and for a moment he wondered why he was leaving. The thought was fleeting, though; he had every intention of coming back, and some time away would make his return all the sweeter.

Music and laughter echoed up the hillside, and he heard Edeya’s voice calling for Lesh to “let go of Bryn.” Peering down toward the sound, he saw the Ghelli’s wings spilling motes of blue light as she tried to race a ball past Lesh. It was a game the soldiers played in the legion—kind of a mix between keep-away and volleyball. More laughter echoed from near the house, and he turned to observe the party-goers down there.

He watched, straining his titan eyes to peer at faces, testing himself to put names to all of them. Between the beach and his garden, he figured there were two-hundred guests present. He saw people from Sojourn, Zaafor, Ruhn, and Dark Ember. His guests from Fanwath were the most numerous, though—people from the Shadeni Clan, from the Naghelli settlement, and even First Landing. There were so many important people, so many friends!

Some stood out more than others: Lesh and the other veterans from the Dark Ember War playing their games on the beach, for instance. The dragonkin was officially a “nascent dragon” now, but he’d taken mercy on the others and reduced his size significantly. Still, his great scaled form was hard to miss as he dove through the waves and sand, roaring in amusement as Darren caught his tail in his talons and pumped his massive wings. Victor could hardly believe the thunderbird was the same man who’d played dirty politics in First Landing, and it wasn’t just his physical transformation. He’d gone from bitter and self-centered to a kind, doting father and husband.

Another crowd further up the beach centered on a beautiful giantess with a crystalline crown. If the people gathered around Kynna, listening to her stories about Victor and his time as her champion, understood just how important she was, he doubted they’d feel so comfortable in her presence. She’d practically had to sneak off-world to attend the party, but she’d built up her close council to the point where she felt comfortable leaving things in their care for half a day.

He felt Thayla’s approach long before he heard her footsteps. Still, he acted surprised when she stepped out from the hyllberry bushes and made a growling sound, her hands outstretched menacingly. “You got me!” he said, feigning startlement.

“Liar. That might have worked on Deyni once upon a time, but I’m sure you knew I was there.” She came a little closer. “May I join you? You’ve been so busy with everyone tonight that we haven’t had a chance to speak.”

Victor patted the grass beside him.

She sat, folding her legs beneath her as she tilted her head to smile at him. “So many people here to see you off. Hard to believe you’ve touched this many lives… Hard to believe these are just a fraction of the people you’ve impacted.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Why so hard?”

“I’m just remembering the hotheaded, rag-wearing kid who escaped the Greatbone Mine with me.” She smiled impishly, her magenta eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

Victor nodded at her swollen belly. “Hard to believe you’re the lunatic woman who tried to make a bargain with an evil spirit in a skull she found in—”

“Okay, okay! I yield!” She giggled and leaned into his shoulder. “I guess we’ve both changed.” She took his hand and put it on her belly. “Tellen wants to name our baby after you.”

“Shit, Thayla!” Victor felt the back of his neck getting hot. “Are you serious?”

“I am, but I have to hurry and have this little devil, because I know we’re not the only ones. There’ll be a whole army of Victors and Victorias running around Fanwath soon.”

Victor laughed, the amusing image giving him an outlet for the nervous energy her proclamation had stirred in him. “Nah!” He looked up at the stars, still chuckling. “Sheesh, I hope not!” He nudged her with his elbow. “Anyway, that’s pretty damn cool. How do you know about Victoria, anyway?”

“Olivia. She says it’s a well-known girl’s name on your world.”

Victor nodded. “That’s true about the name, but this is my world now.”

She gripped his arm, squeezing as she continued to lean against him. “You are coming home again, right?”

“Yeah, of course.” Victor shifted, lifting his arm over her shoulders and pulling her close. “I’m taking an anchor stone and everything. I had Florent craft it, but Tes says she knows an expert who can set it up. We’ll have a gateway between here and her end of the universe soon enough.”

“But it’s a long trip?”

“Well, the way we’re going, it will be, sure. She has places she wants to show me—worlds where other elder races from our homeworld settled. Most of them have moved on, but there’s a kind of shared history that she finds fascinating, and I’m beginning to understand the appeal. I mean, after everything I saw on Dark Ember…” He shrugged. “I guess I’m curious if there are more places that will remind me of Earth.”

He’d told his story about his fight with Xelhuan and the aftermath more times than he could count, so Thayla knew what he was talking about. “I’m sorry you can’t go…well, not home, but back to visit your birthplace.”

“Don’t be.” Victor leaned his cheek against the top of her head. “I couldn’t be happier.”

They spoke for a while longer, but before long another figure approached up the slope, and Thayla stood, brushing the grass off her pants. “I’ll leave you be. I’m sure a hundred people want a bit of your time tonight.” She hesitated, then said, “You know we love you, right? I love you.”

Victor gently placed his palm on her firm, warm belly, chuckling as the little person inside kicked against the pressure. “I love you, too, Thayla. It’s good to see you happy.” He watched her walk down the slope, and when she passed Cora, the two exchanged a few words. When his young charge approached, Victor leaned back on his elbows and asked, “What? Am I in trouble?”

“For hiding away up here on the hillside while all your guests go unattended?” She smirked, shaking her head. “Everyone loves you too much to complain.” Looking around, up the hill and into the night sky, she asked, “Where’s Tes?”

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Victor shrugged. “Speaking to Olivia the last time I saw her. My cousin was picking her brain about university texts.”

Cora frowned, her dark eyes glittering in the starlight as she fiddled with the silver bracelet on her left wrist. It was a fae-crafted dimensional container that Victor had paid a small fortune for—one that could comfortably house living beings without driving them mad. He knew her axe was in there, the one he’d had crafted for her, and when she twisted it this way and that, he’d come to recognize it as a sign of stress.

“What are you nervous about?”

She froze, releasing the bracelet and frowning at him. “Am I so transparent?”

“Hopefully only to me. The Haveshi Clan will eat you alive if you give them an opening like that.”

She growled and stamped a foot. “That’s what I’m nervous about! I don’t think I’m ready, Victor. Can’t you put off leaving for a while? Can’t you—”

“Oh, stop.” He waved a hand dismissively. “I’m teasing. Draj Haveshi is very loyal, and after I granted them a kingdom on Dark Ember, even his mother is eager to help you succeed at Iron Mountain. Not to mention you’ll have Bryn and the Empress herself to guide and shield you from schemes. It’s going to be a hell of a learning experience, though.”

“And you’ll open a gateway soon?”

“Right. No more than a few years, I’m sure.”

That didn’t seem to appease her. She knelt in the grass, carefully folding her gray skirt under her knees. “But you’ll check your Farscribe regularly?”

Victor nodded, winking. “Of course. Now tell me, have you named that axe yet?”

Once again, Cora grasped the silver bracelet, twisting it this way and that. “Not yet—”

“Cora, I told you! If you want to awaken that spirit, you need—”

“Let me finish!” When Victor nodded, leaning back even further on his elbow, she continued, “I haven’t yet, but I’ve narrowed it down. Would you like to hear?”

Victor nodded.

“I’m torn between Bridda’kol and Skysmite.”

Victor barely managed to choke off a short laugh. Even so, Cora gave him an angry glare as he hastily covered by saying, “Those names are very different! What’s, uh, Bridda’kol mean?”

“Dalla told me it’s draconic for ‘sky’s blade’ or ‘blade of the sky.’ I wanted to include sky in the name because of the color.” She shrugged, looking down, and Victor felt bad that he’d made her feel defensive.

He nodded, rubbing his chin as he considered her axe—when the weaponsmith forged the weapon, mixing the ores in the most optimal proportions, the final, polished blade had been silvery with a deep, underlying tone of pale blue. “I think both of those names are great. Tell me, though, since when has Dalla been an expert on the draconic language?”

“Since she met Tes and became utterly obsessed!” Cora giggled, and her hand fell away from her bracelet. “You really think they’re both good?”

“Yep. Just pick one and be consistent.” He grinned and added, “And compliment her—or him!—often.”

She nodded. “I will.” Of course, he’d given her that advice a hundred times. After a moment, she stood and pointed down the slope toward his villa. “Will you mingle for a while now?”

Victor groaned in mock dismay, but after a moment he relented and held out a hand. “Pull me up, will you?”

###

Sometime later, after most of the guests had departed, and the eastern skyline was more gray than black, Victor found himself sitting alone in the garden with Valla. He’d had much to drink, and he wasn’t exactly sure how it had happened—them being alone—but he vaguely recalled Tes kissing his cheek and saying something about helping Efanie inside. Valla changed seats, moving from across the firepit to sit beside him.

As she carefully shifted her wings to hang behind the chair-back, she said, her voice just a bit louder than a whisper, “I’m a bit jealous; you know that, right?”

Victor felt adrenaline flood his system as his heart began to hammer. His primordial titan constitution instantly sobered him. “Uh, what, now?”

Valla giggled. “Don’t worry. I recognize that I’ve made this bed, and now I must lie in it. I’ll be down at the bottom of an ocean, dealing with overbearing masters, while you explore the universe with Tes. If I hadn’t chosen this myself, I’d be beside myself.”

“I mean, Valla, you said—”

“I said we had much living to do and that someday I hoped we’ll find each other again—in that way. Trust me, I remember the words.” She snorted softly, shaking her head. “It’s still true, though. You and Tes are…” She shrugged, sniffing as she took his hand, gently squeezing it with both of hers. “You can walk with pride among people like her—an equal at least. I’d feel small. I’d feel like an outsider looking in. So, I must remind myself in times like these that I have a path before me. From the outset, I knew it would be a long one. I think I just didn’t realize how much faster you’d get to this stage of your life.”

Victor gripped her hand, smiling. “So, you’re saying you made the right decision?”

She laughed. “You’re too kind. Let’s just say that I must keep telling myself that I did, else I’d go mad.”

Victor desperately wanted to change the topic, so he tried to shift the focus to her. “Well, what are your plans?”

“I’m glad you asked! After my brief vacation here, I’m to visit a world called Vast Shenatha, where, according to my masters, I’ll find a challenge ‘both academic and spiritual’ that’s administered by the keepers of that world. Apparently, they live on floating sky barges above the endless forests of their world.” She shrugged. “They refused to tell me more.”

Victor smiled, closing his eyes to picture it. He saw huge wooden sailing ships that floated on clouds of Energy over oceans of tall pine trees. He doubted his mental image was accurate, but he liked it anyway. “Sounds awesome, actually.”

Valla squeezed his hand, locking her bright teal eyes onto his. “I love that about you, Victor—your positivity. Don’t change anymore, okay?”

He laughed. “I’ll try not to.” He leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead. “You neither.”

###

“You’re quiet,” Tes said, as she and Victor waited together on the boarding platform, watching the crystalline void vessel approach. “Are you homesick already?”

Victor chuckled, shaking his head. “We’ve only been gone half a day.”

“True, but we’ve come far in that time—five world jumps. We’re almost as far from Fanwath as Dark Ember.”

He nodded, his eyes fixed on the massive ship. It was probably a mile long and, judging by the balconies and windows, there were hundreds of levels. Tes had argued for taking passage on it rather than another System stone teleportation, saying everyone should experience a void ship at least once. She’d clinched the argument by saying that, of all the worlds she’d ever visited and the thousands of restaurants and courts she’d dined in, the food on a void ship was without peer.

“So?” she asked, nudging him until he turned to look at her. “What thoughts play havoc with your mood?”

“Just thinking about how lucky I am, I guess.” He smiled and put his arm over her shoulders. “Also, about Chantico’s offer.”

Her nails tickled the back of his neck as she gently scratched. “Some regrets?”

“Not really—more like…” He trailed off, trying to find the words. Finally, he nodded toward the ship as it slowly advanced above the shimmering coral towers stretching up from the violet sea. “I think I’m just kind of having a moment. Everything feels surreal. How can I possibly have so many people who love me? How can I be so lucky as to witness something like this?” He shook his head as moisture filled his eyes. “Can it possibly be real?”

“Oh, Victor! You’ve struggled so much in your life! I’ve only had a small taste of it, but I know what you’re feeling. You’re wondering when the next shoe will drop, when you’ll learn that everything you value is unearned or that you’re somehow unworthy. Come now, though! Look past that shallow version of yourself. That’s not the part of you that everyone loves. No one, not anyone in this entire universe, could ever summon you away again. You’ve seen to that. You’ve protected your loved ones, and you’ve earned some peace with a woman who loves you.”

Victor inhaled, nodding as he pushed the strange, melancholy musings aside. She was right, wasn’t she? Nobody could take what he’d earned, not without risking his wrath, and he had plenty of that to give—if he had to. “Yeah, you’re right, Tes. I’m lucky, but I also worked pretty damn hard to get where I am, didn’t I?”

“There he is. There’s the titan. My uncle’s going to love you.”

Victor snorted a short laugh, looking down at her with an arched eyebrow. “You think so? Hard for me to imagine a cranky old dragon loving anything.”

“Well, you’ve never seen him dote on me.” Her eyes widened as the tremendous, chromatic crystalline ship approached, throwing rainbow reflections over the coral towers. After they’d both taken in the sight, she added, “Trust me. He’ll be impressed.”

“Good.” Victor let a little of his aura slip, and his voice deepened as a touch of menace coated his words. “Because I’d hate to have to kick some ancient dragon’s old ass.”