Epilogue

Glenn shook his head as he looked at his fishing pole’s bare hook.

“Stripped again, dude,” Kirby said, sitting on the bank next to his gnome friend. “You suck at fishing even more than me.”

Rather than show anger, Glenn dropped his stick pole on the ground next to the river bank and wandered the dozen steps up to the willow tree. There Stephi sat, barefoot with her long legs outstretched and her beautiful face half-hidden by her broad-brimmed straw hat.

Glenn said, “When I level up—”

“Rank, not level,” Kirby corrected, attempting to mimic Ron’s voice.

“Oh, shut up, my little man,” Stephi said playfully. She wrapped an arm around her gnome friend after he plopped down next to her. She squeezed his shoulder. “What were you going to say, Jax?”

Since completing their deal with the leprechaun and she was no longer a fairy, Stephi had remained in high spirits.

Glenn stared at his boots. “When I go up a rank, I was thinking on picking up a Skill Level in Fishing.”

“No way, dude.” Kirby kept his eye on his wooden bobber floating in the little inlet along the Snake Claw River. “Kalgore’ll give you hell for that.”

Stephi huffed and squeezed Glenn’s shoulder again. “Who cares what that big jerk thinks?”

“It isn’t just for fishing here,” Glenn added. He plucked a blade of grass, examined it, then flicked it away. “Out adventuring, being able to fish will get us food.”

“Maybe.” Kirby shrugged. “Kalgore’s bow and Marigold’s Slumber Spell can do better than fishing.”

It was Glenn’s turn to shrug. He listened to Petie warble in the branches above and sighed.

The trio sat in silence, each deep in their own thoughts.

Out of nowhere, Kirby said, “That was so cool, Marigold, when you kicked that leprechaun dude in the head. The look on his face!” The thief turned and did his best to show a wide-eyed expression of surprised disbelief.

All three laughed, although the gnome’s laughter came a second delayed and sounded forced.

Kirby turned back to watching his bobber. “Marigold,” he asked,” how long did you know Byeol’s Heirloom Item was Silver Strike?”

“After Jax killed that creepy husk mummy,” Stephi replied. She pushed up her hat’s brim and smiled down at Glenn, who, for some reason, remained in a glum mood. “Remember that, Jax?”

“Sort of,” Glenn said. “I was too scared to really remember most of it.”

Stephi sat back, resting against the willow tree’s trunk. “What’s wrong, Jax? Everything turned out fine.”

Glenn gazed up into her green eyes. “Why’d you let the leprechaun get away with not turning you back exactly as you were before?”

Stephi’s frown faded. “Did Lysine tell you?”

Kirby turned around, eyebrows raised. “What’s not the same?”

“How do you know, Jax?” She didn’t sound happy. “Did you listen in on our private conversation?”

Glenn didn’t know Ron knew. Rather than deny her accusation, he asked, “You want to know how I knew?”

Kirby set down his pole and made his way up to the tree. “Was it that firkin, hogshead, wine barrel thing?”

Stephi ignored Kirby’s question and addressed Glenn. “Well, yeah, or I wouldn’t be asking you.”

Glenn was caught between anger, embarrassment and frustration. Better to just say it and get it over with. “Because, Marigold, I do a lot of looking up. From my angle, looking up at your face, I have to look past your breasts. It’s different than before. They’re a little higher up.”

“Well,” she said, no anger or bitterness in her voice. “I don’t blame you, Jax. It’s hard not to notice my biggest assets.” She put a hand under each and hefted them. “They’re like the first thing I notice every time I look in a mirror.”

“There ain’t many mirrors I’ve seen big enough for that,” Kirby teased.

From her seated position Stephi lightly kicked Kirby in the shin. “Too bad you were unconscious, Gurk.” From beneath her hat’s brim she winked at Glenn. “I totally lost my cloak for most of the fight after you were down. With your eyes closed.”

“No way.” The half-goblin thief looked to the gnome for confirmation.

Stephi giggled. “You’re right, my little man. No way.”

“I’m glad you’re back to calling me that,” Kirby said. “Even if I am now a little little bit littler compared to you...before you got a lot littler because you got fairyed.”

“You little jerk.” She threw a stick at him. The thief deftly caught it and grinned, showing his pointy teeth.

She threatened to throw another. “That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

He laughed and replied, “I know.”

Stephi turned to Glenn. “I let that mean little leprechaun get away with a pin of a tun because it sounded like a tiny amount.” She playfully elbowed Glenn in the shoulder. “I was right, too. Lysine did the math and it was only one and a half percent. We measured and it’s only one and a quarter inch difference.”

Petie flew down and landed on Stephi’s shoulder.

She tipped her hat’s brim back down. “It was silly to think that there’d be a big pot of gold sitting in the woods, just waiting for us to take.” She rubbed a finger along Petie’s throat. “Even though it’s only a little, little bit, it’s enough for me to notice. Enough to remind me not to go and do something stupid like that again.”

“I tried to warn you,” Kirby said.

“I know. And I’d still be mad at myself if it weren’t for Lysine.”

Before either gnome or half-goblin could ask, Stephi explained, “Lysine told me, ‘Life perpetually strives to surround us in oppressive darkness, especially in this aberrant concurrent world. When it succeeds, we must strive to seek the tiniest bit of sparkling light that inevitably pierces such darkness. When things are bad we must look upon that shimmer of beauty, at that which is sustaining, to carry us through the worst days. Look forward, for there remains the possibility of better days.’”

Kirby asked, “Lysine said that?”

Stephi gave a look of exasperation. “Those weren’t his exact words. A lot of them are mine. But he did say ‘perpetually,’ and ‘inevitably’ and ‘sustaining.’ And now that I think about it, ‘persevere’ instead of ‘look forward.’”

Kirby nodded understanding. “My sixth grade English teacher said that memorizing important speeches and poems can be important. But it’s more important to understand them.” He kicked at the grass, thinking back to that memory. “Put them in your own words so that they have meaning to you.”

Kirby sat down, facing his two friends. “That’s what gets him through here, every day?” His gaze fell to his lap. “Man, he’s either one pessimistic dude, or his life before here must’ve sucked worse than mine.”

“I think it’s inspiring,” Stephi said. “It tells me he’ll never give up.”

After a moment of silence, where all three contemplated their party leader’s words, Glenn asked, “So, what light came through in this last adventure?”

“We made new friends,” Stephi replied, as if it was obvious. “Emma and Polayney.”

“I think with the wood nymph,” Kirby said, “it was mostly Lysine’s song.”

“Better than that pawnshop owner,” Glenn said.

Stephi patted Glenn on the leg. “I agree.”

“Me, too.” Kirby nodded. “But he’s a contact who knows we get things done. Might lead us to more adventures.”

“We’ll need those to get more gold and experience points,” Glenn said, staring out across the slow-moving river. “So we can get back home.”

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