Annika didn’t remember being moved, or when she fell asleep. All she knew was that she woke up in her old chamber in the castle, with Ainsley beside her on the bed, sitting with her back against her headboard.

As the Lady slowly sat up, her eyes feeling almost too swollen to be open, the monarch turned with a start.

“How are you feeling? Are you well? Do you need Physician Durand?”

The Viscountess shook her head, and instead, stood and crossed the room to retrieve a goblet of water.

“Gods, you need to let me do that! You gave the kitchen aides a fright when you said nothing while crying, then you fainted…”

Annika glanced at the window and noticed it was deep into the night already.

“Did Mrs. Ashowan leave already?” Her voice was hoarse, but she didn’t pay it any mind.

“Yes. Before sunset they left. I suppose the witches from the Coven set out glass orbs as they travelled that resemble fishermen markers… they apparently can transmit messages faster, so we will be hearing regular updates about when they meet up as well as how… how the Viscount is.”

The Lady nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your condition?”

Annika’s eyes snapped over to the Queen who visibly recoiled under her friend’s hard stare.

“We… we all somewhat guessed after Physician Durand and Mrs. Ashowan’s argument earlier,” Ainsley explained, feeling awkward.

“I see.” Annika moved over to the window and gazed out over the twinkling lights of Austice towards the sea. She had never felt so redundant in her whole life...

“When are you supposed to deliver-”

“They’re due to arrive in early spring.”

“That means it is relatively- wait. They? As in, more than one?!”

Annika didn’t answer, but could hear her friend rise from the bed.

“Gods, no wonder Mrs. Ashowan was fussing like a mother hen with you! Twins!”

“Yes, and because of them I can’t do a godsdamn thing to save my husband.” The anger in her voice made Ainsley hesitate.

“Nothing could have changed the Goddess’ will. This was… These children are a gift from the Viscount.”

“I don’t want this gift! I want him back! He doesn’t deserve to die! He… He was kind… He was a good man, and he… He was… everything. Hope… warmth… home. He was… Fin was… supposed to be my home.” Annika’s fury and pain had merged together, and she felt it bursting forward.

“I know it isn’t fair, I know-” Ainsley’s words of comfort were stopped abruptly as a golden light suddenly shone brightly around the Viscountess. “What…”

Annika stared down at herself, her eyes wide, but then noticed a ribbon of golden light pouring from her… it flowed out the window through the starry sky towards the sea…

All at once, she realized that the light was her connection to Fin. Some strange innate part of her knew...

The ribbon weaved out into the inky night until it was lost in the darkness. Staring out in awe at the horizon, the two women remained silent. Until… they noticed the golden light was fading. Off in the distance, the ribbon was disappearing.

“No. No… why would it… No!” Annika watched as the ribbon faded away closer and closer to her, until at long last, it reached the glow around her and… then that too was gone.

It was then she knew, without a doubt, Fin was dead.

*

Katelyn boarded the fishing vessel in a hurry. They all had seen the golden ribbon stretch across the sky, illuminating the inky waters in its magical glow. Unsure of what it was at first, the healer had stared at the heavens with Adamma Jelani at her side, as Sky stood at the stern of the ship pressing them hurriedly across the Alcide sea. It wasn’t until the captain of the ship called out that the fishing vessel was in sight, that Katelyn guessed what she was seeing.

Hope filled her for a brief shining moment… before she noticed the light surge brilliantly, then begin to slowly fade away.

By the time she was aboard the fishing vessel, in her heart, she already knew what she was about to find.

Four witches stood around Fin, his face gray and lifeless, his clothes covered in his blood. They had rested his body on the storage box by the bow, and had waited.

Katelyn stepped over to him stiffly, her legs already threatening to give out from under herself. With shaking hands, the healer reached out and touched the sides of her son's head, gently stroking his fiery red hair.

For a moment, he was a small unconscious boy in her arms again, and she could hear herself saying the same words she had uttered that particular rainy day...

“My sweet boy.” Katelyn whispered as she sank down to her knees on the ship’s deck, completely oblivious to the bowed heads around her.

Slowly, she lowered her forehead to his as she closed her eyes, tears once again slipping off her cheeks.

Reaching out with her magic, she felt the lifeless shell under her grasp.

She felt the burn wounds that were fresh... and healed them. They would appear as old scars that wouldn’t alarm his wife should she happen to see them on his body…

She then noticed the cracked ribs as her magic moved deeper under his skin. She healed those too, because… because she needed to. She needed to do something.

When it came to his chest… the wound that had cut the veins to his heart and lungs.. She let out a small angry cry.

He had died in pain… and alone…

Slowly, she worked her magic, healing the tissue and circulatory passage, the lungs…

Then the brain.

The blood and breath depraved brain that even if she had reached him hours sooner, would’ve meant he’d never be the same again.

His small smiling face as he would wait for her to try his latest recipe flashed in Kate’s mind.

His scream when he had blasted his father off of their island.

The tears he’d wept when his best friend Ian abandoned him and the children had stoned him…

The day Jiho arrived, and became his friend.

The day he had left to go work at the castle, the broom she had made him firmly in hand.

“A House Witch should have a fresh broom for every new home. It only makes sense,” she had prattled on, not knowing why it had mattered to her so much at the time.

The day he left for the ball, looking like a noble, his eyes full of hope...

His wedding day, the look on his face when he saw Annika at the end of the aisle.

His back as he climbed into the carriage with his father…

“You don’t deserve for things to end like this,” Kate whispered as more tears fell.

Her magic began to glow around herself again, as she began reviving his mind. Every wrinkle, every curve of gray matter…

‘Please… Goddess… please. I am willing to pay the price… but please give him back.’

***

Fin gazed at the beautiful forest before himself, then glanced down at his boots. He was standing on a dusty road, and when he looked back over his shoulder could see a rickety black carriage rolling away. The driver had his back turned to him and wore a black hat that covered his neck and head entirely.

The strange thing was… he couldn’t see around the carriage. There was emerald green grass on either side of the road, but it would just roll away ahead of the carriage out of view.

Slowly, he turned back towards the trees, and stepped off of the road.

A stag loped out of the woods before him, and the two locked eyes for a long moment, before the beast turned back and disappeared amongst the foliage.

Pressing his hands into his pockets, the redhead stepped further into the woods, marveling at the ginormous trees and beautiful flowers that were sprinkled along the soft moss.

“This is unbelievable, I’ll have to tell… have to tell…” he frowned. There were people he needed to tell about this, but who again?

“Finlay.”

The redhead looked up, and felt his entire being instantly became at peace.

The woman before him with her olive skin, and flowing chestnut hair with golden streaks through it, her eyes swirling colors of gray, green, and gold, stood waiting. Her hands folded over her golden loose gown as she smiled warmly down at him, a sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of her nose making her somehow appear more approachable...

Fin didn’t know how he knew she was the Goddess, but it seemed the most obvious thing in the world to him as he slowly knelt down and bowed before her.

“Oh, goodness, stand back up, child.”

He obeyed, his heart and mind in complete harmony as he stared up into her face, and smiled.

“You do not need to be sent to the Grove of Sorrows, you have led a kind and good life, Finlay Ashowan. As a descendent of my daughter, the first witch, you have borne your gifts with dignity and respect.”

Fin bowed his head in thanks.

“Before you move further into the forest, would you like to ask me any questions?” she asked, her voice melodic and beautiful. As she spoke, the deer Fin had seen before slowly trotted to her side from the foliage.

“My family, and friends… I… can’t… recall them…” He frowned as he failed to bring a single face to his mind.

“Ah… sometimes when one dies painfully, the carriage driver tries to ease their suffering. Normally as you move deeper into the forest, the more you come to forget, but you must have been very worried,” the Goddess explained kindly as the stag at her side suddenly shifted into the form of a man, though his antlers remained. A deep green coat clad his shoulders, and a loose black tunic was draped over his torso. The fine garments framed a crystal that hung around his neck against his chest. He had long brown hair, dark eyes like the deer’s, and watched the redhead expressionlessly.

A strange glow behind Fin suddenly brightened, making him turn around.

Squinting at the brilliant light, unable to determine what he was witnessing, the redhead turned back to face the Gods.

“I thought we might have more time, Finlay Ashowan. However, I may have to send you back.” The Goddess stepped closer to him and rested her hand on his shoulder gently.

A strange power filled the redhead’s body… one that made his vision and awareness suddenly sharpen.

“Why… Why might you do that? I just got here. I thought anyone who crosses into the trees can never return.”

“We owe a great debt to your bloodline. Though it has not come to pass yet for you, time moves differently here. Do you not wish to return, Finlay?” the Goddess asked, her eyes shimmering in the growing light from behind him.

“I don’t know if I do,” he answered honestly.

“Then you don’t need to,” the Green Man announced with a slow regal nod of his head.

“You are welcome to stay in these woods and find your family, and friends that have parted from you. I’m sure they would love to meet you.”

“What debt could you, the Gods, owe a mortal?” Fin asked suddenly as he stared into the ethereal eyes of the Goddess. He knew if he stared long enough some part of him would go mad as the whole of the universe would unfold before him...

“A child of yours saves a being very dear to us,” the deity answered with a beautiful sad smile.

“Child I… I don’t have a child. Do I? I would remember a child… I’m a House Witch, that would be important.”

The Green Man stepped forward, the crystal that hung around his neck was beginning to twinkle.

Fin didn’t know why his eyes were drawn to it in that moment, but suddenly a thousand images burst out of the stone.

He backed up in awe as he stared at…

Annika.

His mother.

His friends…

“It’s everyone.” Fin felt his heart fill with love, and… worry. Fear… they were in danger, and he wasn’t there anymore.

Memories began filling his head like warm tea being poured into a cup, and as his heart skipped a beat, he stared at each moment from his life and felt tears in his eyes.

“Are you still uncertain about whether or not you’d like to return?” the Goddess asked patiently.

“Well, if you say a child of mine helps you, then I have to…”

“This child already exists, Finlay. You don’t have to go back should you like to stay,” the Green Man informed him while giving him a warm look that wasn’t quite a smile.

The redhead felt himself go still as his gaze dropped from the pictures back to the Goddess.

“What?”

“The child…” she pointed to a different image then… one that wasn’t from Fin’s memory…

Annika stood in front of a mirror, her stomach swollen, her face stressed as she struggled to pull down her gown over the bump before she turned to the wardrobe and drew out a gown that looked larger.

“She… She’s… with my…” Fin stammered, his heart skipping several beats.

The light behind him grew even brighter.

Before the redhead could say anything else, the Goddess gently rested her hand on his chest.

“I think I can see the decision in your eyes,” she smiled again. “Remember, Finlay. Your home is sacred, and it doesn’t have to be about the place, so much as where those you care for, are.”

Then, she dropped a gentle kiss upon his brow, and gently pushed him backwards into the encompassing white light, their Godly faces the last thing he could see as he felt himself being consumed by a pure magic...

*

Fin’s eyes flew open, and he sat up with a gasp, then winced against the twinge in his chest.

Where was he?

It was night time.

He was on a boat.

Turning around his head, he squinted against the light of a torch that was held up by a stunned man with ebony skin and white hair. He then stared at three women who, again, were strangers. A strange weight against his foot made him drop his gaze to see a strange furry black thing staring off to the side by his feet…

“Kraken?!” Fin demanded, blinking in confusion, but the familiar didn’t move. It’s eyes were fixed on…

When the redhead turned again, he saw Captain Antonio cradling something on his lap, his head bowed.

“Antonio! What in the Gods is-”

The military man straightened to look at him, his cheek damp with tears, and that’s when Fin saw who he was huddled over.

There in his arms, was his mother.

Only… she wasn’t awake… or moving…

“Captain, what…” Fin felt himself grow nauseated. No one around him seemed capable of speaking, and he felt a creeping suspicion climb up from his toes and wrench his heart.

Slowly, Antonio lay her on the deck, carefully arranging her hair out of her face, and resting her hands over her chest.

“She’s gone, Fin,” the Captain’s voice was quiet in the night. The waves lapped against the boat, and yet everything was… still.