“…So what are you doing here?” Azor asked me.

I opened my eyes.

We were back in the exact spot we had been in before everything went wrong: right before the Margins, on the border of the solid and immaterial world, between a sea of blue water and a blank void.

The rowboat spun around on the waves. Pitch, Lucy, and Uriel were still asleep.

Slowly, I sat up. “…What?” I asked back.

“I assume your mission was successful,” he said. “You look even more different than you did in that dream…everything appears different...it’s as if all of existence has molted into a new skin…”

“…So, since your goal was to usurp Mère L’Oye and take her place at the helm of the universe, and this has apparently come to pass,” he continued, “I ask again: what are you doing here??”

I blinked. “…I’ve decided…this is where I want to be,” I answered. “For now.”

Suddenly, I felt a tingle on my pinky finger…and when I looked down at my hand, I found a thin red string tied there. It swayed slightly at my touch, in a way I thought I recognized.

“…Besides, I have to take you guys home,” I continued. “You came all this way with me, and helped me, and…died for me…it’s only fair.”

Azor let out a metallic sigh. “Couldn’t you have simply ‘written’ us back to our homes…?” he asked.

“Nope. I’m not doing any more writing for a while. I’m gonna be just like a normal human girl, and I’m gonna row the boat~.”

“Oh, really? With what?”

I looked around for the oars…and found there were none.

“Where…oh, Mr. Jack must have forgotten them…or something…” I murmured.

I reached into the void on the other side of the water, and pulled out a pair of oars.

“I guess…maybe I’ll write just a little bit,” I said. Then I began to row.