"What happened when you two met?" Barry asks, wiggling in excitement in the saddle before me.

"He about bit my foot off. I almost snapped his tail in two in recompense, and then he had to go and ruin it by saving my niece. You should meet her."

"Flash," I say again, drawing out the word and warning him.

He rolls his eyes, winks at Barry, mouths, "Find me later," and kicks his buckskin mount on ahead to the city proper, where his father is waiting with the rest of the Were who followed me on my wild rescue.

Heather takes Flash's place beside my horse.

"Don't," I warn when I see the humor flare in her eyes.

"I didn't say anything," she says innocently, shrugging one shoulder and covering her smile with a hand.

"You didn't have to."

"Did you reallwwy almost take his foot off?"

I groan.

My life is a disaster.

A nice disaster, but a disaster.

I like her.

Who? I ask my subconscious, highly wary.

Heather. She's cute.

And then there's that. What did I do to deserve this?

You were born, he responds, amused.

Don't think I haven't forgotten about your... confession. We will speak of this later, I reply to the voice.

Oh, shoot.

I shake my head even as I swing off the large gelding and help Barry down from the beast.

The awe in Barry's eyes as he spots one of the large Berserk stripping off the leaves of a tree makes me smile. A small dusting of snow makes the village before me idyllic and peaceful to behold.

Barry grasps tightly to my pant leg in a white-knuckled grip, but his eyes dart from the circular village and brown huts covered in white snow to the rolling plains beyond filled with large cats playing and horses stripping bark from trees and eating hay while the Berserks stomp around stripping trees of their limbs and snuffling along the ground with their large trunks. Some use their tusks to rip up roots for the younger of their members to eat.

One tiny little cub not much over five full seasons giggles as one of the Berserk takes a fruit from her hand with her father standing grumpily behind her. The Berserk snorts in the father's face, and the man glares as the little one giggles again.

This... this is what life is supposed to be. A village—a family—all working together to farm, to live, to care for each other and their creatures. A community who is there for each other.

Essie—Flash's niece whom I saved from drowning a weeks back—comes up to Barry, smiling her gap-toothed grin and holding out a hand for him to shake.

He looks to me, hesitation in his large blue eyes. I smile gently and nod, moving him out from behind me. I'm not his mother, and I don't have skirts for him to hide behind... even if he tried.

He slowly places his hand in hers. Her grin gets larger, and he gulps when her eyes slit before reverting to normal.

I almost chuckle, but refrain. Barely.

"Hi! I'm Esmerelda. I'm a Were. You smell human. What's your name? Can we be friends? You can call me Essie if we're friends." Her cute lisp makes her a little hard to understand, especially when she speaks quicker than a rabbit on Rush.

Barry looks to me with pleading eyes, and I do chuckle this time. I can't help it. Essie is half his size, but he's extremely intimidated by her. Poor kid. I don't want to tell him it only gets worse as he grows up. Woman are... the word to explain such creatures is beyond me. Talking to them, especially for the first time, is always terrifying.

"It's up to you," I finally say with a shrug.

He gulps again, but then squares his shoulders and turns back to Essie. "I'm Barry. Nice to meet you. I... sure?" he finally replies, his voice squeaking like a boy going through puberty... despite that being a few more years down the road.

"Wanna play?" she asks, that adorable lisp still prevalent because of her missing front teeth.

Barry looks at me again, and I nod. "Be careful of your back."

He nods, turning to Essie with a grin that reveals some missing bottom teeth, the reason for his lisp that isn't quite as prevalent since the teeth are about halfway grown back.

"Sure?" he replies to her.

I grin as the two trot off hand in hand, Essie asking questions about his back and my little brother bashfully replying.

"They're a little young for matchmaking, aren't they?" Heather asks, watching the two with a small grin despite her words.

"I don't know. That's when I fell in love. Besides, they're the cutest thing I've seen all day," Flash replies with a crooked grin.

Heather looks at him askance.

He gets a little red-cheeked, and I gape. Never knew the outgoing cat had embarrassed in his vernacular.

"What?" he asks, ducking his head into his shoulders like a turtle trying to hide.

I clap him on the shoulder, chuckling. "They are indeed the cutest things I've seen all day," I say, taking pity on the cat.

He exhales softly in relief.

"You fell in love at that age?" Heather says, a sly grin on her face and her eyes flashing.

Poor cat. He is not getting out of it that easily, even if I tried to be of help.

His cheeks grow red again as his back stiffens. "I'm going to find my father."

He wonders off, Heather cackling behind him as she follows. She pesters him with questions on his lady love, and I can't help but hear as she follows him long into the village teeming with those welcoming back those they sent into battle for me.

I smile, watching the grins on the faces of the families greeting the returning warriors who went with me to retrieve my family. The Were with deep brown eyes and dark amber hair who tried to help me outside the cave greets his wife with a kiss, both of them enveloping the other in pure, desperate love.

Their young children gasp. The elder children make noises of disgust and cover the younger kid's eyes.

Flash and the Imperial meet with a bear hug strong enough to break a normal human's back.

Heather kisses Morgana on the cheek, and the little bird peeks from Shefa Bridges hair, glaring at me before ducking back into its hair nest as she checks on those wounded in the battle.

Morgana catches sight of me and waves her cane, all the while Barry is shyly meeting more of the Were children, a smile slowly growing on his cheeks.

Smiles abound and laughter rejoices, even as many mourn for the souls we brought back without breath.

This is life. And I will bring my family here to enjoy it, even if that means being called a King.