Where It All Began

The excitement was finally over. A peaceful quiet settled in the throne room as we all took a deep breath.

The king stood up. “I think I ought to go deal with those traitors, now.” As he stepped down from the dais, he waved at Marie. “Please, forget the punishment. I hardly think these two could be considered foreign enemies at this point.” He clasped his hands together. “Please return to your uniform.”

As he made his way out of the hall, I fell forward into a run and practically tackled Marie in a hug.

“Miss Elisa... beth…” she grunted, suffocated by my embrace.

“I’m so sorry, Marie. I’m sorry for what I said to you.”

She wrapped her arms around me in turn. “Miss Elisabeth, I’m sorry, as well. I never intended to make you feel so alone.”

We stood there for a moment, swaying in one another’s arms. I’m so glad she’s safe.

Marie stepped back. “But… I thought you had decided to stay in Andraste for good?”

“I did. And when I went back to tell you that, our room was empty. This was on my nightstand,” I said as I pulled out the crumpled note.

She unfurled it, smoothing it out against her leg with a satisfying rumpling noise. I watched as her face turned from confusion to horror, her eyes flitting side to side through the text of the — and let’s be real here — straight-up ransom letter.

“Miss Elisabeth, this… this is…”

I nodded. “Yeah. Awful.”

Marie’s soft voice, pensive, was almost too quiet to hear, “Then why did you come back? Did you really wish to marry the Deighsel boy?”

I scoffed. “Him? Absolutely not. No, I came because I was worried about you. I could never forgive myself if you got hurt because of my decision. And… it looks as though you did.” I took a look at her tattered cloth dress. It couldn’t have been comfortable. Now that I was closer, I saw dirt and grime on her face. Her hair was a little bit of a mess.

In disbelief, she asked, “You would come back just for a maid?”

“No, silly. I didn’t come back just for a maid. I came back for you.” I put my hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “You aren’t Marie, the maid to Elisabeth. You’re Marie, my friend. Dare I say, my sister.” I saw the hint of tears forming in the corner of her eye. “I value you so much more than as a servant.” I looked down. “And you don’t exist just to serve me. You don’t need me to be you.”

This time, it was Marie who buried me in a hug. “Thank you, Miss Elisabeth. Thank you.”

“It’s good you two made up, eh?” Diana laughed. “Marie told me all about how bad she felt when we were-”

“Hush, Diana! Her Highness needs not to know.” Marie stopped her.

I smiled. It was good to be back together, now.

Yes, back… together.

I turned to Finley. He flashed a sheepish smile. “Looks like it was me who ended up leaving home, huh?”

“Finley… I’m… I’m sorry for what I said to you, too. I was so worried, and there was all the stress, and-” I hung my head. “Why did you come? After how I left you…”

He gazed up at the ceiling. “Well, I didn’t intend to, originally,” he admitted. “I intended to go apologize to you for how I spoke.” He looked at me. “And I am truly sorry. When I went to fetch you for dinner, and saw the empty guest room…” He sighed. “I thought you had decided to come back to marry the Deighsel boy, despite his traitorous origin.”

I huffed, “Not at all! I came back to save Marie! Although,” I looked at Diana, “it seems someone else took care of that for me.”

She winked.

Finley continued, “I saw the single book in your room, the fourth volume of that collection of Lumineusian history. It confused me to no end. ‘What could it have meant?’ I thought. Then I realized the other one you had borrowed was missing. I figured you had to have taken it. Which meant you’d have to come back to return it to the library, knowing your honesty,” he laughed.

“But in truth, there was also a bookmark of sorts on an interesting page.” He smiled. “I saw that flower, the alstroemeria, pressed into the page, and my heart broke.”

Diana punched his shoulder. That armor has to hurt. “He was moping all night in the library. Took a kick in the ass from me to renew his determination the next day.”

I was surprised. “From you?”

“Of course! I wasn’t gonna just watch him let his… well, let you go.” She looked at Marie and squeezed her hand. “Besides, I had someone I wanted to chase after myself.”

Mystified, I asked, “But how did you catch up so soon? You left so much later than us!”

The twins both turned to the huge fluffy canine, currently curled up on the floor. Even while lying down, it was almost as tall as me. “We had a pretty fast steed,” Diana chuckled.

“Can I...?” I approached the beast in wonder. Finley nodded.

I carefully put my hand on its massive head. Madadh felt just like a real, physical animal, which surprised me, as it still glowed a ghostly blue. Rubbing its head helped calm me down. It opened an eye, and a large THUMP THUMP noise echoed through the throne room. Its tail was batting against the red carpet rug in a colossal wag.

“Looks like she likes you,” Finley chuckled.

“I like her too!”

“Though, she’s probably very tired after the journey and all. I think it’s time for a break, isn’t that right, Madadh?” Her tail thumped even harder. Finley twisted his hand, and the spectral wolf faded into magic right beneath my hand.

“Bye-bye, doggy,” I softly said.

Finley cleared his throat. “It was with her help that we got here so fast. I really didn’t wish to let you go.” Finley blushed. “I meant it when I asked you to stay in Andraste. …With me.”

“What do you mean by that, Finley?” I asked innocently. I’m gonna make him say it out loud. I deserve it.

He stepped closer to me and grabbed both of my hands in his. Diana and Marie watched intently in silence. “I mean that, Princess…” He shook his head. “No, Elisabeth. There’s something I ought to have told you some time ago.”

My heart thumped as if Madadh herself was pounding her tail against it. I blushed. “Mhm? And what might that be?”

“Our time together makes my chest warm, my heart light. Your determination and spirit are true inspirations to me. Days without your joyous laugh are dull.” I began to tear up as he kept laying it on. “I have never been made to feel so intensely by another living thing in this world, never yearned so strongly for another’s presence.”

“I could say the same for you, Finley,” I choked out.

That dashing, tender smile blinded me once more. “Then, I think it’s time I truly admit it. Elisabeth, I-”

A voice cut him off.

“STOP! Attack!” Diana’s cry snapped us both out of our locked gaze. Sword drawn and enchanted, she was stanced for a fight.

Huh? An attack? Here?! Now!?

Finley’s face hardened. He held on to one of my hands, but freed his other to prepare his magic. “Sister, awful timing. Where?”

“I know not exactly what, but I can say with confidence that that,” Diana pointed her sword up, “is not a form of magic I have ever seen in my life.”

We all looked up to where she pointed. The stained glass window, previously so austere and royal, now looked like-

…My room?

But not my bedroom in the palace. It was the view of my old apartment, computer and all, rendered almost perfectly in stained glass.

Diana growled, “I saw it change suddenly. Some kind of illusion magic, Finley?”

Suddenly, noise echoed through the hall, bouncing off the walls and rooting me to my spot.

It was the exact sound that played when someone donated to my stream.

What kind of hallucination is this!? No, no, no! Not now! I squeezed my eyes shut.

Agonizingly loud, the diiing noise played, over and over, layering over itself in a crescendo of otherworldly madness.

I tried to cover my ears. The cacophony rattled me to my core. I grasped Finley’s hand to-

And it wasn’t there. The cacophony disappeared almost all at once.

Huh? Finley? I slowly opened my eyes.

The view that greeted me was familiar. One I’d laid my eyes upon thousands of times before.

Artificial and colorful, the stark glow of my computer monitor bathed me in stunning light.

I was back home.