Epilogue: Westwind

On the wall in the living room of the Dandelion House, there was a rectangular device that flashed with a green light as a small bell rang beside it. As the house was a hive of activity, no one had the time to answer the call that was coming in. Children were running this way and that, trying to get changed into formal wear, though none of them were very familiar with how the clothes were worn. One of the people who was watching over the children at that time, an older human man named Owen Crayford, was helping the children get changed, so he couldn’t answer the device. Another person who was watching the children was a bear beastfolk woman named Clare Berry that was currently in the house’s kitchen, placing something into a small box that was being cooled by ice crystals. Elsewhere in the house, there was one other person watching over the three youngest children. Rosella Cooper, who had just married her husband, Garret Cooper, four months ago and gave birth to their daughter, Grace Cooper, less than a month ago, was helping change the two infants, Grace and Roy, and the four-year-old Emma into their formal wear. The formal wear had been specially designed for every one of the children in the house so that they would all fit, but with all of the buttons and layers, it made dressing the younger children very tedious. The most difficult one to dress was Roy, who had recently started running around the house in his human form. Despite the fact that he was only slightly over a year old, his human form aged faster than other people, so he appeared to be around two years old. He also had the energy of a two-year old, which made trying to get him dressed incredibly difficult for Rosella, who was chasing him around the top floor of the house. With all three of the adults in the house busy with other tasks, the device kept ringing and ringing.

The device, something that its inventor called a “telephone”, kept ringing until one of the older children answered. “Hello? This is the Dandelion House. Mina speaking.”

“Mina? Is the governor busy?” The one who was speaking was Sir Garret.

“Uncle Garret? Grandpa Owen is busy right now. Do you need something?”

“Oh, I was just calling to let him know that the ceremony’s about to start and we were wondering how much longer you were going to be.”

“Grandpa Owen! Uncle Garret wants to know how long we’re gonna be!” However, despite the fact that the people in the Dandelion House were running late, the parents of this house weren’t worried.

On the fourteenth day of the second month of the eighteenth year of my life in this world, I was sitting in a pew at the cathedral in the north of the city of Katka. I was dressed in a white suit, waiting for the moment that I knew was ahead of me. Father Paul and Garret had been organizing all of the artisans who’d been decorating the cathedral since the early hours of the morning. In two hours, my wedding would begin.

On the fourteenth day of the second month of the nineteenth year of Alice’s life, she was in a small room in the front of the cathedral, being helped to get dressed by an older dwarven woman and an older earth elemental woman. Sara and Safira had just finished putting the final touches on her outfit when they stepped back to admire their hard work.

“Alice, you look beautiful. This will be a wonderful day for you and Simon,” said Sara as she adjusted the dress that she and Elias had gifted to Alice for her wedding. Finding a dress that would accommodate Alice’s wings was difficult, so Sara and Elias had custom ordered one from an artisan in the town.

“Sara’s right. Besides, if Simon ever does anything to hurt you, I’ll have all of the adventurers knock some sense into him for you, dearie.” Safira had just finished brushing Alice’s hair and wings, leaving them smooth and shining. As she put the brush away, she took out a diamond-encrusted golden hair pin and began to put up Alice’s hair with the pin. This hair pin was Safira’s gift to the happy couple on their wedding day. In just one hour, Alice’s wedding would begin.

At the front of the cathedral, the guests were starting to arrive. The first two to arrive weren’t just here for the wedding, but had also been called to repair a pew that broke during the decoration process. Doug Brand was wearing the finest suit he owned, which was fairly simple compared to some of the other guests that would be arriving, but fit the type of person he was. However, he also carried a toolbox with him, so he looked a bit off. With him was a small elf boy who wore a similar black suit. Though the boy looked younger than five, he was actually the repairman’s apprentice, Peter. As the two began to work on fixing the pew, they eagerly awaited the coming wedding.

The next ones to arrive were a group of city guards. They were the few that were lucky enough to get this day off to pay their respects to the count on his wedding day. They wore their guard uniforms without the chestplate, which ended up being the best formalwear that they owned. After the guards, the next to arrive were a large group of researchers from the magic tower. Given how much time I’d spent working alongside the researchers while trying to create my inventions, I’d become good friends with a number of them, most of all was Matthew Flitter.

One of the last groups to arrive was the group who were running late from the Dandelion House. As Rosella and Grace joined Garret in one of the front pews, the governor and the children filled the rest of the space in the front pews. Rosella wore a simple pale yellow dress, while Grace, Mina, Hana, and Emma wore yellow dresses with frilly skirts. Garret and the governor wore simple black suits with bowties, while Jun, Leo, Orion, Alec, Jack, and Roy wore a similar outfit to the men, but without the suit jacket. As this group of fourteen, my family, filled out the front row, the wedding ceremony was ready to begin.

I stood in the front of the cathedral beside Father Paul, who was running the ceremony. As a wedding march began to play, the people in the cathedral stood to look towards the back. Alice wore a long gown the same color as her hair with a low back that made space for her magnificent white wings. As she walked down the aisle, her golden eyes lit the smiles on everyone she passed. When she reached the front of the cathedral, she stood opposite me and we smiled at each other, realizing that this day that we’d been planning for a year finally came. Since the moment I promised to marry her, on the day I lost my parents, to the moment I decided when our wedding would be, to the stressful days we’d spent trying to plan this wedding, to the sleepless nights making all of the suits and dresses for the children. As all of those memories came back to me, I realized just how long we’d been waiting for this moment. Now, it was finally here.

“Let us begin. We are gathered here today to witness the union between Count Simon Westwind and Alice. Marriage is only one part of building a lifelong family. If there is anyone in the kingdom of Arkana who most epitomizes the ideals of family, it is the two before us today. Family is a concept that means something different to different people. Across every country, there are different values that being a family holds. However, every family is built on one central idea: love. That is what we are here to celebrate today. The love shared between you two here today was strong enough to build a family that was deeper than blood ties. That love was strong enough to gather all of these people here in this room. Each one of these people were touched by your love in a way that made them want to celebrate this wonderful day with you. Now, it is time for us to begin that timeless ceremony that signifies your love.”

As Father Paul turned to Alice, she began to say her vows. This world’s weddings were more like a christian wedding in my other world than a traditional wedding in Japan. “Simon. When I met you, I’d been thrown out of the cloud city where I grew up with my family. I was exiled for a crime I didn’t commit, thrown off the edge of the city by my own parents, and lost everything I ever knew. I’d fallen to the ground, forced to leave the only place I knew as my home. I fell in the Greengem Forest and had to run from monsters as I tried to find anywhere to live. I hadn’t eaten for days when I finally reached a house outside of the city. I knocked on the door, hoping to find work and food, and I found you. You had a sad look on your face, but when you offered to let me take a bath, and I smiled at the first bit of kindness I’d felt in so long, you smiled back at me. That smile you gave me was the first moment I knew I was in love with you.

Our family’s grown so much from then. From Roy, who we helped to hatch and raise, despite how much trouble he was when he first hatched, to Emma, who we promised the Saint to take into our family, we aren’t alone anymore. I know our family will grow even bigger, so I vow to be beside you on that entire journey. We will never be alone ever again.” With that promise, she put my wedding ring on my finger.

Father Paul then turned to me. “Alice. When I died in Japan, then saw my parents in this world die, I felt so alone. Then, I met you. I also fell in love with you the first time I saw you smile. When we’re together, I feel like we can do anything.

There are a few other people I need to thank for being beside us. Uncle Owen, you were there when we were so overworked and stressed from taking care of Roy. You made sure that we were also taking care of our own health. Garret and Rosella, you’ve been beside us for so long now that you feel like our brother and sister. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you. Sara and Elias, you made things so easy for me to make my inventions. I started making those inventions because I wanted a way to pay for the cost of raising a child, but without you two, nothing would have worked out this well. Matthew Flitter, you were there for so long while I was trying to learn how to make my inventions. I know you don’t handle people being sappy well, so I’m making sure to savor this moment.

Roy, you’ve been growing so fast. I know dragons age differently than humans, but it felt like you hatched just yesterday. Now, you can run around the house in your human form. It felt like just yesterday, we were chasing a dragon around the house. Now, we’re chasing a dragon again, but now you’re walking on two human legs.

Emma, you’ve been here for the shortest time out of our children, but you were the one who first made us realize how important it was for a child to grow up with their parents. If the Saint were here today, I only hope that she’d be proud of everything we’d done to raise you.

Orion, everyday we’ve seen you open up to the world. You’ve gone from a shy boy who couldn’t step out from behind his big brother to a boy who I know will change the world with his magic research. I’m so proud of you for everything you’ve done and so excited for everything I know you’ll do.

Hana, I see that your horns are finally starting to peek out from your hair. When you showed your mother and I your demon form, you were so brave. Now, as you let your horns become part of your natural form, you are even braver. Even if the world were to turn against you, your family would never abandon you. As long as your mother and I are here, you’ll never be alone.

Mina, after Roy, you were the first one I ever had thoughts about adopting. I remember the days when the Evil Queen of Darkness would throw Destruction Blasts at the Blade of the Crimson Moon. Looking back, that feels so far away. Looking at the girl you’ve grown up to be now, you seem both different and the same.

Jun, you always try so hard to be the mature older brother to everyone else in the house. It’s my honest hope and wish that you can live a life where you don’t need to worry about having to take care of anyone else. You deserve to be able to act your relative age. You deserve to be the five-year-old that you look like.

To the other children in our house, even if you aren’t a permanent member of our family, you’ll always have a place in our house. You never need to feel like you’re alone. Family is more than blood, but it's also more than adoption papers. I will always consider you part of my family.

Finally, Alice. We did so much to get here. When we made that promise a year and a half ago, I didn’t think things would look like this. We have so many friends in the city, we adopted six children, and now we’re finally getting married. When I look back, I feel like a different person. Now, I’m no longer Yuuki Isamu, but I’m also not the same Simon Westwind I was back then. Years from now, I’ll be a different Simon Westwind than I am now. My vow is that the one thing that will always be the same will be you. We’ll never be alone again.” I put Alice’s wedding ring on her finger.

“With these vows, I give any who object to this union the chance to speak now or forever hold their peace.” If this were a movie, this would be the moment when someone came in to try and stop the wedding. Thank goodness this isn’t a movie. “With this, I now present Count Simon Westwind and Countess Alice Westwind! You may kiss the bride!”

In books and movies, there are moments that are said to last for what feels like forever. I’d experienced a few of those moments, but when I kissed my wife for the first time, it was disappointing. As I tried to live in that moment, all I heard were the cheers and clapping of the people gathered around us. My single, perfect moment that was supposed to last an eternity was over. For something that was supposed to be an eternity, it felt way too short. Father Paul began pushing us down the aisle as he smiled and said, “Go on, people are waiting for you.” As we got to the doors of the cathedral, we opened them to see the people of Katka gathered outside, cheering and clapping for us. Clare was waiting outside with a tall wedding cake. Right when it seemed that our perfect moment for just the two of us was truly over, Alice had something else in mind.

I felt the ground beneath my feet leave me behind as I rose into the sky. As we began to fly over the city of Katka, it was just us. No one on the ground below us mattered. For just another perfect, eternal moment, we’d be a bit selfish. On that day, in the skies above Katka, the angel and I shared a kiss that was truly eternal. Then another, then another, then another. This place, in the skies, was for us and us alone.