OW: ASA - CH 132 - Epilogue - To Close the Book

A/N: I know these past two are short, they were originally one and so together they would have been interlude sized. After this is an "Out of time" bonus chapter, then some 'in between' chapters, THEN we start Book 4: TO DARKEN THE DAWN.

Epilogue

To Close the Book 

Peak of Summer, Week 2, Day 8

In an offshoot of the manor sat a woman—no, a girl. A teenager. She was in a dress black as night that slowly transitioned to a sheer iridescence around her ankles. In her hair, with its intricate braids shaped to look like wildflowers, were minuscule jewels that allowed the darkness to sparkle. Around her was a clock tower, decorated in hues of shadow. 

In her hands sat a book with a black leather cover. Its spine was broken from use, and its pages were yellow with age. 

The teenager was flipping through the book slowly, reading each page. She was only a quarter of the way in when she snapped it closed. 

“That’s quite enough nostalgia for one day, hmm?” She laughed to herself, and suddenly one of the dark bangles on her wrists vibrated and separated from her skin. 

Next to her was a boy, he looked similar to the teenager—equally as tall as the girl had found herself, and with thick curls atop his head. But instead of blue eyes and pale skin, he had shining emerald lights for eyes and black translucent skin. 

“Those days, they were dark—even for you.” He said lightly, twirling his fingers in the air dramatically. 

The teenager huffed a laugh and set the book beside her. “Thanks, Noir.”

She stood, stretching her arms. It had been hours since she’d moved from her nook in the tower, and while, at some point in the past years, she’d moved a daybed into it, there was a limit to how long she could sit still. 

“It’s odd, reading about myself. I shouldn’t have done it. I should have let sleeping dogs lie,” she said, a sad tinge to her voice. “It isn’t as if I could have changed it.”

“You dwell too much, Nora,” Noir said lightly, and Nora’s shoulders didn’t tense at the criticism. They didn’t slump or otherwise deflate.

“You don’t dwell enough.” She retorted lightly.

And it was true. The spirit, Noir, had once been Entertainer. Had once had a single trait to call his own. The origin of his creation still haunted his personality. 

“How long has it been, now?” Noir huffed. “It seems unfair to call out the very thing you love about me.”

“Five years,” Nora answered the spirit idly, straightening her dress with a snap of her fingers. 

The wrinkles left the fabric at her command, and even her braids seemed to right themself. 

“Five years since we found ourselves in Fellan.”

>Five years since we found ourselves tied together.<

Nora let the voice wash over her, let the gentle kindness soak into her heart.

Then, there was a knock at the door. 

“Lady Nora?” Gristle’s voice called. “Your friends have arrived.”

Nora hurried to the door, a smile blooming on her face. As she met Gristle’s fond gaze, they were eye-to-eye in height. 

“All of them?” She asked. 

“Young Lord Hyperion, Misters Munster and Gills, and Miss Remour came in together,” Gristle confirmed. 

“Beautiful,” Nora said, rushing by the man. 

Gristle’s eyes sparkled as he watched her go, a knowing smile on his face as he saw the black journal the young Lady had used to carry with her in the early days. As he picked it up and put it back where his Lady often kept it—tucked between the corners of the daybed—he hummed to himself. 

“Beautiful, indeed.”