Epilogue
Five Months Later…
“Okay, so it’s a surprise. No peeking.”
“I would never do such a thing.”
“Don’t you dare lie. Yes, you would. You were peeking just this morning when I was trying to give you a surprise breakfast.”
“That’s only because I heard you arguing with the house. I didn’t know if I needed to intervene.”
He’s right. I was arguing with the house but that’s how it goes sometimes when you and your house both have ideas about what a birthday breakfast for your husband should be.
“Artistic differences, that’s all,” I tell him and then motion for him to close his eyes. We’re in the backyard and it’s a nice and warm day. The perfect spring day to spend outdoors after the winter we had, but we won’t be enjoying the sunshine. At least not on this world.
“You’re teleporting us?” Jaak asks when I come close and hug him. The familiar pull of the magic used to teleport is easy to identify. It feels like you’re swinging and suddenly you’ve swung too high and the rope snaps. Everything moves and nothing does at all.
“I am,” I tell him and concentrate on the place I want to go. I think of it as intensely as I can while checking to make sure Jaak keeps his promise of closing his eyes. I’ve never been there so making the trip isn’t easily done but for him I manage it.
“Teleporting makes you sick. What’s the occasion?” he asks.
“Your birthday.”
We aren’t sure if it’s his birthday or not but Nina’s in an astrology era and told me all about Taurus season and the first day seemed as fitting a day as any to pick for his birthday.
“It’s a powerful day. Plenty of good stuff to work with. It would make a perfect birthday. I wish it was my birthday to be honest.”
That sealed the deal on Jaak’s birthday. He was happy to have the day and teared up when I told him I’d found the perfect day for us to celebrate. This is his first one that he’ll be able to remember which meant I had to go big or go home with the gift.
Naturally, I went nuclear.
I’m taking Jaak home today.
I found his world purely by accident during a divination session with Sunday.
I almost didn’t realize what I was looking at in the silver bowl we’d filled with water until I’d seen the hills.
They were the fields, the exact same color, the exact same sky overhead.
Everything was alive and bright, just the way Jaak remembered it before Eri came.
“That could be any world. Any planet,” Sunday told me. “Are you sure this is smart?”
“I feel it. I’ve seen it in his memories. Granted, there aren’t a lot to go off of but I know this is the place. I need your help to get me there.”
It took us a month to get my teleporting skills up to snuff and another two weeks for Sunday to feel confident enough in turning me loose to find the planet. All-in-all it had been months of work, every bit of it worth it to bring him here.
No augers bother us on our way past. I see a few beings I can’t identify just out of my field of vision but I pay them no mind. There’s nothing to fear here. Not anymore. The familiar pull of a journey’s end settles down around us. A second later the ground materializes beneath our feet.
The wind whistles around us, it sweeps through the fields and hills of Jaak’s home.
We’ve landed on a hill not too far outside of a settlement.
Hills rise up around the settlement. The homes here are small and quaint, built from dark wood with colorfully tiled roofs.
From our vantage point I can see each home sports a different color, some are blue, others yellow and green, along with purple and red. It’s beautiful.
I swallow hard and look up at Jaak. His eyes are still closed. Of course they’re closed, my husband knows when to keep a promise.
“Okay, we’re here. Open your eyes.”
“The mystery destination revealed at long-” Jaak falls silent the moment his eyes open. He goes still too, so still that I don’t expect the way he staggers to the side. I rush to him and grab his arm to help hold him up. Thankfully, he’s in his human form and easier to support.
I hook his arm over my shoulder. “Jaak?”
“It’s my home. You-you found it.”
I bite my lip and nod. I don’t know how to interpret his face. I can feel him, everything feels the same through our bond but I’m not sure.
“Sunday helped. I’ve been working for months to make sure I could get us here.”
Jaak looks away from the settlement and to me. “That’s what you’ve been doing when you vanish after dinner.”
I nod. “I had to make sure I could get us here in one piece. Do you know how embarrassing a fail it would be on your birthday? I-well, is this okay? I didn’t really think this through, I’m now realizing. What if you didn’t want to go home or something and I just zapped us here.”
Jaak doesn’t tell me if it’s okay or not, he does however pull me into him for a crushing hug. He hugs me so tightly that I feel the air leave my body but I don’t stop him. I hug him back. There’s tears in his eyes but he’s smiling when we break apart.
“You are perfect. This is perfect. Thank you. This is more than okay. I,” he pauses and looks around, he spins slowly and shakes his head, “I never thought I would see Acheron ever again.”
Acheron.
Every time he tried to remember he came up with nothing. No amount of trying gave us any information, but now Jaak’s home finally has a name.
“You remembered the name!”
He laughs and has to brace his hands on his knees. “I did. Holy hells, I think I’m going to be sick.”
I rush forward to help him but in the end Jaak doesn’t get sick. After another minute of standing together and looking out at Acheron, he takes my hand and leads me towards the settlement.
“Let’s take a closer look. The settlements of my time were smaller than that one. I want to see how they’ve changed.”
We walk along in silence to the settlement. I mostly watch Jaak while he looks out at the landscape around us. A bird flies overhead and Jaak watches it with a boyish grin on his face. My heart melts at the sight. He looks so much younger here. Freer.
We enter the town and see a marketplace up ahead of us. I smell cooked meat on the wind and grab Jaak’s arm.
“We have to go check that out. It smells great.”
“The food is good here. Let’s go.”
We get a few looks from people as we walk through town. Our clothes make us stand out but not as much as I would have thought. The people around us are dressed colorfully, the women in dresses and the men in loose fighting pants and tops. Note to self: recon the clothing before we teleport.
I’m making mental notes on what we should wear for next time when I see something in front of the bustling marketplace that makes me stop.
“What’s that?” I ask and point at a statue.
It’s a boy standing with his arms outstretched like he’s protecting someone behind him.
For just a child he looks stern, immoveable.
We walk up to the statue and see coins at his feet.
There’s so many they blanket the ground entirely at the statue’s feet.
There’s all colors and kinds, some are so old they’ve rusted and their faces are worn away.
“I don’t know. A god, perhaps. We had our own statues of the deities we made offerings to in our settlement’s gathering place. I see that hasn’t changed.”
We move to leave and I stop to give the statue a last look in time to see a boy rush up with a handful of coins. He drops to his knees and begins to drop them one by one at the statues’ feet. He’s halfway through when he looks up at us. He tilts his head and gives us a once over.
“You’ve got no offering. Why?”
My brain short circuits because I didn’t think of that. I have nothing on me. “Uhhhh, that’s a great question.”
“Will this work?” Jaak asks, holding up a gold coin. It looks old, ancient, the edges beveled and thick.
The boy’s mouth drops open and he nods vigorously.
“A coin of old? You must have traded someone well for that. It’s more than enough for He Who Stands.
” He must know we’re in need of guidance on what to do next because he points at the other coins and tells us.
“Go on then, toss it to him and think of what you hold most dear.”
“And what will that do?” Jaak asks. He gives the statue a curious look. “What is he the god of?”
“He Who Stands is not a god. You’re a visitor if you don’t know that. I figured as much.”
Jaak nods and flips the coin he holds in his hand. “You’re right, we are. Can you tell us about He Who Stands? Why are there so many coins here?”
“Because a coin was the offering he gave to save the world,” the boy says and holds up a coin as he speaks.
“In the time before, we were visited by a cruel and hungry god that meant to devour us. All was lost until the youngest of the tribe came forward and offered all the riches he owned to the god. For him it was a single coin.”
Beside me Jaak goes still. I don’t have to look at him to know he’s in shock. “And then what happened?” I ask.
“The god took the boy because he was pure of heart. The boy’s soul and heart were stolen as the price to save our home. We honor his sacrifice here, in all the villages they honor him. The best celebrations are in the city.”
“Do you remember his name?” I ask the boy.
He looks away from the statue and gives me a ‘what the hell look’. “No of course not, that’s why he’s called-”
“He Who Stands, right,” I say and look at Jaak. He’s staring at the statue. I swallow hard and wave to the boy. “Thanks for sharing that with us. We will remember it and bring more offerings next time.”
“Remember. One for everything you love. Then He Who Stands will keep it safe for you.”
“Got it. Thank you again.” I grab Jaak’s arm and lead him a few feet away from the boy and the statue.
I want to cry watching the boy drop the last of his coins at the statue's feet. For all the years that Jaak was lost he wasn’t lost to his home.
They honored him even after they forgot his name and I know they’ll keep on doing it long after we’re both gone.
I slip my hand into his. “It’s you,” I whisper and look from the statue to Jaak and back again.
Jaak looks away from the statue and towards me.
Our gazes meet and I see what he doesn’t say.
The heartbreak, the longing, but most of all the peace.
I understand it because I carried the same pain until Jaak changed everything.
There’s tears in his eyes when he smiles.
My beautiful husband looks so beautifully whole at this moment.
I’ve never seen anything so breathtaking, and I don’t think I ever will again.
“That’s you. They never forgot you.”
“No, they didn’t.” He raises my hand and kisses the back of it.
“No matter where you are or where you go. Home never forgets you.” Jaak puts his arm around me and I turn into him.
Together we stand and look at the statue for another minute.
When a new worshipper comes with coins to lay at its feet Jaak turns to the market, but not before he pauses to add his own coin in offering.
“What did you think of?” I ask him.
“You. It’s always you, my heart.”
Ahead of us stretches the whole day, an eternity, the freedom to explore his home or any other place we choose before we return to the place that’s become all our own.
No matter where we go I know my home will always be with him.