Happily Ever After
My human mother came to my wedding with my extended human family in tow, half-siblings and nieces and nephews I’d never met, and I cried tears of happiness in front of the entire court without caring what they thought.
Tāwhiri and I had a long talk about changelings and the first-born bargains struck by fae. There won’t be another case like mine in the Golden Wood, with a baby taken unwillingly from its mother, no matter what bargain its father has struck.
The stories also fail to mention the mundane logistics of two people binding their lives together. We worked through our share of them. (Whilst wings make a nice blanket in winter, at midsummer they should be kept firmly on their owner’s side of the bed, thank you very much.)
It’s impossible to pinpoint the moment a seed becomes a tree.
Kōwhai bear golden seeds, little sparks of hope beneath the earth, sending out rootlets and slender stems, branching and growing stronger as the seasons turn.
So it was with us. One day I turned to find my king and husband watching me, smiling, beneath the golden flowers of our hall, and I knew that I loved him.
“Ella,” he said, reaching for me. “Will you dance?”
I took his hand. “Always.”
THE END