Chapter 17: Epilogue

The grave was laid with flowers still, even a few months after it had happened. Her parents hadn’t been able to make it, but Lydia didn’t mind. She had graduated high school now, though not in her old hometown, having moved a few days after that weekend, and was off to somewhere new. She had invited Alexis and Annika, but their parents said no, citing money reasons. She still wondered if they considered her a bad influence on their children.

Besides, this was her own journey, as much as she loved her moms and her friends. And when she’d told her mom where she was going, she got a thousand-yard stare and a simple ‘have fun’, so she figured it was a difficult place for her.

The flight was the most exhausting part, though she was glad her first flight happened after she’d lost a foot in height. Though she was jet-lagged and part hoping to just get on with the rest of her trip around Wales, she also knew this was what her trip was for.

She had purchased lilies from a shop in the nearest town, the flower shop owner giving her a knowing look. They probably got a lot of business. She was emotionally ready to part with the person who had given so much of herself, even as the whole world was vying for her attention, to a family in rural Nebraska. She sighed as she looked around the graveyard, watching for other people.

She knelt at the site, laying the lilies across the grave, so many spread around the site it looked almost like a garden. That was part of the magic of it, that someone who had fought gods and governments could be holed up in a small casket. Everything had rules, though, she supposed, even if she didn’t understand them.

“Paying your respects?” a voice behind her asked.

A woman, hair the color of midnight and a few inches taller than her asked. Something of a resemblance sparkled in her eyes, even if Lydia couldn’t put a finger on it. Lydia simply nodded, then felt tears running down her face as she collected her purse and got ready to let the next person pay respects.

“You know, some say the grave is empty,” the woman said.

“Damned grave robbers,” Lydia spat.

“Who knows. The last time a grave was rumored to be empty for someone of her fame, it changed the whole world,” the woman replied with a knowing smile, “perhaps it’s time that her memory causes that sort of change.”

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“I…thank you, ma’am,” Lydia replied, “it’s been a rough year.”

“You’re coming from the states, aren’t you?” the woman asked, “I’m Kat.”

“Lydia. Your accents sound similar. Were you close to her?”

“In her last days, yes,” Kat replied, “but that’s neither here nor there.”

“I suppose not,” Lydia replied, sighing as she turned back to the grave, “thank you for being there for her. Gods know that I was grateful for her being there for us.”

“Don’t mention it, Lydia Vanderlaan-Smith,” Kat replied.

“Wait–” Lydia started to say as she turned around to find no one.

“Hm,” she mused to herself, “must’ve been a really close friend.”

And with that, Lydia walked back to town. Perhaps she could get some lunch at a local pub. Abaeron, what a lovely name for a quaint little town. A shame something like this had to put it on the map.