Homecoming

by Luke Thomas

Dear Diary,

I awoke to warm light and the soft weight of someone breathing beside me. For a moment, I thought I had dreamt it all: the petals, the dancing, the storm overhead. But then I turned and saw Lumiria, still fast asleep, curled beneath the covers of my guest room in the palace of Nimmerburg. She looked impossibly out of place. A starlight bloom in a stone room.

I gathered a few fruits and what little wine we had that didn’t taste like old vinegar, and placed it beside her. When she stirred, we whispered our good mornings like it was a secret we didn’t want the walls to overhear.

She sat up, stretching with lazy elegance, and glanced around. “Your room is lovely,” she said, her eyes taking in the room as if she was paying attention to her surroundings for the first time. “Lovelier than mine here in the palace.”

As she dressed, I couldn’t help but admire her, every movement seemed accidental poetry. I’ve read a thousand tales about fey, preparing myself for the worst, but none of them prepared me for someone like her.

We talked, real talked for once. Not flirtation, not stories. She spoke openly about being held by Ulther, about how her father had bartered her away like a trinket for peace. Apparently, her father’s kingdom has already fallen. She’s been here so long. “Will you come with us?” I asked, barely breathing.

She didn’t hesitate. “Of course. I want to leave. I just… had no where to go.” Apparently, she’s technically allowed to leave for short visits. So it was no problem to take her along, as long as she pretends she’s coming back. She skipped away to pack, more excited than I’d ever seen her.

And then came the hard part.

My friends.

Mostly Alistan did not approve. Word had spread at the feast that Lumiria was more than just a pretty face. That she had magic to make people feel good and to make them do things that they would otherwise not do.

Liliana and Hayley were gentler. They warned me to be careful. That maybe she was a trap. Or worse, a spy. But they also saw I was already too far gone. They said they just wanted me to be happy.

But they didn’t want to leave things to chance, so with my permission, Hayley cast Charm Person on me herself. To see if anything snapped.

It didn’t.

No hidden magic. No buried compulsion. Just me, hopelessly taken with a beautiful, powerful, lonely woman who happened to be made of stardust and rose petals.

“I’m not leaving without her,” I said. “Ulther already hates us. What’s one more sin? I’d burn down this palace before I leave her behind.”

With that decided, we pooled our silver coins from the tournament, the favors owed by Feylords. Liliana approached Vivienne, her old mistress, for help. I still don’t trust that creature. I loathe her. But I trust her to keep a bargain.

She agreed to help. One coin. One gate home.

When Lumiria returned, she wrapped her arms around me and kissed me right there in front of everyone. I introduced her to my friends, and introduced my friends to her.

Hayley raised a single eyebrow and said, “If you hurt him, I hurt you.”

Lumiria just smiled and replied, “I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

They didn’t exactly hug. Hayley hates fey probably as much as I do. Lumiria confessed she doesn’t like most of them either. “You have so much in common already,” I said cheerfully. “You’ll be best friends in no time.”

We then began our escape, inching slowly through the mystical corridors. Gael noticed the palace guards watching. Especially watching Lumiria. So we hatched a plan: polymorph her for the journey out.

“What would you like to be?” I asked her. “A tiger,” she grinned.

We compromised on a cat. Something inconspicuous. I cast the spell — but something in the weave twisted, and she turned into a bright pink cat. Of course she did. She purred, then jumped into my arms. Somehow, it suited her.

I waited with her while the others said goodbye to Davozan in the grand hall. I didn’t trust the lords not to snatch her away, not when we were this close.

When we all gathered, we met Vivienne at the edge of the gardens. Lumiria, still in cat form, tensed as Vivienne glanced at her, but nothing was said.

Liliana handed over the coin. Vivienne smiled. “I’m glad you chose me to help you. It means you trust me.” As she spoke, I felt a shill run down my spine. I really wish that Liliana would keep her distance from her.

We said nothing. She opened a frost-rimmed gate, and through it lay rainy Keralon — the true world, grey and wet and wonderful. We rushed through. Liliana lingered. She hugged Vivienne — who returned it, only barely — and then followed us into the rain.

We startled two farmers, who nearly dropped their tools. They recognized us, cheered us, and began explaining everything we missed. Two months. That’s how long we’d been gone. Our repairs were finished, the harvest was near. Everything felt eerily normal.

We returned to the keep, and Dynia was the first to greet us — apron-clad, dusty, glowing. She half-ran to Gael, stopped short, and blushed furiously. “How have you been?” she whispered. He mumbled something charmingly awkward. We all encouraged them to kiss. They didn’t. But they walked side by side into the keep.

And there stood Anna waiting for us.

I remembered her — the curious girl from Rosebloom, full of questions about magic while I hopelessly tried to flirt with Elsa. I’d sent her several books on magic, like I had promised, knowing her, she eagerly devoured them all and probably understood them better than I could ever hope. She’d grown up into a graceful, brilliant young woman, now shy and clutching a letter from her grandfather.

The letter asked me to train her, or find her a master. She immediately offered me a pouch filled with gold. I refused the coin, of course. “I’ll train you myself,” I said. “As someone once did for me.”

Then — chaos.

Lumiria, still a cat, accidentally scratched me. Liliana rushed forward and healed me in the blink of an eye. But it was Hayley who reacted with fury, and immediately brought down a spell to strike at Lumiria. It broke the polymorph. Lumiria exploded back into full fey brilliance in a magical flash, right in front of poor Anna, who shrieked and backed away.

Lumiria stumbled from the spell, clutching her head. I tried to calm everyone, but Hayley and Liliana were shouting. It was only Dynia who hushed us and urged everyone inside.

A few minutes later, moods were tempered and we all sat at the table in the kitchen. We spoke gently of our plans and arrangements for the coming time. We tried to reassure Anna. And then we arranged a room for her — the last guest room, next to Dynia’s. Hayley, of course, joked that we’d have more room if Dynia moved in with Gael. Dynia turned scarlet. Gael looked like he might vanish.

While the others went into the city, I stayed behind with Lumiria and tried to figure out a training schedule for Anna. I can’t help but sense some tension between Lumiria and Anna, but I can’t imagine the cause since they have never met before. I did ask my friends to check in on Elsa for me while they visited Keralon, as she had been in trouble before we left for the Feywild. I had made several arrangements but I do not know how they all played out.

And part of me… still wants to see Elsa. But I have Lumiria now. It all feels so strange and confusing. I have probably been chasing after Elsa for more than five years now. And I have had plenty of other relationships in the meantime. But it feels different this time, Elsa and I had been getting closer, probably as close as we had ever been. There had been a part of me that hoped desperately that there was a chance there. But I can’t deny that having someone beautiful and wonderful like Lumiria actually return my affections, actually see me for me, and love me in her way, feels magical. Like I finally found somewhere I belong. But gods help me, I can’t just forget about Elsa…

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