“Nay, it doesn’t work that way, Stone.” She put the orb back into her pouch. “I can’t ask the orb questions. It only shows me what it wants me to see.”
“What?” He pulled back and looked at her in question. “But you just told Elric that you asked to see your true father and you saw him. And you said we’d have a child soon.”
“I did say those things, didn’t I.” She smiled deviously.
“Persimmon?” He looked at her in a scolding manner. “Are you lying about being able to scry again? The same way you were when you first got to Mura? Because, remember how much trouble that got you into.”
“The answer to your question is yes and no,” she told him. “I really can scry now, and I am thankful that our love awakened the crystal’s magic.” She reached up and kissed him.
“But you only told Elric what he wanted to hear, right?” he said, tapping his finger against her lips. “That is being a naughty girl. Plus, you told me what I wanted to hear as well.”
“Elric was so forlorn. Didn’t you see the way he perked up once he thought he had sired me?”
“Still, that was being dishonest. I’m not sure you should have done that.”
“Well, we only have King Kapion’s word to go on that he is really my father. So, I’m not sure that Elric didn’t really sire me after all. No one knows the truth. My mother didn’t even seem to know.”
“Well, you don’t look like you have an ounce of elven blood in you.”
“Weren’t you the one who just agreed that it was possible that I inherited more of my mother’s looks instead?”
“Mmm hmm,” he said, still giving her the scolding eye. “Because I wanted to support you.”
“And you knew it was want Elric wanted to hear,” she said with a knowing nod.
“Well, it could be true. I mean, yes, it could have happened.”
“Stone, you need to remember something. I never even knew about King Kapion before I came here to Mura. However, I grew up thinking Elric was my father for the last twenty-five years. Granted, Elric wasn’t all that kind to me, and didn’t visit me but a few times in my life. Still, those few visits meant something to me. It gave me hope. Hope that someday I would have a relationship with him the same way that others do with their fathers.”
“You mean like Elric has with Lira?”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t.”
“Not yet, but these things take time. And remember, Lira didn’t get along with Elric either until recently.”
“I’m not surprised. I don’t know how anyone can really tolerate that man.”
“Stone, that’s my father you’re speaking of. Please, be nice.”
“Yes, I suppose I can see your point. I think mayhap you might be Elric’s daughter, after all. Or, at least, I’d like to think so. Even if the man is irritating, he’s a much better choice of a father than King Kapion who never had and never will have love in his heart.”
“I agree. So, I have to go with the one man that I feel in my heart is the one who sired me. After all, I am sure I was born on love and not hate and lust.”
“Me, too.”
“Persimmon, are you sure you will never want to go back to Taelgonoth to talk to King Kapion again?”
“Never. And just to make sure I won’t be tempted, is one of the reasons I gave the stones back to Elric. I don’t ever want that portal to Taelgonoth opened again.”
“Good idea.”
“Will you miss your home, Stone?”
“Nay. I have no one there anymore. Everyone I care about is here in Mura. Besides, this is my home now, Persimmon. With you. In Mura.”
“Yes. And Elric is my father now and will always be. That is all that matters. I have no need to look any further. I have found everything I have ever longed for right here. Especially you, Stone. I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”
“I am only thankful that the portal brought us together in the first place.” He hugged her. Fang’s head came up between them, looking for food.
They both laughed.
“I never expected that the sky would open up one day and the man I would marry would fall atop me and knock me to the ground, but it happened, didn’t it?”
“Yes, it certainly did, sweetheart. If that’s not a sure sign that we belong together, then I don’t know what is.”
“I propose a toast,” Lira called out, holding up her goblet of wine. “To my new sister, Persimmon and her husband, Stone. May they always be as happy and as in love as there are right now.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Stone raised his glass and so did Persimmon.
“Stone, tell us how you feel being married to Persimmon?” asked Aithrod.
“Well, I feel lucky and loved and as if I’ve met someone special who I almost didn’t meet. I feel as if everything bad that happened really happened for a reason and if it didn’t, Persimmon and I never would have met, being from two different lands only connected by a portal. I also feel as if my new life will be so much better than my old one. I have so much to be thankful for. Not only being a husband to the woman I love, but also looking forward to one day becoming a father and raising a child even though I don’t know the first thing about raising children but I am willing to learn.”
“Egads, the man is a windbag.” Elric was back from the pyramids of the gods already and standing in front of the table holding up a goblet of wine as well.
“Father, did the gods forgive you?” asked Persimmon.
