21Epilogue: "We're celebrating, of course."
When McKenzie requested the help of a few strong members of the Chiselers to help bring in the wine that she brought, no one was really surprised. Boxed wine could be heavy and, even when it was someone else's turn to buy it, they were all happy to bring it in.
What surprised them was that McKenzie had not brought boxed wine. She had brought boxes of wine that was actually in a bottle. It wasn't exactly top shelf stuff, but it was still far more fancy than anything their poor group had splurged on before.
"What's this?" Kayden asked, turning a bottle over in his hands.
"We're celebrating, of course," McKenzie looked at him like he was slow. "Don't you remember? I told you that Caia had gotten married."
"I didn't realize that came with bottled wine," Kayden laughed as Hope came forward to grab one as well. "If I had known that, we would have celebrated earlier."
"It's a shame we could not have seen her new home," Esther said dramatically, flipping her hair over the dress she wore that looked like it was made of balloons and duck tape. "I would love to see another world. Galmora, you called it?"
"Yeah, that's right," McKenzie nodded. The Chiselers, being full of the most eccentric of eccentrics, had taken the news of Caia's cross-world marriage well. Hamish had composed a poem that she would have loved to hear, Donald had cried, and others had bemoaned that they couldn't attend. No one questioned the sanity of what McKenzie told them.
The wine, the best wine they had ever drank, was passed out and everyone smiled as they lifted their glasses to honor Caia. Though they would never see her again, she had still been one of them and they wanted to celebrate her new happiness.
Across town, in a house that was cold and empty, a single telephone would occasionally ring. It had been recently installed by a confused cable man who wondered who could have wanted a landline set up in an empty house. The answering machine's memory was completely full. It was filled with the harsh words of two people that had never truly loved the life they created.
They would never see their daughter again either. Detestable people though they were, they had still served the goddess in her plan. To reward them for their obedience, she never let them feel love for the daughter they would never again see.
In that way, they never missed her. Her absence didn't hurt them. They remained hateful, but their hatred could never again hurt Caia. She would never hear the hateful words left for her because the stone circle would never open for her again.
Caia slept for nearly two days. A few times, her consciousness would emerge long enough for her to drink or eat a bite or two. But those moments never lasted for longer than a moment. Caspian didn't leave her side any longer than he had to. He was there each time, patiently giving her whatever she needed without speaking to her. He could tell by looking that she wasn't truly awake. He would need to wait until she was truly conscious.
It was the morning of the second day, just before it had been a full two days that she had been sleeping, that Caia finally woke up.
Caspian was sitting in a chair by the fire, reading to himself when she sat up. When he stood at seeing her move, already reaching for the cup, he finally noticed that she was well and truly awake. She smiled at him. He very nearly cried with relief.
It took over a month before Caia allowed anyone inside the temple. The damage that Rowan had done to it was more than just physical. There were things that needed to be fixed that she didn't fully understand. The voice in her head would guide her gently. Though she could and did lose herself during those times, she always came back with the setting sun.
When people were finally permitted inside, it was to see that Caia had created a great many changes to the place.
The mostly empty plinth that had only held a severed finger now held a cleaned, restored, and completely fixed holy statue. Standing with him, tall and proud, was the goddess statue. They both looked out over the temple with eyes that stared without seeing but somehow saw everything.
The statue of Rowan, trapped in pain at the entrance, was greeted with mixed reactions. No one was quite sure how to respond to her.
Caspian solved the dilemma by approaching her with an offering of flowers. He did not love Rowan any longer, but nor did he hold the same anger from before. He knew what it was like to be trapped the way she was, so in a way he pitied her.
After that, people began making offerings to her as well. Often they were just small pieces of kindness that they hoped would ease her broken mind. She would be trapped within it for the next century, or more if she could not fix it.
The town was rebuilt by the time that Caia's belly began protruding noticeably. She was the first pregnant woman to receive a new mother's blessing in the new temple. Vaeri and Kiriion were the first to be married there. They were also the first wedding that Caspian, as the new temple keeper, officiated and declared accepted by the goddess.
Caspian and Caia's baby was born near the beginning of spring. The season calling new life from the earth brought with it a beautiful baby boy whose loud cries penetrated the early morning indignantly. Caspian held his new child with wonder and disbelief.
The stone cradle that Caia had crafted for him, that Caspian had softened for him, lulled him into a gentle sleep as Caia rested from giving birth to him.
Orion, son of Caspian, was a healthy boy with rosy cheeks. The hair on his head was already darkening to red to match his mother's. The crystal clear blue eyes had yet to darken, but they would soon and would be a match for his father's. He glared at the world, as if angry at it for daring to take him from the warmth of the womb. But he grasped onto his mother's nipple without issue and he was already reaching out for the world around him.
Elanil, of course, complained that the babe was up at all hours of the night. Not that she would know since she didn't live with them. But it gave her pleasure to complain. With any luck, Orion would soon begin throwing things around to annoy her. An act that would, of course, make both of them quite happy with the results.
It was a full two months before Caspian would make love to Caia again. He wanted to make sure that she was completely healed from giving birth the first time. She had wanted it sooner, but he wanted to give her a break. She told him that she wanted her family to be huge, for them to be practically drowning in children. He was adamant about waiting though.
It just made the moment that they finally came back together that much sweeter. Afterwords, they laid together in their marriage bed. Caia's head was on his chest, looking up at the ceiling while she played with one of his hands. He was in some kind of glorious place between asleep and awake that was totally peaceful and without stress.
"Caspian?" she said softly. She wasn't worried about waking Orion. He was sleeping in the next room with his uncle to watch over him. Garrik had volunteered to do so in order to give the two of them a break. He would wake them up if Orion was hungry, but otherwise promised to handle it himself. Caia imagined that she would need to feed him soon though, her breasts were getting sore. They always did right before Orion began demanding his milk.
"Yes?" her husband nearly slurred. He was very comfortable.
Caia smiled at the drawn out word. "Am I still the same as when you met me?"
"No. You're a wife and a mother now."
She giggled. "That's not what I meant."
Caspian's half closed eyes opened just a bit further – not fully, but a bit – so he could look down at her a bit more clearly. "Are you asking if your mind is still there?"
"I keep worrying about it, but I can't tell. I don't think I would be able to," she bit her lip, looking a bit troubled. "I pass by Rowan everyday, and I'm scared that I'll become like her."
"You won't."
"You don't know that."
"You won't," he repeated, more firmly. He stroked her cheek gently. "The goddess made you to do her work, and she made me to keep you happy and healthy. You're not the same person you were when I met you Caia, because you're better. You're stronger now. You're not brittle anymore. You're hard, but you're flexible. You won't shatter if someone strikes you."
She smiled at him. "Really?"
"Yes. Now let's try to sleep before Orion-"
Too late. Their son started crying in the next room. Before having her own baby, Caia never knew what mothers meant when they said they could distinguish what their child wanted by the way that they cried. Now she did. That was definitely his hungry cry.
She kissed Caspian quickly and made to stand up.
"The kid is insatiable," he grumbled, sitting up.
"It's okay, go back to sleep," Caia smiled, pulling her robe over her body.
"It's okay. I want to be there," he said, getting up and reaching for his own robe. He smiled over at her, his face still content even as it was slowly waking up.
He had promised to care for Caia. He had promised to be there for her. If she was getting up in the middle of the night to feed their son, he wanted to be there holding the two of them as she did so. He wanted to be there for her, period.
Garrik went downstairs to get a glass of water as Caia rocked Orion gently as he sucked greedily at her breast. She herself was sitting in Caspian's lap as he held her to his chest, smiling at the way his son so healthily ate.
"He's very strong," he remarked proudly.
"Veari told me that she's expecting soon as well," Caia smiled. "Have you talked to Kiriion about the betrothal?"
Caspian nodded. "A bit. We're waiting to see if she's a girl first. If not, I know a few other families that wouldn't protest having our son marry their daughter."
Caia laughed. "Our son. I like the sound of that."
Their son looked up at the pair of them as he sucked greedily. Even as small as he was, Caia had never held something so strong or real before in her life.
"The goddess talks to me sometimes," she told him softly. That wasn't really a surprise. He already knew that she did. "She tells me things."
"She told me things once," Caspian grinned. "Like how you were made for me," he nuzzled the back of her neck gently.
Caia grinned. "No, actually, you were made for me."
"Let's meet in the middle," he lifted his head to smile into her eyes. We were made for each other."
Caia beamed. "I like that."
Caspian gently rested his forehead against hers and smiled. Made for each other. Their fate had always been written in stone.