One year later at the border between the Weeping Expanse and Parthun.

Ellowyn. What was once a small village known as Shallowglade was now the lifeblood to the rest of inner Talmora. The end of the Second Crimson Wars and Edith's defeat left many human kingdoms reeling. Entire cities required untold tons of lumber to rebuild, quarries to mine, and politics to iron out. 

Beaten paths were paved by hundreds of passing wagons load lumber day in and day out. Houses were raised to replace fragile mud-huts and shoddy cabins. Ellowyn served as the focal point for dozens of lumber mill villages scattered about the forest, prospering alongside the now Republic of Parthun which handled the export of bountiful wood.

Parthun was spared the inter-kingdom bureaucratic squabbling, and with no heir to claim the throne had adopted a new political system. Queen Lisette of Ors-Juna acknowledged their sovereignty as a courtesy, keeping at bay those who would attempt to seize it from King Marcus' cold dead hands.

I knew better than to think Lisette did it out of the goodness of her heart. She leveraged a lot against us, and purchased lumber exports at a fraction of its value. Few could stand against the combined might of her armies, which mostly emerged unscathed after the war. Fewer still had the resources to even think about trying her.

Belle and I walked to the remains of Kati's former encampment now long reclaimed by the forest. Moss-covered tents could barely stay standing for another winter, tall grass obscured traces of pottery and discarded weaponry, and bonfires which I remembered feasting around had fallen to shambles.

The large tree that was once Flora's guardian tree was all that remained standing. I put a hand to the trunk as I'd done so many times before hoping to detect a magic signature again. There was no answer except the chirping birds on the branches.

"I saw Kati fall in battle that day. Never seen a kobold fight so fiercely before," Belle said of the kobold chieftain.

"My most vivid memory was of him offering me the cooked leg of a centaur." I chuckled.

"No kidding? Did you eat it?" she asked.

I shook my head and smiled.

Kati's body had been buried next to Flora's tree. It was probably the best place for him and the dryad he once worshipped.

Both of us made a prayer.

We hitched a ride on a wagon hauling its load back to Ellowyn. The pair of centaurs were more than happy to give us a lift. Flying back would be too quick, and Belle wasn't afforded much time these days.

My great hollow was at the center of Ellowyn, surrounded by stone-paved streets and smaller houses. The centaurs stopped in front of my home to let us off and nodded before taking off.

"You sure I can't tempt you to stay? A dash of remsectnid honey in tea is really good," I said, nudging her arm.

"I wish. Edith and the Elder Board left one hell of a mess. The towers have stopped sucking magic out of the world, but hundreds of towers still stand. Normally, they would have collapsed after all the magic within had been drained. Some of us think they've been raised long enough that whole worlds exist within to keep it sustained," she explained.

"That doesn't sound good. You sure you don't need my help?" I asked.

Since Eudora Faust also perished in the war, she left with her all the knowledge and clues to toppling the towers. We'd been unable to find anything suggesting how to do it inside her tower.

"No, you guys rest. Eleanor and Noelle have reformed the Order of Piety to handle just that. I hear they found a promising recruit. Though, she's kind of clumsy…" Belle furrowed her brows.

I did, too. But for a much different reason.

"Still no word on where Discipline went?"

Belle shook her head and frowned. "I'm afraid not. I dread to think what she's up to. See? One hell of a mess. Which is why I can't be slacking. Someone needs to fix the place back up."

"Headmistress Belle, huh? Has a nice ring to it." I grinned.

 "Oh, gods!" She cringed and clutched her head in mental anguish. "I can't believe Alira and the others elected me to that post. I'm a scholar, not a leader! Ahhhh!"

"I can't think of a better person to strongarm witchcraft politics through sheer determination than you. You're always welcome to ditch work and drop by anytime," I offered.

"How could you suggest something so horribly irresponsible? Now that it's my job, I have to take it seriously. Alira's got another thing coming if she thinks she can sneak out of helping me though…" Belle grumbled.

Over half the Elder Board were tried and found guilty of conspiring with Edith. No surprise there, since Winnegan proved herself a traitor early on. Thanks to her cooperation though, finding out those involved didn't take long. We had stripped them of their post and sentenced them to— for a lack of a better word— rehabilitation.

Luna came flying over and wrapped herself on Belle's staff. She stroked the snake familiar's head. A pang of envy struck my heart as I was reminded of Rio.

Belle suddenly threw her arms around me, and Luna even coiled around me once before returning to her witch's side.

"I almost forgot to give you this." She pushed a potion of white liquid like milk into my hands. "Eileen's been working sleepless nights on this for months. Not a cure, but should subdue the ailments for the time being while she finds a more permanent solution."

I knew exactly what it was for. I had almost given up hope and resigned myself to saying farewell. That apprentice of mine was really giving it her all for us.

"How is she? Eileen?" I asked as Belle looked ready to leave with Luna.

"It hurts me to say this about someone who isn't a witch, but she's the best damn alchemist I've ever known. The new Elder Board is considering opening a seat and creating a position for her in Grathir," she answered with flaming jealousy written all over her face.

Belle and I hugged again, tighter this time.

"Say goodbye to your rugrats for me. Tell that woman of yours to lay off the damn pipe, too. It's not helping her health!"

"She'll sooner cut her arm off than part with that pipe." I sighed.

Belle rolled her eyes, conjured a flight spell at her feet, and flew off with Luna. I continued to wave at them until they were out of sight.

When I entered the house, the sound of cooing babies filled my ears.

"Welcome back, mama! How was the trip with Belle?" Cammy asked from the couch. She cradled three infants in her tentacles, each sucking on a pacifier formed a fruit that dangled above their heads. All of them looked just content where they were.

"She has a lot of work to do back in Grathir and couldn't stay any longer." I came over to see how my children were doing.

Beatrice was one year old now. Her red and blue eyes were much deeper in color, shining like a ruby and sapphire. Two new additions had been added to our family. Yennari and Rook were fraternal goblin twins I had given birth to with Gurk. They were born in three months, a fraction of a human's pregnancy period.

I put a finger up to their faces, and they grabbed it with tiny hands.

"They really couldn't ask for a better big sister." I smiled at Cammy.

"Hehe. I just can't wait until they're old enough to play with!" She smiled back.

Two sets of footfalls descended the stairs.

"What? Belle couldn't spare a minute to come by? I'm offended," Mira mused from the bottom of the stairs. She leaned against the bannister with Gurk holding her from the other side, scared out of his wits that she might injure herself. A pipe between her jaws billowed with white smoke.

I left Cammy and the children's side to help Mira walk over to the dinner table. She wore a maroon cotton robe that wouldn't irritate her skin and reduce the possibility of rashes. After all…

"Gurk try to put Mira to sleep, but she won't stay in bed!" our goblin husband complained.

"I've been in bed for every waking hour the past five days. Anymore and I shall have to kill something to keep myself sane— ngh… tch." Mira winced. She opened her robe to reveal the necromantic magic tormenting her. It looked like someone splashed black paint on her abdomen. The veins around the injury were dark blue.

What's important was that it stopped festering and expanding. She had to drink a cocktail of elixirs every week to slow the effects, but suffered agonizing pain from imbibing too many in such short periods of time. The alternative would have been death.

"Here. Belle said Eileen worked her ass off to make this." I put the potion in front of her, which she drank without hesitation.

Both of us held our breaths. It was Eileen we were talking about. But so far, everything up until now had done little for Mira.

To our surprise, the black splotches began to shrink. It became a small, star-shaped blemish the size of a fingernail on her lower rib cage. Not entirely gone, but not covering a third of her chest.

"By Vessyra's soaking cunt, that worked." Mira took several deep breaths, twisted her chest, and smacked the injury as if daring it to return.

Gurk and I were overcome with relief. All year we had been watching Mira in pain. She couldn't walk several steps without keeling over.

All the tension left my shoulders. "Thank the gods— Mmph?!"

She grabbed the collar of my robes and pulled me in for a deep kiss, stood up, and cracked her neck.

"I must find time to pay my thanks to your apprentice. She's come a long way." Mira nodded to herself. "Now that I'm feeling a lot better, I think it's about time to enjoy ourselves."

She picked Gurk up under her arm and began to walk back upstairs.

"Where we going?" Gurk asked, his legs dangling beneath him.

"I should be healthy enough to bear a child. It's about damn time we have one or two ourselves, love. You better put a baby in me tonight or there will be hell to pay tomorrow," Mira remarked.

I turned to Cammy who giggled and shrugged her vines.

"You three have your fun. I'll put these three to bed and return to my tree," she said.

The three of us indulged in carnal desires through the night, wasting no time since Mira was able to join us again. With the goal being to get her pregnant, Gurk creampied her until she was leaking with cum. By the time we exhausted ourselves, both mine and Mira's womb were pumped full, but only one of us had taken a contraceptive. We fell asleep in each other's arms, sandwiching Gurk between us.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of my babies crying. I put on a light robe and went downstairs. Yennari and Rook stopped crying when they saw me. On the third crib, Beatrice was also awake but behaved herself.

"There, there. Mama's here to feed you," I said, picking up the goblin babies and holding them to my chest. Their toothless mouths found each of my nipples and sucked on the milk that secreted from it.

My heart swelled with joy, cherishing this moment I had with my children. Young as I was, my maternal instincts were strong.

Imagine my surprise when I popped out a goblin girl. Ceris had told me female counterparts of goblins, centaurs, orcs, and kobolds were a common sight in Vessyra and outer Talmora. It was only in within human lands that they were not, due to witchcraft's history of attempted genocide on the demi-human races.

Although the towers still stood all over Talmora, that they stopped soaking latent magic from the land had allowed the continent to become fertile again. Along with Eileen's concoction to reverse engineer infertility magic, demi-humans native to inner Talmora began to birth female offspring again. No longer would they feel the need to kidnap and impregnate human females for survival, although that didn't stop some from intermingling.

My Yennari had blue skin, which is unique only to female goblins and male goblins had green skin. Despite their appearance and age, they already act more human than goblin. Though they definitely resemble their father more than me.

When the twins had their fill, I placed them back in the crib where they instantly fell back to sleep. Then I picked up Beatrice and played with her on my lap. I gave her a kiss, and she responded with a coo and giggle.

My front door opened and in came Cammy, ready to babysit my children again.

"Look who's here, Beatrice. Your favorite big sister's back." I picked her up and carried her to Cammy.

"Did you miss me? I missed you, my adorable little sister!" Cammy said, taking over for carrying and dangling a pacifier fruit for the infant.

Mira had gotten dressed in her academy robes and come downstairs. Talos sat perched on her shoulder. She walked over to give Beatrice, Yennari, and Rook a kiss on the head.

"Ready to go? I have no idea how long this elixir is to last, but we should tie up some loose ends while I have the strength," she said.

I whistled for my living robes to dress me, then fetched my staff from the mantle above the fireplace.

"We'll be gone for a few days, Cammy. Take care of the kids for us." I hugged her and Beatrice together.

"I will. Be safe out there," she said, returning the embrace.

"If that husband of ours even thinks of skipping out on doing chores, you have mine and Ellori's permission to spank him with your vines," Mira remarked on the way out.

"I'll be sure to whip him into shape!"

Talos took flight first, then we followed after him. Our destination was Eudora's tower— where it all began.