First at Last (Updated Version)

Epilogue

"Erika, William!" Poppy said, appearing in the doorway at Alice's behest. "It is so good to see you!"

Poppy looked just as I remembered, as well, though instead of wearing the palace guard uniform that she always used to wear, she wore a dark green gown, her brown hair spilling around her shoulders in wild curls, falling nearly to her waist. She hurried over and hugged the two of us before leading us to our seats.

Alice and Poppy sat across from us in a set of well-worn leather chairs. It looked almost ridiculous to me. Alice never seemed the type to enjoy a humble life such as this one, but she seemed so happy. My heart warmed at the thought. After a beat of silence, I spoke. "Well?" I said expectantly. "Tell us about your travels! Where do you go? What did you do?"

William leaned forward, looking curious. "And why did you settle here? And how on earth did you end up running an orphanage?"

Alice's eyes went wide and she shook her head back and forth quickly. "My goodness, calm down, both of you. We will start at the beginning. After Poppy and I left Belhaven, we spent quite a lot of time traveling. On the boat out, we made a comprehensive list of all the places we wanted to visit in our travels. Of course, we did not have a plan or an order to the list, so it was rather spontaneous. We would reach a place, spend a day or two exploring, return to the harbor and take the next ship out, no matter where it went to. We went to Oprya and spent time traveling the countryside, then left for Vanmere. After Vanmere, we sailed to Lilmanora, and then to Wayholt, then to Connel, then Nova Aeria. We rented out cottages in the woods and little cabins near the sea, we made friends along the way and followed them through cities. We got to see everything. It was spectacular. Though, when we finally wound up here, on Leira, we fell in love instantly. We had been traveling for nearly four years when we stopped on this island for a short visit. Initially, we did spend only a couple weeks here and then we left to go on more adventures. We traveled for another year after that, going to different cities in different countries and exploring all we could. Though, we really had enjoyed our short time on Leira. So, we came back. And we have not left since." Alice said with a smile.

"That sounds like the best adventure. I am so happy for you."

"Thank you," Alice said, her smile widening.

William looked between us, still looking a bit bewildered. "But how do you now run an orphanage?"

"This island is very small," replied Poppy. "And there was not an orphanage when we arrived. But there were many orphans. We did not really intend to open an orphanage, in truth, but we wanted to be a part of the community here. We did not know where we could fit in, since it is a rather close community. That is when we decided to open an orphanage."

"It isn't like we will ever have biological children or anything of the sort, so we were more than happy to take in children who need it," Alice chimed in.

William looked between them, a thoughtful look on his face. "And you're happy?"

Alice's smile widened, her eyes shining in the afternoon light. It was all the answer I needed. "Happier than we ever thought we could be."

We passed the rest of the afternoon chatting and catching up. They went into greater detail about all of the places they'd visited, all of the things they'd done. They'd done so much since we'd seen them last over six years ago. Six years. I still could not believe it had been so long.

The sun had sunk low, nearly meeting the horizon, when we were called to the table for dinner. It was a simpler meal than I had expected from Alice and I was hit with a sudden realization that, perhaps, the Alice I had known all my life did not really exist anymore. She had changed so much, it seemed, and I could not compare her to who she used to be. They were not the same anymore.