Epilogue

Hi, and welcome to the Federated Islands Park Service's official tour of the Tanrian Dragon Preserve. My name is Lu."

Lu Ellis tapped the shiny silver name badge on his emerald-green uniform shirt and cocked a devastating smile at the tour group. With his slender build and high cheekbones and mane of black corkscrew curls, Lu took after his mother, physically speaking, but his love of the spotlight was all his own, something he put to good use at his job. His folksy tenor, full of authentic Bushong twang, typically won over the tourists within the first five seconds of his spiel, but it didn't hurt that half of today's crowd claimed Banneker as a last name.

"Folks, before we get started today, let me introduce you to some important people. This here is our driver, Annie, also known as my sister. Say hi, Annie."

Annie Ellis gave the crowd a friendly wave from her seat on the driver's box at the front of the coach. Like her brother, she had inherited Cora's cool brown complexion and fine-boned frame, but the features of her face came from Frank, especially the hound dog eyes. Her parents used to joke that she was Frank and Cora's Greatest Hits, and it held true.

"It's a bumpy ride, so hang on to your hats. Here we go!" announced Lu, and Annie gave the reins a shake. The coach lurched into motion as the team of equimares began the ride to the Dragon's Teeth range. Lu kept talking without missing a beat.

"Also joining us today is Twyla Banneker, former Tanrian Marshal and cofounder of the Tanrian Dragon Preserve here at Tanria National Park. Everyone say, ‘Hello, Twyla!'"

A significant portion of the tour group said, "Hello, Wammy!"

"How am I doing so far, boss?" Lu called to her where she sat at the back of the coach with her oldest son, DJ, and his family.

Twyla gave him a thumbs-up.

DJ leaned in and whispered, "I can't believe that's Lu Ellis. He was a pimply kid the last time I saw him."

DJ's own son Travis shushed him so that he could listen to Lu with rapt attention. As the coach rolled along, Lu went into the history of Tanria, the invention of the portals, and the evolving role of the Tanrian Marshals, especially now that the Assembly of the Federated Islands of Cadmus had conferred national park status on Tanria—thanks to Frank's proposal.

Twyla only half listened, partly because she'd heard it all before, and partly because, for the first time in years, she was surrounded by her entire family—her kids and her grandkids and her soon-to-be son-in-law—and she didn't want to miss one single precious second of it.

From time to time, Hope jokingly heckled the tour guide, but since she and Lu had known each other from the cradle, Lu happily gave as good as he got.

"Hey, let's give a round of applause to our special guests, Dr. Hope Banneker and Dr. Everett Simms, who are getting married in three days!" said Lu, gesturing to the happy couple and leading the tour group in raucous clapping and hooting and whistling. Hope joined in while Everett grinned in pleased embarrassment.

The coach rumbled along under the steady hand of Annie Ellis, who loved equimares as much as her dad did, and all the while, Lu chatted about flora and fauna and points of interest. Eventually, they rolled to a stop outside the Vanderlinden Center for Dracological Research, newly built through the generous donation of Dr. Quill Vanderlinden. His book, Dragons: A Dracologist's Journey into the Heart of Tanria, was a runaway bestseller, and a percentage of the proceeds went to fund the preserve.

"As you can see, the structure is new, but because New Gods technology doesn't work inside the Mist, all materials and methods used to construct the building were the same as those used during the Old Gods era. The same is true of the marshals' barracks in each of the fifty-four sectors of Tanria."

Except for Sector 28, Twyla thought but decided not to open up that can of worms.

"Hop on out, folks. We have some dragons to visit."

Annie saw to the equimares while Lu ushered the tour group into the Vanderlinden Center and brought the educational displays to the tourists' attention.

"You do plan to have dragons on your dragon tour, right?" asked Wade as Lu finished up a talk about iuvenicite. Anita smacked him on the shoulder, but he ignored the reprimand and encouraged his children—even Teo, who talked nonstop these days—to join him in chanting, "Dragons! Dragons! Dragons!"

DJ joined in, and so did his sons, Travis and Harry.

"Not you, too," reprimanded Twyla. DJ shrugged and continued to chant.

"What's this?" asked Lu, completely game. "You want to see some what?"

"Dragons! Dragons! Dragons!"

Lu put a hand to his ear. "I can't hear you."

"DRAGONS! DRAGONS! DRAGONS!"

"Wade, DJ," said Twyla. "You're turning your own children feral."

"Aw, we're only having fun, Mom," said Wade.

"The kids are practically frothing at the mouth. Tone it down."

"He's honestly the worst behaved out of all of them," Anita murmured to Twyla.

"Don't I know it. I can't believe you married him."

"I blame you. He's your fault."

"Wait until Sal is thirty-four, then come talk to me."

Lu led them out of the Vanderlinden Center to the enormous observation deck that looked out over the lake, with the male-identifying Bannekers at the front of the pack, the non-Bannekers giving them a wide berth, and the female-identifying Bannekers and Everett Simms trailing behind in a feeble attempt to pretend like they didn't know DJ, Wade, Travis, Harry, Manny, Sal, or Teo.

Actually, Twyla might own up to Teo. He was only four. There was hope for him yet.

Ahead of her, Twyla could hear the sounds of wonder as her family and the other tourists caught a glimpse of the dragons on the lake, many of them for the first time in their lives.

"Holy shit," uttered DJ in awe as the rest of the Bannekers caught up to him.

"Language!" Twyla scolded him in unison with DJ's wife, Cecily.

"There are pink dragons swimming around! What else am I supposed to say?"

Twyla thought of her colorful language when she had flown atop Eloise (the name she had given her dragon pal) to rescue Frank, and she decided to let it slide.

They spent some time on the upper deck, with Lu fielding questions, before he led them down a ramp to the north shore of the lake, where Frank awaited the tour with an enormous Mary Georgina sitting patiently beside him.

The sight of a full-grown pink dragon up close elicited a wide variety of responses, as it always did, from Harry sliding behind his father while trying to appear as if he weren't terrified, to Anita restraining Sal so he wouldn't mount up and fly off.

"Folks! Folks! No need to be alarmed! Mary Georgina is perfectly harmless. As a matter of fact, she was raised by humans, because she imprinted on a human when she hatched. She's managed to integrate herself with the dragon enclave, but she prefers to spend her time with people. For that reason, we keep clear of the dragons' nesting site to make sure the babies imprint on their parents, not on Frank Ellis. Speaking of Frank Ellis, here he is in the flesh, our other cofounder of the Tanrian Dragon Preserve. Hi, Dad!"

Frank beamed at him. Frank had not stopped beaming at Lu and Annie since the day they returned to Eternity and decided to stick around to work at the dragon preserve alongside him. Twyla never tired of seeing that particular smile on his face.

"Hi, folks," he said, his deep voice carrying even outdoors. "We're glad you're here today. Your support helps us keep the Tanrian dragons in their natural habitat."

He went through his portion of the tour, with Mary Georgina helping him demonstrate how dragons swam, ate, and flew. Eloise paddled by on the lake and shook out her fuzzy antlers when she saw Twyla. She always said hello in her own way when Twyla was around.

Eventually, the tour wrapped up, with the tourists invited to pet Mary Georgina if they wanted to before they left.

Twyla hugged her family goodbye, even though she'd see them plenty over the next several days, and watched them leave with Lu and Annie. She stayed behind to help Frank close up public access to the preserve for the day.

An hour later, in the parking lot of the West Station, Frank unlocked the passenger door of his autoduck, but before Twyla could take a seat, he reached inside, produced a small gift bag, and handed it to her.

"What's this?"

"Open it."

"You don't have to give me anything."

"I know I don't have to give you anything. I wanted to give you something."

"Oh, Frankie," she said, and she gave him a grateful peck on the cheek. It was sappy, but she couldn't help herself. Then she dug into the tissue paper with gusto.

"Well now, don't get too excited. It's nothing special."

"I'll be the judge of that." Twyla reached into the bag and pulled out a set of white linen handkerchiefs embroidered with violets, similar to the hankie a wise woman had given her at the altar of Grandmother Wisdom, the one she kept in her safe-deposit box at the bank, beside Frank's birth key.

"I thought you might need them at the wedding," Frank told her. "But don't you worry. I have all mine washed and ready to go, just in case."

Twyla was afraid she'd start crying on the spot if she so much as spoke a word, so she kissed him instead. And the kiss was so delectable that she deepened it, then deepened it more, until she realized that they were getting a little too hot and heavy for the parking lot of the West Station.

"I like the way you say thank you," Frank rumbled, low and sexy, making her wish they were already at his house rather than a twenty-minute drive away.

A familiar red muscle duck with white racing stripes came roaring into the gravel lot and parked beside them.

"That is the most ridiculous vehicle on the island of Bushong," said Twyla.

"I would have loved the shit out of that thing when I was his age," said Frank with a twinge of wistful jealousy.

Penrose Duckers rolled down the window and shouted, "Get a room!"

"Aw, young love," his partner chimed in from the passenger end of the bench. From anyone else, it would have sounded sarcastic. From Rosie Fox, who was older than Twyla and Frank combined, it was sincere.

"See you at the wedding?" Twyla asked them as they got out of the shiny red duck.

"Only if Mary Georgina's invited," said Duckers.

"Smartass."

Duckers gave her a side hug. "You love me."

"Sadly, yes, I do. See you Wardensday?"

"I love a wedding, especially when I'm not in it," said Rosie.

"Fuck yeah," Duckers agreed, and the pair headed into the station to report for duty.

"I'm beat," said Frank, nudging Twyla toward his duck. "Let's go home, by which I mean my house, because DJ and his family and Hope have taken over yours."

"You know, I'm aware that you're never going to pressure me to move in with you. You don't have to reassure me," said Twyla once they were on the road.

"It is one of the many ways I express my love."

"Is that so? How else do you plan to express your love today?"

"I thought I might mow your lawn for you."

"Mm-hmm, go on."

"And maybe I'll do a load of laundry," he drawled suggestively. "Yours and mine. Together."

She fanned herself with a new hankie. "I love it when you talk chores to me."

"You know, darlin', you waving that handkerchief around puts me in mind of a song."

"Oh boy."

"Honey, I gave you a token of my love," he sang, going deep down the bass register on the word love. "Come on, Twy, you know the words."

Twyla did know the words, and she sang them with Frank as they drove home to Eternity.