26 November 2022
I tried so hard to figure out the climax and how it all fits together, and it just wasn’t coming together for me yet. So I decided to switch to something else, and I wrote the epilogue.
Honestly, I’m not sure I’m satisfied with it. The epilogue, I mean. It feels a bit too dry, and there’s also this nagging sensation that I’ve forgotten something. Not Phillip; at the time, I’d intentionally left him out so anyone who shipped him with Aurora could be free to do so. There’s still things I could figure out and say about him, though.
“Perhaps. But this is not the time for that, you are right. My apologies.” Maleficent turned back to the weaving. “There is one other thought I considered. If we found a way to replace the curse with something else, we might be able to choose something to tie things together rather than split them off. Even if we were to find something, however, it would be incredibly subtle and detailed work, and the risks are immense; if we handle this poorly, it would be as catastrophic as simply removing the curse, if not worse.”
“Well… what could we replace it with?” Isaac asked. “And what would that mean for us?”
“To be honest, I was still looking for the right materials and methods.” She fingered a deep blue thread. “I’d considered using Gothel’s threads, but even if she were yet alive, she is too wrapped up in all this, and too present in the real world, for that to be a viable option.”
Aurora looked back at the tapestry, and the silver thread that connected to the mini tower. “Is that why you were interested in this? Would Tower’s thread work?”
Maleficent shrugged. “That is one reason for my interest, though not the only reason. And it is a possibility; however, I do not know what the ramifications might be, either for the tower or for all of us.”
Aurora bit her lower lip, then held the tower figurine up and pushed her will into it. It glowed with violet light, and then expanded to cover the far wall with a new, stone one. A doorway opened in the center, and the more humanoid form of the Tower walked out. Unlike last time Aurora spoke with him, he was translucent, as though he wasn’t truly there.
He bowed to Maleficent, and Aurora could tell from his lips he was introducing himself to her. However, Aurora could hear nothing.
Once they’d all returned to the capital - for the most part via carriage - King Frederick and Queen Hannah declared the date they reunited with Aurora to be a national holiday. They formally accepted Venwald as an ally, and lauded Queen Brynne (or Maleficent) as a friend and hero. For the next two weeks, the capital celebrated like it never had before.
Before she left, around a month later, Maleficent made a point to spend time with Isaac, teaching him how to make sense of the things he could see now. In particular, she taught him how to recognize what it looked like when people lied to him, or when they were trying to skirt around the truth. When Frederick and Hannah stepped down and bequeathed him the throne, almost two decades later, that ability served him well, and he was known far and wide for generations as one of the most just and honest kings in all the land.
Hannah continued visiting Queen Brynne every year, though it was always after Aurora’s birthday now that she’d returned. The people of Venwald all spoke of how much the queen had softened due to Hannah’s influence, and Maleficent herself was surprised at the increased respect the people offered her. Nevertheless, there came a day, after Queen Hannah started getting old, when Maleficent appointed one of her counselors as ruler in her stead, and she vanished. No one knew where she went or what she was up to.
Fairies were, understandably, unwelcome in any of the western kingdoms after everything that had happened. They’d already been viewed with skepticism after Aurora had been kidnapped, but after the events surrounding her return to Lowenveil’s royal family, and all the stories she and her family told of Gothel (particularly her transformation into a dragon), the western kingdoms redoubled their stance.
As for Aurora, she lived a happy and full life, short as it was. Artists and connoisseurs from all over the known world came to see her work, and her fame grew, not only for her skill but also her temper. More than one foolish young man had come expecting a demure and sickly artiste, and experienced the ire of the firebrand princess.
She became particularly known for her portraits and figure paintings, in a variety of styles. However, it was near universally agreed on that her most famous piece, and likely the best, was the one that hung above her mantel, depicting a tall, thin man with steel-gray hair in a charcoal suit. Art critics from all over the world debated who the figure might be, or what he might represent, but Aurora never shared.
She had a mansion built in the forest at the site where the remains of the Tower had been. Frederick gifted her the forest and its environs as her personal fiefdom, and named her a grand duchess after she formally seceded from the line of succession. It was there she raised her family, after she got married. She had three children, and finally passed away giving birth to the third. Despite her weakness, she was perpetually optimistic, and her only regret when she died was that her children would grow up without their mother.
Most recently updated draft of Rapunzel, the Sleeping Beauty (potentially including unposted content)