#ladylilyshadow

The Shadowmists were safe.

They had gotten things done quickly, far quicker than they had gotten done in the novels. Sandra’s information hadn’t always been accurate, but it had been close, and with her telling everything to Lily they had usually been able to make some pretty educated guesses. The demons had been vanquished, the bad guys defeated, and now the Shadowmists and all the realms that lived in its shadow lived in peace.

What happened after “the end?” The question didn’t bother Sandra as much as it used to. After living in the Shadowmists long enough, she found that she didn’t think of it as a fictional place, needing narrative roundness and a clean plot progression. It was just a place. But it wasn’t home. She could never think of it as home. But neither was the world she came from.

It was Lily. Lily was home.

She had tried to deny it. She knew that she could never replace what Lily had lost, was afraid to even try. But that didn’t mean that there was nothing between the two of them. Their relationship -- their friendship -- had ... progressed. Things weren’t so awkward around them, now. Sometimes, Sandra was able to forget completely about her worries that Lily was just tolerating her, didn’t really want her around.

She tried to do that now, as Lily walked into the palace bedroom they had been sharing for the past few days. There was a grand ceremony being thrown in their honor, thanking them for everything they had done, and this was their accommodations. They were still celebrating in the streets, actually -- Sandra could hear them, the sound carried on the cool night air from the open window -- but she hadn’t wanted to partake in it alone, and Lily had been caught up in official business that didn’t involve her. Not everyone was as receptive to her, as an interloper in their world.

“Welcome back,” she said softly, smiling. “How was the meeting? Did you still want to go down to the celebration, or are you too tired?” She flushed, realizing she had asked too many questions at once. “Sorry. Uh, let’s start with -- how are you?” She still wasn’t used to this -- having someone who was willing to listen to her for an extended period of time. Back in her original world, she had to ask all she needed to know, as quickly as she could, before whoever she was talking to lost interest.

Sandra always felt a bit nervous, when she was called into the High Priestess’s Court.

It had been a little over a month since she had first reversed the water glass, and in that time, her powers had flourished. And she had gotten much more comfortable, more confident with the idea that she was meant to be here. A lot of that was thanks to Lily, but a good part of it was because of her own determination and amazement at her own power. She knew all of that, and yet ... there was always a little voice in the back of her mind that whispered, “You’re on borrowed time here. You’re an imposter. Any minute, they’ll realize their mistake and send you back home.” The voice got quieter every day ... But it was still there. And Sandra didn’t think it would ever really go away.

So it was with a bit of nervousness that she stepped into the regal-looking room. And when she saw that it wasn’t just the High Priestess, but the entire High Court standing there, she got a bit more nervous. But the icing on the cake was seeing Lily, standing before them. It was highly unusual, for the High Priestess to see multiple mages at the same time. She walked in cautiously as the High Court chattered amongst themselves. As far as she was concerned, it was fine that they didn’t notice her just yet. “Lily, what is this?” she asked the blonde mage quietly.

Sandra had been staring at the glass of water for what felt like an hour now. She wasn’t told what she was supposed to be doing with it -- maybe even the High Priestess didn’t know, and she was just guessing. Either way, she decided to reach out and touch it, but the knowledge that she was being watched made her hands shake. Instead of picking it up, she knocked it to the floor, shattering it.

“No ... Oh, no, I’m ...” Sandra started reaching for it, although she didn’t know what she was planning on doing with a bunch of broken glass ... and then she stopped. Something was glittering in there air. She blinked, and it was gone. But now that she knew it was there, it was easy to focus on. Like finding an unfamiliar light switch in the dark -- she didn’t have to see it, but she could. She could see droplets of water hanging in the air, could chart the descent and shattering of the glass ... could see it sitting on the table where it had once been. She couldn’t see it, not really, but ... she also could. It was impossible to describe, but equally impossible to not understand.

Feeling like she was in a trance, she lifted her hand. She fixed the shattered glass with her eyes ... and watched as it began to trace the path she both saw and didn’t see, coming together, floating through the air ... and setting back up on the table, totally unharmed. Sandra drew in a deep, shuddering breath, realizing that she had been holding hers. As she stared at the glass -- and it really was just a glass, now -- the sound of clapping started behind her. “Well done, Sandra,” said the High Priestess. “You have the power of reversal.”

There was only one person she wanted to share this with. So as soon as she was able, she set out, looking for a certain blonde mage. “Lily? Lily!” She felt giddy, light. She felt like a completely different person. “Lily, you were right!”

Sandra could hear birds chirping. She supposed she left her window open, which wasn’t good because the forecast said it was supposed to get colder and rain today. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to get up. She felt peaceful, curled up among her blankets, still half asleep. Mostly dreaming, it was easy for her to imagine that she was sleeping on something far more comfortable than her cheap, creaky mattress. In fact, she could almost imagine her arms wrapped around another warm body, instead of the pillow she usually curled around in her sleep. She was content with simply letting the sensation comfort her ... Until the pillow wrapped its arms around her.

Sandra opened her eyes, shooting into a sitting position. She was lying in a vast, canopied bed with a fluffy comforter and too many pillows to count. Velvet curtains were drawn over towering windows, letting only the smallest crack of daylight across the hardwood floors. And laying next to her, looking at her with a loving smile was ...

“Lilliel Curmeen?” It was a ridiculous idea, that she could be lying in bed with a fictional character. Furthermore, the Shadowmist novels had never been made into movies, and Sandra had no idea what Lily even looked like. But in that moment, she would have sworn that she was looking into the eyes of the mage she had often found herself foolishly dreaming over as a teenager, the character who helped her come to terms with the fact that she liked girls.