#marimbles

And with the hightlighter I previously forgot:

In the months that follow the Battle of the Boiling Isles, after two great evils have been defeated and the dust starts to settle on their strange little island, Hunter delves further into his studies, into subjects he'd never been allowed to research in the light of day — mindscape magic, palisman magic, grimwalker lore — now more knowledgeable than ever with access to a whole underground archive that Lilith had uncovered in her renovation of the Emperor's old castle as she seeks to turn it into a school for wild magic.

"Are you ready?" Willow asks as she fluffs the pillows behind Hunter's head for the dozenth time, never satisfied that he's comfortable enough.

Hunter smiles up at her and nods. 

"Thank you for doing this," he says, taking her hand and pressing a gentle kiss against the back of it.

"Hey, you're the genius who figured out it was even possible," she says with a wink that makes Hunter's face heat ten degrees. "I'm just the one casting it."

Hunter beams up at her, settling back against the cushions of Eda's living room couch with a deep, steadying breath.

"After all this time, I'm finally going to get to see him again," Hunter sighs as he clutches a hand to his heart, almost certain he can feel the faintest hint of bird's wings fluttering inside his chest. 

"Ready," he says with a firm nod.

Willow leans forward to press a kiss against the top of Hunter's head, before twirling her fingers in a bright green spell circle, and brushing the hair out of his eyes as he falls back against the couch cushions, fast asleep.

• • •

Hunter wakes in a bright, sprawling forest filled with golden sunlight, a gentle breeze waltzing through the surrounding trees (willow trees, he muses, chuckling to himself — of course a part of her would manifest inside his mindscape) and follows the winding path to a little grove gated by wildflowers, where a man twice his age but nearly identical to him down to the very last freckle sits atop an overturned tree trunk, steady hands whittling away at a small cutting of wood while he chatters away cheerfully to a little red cardinal perched on his shoulder.

"Flapjack?" Hunter marvels, heart lurching in his chest at the sight of his old friend after all this time. The little cardinal perks up instantly at the sound of the familiar voice, emitting a high-pitched chirp as he zooms toward Hunter, hopping back and forth between his shoulders and tugging on that stubborn strand of hair that's grown out again since the last time Willow cut it. After his initial excitement, Flapjack settles down, nuzzling against Hunter's face as he gently strokes the top of the little bird's head, tears rolling down his scarred cheeks as he whispers, "I missed you too, buddy."

"He's been bragging about you nonstop ever since he arrived," the older man his mirror image says with a cheerful smile as he approaches the two of them. "It's very nice to finally meet you, Hunter."

"Caleb?" Hunter asks, though he already knows the answer.

"Indeed," Caleb replies.

"But…I don't understand," Hunter says, awed but confused. "How are you here?"

"You can thank our little red-feathered friend for that," Caleb tells him, smiling across the way at the little cardinal perched on Hunter's shoulder. "His soul has been residing inside your mindscape all this time, waiting for the moment when you two would finally meet again. He wanted to see you settled, make certain you were in good hands, before moving on to join me in the after. He believes that I can help you in this endeavor, and so, the moment he caught wind that you were coming, he conjured me from memory, so that I may act as your guide."

"I—" Hunter falters, feeling a fresh wave of tears well up behind his eyes at the revelation that this little bird had stayed with him for the sole purpose of protecting him, of ensuring his happiness, long after he'd already given his life for him.

"Thank you, Flapjack," he says softly, a mix of overwhelming gratitude and heart-wrenching sorrow for the way in which he'd had to go gripping his voice. The little bird chirps back at him, reminding him that it wasn't his fault, that he knows how hard Hunter fought back against Belos's control, that he's happy he was able to save his boy this time around. Hunter exhales on a shaky sob, gently placing his hand along the side of one of Flapjack's wings and hugging him to his cheek.

"Just as I may remind you that it wasn't your fault you weren't able to save me," Caleb tells the little cardinal, who merely chirps back at him in protest.

"You have saved Hunter, given him the chance to go on and live a long and happy life," Caleb argues, smiling kindly as he sets his gaze between the both of them. "And that is worth everything."

At this, Flapjack finally relents, ruffling up his feathers in pride at Caleb's praise, and chittering back a response that Hunter can't make heads or tails of — something along the lines of: show him, teach him, give him a friend.

"Yes, you're quite right," Caleb replies, smiling across the way at the little cardinal before casting a purposeful look at Hunter. "Shall we get started, then?"

"Doing…what, exactly?" Hunter asks, utterly lost.

Caleb's mouth curves into a bright smile that reaches all the way up to his dark brown eyes. "Why, carving your palisman, of course."

Hunter gasps, one hand reaching up instinctively to Flapjack, the only palisman he's ever known. Flapjack gives his fingers an affectionate nibble, fluttering down to land in the palms of Hunter's hands, and gazing up at him with an encouraging smile in his golden brown eyes.

"Are…are you sure?" Hunter asks the little bird, emotions both conflicting and bittersweet swirling inside him. "Is that okay?"

Flapjack twitters through their shared mental link, reassuring Hunter that of course it's okay, it's exactly what he wants for him, reminding him that he deserves to be loved, to be protected, to have a new companion to watch over him, just as Flapjack has always done.

Hunter holds the little bird gently in his hands, tears sliding down his cheeks as he tells him, "I love you, Flapjack. Thank you for saving my life, in more ways than one. I am so lucky to have called you my friend, and so thankful for the chance to see you one last time."

Flapjack stares up at him, chittering back a chorus of tweets that, to anyone else, would be unintelligible, but to Hunter, mean everything in the world.

Flapjack would gladly do it all over again, because Hunter is worth it.

Hunter is love. Hunter is friend.

Flapjack will always be with Hunter, in his heart and in his memories.

And now it is time for a new adventure.

Hunter nods, wiping a stray tear from his eyes as he smiles down through shining tears at his beloved little bird friend.

"Okay," he says, exhaling on a shaky breath he feels like he's been holding in for months, before turning to face Caleb with a determined smile. "I'm ready."

• • •

The two of them sit across from one another on a pair of felled tree trunks, whittling knives in hand as Caleb walks him through the basic maneuvers, Flapjack perched on Hunter's shoulder to watch his progress with rapt curiosity, occasionally chirping little sounds of encouragement. Hunter heaves another frustrated sigh, tongue stuck between his teeth in concentration as he struggles to make his first few cuts, while Caleb sits beside him working on his own project, hands moving in easy strokes across the grain.

"Remember to carve with the curve of the blade," Caleb instructs him in a gentle, calming tone. "Each stroke should be one nice, fluid motion. And remember to take your time — when it comes to making palismen, the journey is just as important as the destination. If you haven't yet figured out what it is you're crafting, fret not — it will come to you as you go along. More often than not, I've found that the budding palisman will tell you what it wants to be, rather than the other way round."

"Thank you, but at the rate I'm going, it might never happen at all," Hunter sighs, smoothing over another jagged cut in the palistrom wood's surface.

"You ought to give yourself a little more credit. You are doing marvelously for a beginner," Caleb assures him with a kind smile. "I know it must be difficult for someone to whom new skills often come naturally, to struggle with one that does not. But I have watched you persevere through many a daunting task with practice, patience, dedication, and determination, and that is the mark of a truly great student."

Hunter beams up at him, grateful for his encouraging words.

"Just look at what you have accomplished today! You and I, able to sit beside one another and commune across generations," Caleb exclaims with a jovial grin, gesturing around at the gorgeous expanse of Hunter's woodland mindscape. "This is quite a complicated spell you managed to pull off. I'd come across the concept of mindscapes in my own studies, of course, but I must say, your knowledge and expertise far outweighs mine. You must be quite adept at magic."

Hunter's smile falters.

"Oh, I— I had help," he confesses, chagrined at having to turn down Caleb's praise. An old insecurity he thought he'd finally put to rest creeps up on him, expanding in his chest like water in the lungs of a drowning man. "I'm not…it's not like I'm a real witch, or even a human. Hell, I'm not even sure I'm a real person. I'm just—"

"A grimwalker, yes." Caleb fixes him with a knowing smile, empathetic and bittersweet. "But mark my words, that does not make you any less real. You are not a witch, but you have still mastered glyph magic and found other more creative ways to perform extraordinary spellwork. You are not a human, but you think and feel just as deeply and complexly — some would argue far more — than the lot of them. You have thrived working within your own — as you may see them — limitations, proving time and time again that you do not need to be a witch or a human in order to be valid."

"You were made in my likeness — as is any child of their parent, when you really think about it — but you are still your own person, with your own unique thoughts and feelings and desires for the future," Caleb tells him, bright smile and dark brown eyes brimming with pride. "You are perfect, Hunter, exactly as you are."

Hunter feels the carving knife slacken in his hands, slip and fall to the forest floor as he stares at the ghost of his ortet, tears shining in his eyes for the third time since he arrived. He swallows against a lump in his throat, trying to find the right words to express how it feels to finally hear the one thing he's been longing for from the moment he found out what he was (his whole life, really, if he's being honest) — that he is enough, exactly as he is.

Before he can open his mouth, however, a strong yet gentle set of hands claps him on the shoulder, giving him an affectionate squeeze, before pulling away to grab for the carving knife that had fallen to the ground, and handing it back to Hunter with the sharp end facing inward.

"And your woodworking is coming along quite nicely. You shall make a splendid palisman carver," Caleb adds, redirecting the conversation back to the task at hand, saving Hunter the trouble of having to come up with a response he has no idea how to even begin to articulate. "Now that I've shown you the basics, you'll have a fine footing for when you begin your studies with Dell."

"Dell…Dell Clawthorne?" Hunter exclaims, voice coming out in a slightly nasally inflection as he hastily wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his sweater. "Eda and Lilith's dad?"

"The very same," Caleb replies.

"But how did you know I was planning to— how do you know Dell?" Hunter asks, utterly baffled. He'd only just started talking to Eda about the possibility of learning her father's craft.

"I make it a habit to know all of my descendants," Caleb informs him with a sly smile. "Blood-born and grimwalker alike."

Hunter gapes at him. "You mean Evelyn was—"

"A Clawthorne, yes," Caleb says, a note of pride in his voice. "When we married, I became a part of her family. And now that family belongs to you."

Hunter stares at him, warmth at the word family spreading through his chest, threatening to spill more tears. He's already a Noceda, hopeful to one day become a Park, but now he's discovering that he's a Clawthorne, too. (Well, even more of a Clawthorne than he'd already thought — after all, Eda did offer to sign adoption papers.)

"I understand that you have been living under Eda's roof since your return to the demon realm, and that you have been making plans to apprentice with Dell to learn how to carve palismen," Caleb says, joy shining through his smile. "I'm very glad you've found one another, and — if you'll pardon the pun — I am very glad they've taken you under their wing."

Hunter snorts with laughter, a bout of wonderstruck giddiness bubbling up inside him at the notion that all he's ever wanted is a loving parent, and now here he is with more family than he knows what to do with.

"That's…that's amazing," he says. "I can't wait to tell them."

"I am thrilled for you. Family should never have to be without one another," Caleb says, joviality slipping for the first time since they'd met, replaced with a wistful smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes this time. 

It doesn't seem fair that Caleb will never get a chance to meet the family he's been watching over all these years, his own happy life with his wife and child cut short well before his time.

"What was she like?" Hunter finds himself asking, eager to know more about the one who started it all — the witch who captured the heart of a hunter and led him down a better path.

"Evelyn," he says, and the moment Caleb hears her name, his face breaks into a beatific smile the likes of which Hunter has only ever seen mirrored in himself in candid shots taken whenever a certain plant witch had caught his eye.

"She was…incendiary," Caleb reflects with a starry-eyed sigh. "Beautiful, fiery, fierce. Smile like sunshine and a laugh like a lullaby. Oh, and the wit on that one — I was half convinced she was trying to murder me through sheer force of laughter, how my muscles ached from smiling. I awoke every day in awe of the fact that I was the one lucky enough to be with her."

"She sounds wonderful," Hunter says, Caleb's smile contagious.

"She truly was," Caleb heaves an idyllic sigh, fixing Hunter with a curious smile. "And what of your great love? Willow, if I am not mistaken? Tell me about her."

"She's—" Hunter swallows, finding the gentle sunshine and tepid, tranquil forest very hot all of the sudden. "She's Willow. She's smart, and she's cool, and she's strong, and she's kind. She makes me smile more than I ever have in my entire life. She knows everything I am and everything I've done, the good and the bad, and she still chose to be with me anyway. She makes me feel safe. She makes me feel…she feels like home."

Caleb's lips quirk up, dark brown eyes alight with a twinkling smile. 

"Perhaps history does indeed repeat itself," he says. "Though I am confident that your story will contain many more chapters and have a much happier ending than mine."

Hunter stares at him for a moment, on the verge of telling him how very sorry he is for everything Philip put him through, but Caleb holds up a hand to stop him, smiling in a way that assures Hunter he has long since made his peace with it, that eternity has provided him his happily ever after, his soul at rest with hers now.

"I am very glad you met her," Caleb says, and Hunter can't help but return his heartening smile, a delicate blush tinging his cheeks as the possibility of spending a lifetime with Willow weaves a tapestry through his mind.

"How is your palisman coming along?" Caleb asks, redirecting his attention toward the little bundle of wood held aloft in Hunter's hands.

Hunter glances down suddenly, only just realizing that he'd completely forgotten what he was supposed to be doing, hands on autopilot while the two of them had been busy talking, and is surprised to find he's carved something entirely different from the little green and gold bird he'd been picturing, musing over the idea of calling him Pancakes in honor of Flapjack. 

Instead, he finds a wolf cradled in the palms of his hands, each detail precisely executed as though some invisible force had been guiding his hands all along. As he smoothes his fingertips over the carefully crafted grooves of the wolf's fur, Hunter can't help but marvel at how perfect he is, how much he already loves him. Within seconds of thinking the words, the little wolf glows bright gold in Hunter's hands, rising into the air and transforming into a magnificent staff the color of deep red mahogany.

"Oh, what a beauty," Caleb remarks, smiling at the brand new creation clutched in Hunter's hands. "There's something rather mystical about wolves, don't you think?"

Hunter smiles up at him, huffing out a laugh as his own words echo back through his memory. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

"Thank you for teaching me how to do this," he says, glancing up from the fiery red of his brand new staff to the warm brown of Caleb's eyes. "This has been such an amazing experience."

"You're very welcome," Caleb replies with a bright smile. "You've done a marvelous job, Hunter. You should be very proud."

"Thank you," Hunter says, beaming up at him.

"What do you think, Flap?" he asks, tilting his head to brush his cheek against the side of the little bird's wings. In answer, Flapjack swoops down to land on top of the wolf's head, chittering cheerfully.

"Glad you approve," Hunter chuckles, gently stroking the top of Flapjack's head. For a moment, he loses himself in the muscle memory, watching as the sun slowly sinks below the horizon, casting their surroundings in a warm, golden glow — a gentle reminder that their time together in the mindscape is coming to a close. Hunter turns back to face Caleb, a resolute nod passing between the two of them.

"Before we part, I'd like you to have this," Caleb tells him, reaching out to place the project he'd working on in Hunter's outstretched hand — a little wooden carving of a bright red cardinal. "He won't become a palisman, of course, but I wanted you to have a little reminder of your old friend, so that a piece of him will always be with you."

"Thank you," Hunter says softly, staring down at the little figurine, thumb smoothing over the scar etched across its left eye, absolutely awed by how well it captures his likeness down to the very last detail. He places it inside the pocket of his cozy yellow sweater where Flapjack used to sleep, back in the days of lazy autumn afternoons spent paging through books about adventures among the stars, gaze flickering from Caleb to Flapjack as he reaches up to scritch his favorite spot on the underside of his beak. "Both of you. For everything."

Flapjack flutters from the head of the wolf to perch on Hunter's shoulder, nuzzling against his cheek one last time, twittering a gentle Hunter is loved by Flapjack always, before flying back over to land on Caleb's shoulder.

"I'm very happy to have met you, Hunter," Caleb tells him, genuine pride shining in his eyes. "Live a long and happy life for all of us, would you?"

"I'll do my best," Hunter promises, understanding all of us to mean not just Caleb and Flapjack, but all the grimwalkers who'd been unlucky enough to meet the same fate.

"That's all anyone could ever ask," Caleb says, giving Hunter one last bright smile before turning to walk the long, winding, sunlit path through the forest, Flapjack chittering cheerfully on his shoulder as the two of them disappear beyond the golden horizon.

• • •

Hunter wakes with a wolf pup snuggled on top of his chest, gazing at him with a pair of golden brown eyes, soft fur a fiery shade of red beneath his fingertips. He blinks against the hazy afternoon sunlight streaming through the open windows of Eda's living room, glancing up to find another pair of bright green eyes beaming at him from behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

"They're back," she says with a soft gasp, clapping a hand over her mouth.

"What's back?" Hunter asks in mild alarm.

"Your eyes," she elaborates, passing him a little handheld mirror so that he can see the difference for himself. Hunter gazes into it, surprised to find a pair of bright red eyes staring back at him between a winding path of pale pink scars.

"Brown eyes are beautiful, but I have to admit, I've missed the red. They're just so…you," Willow says, gazing at him with a smile that makes Hunter's heart skip a beat.

"Yeah," Hunter says softly, feeling that same swell of pride, that familiar spark of I like who I am right now flaring to life inside him as he stares at his own reflection in the mirror, hand over his heart as he clutches at the little Flapjack figurine safely tucked away in the front pocket of his sweater, a bittersweet kind of contentment settling in his chest at the knowledge that his old friend has finally been able to pass on. "Yeah, I think so too."

"I see you've acquired a new companion," Willow says, gently stroking between the little wolf pup's floppy ears. "I take it your trip went well?"

"It was amazing," Hunter exclaims, warmth like a roaring fire spreading through his chest at the sight of his girlfriend and his new palisman bonding. "I can't wait to tell you all about it. There's so much I want to—"

But just then, the little wolf pup perks up, bolting forward to attack Hunter with affection, licking his face and tugging on his forelock the same way Flapjack always used to.

"Little rascal," Hunter chuckles as he scritches the wolf pup behind his ears, watching with fond amusement as the little wolf tilts his head to the side, ears flopping adorably, and lets out a spirited bark.

"Oh," Hunter says, marveling at the fact that he just understood what that meant. "Is that what you want to be called?"

The wolf pup barks again, and Hunter could swear he's smiling.

"Okay then, Rascal," Hunter says, an excited gleam in his eyes. "What do you say we go for a test drive. You ready to fly?"

Rascal lets out another cheerful bark, transforming into a staff in Hunter's hands.

"There'll be plenty of time to talk later," Hunter says, glancing up at Willow. "But first, there's something I've been wanting to do for a very long time."

"Oh? And what's that?" Willow asks him, though she thinks she already knows, that same excited gleam reflected back in her eyes.