Butterflies in Winter

::Epilogue:: Immortal

"Are you ready in there?" came a voice from outside the doorway.

Romany jumped a little at the sound. A familiar one, but not the kind of familiarity she had been hoping to hear for the last week.

Slowly but surely, the young sniper was coming to terms with the fact that she was never going to hear that voice again.

Pulling herself to her feet and brushing down her dress. She made he way to the door and pulled it open, forcing a smile to the person on the other side of the door. "As ready as I'll ever be, Matthew. You?"

"Ready isn't exactly the word I'd use," the old military leader admitted with a sigh. "But I don't think they're going to be happy with being kept waiting."

Like hell will they. Romany smiled truly now. "It's not like we saved the world or anything, Mat. Why on earth would they wait another minute or two for us?"

He too was smiling now, but he didn't say anything. Merely offering his arm for the young woman to take. She accepted the offer, and linked her arm beneath his and allowed him to lead her through the strange halls.

A little over a week had passed since everything had happened. Romany still ached from the event, but she was thankful to come out of it all one of the least injured. Some had lost limbs, their sight and even their lives in the explosion which had ended it all.

Comparatively, Romany had come out of it extremely lucky.

Today those who had fought were being honoured. Or rather those who had lost their lives were being memorialised. The pain caught in her throat at the thought, it was as though she was missing part of herself.

She may not have known the wolf for a long time, but he was someone that she was never going to forget.

When at last they made their way from the great building, a large number of people were already gathered, waiting.

Grateful that they were too busy concentrating on their own conversations. Romany followed Matthew through the crowd to their designated seats.

Taking her seat, she searched desperately for the one name which seemed to be imprinted in her mind. Her heart jumped when she was unable to find it, she forced the tears away and turned to Matthew. Angry.

"Just wait and see," he said before she had the chance to ask.

Calming herself down, Romany distracted herself with anything but the monument before them.

Beside her someone sat down, but Romany barely noticed the presence of another person before said person spoke up. "How are you, Miss Ahlberg?"

Surprised at the sound, she looked left and smiled. "Asa!" She exclaimed, "I didn't realise you were coming. I thought you were heading for the border to work on clearing it!"

"I wasn't going to miss this for the world," she replied firmly.

The last time Romany had seen the woman, was the night of the fire. The woman hadn't been left unmarked by the event. Fresh scars etched their way across her skin, but by no means took away from her beauty.

"How are you?" Asa asked, the smile slipping from her expression. To be replaced with a look of genuine concern, which made Romany shift uncomfortably.

By now she should have grown used to the looks of pity wherever she went, but she wasn't entirely certain that she would ever find it normal. She may have shed her status as a sniper, but most of her life she had trained to hide her emotion. It was a new feeling to have people know how she was feeling, much less sympathise with it.