A Hero's Epilogue

     A few weeks after the events of "Sands of an Hourglass"...

     Hanso was quietly drinking coffee in the kitchen of his and Brynn's home in Faerieland. Brynn had left earlier for her duties as Captain of the Faerieland Guards, and he was alone, pensively looking over old newspapers.

     He sighed. He was re-reading the reports of his and Brynn's travels, how they had uncovered many mysteries together, how they had found strange artefacts, how they had saved others by doing their job... but now... all of this seemed...

     ...of... no importance to him? At all?

     He had felt this way for a couple of months now, ever since he had married Brynn... yet he hadn't told his wife or nobody else of these feelings - he had kept them to himself.

     But... it had been a couple of weeks since they finished their latest artefact-retrieving mission on the Lost Desert, and it hadn't been an easy one. The Hourglasses Of Time were the least difficult to get out of all of those Fyora sent them for. And that was an understatement, since enduring the scorching heat and sand for days on end, chasing down another thief, then having to travel to an underground city then having to make their way back to Faerieland had not been pleasant.

     He was angry, and he was bottling up his feelings, he had been doing so for many weeks now. He felt like he was about to explode, and this wasn't common for him, since he wasn't short-tempered. Brynn had noticed he had been acting differently, but he denied it to her every time she asked.

     He stuffed away the newspaper articles back in the box they had been saved in, and rose up angrily, since he decided to go out for a walk to see if he could cool down a bit. He walked around, and sat down in a bench, still angry. He looked up at the sky - it was a bright blue and had scant clouds, the day was perfect for a walk in the park. He usually loved days like these, but today, today he felt different. He didn't feel like himself - he wondered, what was going on? Why did he feel this way about something he loved to do for over a decade? What had changed?

     Then he realized that something had happened on the last mission that threw him off, something that he tried not to remember, but still... it haunted him... and that was that his beloved wife nearly died. She barely escaped death. If it hadn't been for Hanso saving her, she would've been dead. And all for an artefact, something that, to him, had no value compared to Brynn's life.

     He felt that Fyora wasn't valuing their efforts for a while now, taking them for granted. And he was tired of artefact-hunting. He wanted to retire. But how was he to tell Brynn? She was happy here, she liked her job, she enjoyed going with Hanso on their travels...

     He sighed, and sat down. He knew he had to talk to her about all this - she was his wife now, after all. His best friend. Someone he knew he could trust entirely.

     So, later that day... he did.

     "But, what would we do then?", asked a concerned Brynn as she and Hanso drank coffee on their house's kitchen.

     "I-I don't know. But I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to lose you, Brynn."

     "Dear", she said, holding his hand, "You won't. I'm okay. I'll be okay as long as we're together." She wiped the tears that began rolling down his cheeks, and then hugged him tightly. "Remember that I love you."

     "I love you, too."

     Early the following day, the couple went to Fyora's castle, as they had asked for an audience with the queen.

     "I'm scared, Brynn", Hanso admitted as he walked beside her.

     "Why, Hanso?"

     "Because I don't know how Fyora will react to us- y'know."

     "Well, she is reasonable and patient", said Brynn. "I'm sure she'll understand."

     "Really? You don't think she'll be disappointed?"

     "Yes, maybe", the Kougra said frankly. "But, it's something we've decided. Don't worry."

     So Brynn and Hanso went into Fyora's throne room, and there, saw the queen. Hanso began, explaining he and Brynn had decided not to go on artefact-hunting anymore. Brynn then commented she had decided to retire from the Faerieland Army and go serve back in Brightvale, and that she and Hanso would move there, back to her house.

     Fyora patiently heard them, and, when they finished speaking, she sighed. "I understand your reasons for deciding to retire. And I'm well aware your last mission was particularly dangerous - as a matter of fact, we had to destroy the last artefacts you retrieved, the Hourglasses, since they were too dangerous to keep existing. It's really a miracle you and the city's inhabitants were not more affected by their influence", she explained. "It's a shame you will be leaving us. Your labour has been invaluable all these years. You two will be dearly missed", she concluded sincerely.

     "Thank you, Queen Fyora", replied Brynn.

     "But I'm concerned as how you two will fare", continued the faerie queen. "Will you be alright, in Brightvale?"

     "Yes, we will", Hanso said assertively. "We talked about what to do for a living there - and we'll be alright."

     "'We'll be alright', I said."

     "Well, we are alright, aren't we?"

     This was Brynn reassuring Hanso. Weeks had passed since they had talked to Queen Fyora and left their jobs in Faerieland, and they had moved to Brynn's house in Brightvale not long after that. The orange Kougra continued patiently, "We have this house. We have good jobs. Why are you stressed?"

     "It's just-", the Ixi sighed. "This is harder than I thought it'd be."

     "Moving was hard and stressful. It always is. And adapting to living here again has been a challenge. Things have changed a lot since I last lived here, we've changed since we last lived here", said Brynn.

     "It's ironic that change has hit me this hard, given I used to live on the run when I was younger. I pretty much know all places in Neopia", chuckled Hanso. "And the two of us went many places."

     "Yes... But we're not as young as we used to be."

     "We're both 31, Brynn."

     "That's not the same as being 20, Hanso."

     Hanso sighed. "Yeah, tell me about it. I don't have the same energy."

     "Neither do I."

     "There are so many things I wanted to do when I was a kid I couldn't do. So many things I wanted to be", continued Hanso. "But time flew by so fast. I wish things would've been different. Yet, I wouldn't change meeting you." Brynn smiled at this statement, and kissed him.

     "I remember you telling me you wanted to be a writer when you were a kid."

     "Yes."

     "Do you still want that?"

     Hanso mused his answer. "Well, yes. But that's kind of impossible."

     "Why?", asked Brynn.

     "I'm too old to begin any amazing project."

     "No one is never too old to attempt anything", declared Brynn.

     "But what if my writing is not good enough?"

     "Dear, even if it's not popular, there will always be people who appreciate your work." She then looked at her watch. "Oh, I have to go to work." She kissed him on the cheek, and bid him farewell.

     Hanso stayed at home since he didn't have work to do that day - he, a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, had found job as a mechanic, and work had been hard and tiring. But, he didn't want to stay alone with his thoughts, so he took a coat and went outside for a walk. It was a pleasant, breezy autumn morning. He decided on going to the local cafeteria, buy a coffee and some biscuits. He hadn't been a coffee drinking person before, but recently, he had acquired the habit.

     He sat ouside on one of the tables, and gazed around at his surroundings. He then sighed and drank his coffee and ate quietly, alone.

     But then he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned around to see who it was, and nearly choked on his coffee.

     "Whoops, I'm sorry", said the person who had interrupted him - a tall orange gelert with curly brown hair wearing a green coat.

     "Tyrone, what are you doing around here?"

     "I was visiting a friend. I could ask the same about you, though. Don't you live in Faerieland?"

     "Not since a couple of weeks ago", explained Hanso. "Brynn and I... don't work for the Queen anymore."

     Tyrone sat down. "Wait, what? Why?"

     "We decided to quit. It was taking a toll on our physical and emotional health."

     "Oh... I get that", said Tyrone. "But you're doing well here?"

     "Yeah, we are. The switch hasn't been easy, but we're alright."

     "Are you okay?"

     "Huh?", blinked the Ixi.

     "You seem... different, somehow."

     "I... yeah, I guess I'm kinda different. But good or bad?"

     "Not sure yet."

     "Huh", exclaimed Hanso. "I guess I'm just tired... the past few weeks have been stressful and tiring. And our last mission before we decided on quitting was hard."

     "I see... and... how is Brynn?"

     "She's alright. She's at work."

     "How has she felt with all this?"

     "The same as I - tired, stressed. Albeit her attitude has been more optimistic than mine. I'm kind of... meh."

     "Why?"

     "I'm not feeling well", Hanso admitted with a sigh. "I haven't, for a couple of months now. I'm worried about Brynn's well-being. She nearly died on several of our missions, and... I've had nightmares about that."

     "Oh... and you've told her about your nightmares?"

     "No. I don't want to worry her."

     Tyrone advised, "But you two are husband and wife. You should always be open about your feelings. All couples should, married or not."

     "I know, I know. But... It's not easy for me."

     "But you should. For the sake of your mental health and your relationship. I bet she's worried about you."

     "She is."

     "Then tell her what's going on. You'll feel better. I'm sure."

     "Well, then... I will. Thank you."

     "You're welcome."

     "And...", Hanso said, changing the subject. "Your friend who lives around here... you visited them already?"

     "Her. Yes. Why?"

     "Oh, 'her', huh?", teased Hanso. Tyrone blushed, and looked away. "Does 'she' work as a journalist or something of the sort?"

     "Yes, she does. Why?"

     "Is she a speckled Acara named Missy?"

     Tyrone flushed scarlet. "H-how do you know?"

     "Why are you blushing? I was just asking about your friend, as I was curious. No need to blush, pal. Unless something else is going on." Tyrone cleared his throat and kept blushing. "Oh, is it?"

     "Yes. You're good at finding out secrets, pal."

     "Hey, a decade of finding artefacts and solving mystries does that to you. Also, she told me."

     "WHAT?!", yelled a flustered Tyrone.

     "Yep, not too long ago, she's a friend of ours as well. I actually saw her a couple of days ago and asked about you and said things between the two of you were 'going swell', yeah, a bit of an old-fashioned expression, but those were her words."

     "Y-yeah, she says that all the time", chuckled Tyrone nervously, still blushing.

     "I'm happy for you."

     "Th-thanks."

     "So, how long are you staying here?"

     "A couple of days."

     "Oh, good", continued Hanso. "At least I have someone else to talk to- of course, if that's okay with you".

     "Yeah, I don't mind. What do you wanna do?"

     "I don't know... for now let's go for a walk." So both friends did.

     "So", Tyrone asked as they walked down the autumn leaf-covered streets of Brightvale, "What have you been working as?"

     "As a mechanic".

     "Seriously?"

     "Yeah, I kinda know how to do a lot of things."

     "That's cool."

     "Eh, it's not a bad job. Not my dream job, but it pays well enough."

     "And what is your dream job?"

     "Hmm", Hanso uttered. "Good question. I'm not sure. I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid. You remember that."

     "Yeah."

     "I'd like that, but, being realistic, I don't know if it would give the two of us enough for a living. We also want to start a family... and that takes time, energy and money. So I don't see it as a job per se. More as a hobby I'd like to pursue, and if I could make money from it, it would be nice too, but I'm aware it wouldn't be a fixed income, unless I was like, really, really successful, and one has to be very lucky for that to happen."

     "Hmm. I see. You've become more down-to-earth than I remember you."

     "Eh. Things happened. I changed. I'm not the same man I was. I still have a vivid imagination, but it's the only thing that's left from that one orphaned kid you met ages ago."

     "That one orphaned kid didn't talk so much; as a matter of fact he didn't talk at all", chuckled Tyrone.

     "True", smirked Hanso.

     "What's another thing you'd like to do?"

     "Huh, good question. I would like to open a business. Like a cafeteria. I really like the one you found me at, but it's kinda far from home. I don't think there's a lot around these parts."

     "Not that I've seen, no."

     "It's not a bad idea."

     "You think it would be successful?"

     "Success depends on many things. Effort, patience, persistence. And a bit of luck. But I think you could pull it. And as for the writing gig - I think you could do that as well."

     "Really?"

     "Yeah, why not? You could write about your travels, to begin with... or whatever else you'd like."

     "I'm gonna talk it over with Brynn... thanks, Tyrone, for listening to me."

     "You're welcome, bud. You have my full support, whatever you decide to do."

     The weeks passed, the seasons changed, and, in the blink of an eye... it was early year 25.

     The Wright family had opened up a little cafeteria in Brightvale.

     Hanso walked through it early before opening that day - it was quite a lovely place he and Brynn had managed to buy and decorate. But he wondered, was it gonna be successful? Then he remembered Tyrone's words... "Success depends on many things. Effort, patience, persistence. And a bit of luck." He had to believe in them to remain optimistic.

     "Dear", Brynn said, interrupting his musings. He turned around and saw her holding their daughter, a sleeping blue baby Kougra. "Are you alright?"

     He approached her, sighed, and smiled, embracing her and the child. "Yes. I'm just a little tired. You?"

     "Yes, but I'm alright. Vanessa is also alright. She finally fell asleep", she chuckled. "She's a little ball of energy, just like her father when he was younger."

     Hanso smiled and caressed the child's hair. "And she's beautiful, like her mother", he said softly.

     "By the way, did you finish writing your story last night?", yawned Brynn.

     "I got the first draft done... I need to revise it. It looked okay. Then again, I was falling asleep. So I probably wrote strange things", he laughed. "But, hey, at least I finished it. Endings aren't always bad."

     "No, they're not. An ending can mean the beginning of a new story. Like, in our case. Our story in Faerieland ended. But we began a new story in Brightvale."

     "It's more like we revisited our story here..."

     "And is revisiting an old story bad?"

     "Absolutely not. You can read it with fresh eyes. You see things from a different perspective... it's like writing a sequel. It's the same thing, but it continues from where it ended".

     "Precisely."

     "I see where you're going, Brynn", smiled Hanso. "Endings can be hard to write. Hard to get to. Uncomfortable, even. But life is like a story. Where there's a beginning there's got to be an ending. And, let's face it - I don't like reading unfinished stories. I want to know what's coming..."

     "Me too, Hanso, me too. I always wish to see what's coming, for the both of us."

     "So do I."

     The End