The Pearl

Epilogue

"Zephyr, please stop going so hard on Lilly." I raise my eyebrow at my son, who simply does the same back to me. While he has his father's bright blue eyes, he looks more like me. "Control your element."

"It's okay Auntie Kei," Lilly says as she gets up from the ground, "In a real-life situation, the bad guys never go easy on you." I look over at Stina, who smiles proudly at her daughter.

"Yeah; we could beat you anytime anyway," Stina says cockily to Zephyr and I.

"Oh really?" Zephyr asks smugly. "Are you challenging us? Is this a challenge?"

"Bring it on, pretty boy," Lilly says with a smirk. Stina and I get up and join our kids in the practice ring. Just before we start, we hear the door creak open.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" asks Miles, who grins as he walks towards Stina and gives her a peck on the lips.

"Dad," Lilly whines, "we're sparring!"

"Sorry Lil," he says as her ruffles her hair. "You guys carry on. I'll watch."

"I wanna watch too!" shrieks Era. She dashes into the room with Jett, holding Tyra, Manda, and Anemone on her tail. Manda scoops her up, holding her at arm's length so that Era's thrashing wouldn't touch her.

"Sorry guys," Jett says breathlessly as he shifts Tyra's weight to his other arm. "Era got into Ani and Zephyr's candy stash by the way Kei."

"What?" Zephyr shrieks, his voice cracking, "Ani! You were supposed to take care of that!"

"Hey, you try babysitting Era," Anemone says, "If you don't want the candy to keep disappearing, then hide it in your room." Her twin simply rolls his eyes and grunts.

"Can we please start?" Lilly asks impatiently.

"Start what?" Jett questions curiously.

"Jett, they're in the ring; what do you think they're going to do?" Manda rolls her eyes, but there's still a smile on her lips.

"Can we join?" Anemone asks hopefully.

"Yeah; come here babe." I beckon her over to our side, but Lilly blocked her way into the ring.

"That's not fair; you guys will have three and we'll have two."

"I could help," Miles suggests, raising a hand and stepping into the circle. Lilly nods, and then we all start sparring. Anemone shoots a column of air at Stina, while Zephyr hides behind her to try disarming Lilly with magic. I create a wall in front of me, and string ropes of wind around the opposing team while protecting myself with the wall. Once they all get close together, I tighten the rope, and am about to fling them out of the ring when I suddenly stop. I glare at Stina, who simply smirks back at me.

Anemone then uses her element to make the others rise, and pushes them out of the ring with a loud grunt.

"Yes Ani!" Zephyr shouts, high fiving his sister, who grins victoriously back. "Guess who got you Lil-"

Suddenly, Lilly phases into the ring, right in front of Zephyr, and throws him out of the ring.

"I'm getting the hand of this illusion thing," Lilly says with a grin.

"We heard noises!" yells Mura as she, Lyn, and Zach enter the room. "Who won this time?"

"They did, but I got Zephyr out the ring." Lilly says proudly.

"That's my girl," Lyn says with a smile, giving her niece a fist bump.

"And that's my girls," Zach says as he comes over and envelopes us into a hug.

"Wow, thanks Dad," Zephyr says sarcastically. Zach ruffles his hair.

"Well you were beat."

I grin widely. If someone told me twenty years ago that I would be here, running a school for the magically gifted with a loving family and a magnificent group of friends, with the two worlds connected and my memories back, I would not believe them. I couldn't believe that I'd almost given up all those years ago; I almost gave up this. This feeling of euphoria. Yet, I hadn't, and now we're all here living our life to the fullest.

We've made it.

::::::::::

:')

[family tree key thing]

Zach Reywind + Keilani Vuair = Anemone Reywind [second twin, 15]; Zephyr Chiron Reywind [first twin, 15]

Jett Erion + Amanda Rosecloud = Era Amari Erion [8] ; Tyra Erion [2]

Miles Everest + Stina Aesalon = Lilly Elle Everest [13]

Iimura Maroaqua + her job = success

Lyn Fyre + her job = success

FUN FACTS FOR THE NAMES:

Anemone is the name of a nymph that had been turned into a wind flower; Zephyr is a soft wind; Chiron is the name of a kind figure in Greek mythology; Era is an Albanian name meaning wind; Amari means strength; Tyra means warrior; Lilly and Elle are tributes to Lillia Morella.