Chapter 49: An Unrepentant Realization
Kejo was about to tell some terrible fatal joke, but heart pounding in fear, Fancy Chill froze his mouth. Kejo flailed around upon discovering his mouth frozen. Ismi was in full blown panic, what was she supposed to do about a ice mage!?
“Ismi, be calm, she saved us!” Yerdl said.
Ismi pause and stared at Yerdl in horror.
“Oh no, she can brainwash people, give him back, give me back my husbaaaaannd!” Ismi cried.
Fancy Chill was rendered quite speechless.
“Yerdl is telling the truth lady Ismi” Marlequant attempted to assure the distraught Ismi.
“Oh no, even idiots aren’t safe from the brainwashing, just how powerful are you? Just get it over with and stop torturing me!” Ismi wailed.
She collapsed in a sobbing heap.
“Huh? What’s going on? Why is Ismi crying? I’ll hit someone with a fish” Loro muttered still half asleep.
Yerdl went to try and convince Ismi, but Fancy Chill got to her before him.
“You kno…” She began
Ismi’s eyes flashed like savage stars and she spun around with an improbably large piece of debris that she had picked up, this was the legendary insane strength of a mother pushed to her limits!
This actually got an uncharacteristic shriek of fright from Fancy Chill she evaded the attack of course but no mage likes large blunt instruments being waved so close to their face.
Ismi was about to continue the attack by flinging the debris at Fancy Chill when Loro stopped her.
“Woah Girl, I reckon if this icy magey person wanted you harmed, it’d have happened while we were sleeping”
Ismi dropped the debris and slowly calmed down, she turned to Yerdl, quite disturbed.
“Just what is going on here?” Ismi asked.
After a brief and somewhat horrifying explanation that rendered Ismi unable to look at jam the same way again she still had one thing that she did not understand.
“Weren’t you trying to kill us? Why did you save us?” Ismi asked Fancy Chill.
Fancy Chill lounged atop her pet blizzard which she was keeping restrained so that it wouldn’t freeze the people before her.
“I had a realization” She began.
“If I kill people to end their stories, then I won’t get further stories from them, If I had succeeded in killing you when I first revealed myself, then you would not have experienced what you have. I would not have seen it either. So, I’ve decided that the longer people live the more stories I can see!”
“Does this mean you won’t be tormenting innocent travellers anymore?” Yerdl boldy asked.
“How did you get that impression? Everything’s fine as long as they still live” Fancy Chill declared.
“Oh. Well thanks anyway!” Kejo said.
His mouth was still a bit stiff.
Fancy Chill ruffled her feathers. She wasn’t used to being thanked, cursed yes, thanked no.
“W-well I’ll lead you up to the surface, least I can do for entertaining me as you have done so”
Mostly everyone was more than glad to be leaving the tower. Nearly being turned into jam has a way of inspiring dread like that.
“Milady, hold a moment!” Marlequant called.
“What is it Knight of Flavourful Ice?” Fancy Chill asked.
“We can’t just leave like this!” Marlequant said.
Turmeric looked at Marlequant then at everyone else.
“That what we doing?” he said puzzled.
They really could just leave just like that, what was Marlequant’s issue?
“We have to free all the jams!” Marlequant said.
Fancy Chill’s eyes sparkled.
“Of course! So many stories will start again!”
She sent her blizzard through Sunfollow Tower, shattering all the Jars, and just freeing the people turned into jams.
They were still jams though.
Epilogue: Caravamel’s End
Once the Caralid family was back on the surface of Elcon, it wasn’t far to their village. The villagers were upset at the loss of one of the crates of honey drink, but the other things that had been picked up on the way made up for it somewhat.
Really everyone was just glad to get any honey-drink at all. Now, no matter if hunting or farming didn’t go well, they’d be able to sustain themselves.
Loro of course didn’t come with the Caralids, instead returning to her river. Her experience in the tower was more than enough adventure for her.
Marlequant Qu Marlequant was sent out on all kinds of nonsensical quests by Fancy Chill, however, he got to be a hero and Fancy Chill got to be amused, so everything worked out there.
The Jams of Sunfollow tower rebuilt their home, and when the Firelord’s minions came to pick up a shipment of jam, they were soundly beaten back. It was a great blow to the Firelord’s armies to lose the source of food that Gosgos of Jam had been providing them.
The True Slug’s Forgehome of Released Opal went under new management, mostly because the majority of the overseers were frozen dead. Under the management of Citizen Navy, the forgehome actually got around to doing all the maintenance that they should have been doing.
Turmeric for his part got wages more than just food and board. He saved every coin, and dreamed of having his own tower, but that is quite another story altogether.