The Leyndell soldiers stood guard outside the cottage like golden statues. Three of them flanked the front door, spears grounded, and crimson plumes stirring in the salt breeze. Two more patrolled the gravel path leading down toward the cliffs, their armor gleaming dully beneath the overcast sky.
None of them had ceased their duties, despite Summer’s repeated insistence that Patch hardly required defending. Ser Gyles had merely informed her that they were there because she was the Elden Lord, and she had not bothered arguing further.
Inside the cottage, the air smelled of old wood, brewing tea, and that particular warmth she had missed. But it felt smaller than she remembered, and she wasn't talking physically. The walls still stood where they always had, the old shelves still leaned slightly to the left because Taiyang had never gotten around to fixing them, and the kitchen table still bore burn marks from Yang trying to cook unattended as a child.
But after Leyndell… after the Erdtree… the Land of Shadows… after sitting beneath ceilings carved for giants and walking through halls built to house gods and their legacies…
Patch felt fragile and much more human in comparison, and Summer couldn’t help but be thankful for it.
She stood near the living room window, watching golden-armored Leyndell knights move beyond the fence line while ash drifted softly through the evening air outside. The soldiers kept their distance from the house itself, though their presence still unsettled the neighbors living farther down the road.
She could hardly blame them. Even now, seeing the knights beside ordinary homes looked wrong to her.
Leyndell and Patch asphalt did not belong in the same reality. Neither did she.
Behind her, Ruby sat curled against Yang on the couch, silver eyes still red from crying. The latter, meanwhile, kept one arm wrapped tightly around the former, eyes fixed on Summer as though afraid she might disappear.
Taiyang sat opposite her, close enough to keep reaching for her hand every few minutes as though he still feared she might vanish.
She didn't really mind. She hadn’t stopped touching him either.
"—and that's most of it," she finished, her voice hoarse from talking. "The condensed version, anyway."
Ruby frowned. "Condensed?"
"You don't want the full version. Trust me."
Yang snorted softly. "Yeah, because the part about you dying like fifty times was the gentle version."
"I stopped counting after twenty-four."
The table went quiet, and Summer immediately regretted saying that.
“…So you actually died?” Ruby asked softly.
Summer winced slightly. “That’s… complicated.”
“You said you got eaten by a Grimm pool.”
“I did.”
“And then woke up somewhere else.”
“…More or less.”
Yang rubbed at her face. “Mom, that is not making this sound less insane.”
Summer laughed weakly despite herself. “Yeah. I know.”
She turned slightly from the window, white cloak shifting slightly around her shoulders. Even without armor, even stripped of weapons and royal regalia, the years still clung visibly to her: the way she stood; the way she watched exits unconsciously, and even in the lines etched on her face.
Tai noticed all of it.
“And this place,” Ruby continued slowly, “the Lands Between…”
Summer nodded once.
“It’s real.”
“You fought monsters there?” Yang added.
Summer immediately downplayed it. “Mostly just… surviving, and traveling.”
Yang stared at her flatly. “You literally described fighting demigods.”
“…Okay, sometimes surviving involved fighting demigods.”
Ruby made a small strangled noise somewhere between disbelief and excitement.
“You met actual gods?!”
“We’ll come back to that.”
Summer pointed at Yang.
“You lost an arm.”
That answer earned three identical unimpressed looks.
Summer rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “Forgive me for trying to steer the conversation elsewhere.”
“Nope, not happening," Yang muttered.
Summer smiled slightly at that.
Gods, Yang sounded older now. Looked older and different too, and she wasn't just talking about the missing arm…
Summer had seen that look countless times before in the mirror.
That's—" Ruby started, then stopped. She swallowed. "That's a lot of times."
"It was a different world. Death didn't work the same way there, at least not until the end." Summer reached across the space between them and covered Ruby's hand with her own. "I'm here now. That's what matters."
Taiyang cleared his throat. His voice was still rough from crying earlier, still raw in a way Summer had hardly heard from him. "You said you were brought back by this… Elden Ring thing."
"By Marika, the Queen. She used her Grace to bring me back to life in the Lands Between." Summer paused, searching for words that wouldn't sound completely mad. "After I killed the Elden Beast, the Ring was mended with the Runes I took from demigods. And part of getting to that mending process in the first place meant returning Destined Death to that world and fixing things that were broken. Which included both of us."
"So you were dead," Yang said flatly. "And then you weren't."
"Yes."
"And you've been there ever since, ruling and rebuilding."
"Yes."
“So while we thought you were dead…”
“I was trying to survive politics,” Summer finished lamely.
“…Mom.”
“I know.” Summer swallowed hard. “I tried to come home.”
Tai looked up immediately.
“Every chance I had,” she said quickly, “I chased after every lead and every rumor about crossing worlds or breaking the veil or finding another way back. I tried.”
Her voice cracked.
“Gods, I tried.”
And failed again and again and again, until eventually survival started taking priority over hope.
Ruby suddenly stood and without warning, crossed the room before wrapping her arms around Summer again.
Summer froze for half a heartbeat before hugging her back tightly.
“I’m just glad you’re here now,” Ruby mumbled against her shoulder.
Summer closed her eyes.
Gods.
That almost broke her all over again.
“…Yeah,” she whispered. “Me too.”
For some time, no one spoke. Then Taiyang reached over and took her hand properly this time, interlacing his fingers through hers.
"You said you're a lord now," he said slowly. "An Elden Lord. And that you're… consort to this Queen."
Summer's stomach flipped. "Yes."
"What does that mean, exactly?"
"You know what it means, Tai."
"I want to hear you say it."
Yang raised an eyebrow, and Ruby glanced between her parents before her gaze fell onto her lap, suddenly very interested in the frills of her skirt.
Summer felt her soul attempting to physically leave her body. "Marika and I are—"
A knock rattled the front door, and every soldier outside snapped to attention simultaneously; Summer heard the synchronized shift of armor and the grounding of spears against the porch stones.
Summer closed her eyes.
"Saved by the door," Yang muttered.
"I wasn't avoiding the question."
"You were absolutely avoiding the question."
Summer pushed back from the table and stood, her legs aching. No, everything ached. But she crossed the small cottage to the front door anyway, because she knew—knew—who would be standing on the other side.
She opened the door.
Marika stood on the porch.
For a moment she looked absurdly out of place against the faded paint and crooked fence posts, flanked as she was by two Black Knife Assassins.
"My Lord Summer," Marika said softly. "Thou didst forget to inquire whether I desired an introduction to thy family?”
Summer stared at Marika as slowly, her gaze shifted past her shoulder toward the family inside.
Behind her, she heard Ruby's sharp intake of breath, heard Yang’s muttered "You've got to be kidding me,” and heard Taiyang push back from the table so quickly his chair nearly tipped over.
Summer opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“May I enter?” Marika's said, her cracked lips twitching in almost a smile. “Or hath my arrival already caused sufficient distress?”