Title: Mandragora
Fandom: Age of Ishtaria
Rating: PG
Length: 975 Words
Content Notes: No warnings apply, but beware of plant puns.
Author Notes: Post-canon, or at least one possibility for it.
Summary: Salix is the last of her kind, but she still has a family.

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The Knight of Ishtaria – retired from the position, but the title stuck – never did get used to opening his eyes in the morning to anything but a camp site in the wilderness, but ... he had to admit that he enjoyed sleeping in a bed again, and it helped that he had Meru curled up next to him, breathing softly. The house they inhabited – her house, though it had come to belong to both of them – still consisted of only a handful of usable rooms amidst the ruins of what had once been a full mansion, but neither of them needed more than that, as long as they had their space and Salix had a garden to tend.

Salix. He needed to talk to Meru about that. The little Mandragora had accompanied them from the beginning, and they represented all that she had in the world. Her entire species had been exterminated, and she had no place to go. Then again, she had been following Meru since long before the summoning that had brought him to Ishtaria and made a Knight of him, and neither of them wished for her to be gone. Thus, he had been thinking, Why not adopt her? She's basically our daughter in all but name, anyway. It made a great deal of sense, and he thought Meru unlikely to object.

Besides, she'll soon have a sister, won't she? He still had one arm draped across the sleeping Meru, his hand resting on the swell of her belly. Several months yet to go, but ... they had a child on the way, and she seemed certain of a daughter. No reason to doubt her on that. He never thought that he could settle in Ishtaria, let alone become one of its greatest protectors, as well as a husband and father, but – I could've gone back. There were ways. She murmured in her sleep, instinctively scooting closer to him. But I belong here, now. This is where I need to be, and that's all there is to it.

He rose from the bed, wrapping himself in a green robe that Leraju had made for him in the days before all the summoned heroes had disappeared from the land. Still feels like they should be here. It'd certainly liven up the place. Nothing in the morning but the sounds of birds and insects outside, Meru breathing inside. But that's another time, isn't it? I'm ... just a man now. That's all right, though. He had fought hard for peace, had been places no mortal had seen. If he told the story to his friends back home, none of them would believe him. This is home now, anyway. It's where my family is.

Outside, Salix was already playing in the garden. She loved to be up with the sun, though that seemed at odds with her generally lazy nature. The plants flourished under her care, and her very presence seemed to be enough to make them blossom. She waved at him as soon as she saw him, bouncing over to him to give him a big hug. Granted, she had never stopped calling him Servant, but it had acquired a more playful meaning than it had on their journeys together. She seemed to understand, as he did, that everything had changed after all that they had done to save the world.

"Hey, Sali?" he said after releasing her, looking directly into her large, berry-red eyes, "I've been thinking. Meru and I both have. I know we've never really discussed it, but we'd like you to stay here with us, and ... we'd like you to be family. That's pretty much what you are, after all." She seemed to turn the idea over and over inside her head, and the flowers around looked as if they were nodding in response to that. "If you really want, you can still call me Servant, but I'd like to think that we're past that now." A wry smile, one that he could not help. "Besides, you're due for a baby sister."

"I know," she replied, grinning. "Not about my baby sister. You told me that before. I mean being family. Some things just ... are. They don't have to be said. Besides –" Her face turned serious. "– no matter how strong you and Meru are, you're still mortal. I'll be around centuries after you're gone." And he realized she was right. "I'll be here ... to keep everyone safe, your children, their children, and their children after that. I owe you that." She hugged him again. "I love you both. I don't have to be your daughter. There doesn't have to be a word for it. I'm just ... me. And you'll always be my Servant."

He choked up, and no amount of trying to keep it to himself could hide it, so he just held Salix and said, softly, "Thank you. That means the world to me." He took a deep breath, and a thought bubbled up deep inside his head. The world, huh? This world. My world. Our world. That's what it is. Guess I'm no longer a stranger in a strange land. He let Salix go, and she returned to tending her plants, humming happily to herself, making her usual jokes about "thyme to plant" and "let's get growing" as he watched. No, Ishtaria really is home now. I'm as much a part of it as anything else here.

The Knight of Ishtaria closed his eyes and inhaled the sweet air around him. This is where I belong, me, Meru, Salix, and ... whoever you're going to be, little one. Another wry smile, strictly for himself. If you're anything like me, you're going to need all the help you can get. Especially theirs. I was so hopeless when I first got here ....

END.