[attr="class","ferntitle"]Fern

[attr="class","deltitle"]Delaney

[attr="class","fernpost"]

The more days that pass, the more life settles into place. Their life before Ballonlea, before this Galar begins to become more of the memory than the dream they’ve constructed and committed to living. The apothecary and pokecenter still need to be run. They maintain careful operation, especially as John Sullivan begins to travel more than stay. They have their children to raise alongside jayden cross. They grow like weeds with the other children of Ballonlea, forging their own ties with the world around them. Accompanying their parents on trips to the other kingdoms.[break][break]

Everything grows. The world begins to flourish as the toxins recede. It feels a lot like comfortable settling, even when it feels like there’s still an undefinable something looming on the horizon.

Even so, they are content and happy. Curiosity tugs the back of their mind as to whether or not they’ll go home from time to time. But most days they forget that they really have anywhere to go back to. They have a life, a family. This is their world now.[break][break]

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“You’ve really prepared a lot, Aoife. I’m impressed.”[break][break]

Fern surveys the stores that his eldest has prepared—stockpiling poultices and tinctures and salves for the coming winter’s solstice and whatever it intends to bring. The stores stack up and consume a back corner of their storage room. Clearly, she has been squirreling these things away for some time. When they look at their daughter, they no longer see the little girl who used to toddle after them through the apothecary, eager to stick her hands into whatever she could get her hands on.[break][break]

Instead, she’s the young woman she’s grown into. Clever and witty, but still quiet and observant. Eighteen. When did that happen?[break][break]

“Well, da. Better to be prepared before the fact than scrambling after.”[break][break]

She points out the obvious dryly, fingers twirling around her golden braid. They laugh, and curl her into his arm in a hug. “Smart girl, this one,” they murmur against the top of her head. The first of their ducklings. “You’ll stick together later on, right? Keep an eye on Maritza—you know how reckless she can be.” Their smile is absent and wistful. They wonder if her namesake, Marza Volchitsa would be impressed or annoyed by their youngest daughter’s impulsivity.[break][break]

“Honestly, da. It’s like you think I don’t plan these things.” A quiet laugh, teasing.[break][break]

“Yes, yes of course. Just humor your old da, will you?”[break][break]

A dramatic sigh. A smile, “I’ll look after them, da. If you look out for pa.”[break][break]

“It’s a deal, dove.”[break][break]

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The more the years stack up, the more weathered they feel. They’re not as spry or quick on their feet as they once were. That long winded ailment from over a decade ago still remains in their shortened lung capacity. In their low threshold for the cold or wet weather.[break][break]

So too are some of their team incapable of battle. His flutter mane, and darling Nim, have weathered the years poorly. His typhlosion’s spirit remains bright and resilient, however. So Nimuë remains back in Ballonlea with the children of the orphanage. Determined to protect to the very last if she must.[break][break]

Despite these setbacks, despite feeling their age, Fern is just as resilient. Just as cocksure as they had been when they’d first been pulled into this shifted reality. I think they like you, they’d murmured to jayden cross that first day. The years have unspooled, and Fern finds him just as beloved, just as steady as the city’s king. As their king, and they will follow him to the very last.[break][break]

“Of course we’ll survive. It’s you and me.”[break][break]

Just as it has always been.[break][break]

Their hand winds through his as they depart on the solstice. They lift the back of Jayden’s hand to press a kiss against his knuckles reassuringly. But their eyes are bright and clear. Determined, confident in what they can accomplish now that their group is stronger than its ever been.
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---

tldr;[break]
+ THANK YOU SHIV FOR YOUR PATIENCR!![break]
+ time just keeps on truckin[break]
+ continues to work as the local apothecarist[break]
+ raising his lil bebe ducklings alongside jayden, they’re teens by the end :’3[break]
+ travels to visit the other kingdoms and reconnect with previously lost ties[break]
+ ready to rise to whatever challenge the solstice brings [break]
+ flutter mane and nimuë (h!typlosion) are too old to fight. they stay with the kids at the apothecary.[break]
+ has prepared plenty of herbalist remedies to have on hand for their numbers with help from aoife.[break]
+ is confident they’ll do well because they’re unified in the effort. [break]
+ weapon is a set of throwing knives that utilize phantom force
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[attr="class","fernpoke"]

[attr="class","ftag"] jayden cross

[attr="class","fernbottom"][attr="class","r"]♠