Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Of the Warriors who stayed, it was decided that an equal number would go to each village. Three joined Kel in Raisha and the other three stayed in Ilmir. Their official job titles remained but they ended up doing a variety of odd jobs around the village before taking up a secondary trade.

Most of them became miners but Kel and Blaise ended up working primarily in the printing offices because of their wives. But whenever a boy came of age to become an apprentice, he went through the same training regimen everyone else already had and the Warriors dropped their other jobs to see it done.

Abby continued working closely with her sister on improvement projects and expanding the arts programs over the next few years. She had become a de facto piano teacher as well since she was the only person in the village who could play.

Children and even a few adults lined up outside of the auditorium in the hopes of getting lessons. She made each one twenty minutes long and her dozen or so pupils only had one lesson per week but it still took up a lot of her time.

She had to slow down a bit when she got pregnant with her first child. She was two months behind Katie, who was pregnant with her third. Their dream of being able to raise their children together would be happening after all.

Life with Blaise was more wonderful than she could have imagined. He was so thoughtful and considerate, doting on her every bit as much as Al doted on Katie even though his way of showing love was a bit different.

They worked well together, helping Tahvo bring the printing office to new heights. With all of the novels for older children and young adults that had begun to sell, the Kanta became one of the top purveyors of literature on the continent. That kept them very busy.

Abby kept working right up until the day she went into labor. Katie's new son Austin had kept with the A name tradition. She also wanted to use a name from their home but hadn't decided on the right one yet.

It wasn't until she looked at her tiny daughter's silver hair and blue eyes that it came to her. Olivia.

Doing as much as she did before having a baby was impossible but Abby did her best to work around needing to feed and care for Olivia. If Katie could do it, she could too.

Having Blaise working in the same place as her helped a lot. Sometimes she wondered if her sister was Wonder Woman for managing so many kids largely on her own because Al was always off doing something for somebody else.

Simba ended up liking Olivia—no surprise since she was the daughter of the only other people he liked—and was very patient with her when she became a rather grabby toddler. They remained good friends until the lynx died at the ripe old age of seven.

Life went on. Over the course of the next ten years Abby and Blaise had another three children while Katie and Al had another two.

Dozens of the Kanta children who had been born in foreign nations came of age and started families of their own. Both Ilmir and Raisha ran out of space so they had to set up a third village called Vanagar twenty miles to the west of Ilmir.

It was closer to some other mines that hadn't been used since reclaiming their lands because there hadn't been enough people. Using those mines helped their export business a lot and Vanagar went from a tiny collection of houses to a real village in only a few years.

Abby's worries about Adam had been unfounded. He was a bright, playful young man like his father but took his role as future clan leader very seriously. Most of the time he was found glued to Al's side soaking up all the information he could.

"Can you imagine what Mom and Dad would think if they could see us now?" Abby asked as she watched their children play a game of charades in front of Katie's house.

The two families had already eaten dinner together and now they were enjoying the nice summer weather as the sun slowly began to sink behind the mountains. Katie sighed contentedly as she leaned her head against her husband's shoulder.

"They would think I got a lot of work done," she joked.

"I was being serious, Katie!"

Her sister sobered immediately. "I know. I think they would be proud of us. We've both done a lot of good here and have a collective total of nine beautiful children. I only wish they could have met our families. I know they would have loved everyone."

Al's arm tightened around her waist supportively and he kissed her cheek. Out of the blue, Blaise laughed and they all looked where his eyes were to see what was so funny.

Vikarr, he and Abby's six-year-old son, was dramatically miming something that made him look constipated. Nobody could guess what it was supposed to be.

"You're a pufferfish!"

"No, he's a chipmunk with food in its cheeks."

"I think he needs to go to the bathroom."

Vikarr's frustration grew until his threw his hands up in the air and shouted, "I was being Aunt Marge from Harry Potter. You know, the one who blew up!"

"Ohhhhhhhhh," a collective chorus from his siblings and cousins rang out. "Yeah, we never would have guessed that. Sorry, Vik."

He scowled. "I hate this stupid game. It's somebody else's turn."

Adam jumped up to volunteer and began cheerfully miming what looked like either rain or snow. His sister Alice guessed it immediately and the game continued. Even Vikarr's mood recovered once he managed to guess one right.

Abby's heart was full watching them go. Katie seemed to read her mind when she laughed and said, "Just like we always dreamed of, right?"

And it was. They may not have barbecues here but the love of a family was universal. Love itself was universal, as proven by the men who had fallen for them so deeply despite how different they were.

Janine Everett may have created this world but she and Katie had helped shape this small corner of it in a way she never could have anticipated. Abby hoped Janine knew that she had ended up here safely and happily.

They still had no idea why any of this had happened but Abby believed that it was meant to be. Al and Blaise had been in this world waiting for them.

Her role in this world may have resulted from nothing more than a single scrawled sentence in the back of a paperback novel but she was here and was living happily ever after with the people she loved.

Katie, whose travel to this world after her original body died was even more mysterious, would agree. Her impact was far greater. She may have messed up the story but she did it in the best possible way.