Epilogue

The day dawns cool and bright, sun shining in through the window of the ancient fortress, a familiar sight after all of these years. Summer is just beginning to raise her head again, after a long, hard winter, and Sakura can’t help but be glad for it. She is tired of waking to cold mornings and falling into her bed on cold evenings, heavy under piles of furs to try to stay warm. This particular morning, however, she has something else to keep her warm, and a small smile tilts at the corners of her lips as she burrows back into the body curled up behind her. 

The hand throw over her waist is as familiar as the sunlight gleaming in through the window, and she knows that when she twists within that grip to find the owner of that hand, she will grumble in her sleep and pull Sakura closer for just a few more moments of rest. The thought makes her heart warm, and she cannot bear to wait a moment longer to see that beautiful face and kiss those perfect lips. 

She turns, but to her surprise she finds two green eyes looking back at her, a few wispy curls escaping from her braid to frame her face. Her smile grows despite herself. 

“You’re awake.” She whispers, and the eyes watching her seem to glow. 

“I have been waiting for you.” Eunbi answers, her voice rough with fatigue. 

Sakura traces gentle fingers down the curve of her cheek, over the jaw that she has known for over a decade, the lips that she has loved to kiss for almost as long as she can remember. Her thumb runs over the lines drawn into her skin, from years of politics, and the scar on Eunbi’s cheek, from the Ice Wars, and she leans in to press a kiss against the puckered skin, as she does whenever she sees it. 

“It isn’t like you to be so eager to wake.” She murmurs, against Eunbi’s cheek and is rewarded by her love pulling her closer, the hand tightening at her waist as she knew it would. She tangles their bare legs together and when they lay their heads upon the pillow to speak, their foreheads touch. 

“How could I stay sleeping today?” Eunbi asks, with a soft smile, and leans in to steal a kiss from her lips, pulling away only to murmur. “Good morning, my love.”

“Good morning.” Sakura presses their lips together again, gentle, easy, asking nothing more than to be close to one another. “It seems that the day will be fair,” She says, when they eventually pull apart and she settles into Eunbi’s embrace. 

“The weather dare not misbehave for the Rose Queen.” Eunbi observes, grinning, and Sakura rolls her eyes, laughing softly. “It will be perfect.” She promises, a little more seriously, and her eyes follow the lines of Sakura’s face closely, watching the way her brows twitch together in thought. Carefully, Eunbi draws her fingers over the creases in her forehead, smoothing them out. “No worrying today,” She instructs. “All will be well at home, we have left our kingdoms stable and in good hands.”

“You’re right,” Sakura agrees, quietly, eyes meeting Eunbi’s. “Are you sad that Yujin won’t be here?”

Eunbi considers for a moment, as if she feels it’s important to give Sakura a true answer. “Yes,” She says at last, but then continues. “But he is the only person I trust to care for the north while I am gone.”

“He is a credit to you,” Sakura curls up closer into her embrace, pressing a kiss to the underside of her jaw that makes Eunbi’s breath catch. 

“I think,” For the first time Eunbi sounds a little hesitant. “I think he may soon be ready to take on more responsibilities. Perhaps even for me to step down, in a few years.”

 “Really?” Sakura’s wide eyes find hers, searching her gaze. She pauses, thinking for a moment, and when she continues there is a note of regret to her voice. “Benam will not come of age for some time. It will be another ten years I suspect.”

Eunbi’s fingers notch beneath her chin as easily as an arrow in a bowstring, and she eases Sakura’s face up until they are looking at one another again. “I would wait a hundred years for you, Sakura.”

“You shouldn’t have to-”

Eunbi rolls her eyes, good naturedly, and when she scolds her slight smile belies her tone. “How many more times must we have this argument? You have ruined me for anyone else, a woman cannot drink the sweetest wine and then return to sour mead. You are stuck with me for the rest of your life, I’m afraid.”

Sakura finds a smile creeping onto her lips, her heart lightening at Eunbi’s words. “Thank you,” She murmurs. “I love you.”

“I love you,” Eunbi speaks the words as if they are a treasured pearl, cradling them between her lips. 

“You should go,” Sakura admits, after a moment of easy silence between them. “Hyewon will be furious if she finds out you were here.”

“I never thought of Hyewon to be one for tradition,” Eunbi muses, and Sakura tries not to reach for her as she swings herself out of the bed and begins pulling on her britches and shirt. Her bare body gleams in the sunlight and it seems a crime to Sakura for her to cover it up with clothes, but she comforts herself with the thought that they would be together again soon. “I should go,” Eunbi agrees reluctantly, as she fastens the buttons and ties on her jerkin. “I left poor Albert out there guarding the door and he has been there since nightfall.”