My Cinnamon Pie

Roland stretched his sore muscles, ready to head home for the day. Not a person in attendance for the planting could accuse him of slacking off. Not that anyone would say such a thing to the King Commodore regardless, but it had been a long time since he'd gotten to labor like this. 

Pure, physical work was different than the mental strain he experienced daily. It was refreshing, really, to have his body exhausted and his mind calm. It was almost enough to make him want to give up ruling and disappear to a farm of his own somewhere. 

But the people needed him, and unfortunately, needed his children, too much. 

The triplets were exhausted, both from physical labor and the use of their power. He warned them against trying too hard this first day, but they each wanted so badly to prove themselves to the people. 

To be helpful, to be loved. It was a dangerous lure for children. He would remind them later that being loved by a people group was wonderful, but fickle. Duncan had taught him that ruling meant making decisions that were best for the people even if it meant you would be hated for it. 

Doing something purely to be liked was a potentially fatal road. 

His three exhausted children elected to ride back in the cart which had brought the seed they'd planted in the course of the day. Since the wagon was now far more empty, there was ample room for the three children to lay on the empty seed sacks. 

All three had fallen asleep. 

Roland briefly worried, but they seemed fine. Just tired. He would keep an eye on them tomorrow and make them rest instead of plant again if there were lingering signs of anything wrong. 

"They are sweet. Reminds me of when they were babies." Finn rode beside him on her own horse. 

"There's still time for more babies," Roland smiled. 

"I'm content with the children we have, thank you," Finn's eyes widened. 

"Doesn't mean we can't try," He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she blushed deeply.

"Hush, the guards will hear you." She chided, but her lips pursed together in suppressed amusement. 

"I'm sure they've heard worse," Roland cast a brief look back at the men who followed his family's every step. They were deeply trusted, or they wouldn't have received such an assignment. 

He had considered assigning the task to Riley before the man had become General, just to aggravate him, but the constant terrible jokes and sarcastic comments would have been excessive. 

Roland's horse nickered softly and side stepped. 

"What is it?" He reached forward to stroke the animal's neck and saw something move on the ground. A rock seemed to be growing out of the ground like a mushroom before his eyes. 

"Woah. Everyone back up," Roland said in a stern voice, pulling back on the horse's reins. Finn did the same, and the animals skittishly pranced backwards. 

Finn was the first to jump down from her mount, curiously peering at the rock while keeping her distance. It seemed as though a small earthquake was rattling the small bit of ground. 

"Is Roen still asleep?" She whispered to Roland, who glanced towards the wagon. 

Their son's brown eyes were peeking over the edge with wonder. 

"Why is it doing that?" Roland asked the boy. "Is it you?" 

"It's not me, but I feel it." The boy said. "Like a pang in my belly." 

"You're in pain?" The King jumped off of his horse and moved to check his son. 

"No, not pain… it's uncomfortable. Like the day the river flowed backwards for Lily, I think." 

The comparison was an interesting one, and Roland made note to ponder on it later. For now, he studied the ground, keeping a distance from it. The little rock was no longer the size of a mushroom. It was nearly the size of a person's head. Suddenly, just above it, a shimmering portal appeared. 

"GET BACK!" Roland shouted, not knowing what world the portal led to or what might emerge. It wasn't terribly large, as portals went. In fact, it was the smallest he had personally seen, only wide enough for an infant to crawl through. 

The portal hovered in the air, with shimmering silver edges and a cacophony of hues rippling in the center. Finn rushed to his side and took Roland's arm. 

"Gwen! Gwen, can you hear me?" She called, and he looked at her. Was this a portal to Faeland, or was his wife simply ever-hopeful?

"Your Majesties, it is a relief to talk to you, at last." Gwen's voice warbled through the portal. "You must stay back." 

"What is happening? Why have these been appearing?" Roland called. He didn't want to waste time since these openings appeared so briefly. 

"The worlds are unbreaking. With your sacrifice you broke that which kept them apart. For a time they were separated further, the cracks becoming chasms, but now, they are colliding back together." 

Roland blinked. "What will happen?" 

"Did not the Sorcerer reveal it to you?" Gwen's voice seemed to be fading. "I cannot talk for long. To force an opening into your world would only intensify the sparks feeding the fire. I must wait for them to happen on their own." 

"The Sorcerer?" Roland's eyebrows rose. "When would he have told me anything? Is he in my world or yours?" 

"All. He is in all, and all will be one before long, made new as it was in the beginning, before the Breaking. It will be painful, for the broken edges of the worlds are sharp." The Fae spoke almost reverently, but with a tinge of anxiety under the words.

"What can we do?" Finn cut in with a question of her own. 

"Prepare." 

"Prepare for what?? How??" The king tamped back his frustration as the Fae's voice faded. 

"The Final Battle." The portal warped and dissipated as if nothing had ever been there. 

The royal couple stood in shock. 

"What's the final battle?" Lily asked quietly. Roland cut a sharp glance at Roen, who ducked his head below the edge of the wagon. He must have nudged his siblings awake during the encounter, since all three now peeked over at their parents. 

"We don't know, Sweetie," Finn said kindly. "But we're going to figure it out." 

Roland sighed. "Let's get back to Klain." 

He helped his wife mount her horse before getting back on his own. There was a tense silence over the group, until Finn lightened the mood by striking up a merry song. 

"The skies are blue

The seas are, too

I just forget, when I'm with you!

"I saw you there,

My heart knows where

Yet I cannot begin to bear

My love for thee

It aches in me

And I will beg, just leave me be! 

For I just ate, 

From on my plate, 

You, my cinnamon pie so great!" 

Roen groaned, while Ivan and Lily laughed at the silly love song to a pastry. She often made up songs for the children, but this particular one was courtesy of Amelia. 

Roland smiled, but his mind was racing. The last battle. The end of their world? If it was colliding with others, then these portals would indeed become far more common. How were they to prepare? What should he tell the people? 

His brow furrowed as he went over Gwen's words carefully in his mind. She mentioned the Sorcerer revealing something to him, surprise in her voice that he did not already know more.

That was strange. Why would he have had anything made known to him, and how? 

And how exactly did one prepare oneself, let alone a collection of nations, for the collision of worlds? For a final battle? 

His chest tightened. Not just a disaster. A battle. War. If the worlds collided, united, and became one, the Void, the goblins, and who knows what other creatures would be thrown into their path? 

If the falling mountain that had destroyed Ceto was only the beginning of things, how would any of humanity hope to survive? They had not enough food to feed them all, let alone supplies to sustain an army capable of defending them from forces unknown. 

Roland mentally began to tally the beings he knew of. The gargoyles would be a problem. And the goblins. The giants, if they were still alive, should take the side of the humans, right? 

Or would the treaty with the Fae be null? 

The Fae. They would help people, surely. And they were a formidable force, not to be underestimated.

Roland needed to send word to the Halflings, if he could find any of them. They were reclusive, but maybe they would be of aid at the end of all things. 

Judah. How long did his kind live? The king's heart softened slightly. If he could figure out a way to ensure more creatures fought alongside humans in this "Final Battle"... 

He needed to make a list of questions and requests to ask of Gwen next time such a portal opened. Squinting into the sunlight, he wondered what else had come through the little portals in recent days. Seeds, blown on the wind? Some magical plants would go a long way in helping him feel that they could take some meaningful step in preparing for what might come. 

"Papa," Roen said from inside the wagon. 

"Yes, son?" Roland yanked his thoughts from their dark place and turned to his boy. 

"The movement in the ground, before the…" He paused. 

"The portal?" The king put in. 

"Yes, right before the portal. It was like that before, but smaller." The boy said. 

"What do you mean?" Finn asked gently. 

"Before, when Gabe talked to her. The ground moved a little, like that, just before it opened. It happened again, but it was bigger this time. The ground moved more, and then a bigger portal was there. And it took longer to grow." Roen blinked at his parents. "I just thought you should know." 

Roland gave a solemn nod of appreciation to his son while mentally throwing another log on the raging bonfire of his mental health. One more thing to think about. One more factor to consider. One more worry for the king's heavy head.