“Go on,” Milo said, amused, “I’m glad you like it.”

  “I like all of you.” He did. And, lying in a bed bathed in moonbeams and fireglow and aftermath, Milo in his arms, he felt the truth of it. Learning each other, doing this together. Nothing withheld, nothing awkward. This was exactly where he needed to be, and that knowledge pooled into contentment, uncomplicated and pure.

  “So,” Milo said, around a yawn. “I’ll meet your parents, tomorrow.”

  “Are you nervous? They’ll love you. They were starting to ask again, before I left, whether I needed their help finding a nice boy to settle down with.”

  “I’m very nice.”

  “You are,” Van said. “You are.” He could see it; he could see it all. His parents, loving Milo. The inn. Their home, full of travelers and visitors and fisherfolk and longtime friends. Enough money to open Milo’s shop, to buy cloth, to hire an assistant. Their life together, steady as the rhythm of the waves, golden as light on water.

  He and Milo both had the rings on; he felt his own, and he could see Milo’s, matching. A decoration, across freckles on a finger. Those plain gold bands, that part of the gift from Lorre. He thought he might keep a hair-pin or two, a pearl. Maybe just one. To look at sometimes, to smile.

  They’d use the rest. For themselves, for what they chose.

  “We can take a week and see my family, maybe, after yours. Not to stay, just to visit. You’ll like them. They’ll adore you. As long as you don’t mind pigs and goats and chickens and my sister Katrin bringing home whatever orphan rabbit or ferret or kitten she’s found that week.”

  “I like animals.” Van kissed the top of his head. “I’d like that. Meeting your family.”

  “If the Queen ever needs us again,” Milo said drowsily, “of course we’ll go. We’re still good at that. Helping people.”

  Van nodded. He agreed. Their bows and packs did too, in the corner. They knew about good aim, about clear sight, about flying true and coming to rest.

  “But I want to get to know your home. I want to build that life. With you.”

  Van kissed him again, and said, “Yes.”

  THE END

  Author’s Note

  This was a story I hadn’t planned to write—but it jumped up and ran away with my writing-brain! And I had a deadline for a different story, too…but clearly Lorre had a request! Ah, well, far be it from me to argue with a magician…

  The working title for this story was Combat Strategies, which I still rather like—it is, after all, in part about strategies, and decisions—but I also wanted the extended metaphor of arrows, and true aim, and a purpose. (And, technically, they end up avoiding combat, so Arrows worked better!) It’s an unusual story for me, in that Van spends a good amount of it with Lorre, who’s not his ultimate love interest, versus Milo, who is—but sometimes the wrong person, or at least the not-right person, can help bring the right person into focus. Van needs to figure out what and who he truly wants—and that turns out to be the best friend who’s been right at his side, quietly trying to make him happy, all along.

  Lorre, of course, also needs to figure out what he wants. But he’s still young, here—for him, anyway: only eighty or ninety, not over three hundred—and he’s arrogant and powerful and lonely. He’ll need some time to accept Van’s advice about letting someone in, though when he finally does, he’s got Gareth to love him, and to be loved by him.

  Van and Milo have a thoroughly wonderful ordinary and brilliant life ahead of them. Milo opens up a fabulous tailor’s shop—he can also do hairstyling, accessories, basically everything to make everyone feel beautiful—and Van will eventually take over running the inn, and everyone in Baylight knows them and loves them, the heart of the town, and if you need a cozy fire or a place to stay or a new gown or shirt that’ll make you look your best, you come talk to Van and Milo. They’re adorable together, and adorably happy and in love. Van’s parents love Milo instantly—they’ve been hoping their son will meet a nice boy and settle down!—and Milo’s family, when they visit, decide that Van is marvelous and a perfect match for Milo. The little cousins love that Van can whistle various bird calls and musical tunes, and they always have requests.

  Van keeps two of the black pearl hair-pins. Not on display, not for sharing with others: the pearls live in a little shell-bowl up in his and Milo’s rooms, perhaps in Van’s office. A memory, and a good one.

  (Do Van and Milo ever see Lorre again—perhaps one more time, decades later? I have an answer, but—what do you think?)

  Speaking of Gareth, earlier—the plot seeds for this story are in Magician, as a quick line in passing: Gareth mentions Queen Ryllis and the army when he’s listing great deeds that Lorre’s done. I had to work out some chronology, at least very loosely, for this whole series—I’ll put the order at the end of this Note! If you’d like a sort of real-world analogue, Lorre’s life covers roughly the time period of 1400-1700 (so far) though the dates aren’t that tidy! I wanted the medieval-to-early-modern transition; here, in Arrows, we’re closer to the late-medieval era, and by the time we get to Magician and Gareth, portable printed books are common, there’re thriving sea and land trade routes, there’re little (very little) hints at steam and uses for metals, but not much more than that yet. Lorre is old compared to everyone else, but he’s not that old, and he doesn’t know everything (but don’t tell him that!)—it’s like Chaucer, versus the Beowulf-poet, except now Chaucer’s lived long enough to read works by Jonathan Swift. (I was trained as a medievalist—can’t help the analogy sneaking in there!)

  Lorre’s seen a lot, but there’s a lot of history he wasn’t around for, and there are also some details he’s genuinely forgotten after three hundred-plus years, and anyway sometimes he’s been a river or a firebird or a rock for a year or five, and those have very different priorities and senses of temporality. He doesn’t always have the most reliable internal chronology. (Gareth has learned that, while Lorre was around for most major events, occasionally he’s just totally missed something, like the whole war of independence with Whiskey Harbor and the surrounding islands. Lorre was busy being an oak tree for about ten years, learning how that felt.)

  Like all my stories, Arrows has a playlist—here’re some of those songs! Some interesting variety, this time…

  Dropkick Murphys, “Heroes From Our Past”

  New Order, “Bizarre Love Triangle”

  Neil Young, “Like a Hurricane”

  Laura Jane Grace, “SuperNatural Possession”

  The Pretty Reckless, “Heart”

  Journey, “Lights”

  The Quireboys, “Sweet as the Rain”

  Volbeat, “The Bliss”

  Hanoi Rocks, “Love”

  Here are the Middle Lands (Magician) stories in chronological order, so far:

  Arrows (for reference, Lorre's around 80–90 years old here)

  The Twelfth Enchantment (Lorre’s about 120 years old; he does still remember his age but he’ll lie about it, mostly for the mystery)

  Apprentice's Luck (roughly 70–80 years after Twelfth Enchantment)

  Sorceress (Lorre is around 300 years old, give or take; he’s lost track)

  Magician (about eight years after Sorceress)

  And, in progress, the story in which Lorre’s and Lily’s daughter Merry gets her own happy ending!

  There are also some snippets of folklore and general history that I have not written down, which may or may not ever turn into proper stories, but which I do know little bits and pieces about, so I thought perhaps you might like to see them! In no particular order, here are some…

  How the Grand Sorcerer Discovered the Wind-Summoning Horn of Nennius the Somber

  That Time (Okay, One of Many Times) Lorre Annoyed the Chief Minister of Penth

  The Ancient Winter Empire

  Whatever Did Happen to All the Unicorns, Actually?

  The Tale of the Fire Prince

  Thurston

  Magical Sex with a Poet in a Haystack, Just for Fun (And, Regrettably, a Terrible Poem in Consequence)

  Five Hundred Years Later, Archaeologists Excavate the Site of Lorre and Garrett's First School

  As ever, many thanks for reading along, and I hope you’re having as much fun as I am!

  ABOUT K.L. NOONE

  K.L. Noone employs her academic research for writing romance, almost always LGBTQ+, often paranormal, fantasy, or historical. Her full-length romance novels include the Character Bleed trilogy (Seaworthy, Stalwart, Steadfast), Cadence and the Pearl, A Demon for Midwinter, and A Prophecy for Two, available from JMS Books, and she’s also the author of multiple romance short stories with JMS Books, and previously with Less Than Three Press, Circlet Press, and Ellora's Cave. Her non-romance fantasy fiction has appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress and the magazine Aoife's Kiss.

  With the Professor Hat on, she’s published scholarly work on romance, fantasy, and folklore, including a book on Welsh mythology in popular culture and a book on ethics in Terry Pratchett’s fantasy. She is happily bisexual, married to the marvelous Awesome Husband, and currently owned by a long-legged black cat named Merlyn.

  For more information, visit klnoone.wordpress.com.

  ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC

  JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!

 

 

  K.L. Noone, Arrows

 

 

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