Ten Years Later – Year 2008
The winds that once carried blood and fire now whispered peace.
A new village stood atop the green cliffs of eastern Australia — the New Glob Settlement, rebuilt by the survivors of the war.
After the destruction of their original homeland, the remnants of Glob's people had crossed oceans to settle anew.
Stone homes with curved rooftops and blossoming trees lined the hillside.
A soft stream ran through the middle, glimmering in the morning sun.
From the edge of the cliff, a girl stood barefoot in the wind.
She was ten years old.
Her hair, rose-red with streaks of gold, flowed behind her, wild as her smile.
Her name was Aileen.
She turned back toward the house.
"Mom! I found another lizard!"
A voice called from within.
"Don't put it in your shoe this time!"
Tiffany stepped outside, dressed in a long brown jacket with sunflower trim.
Her hair was shorter now, barely brushing her neck.
An eyepatch covered her right eye, but her grin had never changed.
From the garden emerged Mai.
Her left sleeve was rolled and pinned — her left arm gone, but her posture stronger than ever.
Her rose-colored hair, now with flecks of white, framed her face.
The Dragon Rose still pulsed faintly at her collarbone.
They stood side by side, watching their daughter.
"She's got your fire," Tiffany said.
Mai smiled.
"And your mouth."
They laughed.
Flashback – The Final Battle (Tiffany's Memory)
It came in pieces — soundless and sharp.
Tiffany remembered the sky breaking open above her.
Blood was pouring through her fingers.
The blade went through her hand.
And then — Mai.
In flames.
In fury.
In something beyond humanity.
She remembered screaming.
Not in fear, but in awe.
Mai had floated, not flown, toward Gigel.
As if the earth itself pushed her.
"You touched the only light I had," Mai had said.
Then she had taken his limbs like vengeance sculpted in flesh.
And when it was over, Tiffany remembered trying to stand, crawling, and holding Mai's face in her hands.
"I found you again," she had whispered.
"I was always coming back," Mai had answered.
Later That Day – The Hill of Honor
They made the climb together.
At the top, under a stone marked with a violet flower, lay the grave of Duncan.
Aileen placed a sunflower and a blood-red rose beside it.
Mai closed her eyes.
"He never got to see peace."
Tiffany added, "But he made it possible."
In the breeze, Mai felt something.
A warmth on her shoulder.
She turned and saw a vision of her mother, Elena, standing under a gum tree.
But this time, she spoke.
"Elena?"
"You found your voice, Mai."
"I lost so much."
"But not your soul."
Elena approached.
"And now... you've planted something new."
Mai knelt.
"I wish you'd seen her, your granddaughter."
"I do. Every time you laugh."
The breeze grew soft.
Elena touched her daughter's cheek.
"You're no longer surviving. You're blooming."
Then the vision faded.
Later – Walk Through the Ruins
Mai and Aileen walked through what remained of the old training grounds.
Once, stone and ash.
Now, quiet green patches are fighting to grow.
"This is where it all started," Mai said.
"You trained here?"
"I bled here. And rose again."
Aileen touched one of the broken training posts.
"I want to be strong like you."
Mai smiled.
"Then listen. Not to orders. But to your voice."
That Evening – Council Hall of New Glob
Mai and Tiffany sat on ornate stone chairs — the new co-captains of the united flower tribes.
After relocating to Australia, the tribes had merged under one banner.
The elders, both old and new, stood in quiet respect.
The Ceremony of Flame and Bloom began.
Mai stood.
"Today, we name a future. Not a weapon."
She turned to Aileen.
"Come here."
Aileen walked forward, dressed in a ceremonial robe of mixed red and yellow.
Her eyes gleamed.
Mai knelt before her.
"The blood of roses, sunflowers, violets, and more... it lives in you."
She touched her chest.
"But you are more than that. You are choice."
Tiffany added, "You are the light we never had."
Aileen placed her hand over her heart.
"I will protect it. All of it."
The tribes erupted in cheers.
Later – A Talk with Michael
Mai walked along a ridge near the sea.
There, sitting on a flat stone, was Michael.
His beard had grayed.
His eyes still burned.
"You still carry the weight?" he asked.
Mai nodded.
"But I know where to place it now."
He looked toward the sunset.
"I thought I was teaching you to fight."
"You did."
"But you taught me something back."
"What's that?"
Michael rose.
"That the point of strength... is to let go."
They bowed to each other.
For the first time, as equals.
Later That Night – Private Room
The room was silent, lit only by a flickering candle.
Tiffany leaned against the wall, arms folded, her silhouette sharp and shadowed.
Mai walked in slowly, her robe half-loosened, her eyes tired but alive.
"You still wear the eyepatch."
Tiffany smirked.
"I think it makes me mysterious."
Mai touched her gently, her hand sliding to her waist.
"You've always been a mystery."
They kissed softly at first.
Then again.
Deeper.
"Do you still love me?" Tiffany asked.
Mai whispered, "More than the day we bled together."
Tiffany pulled her close, guiding her to the bed.
The night was long, intimate, and reverent.
They explored each other slowly, like rediscovering a map once burned.
Mai traced the curve of Tiffany's body with her lips.
Tiffany ran her fingers down the scar at Mai's shoulder.
Their breath synced.
Their bodies moved in rhythm.
Whispers became moans.
Moans became stillness.
And in the silence after — a kiss on the forehead.
A quiet, sacred pulse from the Dragon Rose.
Final Scene – Sunrise Over New Glob
Aileen ran through the trees, her laughter echoing through the dawn.
Mai and Tiffany walked behind her, slower now, but smiling.
Tiffany's eyepatch glinted gold in the sun.
Mai's pinned sleeve fluttered in the breeze.
They held hands.
And when Aileen looked back, they both smiled.
Then kissed — long, slow, alive.
And above them, a single petal drifted from the sky.
Not red.
Not pink.
But golden.
The world had bloomed again.
THE END.