"May, you never left too soon. You stayed as long as we still needed you. Now... go home."
The words came like a gentle whisper, as if all her duties had finally been fulfilled.
Shadows of the past slowly returned. Memories, smiles, and he days she once shared with the people she loved filled her mind. The stiffness that once made him nervous, the humor so familar... all of it came back.
"I have finished my duty," she whispered softly into the silence of the room.
"What we built together is safe now. I no longer need to protect anyone. There will be no abdication to shake this kingdom. That fragile child has completed his task and left this world... and now everything is peaceful."
The room was dim. The curtains were half drawn, allowing only a little of the night's light to enter. May lay in her bed, alone with her thoughts.
"He has been waiting for me," she continued quietly.
"And my children who went before me... they must miss me."
Here eyes looked toward the ceiling of the room, but she did not see the carvings above. She saw the face of a man. A man who had always been present in every one of her memories.
The voice seemed to whisper again patently, just like before...
"Come home, May... you duty is finished."
Mary closed her eyes.
And for the first time in a very long while, she hoped that everything would truly be alright.