Once again, Mau found herself in the middle of everyone else''s celebrations.


    After defeating the Demon King and spending enough time recovering from her injuries and near-death experience, she ended up dragged back to the capital city of Erlendale. Much to her chagrin, she was paraded through the streets with her friends in a long procession of happy faces and loud boisterous cheers. It wasn''t that she didn''t enjoy the festivities, though. She was just left with a somber and sad feeling after killing the Demon Lord for the hundredth time.


    He was like her. He was a victim, a pawn in a game of gods and divines that had chosen two unlucky randos to fight their battles for them.


    The truth was, as Mau''s horse plodded down the city streets and the cheers exploded again and again down each block the party passed... Mau felt bad for Vile Darque.


    He had banked everything on winning the last battle just to snatch victory from her and please his patron, and he failed. She wondered quietly what kind of horrors he might have been suffering in the afterlife as Dommon''s plaything. Or was he simply released? Sent back to the very world they had both come from and given the worst punishment of all... A life of mundane normalcy.


    Mau grimaced. Her ears pinned back at both the thought of returning to that world and the loud chorus of voices that made her head hurt.


    It took her a second to push such thoughts from her mind when a nudge at her shoulder pulled her attention from her introspection.


    "Hm?" Mau murmured, glancing at the hagling that had prodded her.


    "We get that you have a lot on your mind, Mau. But you''re free now. Try to enjoy it."


    Mau nodded and once again looked over the faces of the screaming crowds, the children scurrying through the street, the housewives poking their heads out of each window. The faces of men drunk with joy and beer greeted Mau with a raucous cheer- and a few catcalls at every inn and bar they passed, and she couldn''t help but chuckle as she slid her hand into Suvdaa''s as they rode side-by-side.


    "I still can''t believe you." Suvdaa snorted. "A Star Trek quote... Really?" She said petulantly while squeezing the catgirl''s fingers.


    Mau smiled.


    She could just sit back and enjoy this celebration for the first time in a long time. It felt so strange to her. Never before could she just sit back and enjoy this kind of thing. She had always been too tired and bitter, knowing she would have to deal with more conflict and strife again in her next life. But now?


    Mau was free.


    She was free from her shackled fate, her destiny of bloodshed and killing. She could do as she pleased from now on.


    She could live her life.


    "I''m still shocked, Mau," Andy admitted. "You came from the same world as the Demon Lord and everything... It must have been tough to do what you did."


    Mau nodded. The truth was that for a long time, it was just so easy to dismiss Vile Darque''s humanity out of hand and kill him again and again. But Mau felt a keen little sting on realizing that they could have been good friends in another life or in another world. He was just as much of a dork as she was.


    A memory came back unbidden.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Back when Pathetic Baby-Man kicked down the door to the Devil God''s throne room.


    "Die, monster! You don''t belong in this world!" he said.


    Mau couldn''t help but chuckle, remembering how she had to dodge a flung wine glass.


    But it was over now. That door was shut, probably for good. Mau could only move forward from this point on.


    The parade procession, consisting of countless soldiers returning home, a detachment of royal honor guard, the party of four heroes on their horses, and a giant bear, made its way through the city towards the castle. There was supposed to be a feast in Mau''s honor. The truth was that Mau would probably duck the feast as soon as she could, but she would at least show her face to make everyone happy.


    She was tired—really exhausted. The thing she wanted to do the most was find a nice warm bed to curl up in and take a nap.


    The procession passed through the central city and into the castle gates, where trumpeters welcomed the heroes. The loud noise made Mau''s ears pin back again, but they passed the trumpeters quickly, dismounted at the entrance to the palace, and made their way inside. Mau had never felt out of place before, always choosing to wear her breastplate and leathers to these events, but now? Surrounded by all the knights in shining armor and courtly servants and nobles in their finery, she felt like a complete bumpkin. The thought made her laugh internally for the first time in forever.


    This must be what it feels like to be a hero, huh?


    Mau had always hated being called a hero. She never felt like one, and she still didn''t feel like one. However, she didn''t have to feel like a hero to feel countless years and ages of anxiety and strife lifting from her soul. And that, to her, felt better than feeling like a hero. It felt like freedom.


    When the party emerged in the king''s throne room, they were met with more resounding cheers as Mau took to a knee.


    The kind dubbed Mau a knight of the realm. The clergy emerged to fully ordain Andy as a bishop of the faith. Most importantly, the adventurer''s guild representatives came forth to bestow Mau, Andy, Suvdaa, and Penne with the very first set of platinum dog tags in the guild''s history.


    With that out of the way, the drinking and feasting began. Mau awkwardly hobnobbed with nobles while Suvdaa even MORE awkwardly struggled to hobnob. It was very much not her thing. Andy was bashful and Penne reticent, but at least they were better at dealing with the excited chatter of people buzzing around them. The king had mentioned a special reward and surprise for Mau, and old Thrain seemed especially pleased and knowing about something, but Mau figured it could wait until morning. Or at least it could wait until after she''d had her much-wanted nap.


    Eventually, though, Mau slipped off. It had been a long and very loud day. Her head was throbbing, and if she had anything more to drink, she probably would just vomit it back up.


    She shambled through the castle corridors, and soldiers saluted her in passing. She waved awkwardly and trudged on to search for an empty guest room to crash in for a while.


    Mau grumbled as she pushed open the guest room door and shambled in. The room was dark save for the rays of the setting sun filtering in through the window. The bed was empty and inviting, but Mau instantly noticed something amiss. The bedsheets and pillows had been removed. Her eyes trailed over to a spot in a sunny ray where the room''s occupant had dragged all the bedding for a nap on the floor.


    "Ah... Damn." Mau muttered. "Sorry, I''ll find another room." She said as she turned and started to close the door when a fuzzy, black, feline ear pricked up from the mass of bedding.


    "... Mau?"


    Mau''s heart stopped when she heard that voice, and her body locked up. Her animal brain was firing off wildly, but instead of a fear response of fight or flight, it told her to turn around. To go to the source of that voice.


    Slowly, stiffly, the catgirl turned back around, blue eyes wide with incredulity and shock.


    "... No way," Mau whispered. She fumbled forward and nearly tripped on her feet toward the pillow nest where Miu sat up staring at her.


    Mau staggered for the pillow nest, her throat tightened, and her eyes burned. The two stared at one another incredulously before Miu raised her arms, spreading them out to catch her little girl as Mau plopped into the bedding with her.


    "I... I thought you were gone." Mau croaked as her mother wrapped her in that familiar, tender embrace.


    "How?" Mau croaked as her mother tucked her nose in her hair right between the ears.


    "I barely escaped Middleston, " her mother replied. I moved from refugee camp to refugee camp; it was... chaotic and disorienting. There were nights when the battles were so close I thought I would die for real. Thrain found me and brought me here... There wasn''t a moment when I wasn''t thinking of you."


    Mau clutched her mother''s dress tightly, and the two just... Held each other for what felt like a moment that would never end, both purring softly.