“He wants to stay here for a while,” said Ridcully
gloomily. He flicked another pebble into the depths. “Seems fascinated by the stones. I can't say no, can I? The king's all for it. He says other kings have always had fools, so he'll try having a wise man around, just in case that works better.”
Granny laughed. “And there's young Diamanda going to be up and about any day now,” she said. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, nothing. That's the thing about the future. It could turn out to be anything. And everything.”
She picked up a pebble. It hit the water at the same time as one of Ridcully's own, making a double plunk.
“Do you think,” said Ridcully, "that . . . somewhere . . .
it all went right?"
“Yes. Here!” Granny softened at the sight of his sagging shoulders.
“But there, too,” she said.
“What?”
“I mean that somewhere Mustrum Ridcully married Esmerelda Weatherwax and they lived-” Granny gritted her teeth “-lived happily ever after. More or less. As much as anyone does.”
“How d'you know?”
“I've been picking up bits of her memories. She seemed happy enough. And I ain't easily pleased.”
“How can you do that?”
“I try to be good at everything I do.”
“Did she say anything about-”
“She didn't say nothing! She don't know we exist! Don't ask questions! It's enough to know that everything happens somewhere, isn't it?”
Ridcully tried to grin.
“Is that the best you can tell me?” he said.
“It's the best there is. Or the next best thing.”
* * *
Where does it end?[45]
On a summer night, with couples going their own ways, and silky purple twilight growing between the trees. From the castle, long after the celebrations had ended, faint laughter and the ringing of little silver bells. And from the empty hillside, only the silence of the elves.
The End