What happens thereafter

Where I imagine the characters go after the end of Shadowsong

I have a sudden memory, or rather, a vision of the future, but one so closely lived as to be memory. I remember the two of us lying in bed, side by side, our bodies sticky with satisfaction and wrapped in the warm glow of easy comfort. I remember how the features of his face grow sharper with age, the skin thinning to reveal the fine lines and bones beneath. I remember the silver-white-gold of his hair turning white with frost, true white now, not the enchanted glitter of magic and the Underground. I remember how we grow old together.

—Shadowsong

Every once in a while, I get questions from people about what happens to Liesl and the Goblin King after the end of Shadowsong, or whether or not I will be writing a third book. And while I definitely know the answer to the second question (an unequivocal no), to be honest, I’m not entirely sure about the answer to the first one either.

As always, my response whenever I am asked this is to say “Go forth and write fanfic with my blessing!” I grew up in fandoms, I know the impulse to know more, to have more, to linger more in a world an author has created. If you want to imagine what life will be like for Liesl and company, then please, feel free to play with the toys I have created! You don’t have to take my word for what happens.

But truthfully, perhaps I am reticent to imagine what happens to in the happily ever after because…I’m uninterested in the “after” part. I once had a reader ask me how many children Liesl had, and what their names were, and I was so taken aback because I’ve never thought about it. Personally speaking, I am uninterested in “next generation” stories, and as a child-free person myself, the thought of how many and what names for the children of my characters has genuinely never crossed my mind. Parenting as a narrative is not one I’ve lived, and to write an entire story about it feels disingenuous. This is why Shadowsong ends where it does. I’ve already put my characters through hell; I’ve set them free now to live their own lives.

And yet, perhaps…

…perhaps François goes on to become a famous impresario

…perhaps Käthe never marries but carries on a torrid affair with one of the actors in the troupe for the rest of their lives

…perhaps there is a little boy with dark eyes and dark hair named Josef with the voice of an angel

…perhaps there is a little girl named Constanze with mismatched eyes and a way with words

…perhaps there is no happiness but in the mundane, the petty, the small gestures of affection we give each other each day that are forgotten after the moment, but linger on in the small accumulation of love over time

…perhaps their names fade from history, but their legacies remain—in the wisp of a melody, half-forgotten but familiar, a children’s tune to be sung to each other with hand gestures on the playground