An extra fuzzy squirrel 💜 for your compliments, Calluna!
The beauty of your story is that it had so many thinking to the lesson it meant to them. Perspective is funny like that, isn't it? I can see many things to take away from your ending and to me, it makes it a strong tale. To some, they think to not accept advice at face value (think about an underlying meaning as opposed to following something word for word), some may see a message that as time moves on one can change from how they've acted and rise to be there for others (Ren's enemy redeeming himself in the eyes of the villagers), some may take another interpretation of finding a release from obligations and stressors (even if it means accepting a 'defeat' by an enemy) and there are I'm sure more that my tired squirrel brain hasn't even thought about.
It's a truly terrific piece, Calluna!