[open] you'll come back when it's over

[eolasemah]

WHO friends and family of Sina Dahlasanor
WHAT: post-mortem interactions
WHEN: the evening of 7 Haring and onward
WHERE: the infirmary and elsewhere
NOTES: CW for death and illness. Apart from the main post I will not be tagging in. This thread is for wake/funeral/burial arrangements and anything else you guys want to play out pertaining to Sina's death, so feel free to make top levels or do whatever else!

It was the evening of the sixth when Galadriel paid her visit to Sina, after which the girl became mostly unresponsive. Still breathing, she slept through the night and day, waking up in the late afternoon just long enough to reach for Nari's hand and whisper something to her before falling away again. The candles grew dim and the shadows long before she stirred again, pulling in a last rasping breath, her lips moving soundlessly to form two unknown words as she exhaled and fell still.

It was hardly ten minutes later when, witnessed by friends and clan, the glowing green patch of magic that had plagued them all for the last couple years simply... vanished from the elf's sternum, as though it had never been there. Lying small and wasted away, destroyed from the inside out, anyone who looked at Sina for the first time would not understand what had killed her.

The room was then vacated by all but Keeper Thalia and Sina's parents, a balding large-eyed man with a quivering chin and a plain, sandy-haired woman, neither appearing all that much more vital than their late daughter. It was they who prepared the body for the resulting rites, silent and weary, their miracle baby laid to an untimely rest.

Out in the hall, Nari found herself surrounded in a collective embrace by a sea of russet-haired Dalish, her family. Even in a time like this, being with their daughter and sister brought comfort, and they hoped she might find some as well.
Sedi and Nymii stood as sentries on either side of the door, permitting only mourners and scowling down otherwise unrelated onlookers.

At last, at long last, it was over.

Comments

And now ... for a flashback story

[judgemewhole]

James had seen all the Dalish around, of course. He knew what was happening, he had heard the whispers. He had kept his distance respectfully because Templars were not welcome around most Dalish. Pel and Cyril were ... well. He wasn't going to go into that, as he was scared enough about what they had been through, what they had put themselves in the middle of. This was all ...very sad.

So while funeral preparations went on, James had done what he could do, and took Sina for Pel so she could do what she had to do. He knew Cyril would also be busy. He and Sina went walking along the Gallow walls for awhile, and he spotted from a distance, Dalish moving this way and that.

Sina is trying to be fussy, so he took her down to the gardens. Like her namesake, Sina liked gardens, calming. He finds a place to sit with her, and puts her on his lap, letting her rest against him as he speaks quietly.

"I met your Aunt Sina in a garden like this, Maker, almost three years ago. I was ...well, I have not been fresh-faced anything for about fifteen years. But I was new to the Inquisition - forgiven for crimes - and all I wanted was to find some peace to pray. Okay, yes, you caught me. I was looking for your Mum." Sina grabbed at his hand, and he wiggled their hands together to make her laugh.

"She was fierce, with me. So small, so frail - looking up at a Templar a good foot taller than her and she ... stared me down. Stared me down told me if I did not have business in her garden that I should leave. She was doing the kind of Keeper magic that made the forest that we showed you, everything was green ... and beautiful ... and it was all hers. She was like a force of magical fury, and I knew that this? This was a Keeper would be someone who would not suffer any fools, and would care for her people. She made me back off, Sina. Made me back right off, and I did not tread in that garden again, unless I was with Pel."

Sina looked up, touching his face, with quiet toddler wonder. He smiles, kissing her little hand. "Here is my prayer for you, darling. I pray to the Maker, and the Creators too, that you are just like her. That you face down all enemies with the same courage, that you find things that you love as much as she did, and that you can protect them as well as she could. In short ... I hope you are half as brave as she always, always was."