open: lol never mind.

[cozen]

WHO: Open!
WHAT: A memorial that doesn’t go as planned.
WHEN: Justinian 1
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: Nah.

The ceremony takes place in one of the side courtyards that’s been converted into a garden, where the oppressive architecture is offset with flowers and trees. There’s a small pyre, for those whose traditions call for pyres, but no bodies to burn. Instead there are tokens, flowers, favorite foods, treasured possessions—not yet lit.

(For the others, the Dalish and Nevarrans and anyone else with a different wish, their friends and family will have made different arrangements alongside the pyre, probably, if they aren’t universally reviled.)

Anyone who wants to speak, whether it’s a prepared speech or a single spontaneous sentence, can do so. The tone is respectful but only so solemn. It’s been more than a week. For many, the worst of the shock has passed, and the sun has continued to rise and set, and there’s room between bouts of misery for fond memories and occasionally laughter. The memorial is a door that’s closing—slowly, kindly—and tomorrow, on the other side of it, the war will continue.

Today, on this side, the only people judging anyone else for crying are the assholes.

***

Across the harbor, more than a dozen filthy and tired people come to a stop on the docks, and the loitering ferryman pauses to take stock of them, then starts laughing. There isn’t even any local mythology about ferrymen and the dead. It’s just that funny to him on its own, that he’s been rowing miserable people around all week, and here’s the source of all that misery, dirty and tired but significantly less dead than believed.

When he stops laughing, he offers to dunk everyone in the harbor before rowing them over. For the smell, you know. No one is going to be happy to see them if their eyes are watering too much to actually see them. Then he laughs some more at his hilarious joke.

But he does eventually load up his boat—and maybe there isn’t room for everyone all at once, maybe some dramatic reunions will be delayed, maybe some people will be even more fashionably late to their funeral than the others—and carries everyone across the bay, still chuckling intermittently.

***

In the courtyard, the speeches and anecdotes (and singing, perhaps) wind down to long silences peppered with murmurs or sniffling. Someone is preparing to light the pyre. And then the gate creaks open.

Comments

[in_death_sacrifice]

Kain is still astonished himself. It's been such a long, exhausting journey, and he'd dreamed so often of this moment... He had been certain it would never truly come. So it all seems quite unreal to him, as well. He's really here, isn't he? This isn't some kind of hallucination as the life leaves him, right? But Inessa in his arms feels real, and that's enough to ground him in reality.

So Kain holds her, doing what he can to be soothing in the moment, knowing she has a lot to process with all of this. He cannot imagine being in her position and believing they were all truly gone...

Her pounding on his chest indeed doesn't bother him at all, and he understands the emotion well, so he stays quiet, letting her have this moment to feel, to let it all out. Finally, when he speaks, all he can say is, "I'm here. I'm here how."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa is not usually at a loss for words, not like this. Her throat closes up, and she can't force anything out of it, hot tears sliding down her cheeks. It's as though a dam has burst, and her thin shoulders shake with a force that surprises even herself. She can feel the mabari leaning against them both, but there is no energy to spare for him at this moment.

She finally draws in a shuddering breath which ends in a slight hiccup, unable to look back up just yet. "I...we thought...how...."

[in_death_sacrifice]

For a while, all he can do is hold her, and do what he can to give her comfort. He can't imagine how things must have been here, believing the entire group had been killed. He can't imagine... He leans in, kissing the top of her head, a gentle sort of gesture as he listens to her question. He's wondered that himself plenty during this long, strange journey.

"It wasn't easy. We ended up traveling through the desert and deep roads... and finally the mountains. It was a relief to breathe fresh air by the time we got to the surface again. There were many times when- well, I wasn't so certain we'd ever make it back. And so often I just... missed you, and worried..."

[circleprodigy]

That top-of-the-head kiss helps calm her breathing, at least though her grip hasn't let up by any means just yet. In, out, in, out. He's here, flesh and blood, and she can do this. They are together again, at least until that dreaded day where one of them succumbs to--no, not going to go there. Not now.

"It sounds like an enormous ordeal. I wish I could have been there, even so. Anything is better than not knowing...or thinking the worst." Her eyes meet his, a little reddened from crying. Garahel nuzzles their legs, and she draws in a deep breath, trying to think. "We should get you to the infirmary, have you looked over...please don't tell me you don't need it."

[in_death_sacrifice]

After such a long ordeal, it's an extreme relief to be here holding her like this, touching her, assuring himself that she's real, that all of this is real. The last few days especially feel like a blur, nothing more than a nightmare. Hopefully he can put it behind him, as much as possible. They're here, and he doesn't intend to go through this again if he can help it.

"I wish you had, too. Next time... if something like this comes up again, I'm going to insist we both go." If they risk death, so be it, but they can risk that together instead. He sighs heavily, sort of knowing she'd insist on that. "I really do feel fine... but... I also don't want to be sat upon by Garahel. So... all right..." Because he knows he wouldn't hear the end of it if he doesn't at least get checked out. He does have some dried blood, some cuts and bruises here and there, even if there are no really hideous wounds... this time. Not to mention, he probably needs to eat and drink properly too.