Quoted By:
“…What the hell is <span class="mu-i">she</span> doing here?” Linda hissed to you venomously.
It was your ex, for some reason, before Dolcherr’s grave. Where she’d found you before, when she came over right after your return from Halmeggia. Eidan Wolfe- the daughter of a pivotal member of Halmeggia’s military, and a fellow mourner of a close relation taken too soon. You’d comforted each other- for a while. She’d been fun. A lot of fun. But you’d separated- and here she was.
“Huh?” Eidan looked up from the grave she’d been staring at, then to you, and then Linda. “Oh. Hey, Reinhold. Was wondering when you’d show up.”
She knew where you lived. If she really wanted to meet with you, she knew how. “Not feeling the seasonal joy then?”
“No, it’s not that,” Eidan said, “The End of the Year is a time for remembrance. Time to consider where to move on and not.” The boyish-haired girl, still a faded gold from summer, looked back to Dolcherr’s headstone. “For the first time, I’ll be doing that on my own. Something I’ve held off on doing too long.” She glanced towards Linda, and you braced. For the past year and more, whenever Eidan and Linda met, sparks would fly, but whether it was because you were no longer dating, or the sanctity of this place, there was no more than a momentary glower. “Who’s the kid?”
What a bandage to rip off this was. “He’s my son, his name's Eike.”
Eidan blinked, and her mouth fell open, struggling to do more than stutter. “Eh? Huh…what?”
“His mother’s waiting here.”
Eidan’s confusion turned to pity. “Oh. Oh, I’m sorry…but…sheesh, when..? How..?”
“She’s not <span class="mu-i">dead</span>,” you hastily corrected, “I asked her to come here.” You looked about, “Though she’s not…here yet…” Winnifred might have vanished at will, but she wasn’t one to lie to you, you felt. She’d just tell you. She wasn’t one to be late either, so…she had to be here somewhere. Waiting to be found.
You’d seek her out. Before that, you had another bouquet to lay down.
The grave was immaculate- like all the others, well cared for and free of frost, dust, or anything that implied it was forgotten. With the flowers laid at its base, you were reminded of how pointless this ritual had originally felt, back when you’d just done this for Grabb. Dolcherr had been the one to point out, though, that graveyards were not made for the sake of the dead. The Judge had no use for the bodies of his children, the dead could not appreciate the color or scent of flowers. Yet they allowed those who still walked the earth to be as near those they had lost as they could still be, and for them, it made death something not so terribly fearsome as it ever loomed.
>Say anything to Dolcherr?
>Talk with Eidan about anything?
>Other?
