>>6179431Sitting so close to Her, he feels the rush of feelings rolling through Her mangled body. One of Her arms moves to pick up the thing that has been brought, and hard, onyx fingers grind the fine bone powder.
<span class="mu-s">You have done well. This was indeed the last one. The last one before the final one, which has now been gifted, so dearly beloved, which has been once given.</span>
The emissary trembles, waddling in doubt. The words of the Sun-Birther are often spoken in mystery, but this is a veritable contradiction—
<span class="mu-s">All is at is supposed to,</span> She reassures them.
He feels one of her hands reach for his cheek and he jolts at the sensation — the feeling of comforting warmth burning at his awareness — unbidden memories of his mother nuzzling his tiny body, embracing his father when he passed, the first time he held his newborn son — all of this and more, a torrent of compassion that threatens to spill through him and carry him away.
But he will resist.
He is Sunseeker. Trained and chosen.
He has a duty.
The air smells of flowers. The same roses his mother used to care for. So red and plump. The same smell — coming home, and he is now home, with those six holy fingers gently pressed against his skin, the round hole in her palm letting cool air against his cheek.
He sets back to his work, picking up a new gauze and wrapping it against Her wrist, now so close, covering Her opening wounds, as their seep golden ichor, the pain she takes upon herself, prayers and hopes and fears embedded and carved into Her mutilated body.
<span class="mu-s">I shall ask of you a little more patience, children. So close now. So close. Be kind to me, if you at all can.</span>
The six-fingered hand falls back upon the floor, carrying in its wake more gauzes, some of them used and damp, some new and dry.
<span class="mu-s">This night is near its end.</span>
And then, as another arm raises to caress the newcomer, yet She raises another to rub at the back of his neck, six fingers kneading his skin with the kindness of a mother cat with her hapless litter, as in the silence of the room She begins to sing, and he can never remember the Sun-Birther ever doing so before, and he misses not being able to shed any tears anymore—
<span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">Vorresti vedere qualcosa a questo mondo scomparire?
E far l’aria più pura, i cuori degli uomini addolcire?
Eppure tutto qui sulla Terra è così fragile
E tu sai, comprendi bene: niente inutile… </span></span>
[cont.]
