The Events of the 18th of Felsite, 1077In silence, Jools and his daughter walked the stone path towards the domes. She shuffled her feet, occasionally kicking loose stones in her path, sending them bouncing and skittering across the olivine and basalt. His lower lip pulled in tight, Jools did his best to push her - he could sense she wanted to talk to him, had sensed it for days now - but the Maester had taught him patience over the years. Youthful exuberance had been tempered some, brashness folded and beaten into something stronger. Kuli's teachings did pay off in the end, as Asod turned her head to look at him, and said:
"I've been very depressed these days, father. Stakud's death, and even the Hammer's... you know I was friends with him, don't you?"
"I was aware of that," Jools said, hiding the twinge of disgust. "He always did right by you."
"He did - and, and it upsets me, because they are no longer here. But it upsets me MORE, because I miss them more than the three siblings I have lost. I barely wept for them... I should have been effected more, that I should have
felt more..."
"Mm. Guilt. Guilt is a funny thing - it's consuming, isn't it? The rising panic that you should feel bad because you didn't react in a way you deem you should... You know, your mother - bless her - insisted we name you Asob. And I fought it at first - but it's come to really represent you. Much like a donkey's back, you're sturdy and consistent. But - and this is important - you always act straight and dependably, just like those beasts that we all feel the utmost respect and love for. We all feel grief differently. Don't punish yourself for your actions as a child."
They did not stop walking, but she slid an arm out and clumsily, awkwardly, gave her father a fleeting hug. Jools smiled, his eyes downcast on the road, his thoughts flitting between memories of his love, of his departed Kib.
"You know, sometimes I think I see my sister still, moving around this fortress. This silly cat, Onul, she has her eyes. It's the strangest thing."
"Now you're just being contrary," Jools said, his melancholy broken. "Your sister wouldn't come back as a CAT. I assure you."
***
Masami forced himself to roll onto his back, even though the pain that shot through him caused him to pass out. With the sun setting, the temperature dropping, the Elf hoped that just a bit of condensation might drop onto his swollen, dried tongue.
But as the sun lowered over the dunes, as the moon rose high with it's mocking face, not a drop of water came. Masami shuddered - a motion that sent the sharp shocks up his spine once more - and choked back a sob. His voice was nearly gone - days of hoarse shouts were ignored. Though the lights shown from the Poison Temple, not a soul stirred to aid him. I was the language barrier, he knew, but maybe Deerowls would have heard, or maybe Aryn, or the administrator, or the madam who spoke their tongue - or anyone, just to investigate the noise.
None came. And in his anguish, and in his fear, and in his pain, he cried out in a strangled tone.
"Ah! Etinoi! Etnoi, lama sabachthani?"
***
OOC: Jool's "oldest daughter" is still being listed as alive and being a child, even though that's not the case - the third oldest is the first in the line of daughters that is alive and she's grown to be a mason. If I zoom to that child, it targets a cat. Much like that raccoon, and Grov, and a variety of other things, this is just one more instance of DF developing sentience.
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Topic: Migrursut: What Comes After The World Ends? [Epilogue] (A Community Fort) (Read 390870 times)