A Dragon Lament (cont)
Ryel's voice quieted, along with the others
as a small statue rose out of a large goblet on the altar and moved to
one of the shelves. Eleni quietly wiped her face as she watched. Ryel kissed
Eleni's forehead as the ghosts began their lament again. Eleni whispered,
the words barely audible, "I'm sorry... I'm
so very sorry..." Ryel whispered in Eleni's
ear, "Shhhh... he knows you loved him."
Eleni shook her head softly and rested against Ryel, closing her eyes as
she listened to the song, lost in thought and memory. Ryel rocked back
and forth, Cyel's body crumbling as he watched. Eleni wiped her face with
her hands and wrapped her arms around her legs, curling into a ball on
Ryel's lap, her soft voice whispering with the ghosts. Ryel lifted his
voice with the ghosts again as he closed his eyes. The two sat there for
a week, no food, no drink as the lament was lifted in their son's name.
Ryel smiled to himself, knowing that Cyel would get to meet the woman who
had given him life. Their souls meeting again in the cross over, he had
many years yet before he got to see his many sons, daughters, friends,
and family again. He was still needed here, his desire to follow them across
stopped by a promise once made to the greatest friend he had ever known.
But he wondered... would they be there waiting.. would they welcome him
when it was his time.. The lack of sleep kept him thinking, the past, his
son, watching him grow.. hearing his first word.. the word echoed in his
mind. He saw the clearing then, and his best friend. As Cyel climbed on
Tenchi and hugged him he spoke, his voice small and with the sweet sound
of innocence, "Tentree."
The memory walked away as the lament entered his mind again. He watched
his boy grow again and he looked down at the little halfing in his lap.
Ryel thought, trying to figure it out, he should be dead by now. The curse
that went with seeing the ghosts should have shattered his heart by now,
sending him to be a ghost until it healed and he could return to his body.
He should have felt that pain by now. It should have happened.. and during
the week he waited, waited for it to come, but it escaped him. He realized
with his brother's ghost crossing over that the shattered hearts would
come no more.. and so now he had to deal with his son's death in a way
that he had not had much recent experience in. He must live through it.
Ryel tightened his arms around Eleni. He lifted a silent prayer to Kossuth,
in the final moments of the lament. The ghosts stopped singing, the voices
trailing off as the end of the lament echoed in the shrine, around the
realm, and in the ears of all those that had ever held the three of them
in their hearts. Another child was gone.
