Genesis 059
Feb. 1st, 2006 04:46 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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yrae
Title~ Burial
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ Still mine
Notes~ Genesis 059. This~ didn't turn out as well as I'd envisioned. Bugga.
~ ~ ~
Nimay dug deep into the squelching mud, refusing to relinquish the borrowed spade when Rumal held out his hand to take it off her. The rhythmic action helped take her mind off other matters, though the gentle sucking sound of the mud couldn’t block out the mournful peals from that bird, hidden somewhere in the dripping leaves.
She still couldn’t believe she was doing this. It was wrong. Why did it have to be him? Why now? Why couldn’t he be given a proper burial, back home in Aeia’s lands? Slopping foreign soil wasn’t the place for an army General to be buried, especially this General. Nimay had never been particularly religious, but there was nevertheless something inherently wrong about burying a man outside the death goddess’s burning hot desert sands.
Her vision clouded over again with tears, and she blinked them away angrily, unable to dig any deeper. She climbed out of the shallow, slushy puddle that was to pass as Rau’s grave, then dropped the spade next to a tree before gathering with the rest of the Own around their General’s lifeless body.
Wordlessly, the fourteen remaining Own riders lifted him from where he had fallen, all of them avoiding looking directly at him as they lowered him carefully into the shallow grave. Tears welled again in Nimay’s eyes as she straightened. Not half an hour ago, Rau had been joking with Nol about their encounter with the Sissillyan queen.
She couldn’t say how long the fourteen of them stood there in silent remembrance, watching but not seeing as the modest grave filled with rain. Even the mournful bird had silenced its cries in respect for the fallen General.
It was growing dark when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye—Kurae had turned to retrieve the spade from beside the tree, and now stood beside the mound of sodden earth that had been dug out of the hole. He scooped up one spadeful of mud and looked down into the grave for a few moments, then shook his head.
“I can’t do this,” he said, the first words that had been spoken since Rau’s death.
Rumal laid one hand on his shoulder, then took the spade from him and began methodically shovelling mud into the grave. No emotion showed on the swordsman’s face as he carried out the task he had set himself.
It was a disturbingly familiar sight to Nimay—Rumal had been the one to cover Naraan’s grave three years ago.
She glanced up and ran her eyes over the faces of her colleagues, who had long since become her friends.
The bird began its death song once more, louder this time, jerking Nimay’s head up to follow its voice. She could see it clearly this time. A tiny little bird, its feathers rusty red against the dank grey-green leaves.
‘Please, Aeia, don’t take any more of them. I don’t know that I could handle doing this again.’
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ Still mine
Notes~ Genesis 059. This~ didn't turn out as well as I'd envisioned. Bugga.
Nimay dug deep into the squelching mud, refusing to relinquish the borrowed spade when Rumal held out his hand to take it off her. The rhythmic action helped take her mind off other matters, though the gentle sucking sound of the mud couldn’t block out the mournful peals from that bird, hidden somewhere in the dripping leaves.
She still couldn’t believe she was doing this. It was wrong. Why did it have to be him? Why now? Why couldn’t he be given a proper burial, back home in Aeia’s lands? Slopping foreign soil wasn’t the place for an army General to be buried, especially this General. Nimay had never been particularly religious, but there was nevertheless something inherently wrong about burying a man outside the death goddess’s burning hot desert sands.
Her vision clouded over again with tears, and she blinked them away angrily, unable to dig any deeper. She climbed out of the shallow, slushy puddle that was to pass as Rau’s grave, then dropped the spade next to a tree before gathering with the rest of the Own around their General’s lifeless body.
Wordlessly, the fourteen remaining Own riders lifted him from where he had fallen, all of them avoiding looking directly at him as they lowered him carefully into the shallow grave. Tears welled again in Nimay’s eyes as she straightened. Not half an hour ago, Rau had been joking with Nol about their encounter with the Sissillyan queen.
She couldn’t say how long the fourteen of them stood there in silent remembrance, watching but not seeing as the modest grave filled with rain. Even the mournful bird had silenced its cries in respect for the fallen General.
It was growing dark when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye—Kurae had turned to retrieve the spade from beside the tree, and now stood beside the mound of sodden earth that had been dug out of the hole. He scooped up one spadeful of mud and looked down into the grave for a few moments, then shook his head.
“I can’t do this,” he said, the first words that had been spoken since Rau’s death.
Rumal laid one hand on his shoulder, then took the spade from him and began methodically shovelling mud into the grave. No emotion showed on the swordsman’s face as he carried out the task he had set himself.
It was a disturbingly familiar sight to Nimay—Rumal had been the one to cover Naraan’s grave three years ago.
She glanced up and ran her eyes over the faces of her colleagues, who had long since become her friends.
The bird began its death song once more, louder this time, jerking Nimay’s head up to follow its voice. She could see it clearly this time. A tiny little bird, its feathers rusty red against the dank grey-green leaves.
‘Please, Aeia, don’t take any more of them. I don’t know that I could handle doing this again.’
no subject
Date: 2006-02-01 04:33 am (UTC)Especially when Kurae can't do the shovelling, it just.. gah T_T;
no subject
Date: 2006-02-01 05:51 am (UTC)Next ficcu will be happy, promise =3
no subject
Date: 2006-02-01 05:06 am (UTC)poor pwn bois
no subject
Date: 2006-02-01 05:54 am (UTC)