The god arrived, the lantern was chosen, and Hadama watched the strange woman and her lost one meet for only a moment before he looked away, granting them their time alone as best he could. The strains of the fiddle still filled the Waterways, inescapable but light, and he was in no hurry to leave it behind.
If not this year, then another, he hoped. His brother deserved a proper farewell, though he would gladly hear his grandfather's wisdom one last time if ever Ludo gave him the opportunity.
Comfort was offered but unneeded tonight beyond the making of that offer, and he took solace of his own in the living presences of Mel and Lena and those others that he had briefly met in various travels. He lingered in the currents of the dancing streams a while longer, paying respects even to the lanterns of strangers before collecting his own - a new one, made for these airbreather ceremonies; one of glass and water rather than flesh and air, but surprisingly comforting in its persistence.
He swam a small distance away from the others before aquaporting home to rejoin his people in their own observances of the night.
If not this year, then another, he hoped. His brother deserved a proper farewell, though he would gladly hear his grandfather's wisdom one last time if ever Ludo gave him the opportunity.
Comfort was offered but unneeded tonight beyond the making of that offer, and he took solace of his own in the living presences of Mel and Lena and those others that he had briefly met in various travels. He lingered in the currents of the dancing streams a while longer, paying respects even to the lanterns of strangers before collecting his own - a new one, made for these airbreather ceremonies; one of glass and water rather than flesh and air, but surprisingly comforting in its persistence.
He swam a small distance away from the others before aquaporting home to rejoin his people in their own observances of the night.
