What words could salve a mother's grief?
Difficult enough to find words for his own, and Seren had been his friend, not his child. But while the gods were often called upon to offer comfort in times of mortal troubles, there seemed to be few who could offer comfort in return.
He swam deep, away from the light and glory of the shrine at Aumakua. Memories played along its shores, achingly close to the surface, and he would need to sit there with Seren's ghost for his own heart's sake. But tonight he swam in his mer form for the Underwater shrine, and the altar that was tucked amidst the waving seagrasses and darting multi-colored fish that swirled through the water in his wake. Here there were fewer memories of Safrin's eldest daughter. A blessing and a curse. But here, too, tears could flow freely without loss of pride, washed away even as they fell to join the countless tears that filled the world from shore to shore.
Hadama put his own thoughts in order as he cleaned the small shrine and its ancient altar, filling it with the reflected starlight of his own scaled tail and a single large underwater lantern, the kind he crafted from glass fishing buoys filled with bioluminescent plankton. This one had a frosted white surface so that it glowed like a gentle moon beneath the sea. He anchored it to the shrine and then spread his arms wide, bowing his head.
Safrin, he rumbled, his mental voice quiet with mourning. I am here, if you need me.
Regional Score bonus: +13 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +13 should be included)
Difficult enough to find words for his own, and Seren had been his friend, not his child. But while the gods were often called upon to offer comfort in times of mortal troubles, there seemed to be few who could offer comfort in return.
He swam deep, away from the light and glory of the shrine at Aumakua. Memories played along its shores, achingly close to the surface, and he would need to sit there with Seren's ghost for his own heart's sake. But tonight he swam in his mer form for the Underwater shrine, and the altar that was tucked amidst the waving seagrasses and darting multi-colored fish that swirled through the water in his wake. Here there were fewer memories of Safrin's eldest daughter. A blessing and a curse. But here, too, tears could flow freely without loss of pride, washed away even as they fell to join the countless tears that filled the world from shore to shore.
Hadama put his own thoughts in order as he cleaned the small shrine and its ancient altar, filling it with the reflected starlight of his own scaled tail and a single large underwater lantern, the kind he crafted from glass fishing buoys filled with bioluminescent plankton. This one had a frosted white surface so that it glowed like a gentle moon beneath the sea. He anchored it to the shrine and then spread his arms wide, bowing his head.
Safrin, he rumbled, his mental voice quiet with mourning. I am here, if you need me.
Regional Score bonus: +13 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +13 should be included)
