No bets were taken, and no comforting grandmotherly arm extended out of the dark to wrap his shoulders in a fragile embrace or wrap him in the old blue shawl that always smelled of hyacinths, even in the winter. The lighthouse lamp burned above, and the candle burned below, and Kel did his best to protect his little memory-light as he gave offering to the Ghost Queen and the souls that had gone to her care.
But there was no Ghost Queen here, no goddess who held safe the souls of his mhamo, his elder aunts and uncle of the Grove who had returned to the earth. A different god by a different name held souls he had no connection to, and there was no longer any comfort in knowing that at least after death, however quick or lingering, far distant in time or near and cruel it might be, that he would be reunited with his family once more.
Still he sat his vigil, holding himself against the chill of the deepening night as midnight came and went and the blue-purple star moved across the heavens. He sat against the lighthouse mourning quietly but freely, remembering the woman who had meant so much to him until the candle burned down to a stub and finally guttered out, and only then did he gather it into cold fingers, rising to stiff knees to cradle it close.
There were still a few hours before dawn when he trudged down the hill, away from the great stone tower and back into the jungle, feeling more alone than he had since arriving on this strange, alien world.
{Fin}
But there was no Ghost Queen here, no goddess who held safe the souls of his mhamo, his elder aunts and uncle of the Grove who had returned to the earth. A different god by a different name held souls he had no connection to, and there was no longer any comfort in knowing that at least after death, however quick or lingering, far distant in time or near and cruel it might be, that he would be reunited with his family once more.
Still he sat his vigil, holding himself against the chill of the deepening night as midnight came and went and the blue-purple star moved across the heavens. He sat against the lighthouse mourning quietly but freely, remembering the woman who had meant so much to him until the candle burned down to a stub and finally guttered out, and only then did he gather it into cold fingers, rising to stiff knees to cradle it close.
There were still a few hours before dawn when he trudged down the hill, away from the great stone tower and back into the jungle, feeling more alone than he had since arriving on this strange, alien world.
{Fin}
