eyes on fire, you are the unforecasted storm
Hotaru leads the way on quiet feet, and her features bleed and shift to represent as close to family as she could mimic from stories and half-remembered lineage, hoping it will lend credence to her offerings and strengthen the idea that he hasn't been forgotten. A cousin, perhaps, or a niece. As Noah begins cleaning the grave itself, Hotaru begins pulling weeds from the base of it and sets down the bunch of flowers she'd brought, her ears tuning to Noah's voice immediately as he opens up.
She takes a long moment to think of her response, expression far-away and wistful. "I understand why you might be jealous," she murmurs, lighting the incense and snubbing out the fire so the embers burn and the smoke twists but nothing else leaps forth. "I can't say I'm not lucky. But Sunjata was not the man I believed to be my true love. I lost him - and our children with him - when our home burned. When the Voice brought me here, but not them." Her voice is soft and melodic, still Ru even when the rest of her looks so different. "I don't want to diminish what you have with Cordelia. Or even what I had with my first love, or with Sunjata. But I truly believe you can love someone entirely, lose them, and still love again." Even people who were assuredly soulmates. And she hadn't believed that before. Not until years of life in Caido had opened her heart again.
"And even if you cannot love another, would she want you to be like him?" Her eyes cast aside to the spirit, who paces around them in errant circles as if wanting to be angry but finding no material for it yet. "Wandering aimless and hurting until the clause for your immortality is met?" If so, that is not love either. And while she dislike Cordelia greatly, she won't assume such dark things of the woman. "I suspect Vi would not want his chosen to live such a half-life either; would surely bring you to Mort's realm rather than see you suffer." She doesn't mention that he could always choose to end it on his own terms, given it's a rather morbid idea when time hasn't forced his hand. Such were the dark benefits of knowing their own loopholes for eternal life.
She takes a long moment to think of her response, expression far-away and wistful. "I understand why you might be jealous," she murmurs, lighting the incense and snubbing out the fire so the embers burn and the smoke twists but nothing else leaps forth. "I can't say I'm not lucky. But Sunjata was not the man I believed to be my true love. I lost him - and our children with him - when our home burned. When the Voice brought me here, but not them." Her voice is soft and melodic, still Ru even when the rest of her looks so different. "I don't want to diminish what you have with Cordelia. Or even what I had with my first love, or with Sunjata. But I truly believe you can love someone entirely, lose them, and still love again." Even people who were assuredly soulmates. And she hadn't believed that before. Not until years of life in Caido had opened her heart again.
"And even if you cannot love another, would she want you to be like him?" Her eyes cast aside to the spirit, who paces around them in errant circles as if wanting to be angry but finding no material for it yet. "Wandering aimless and hurting until the clause for your immortality is met?" If so, that is not love either. And while she dislike Cordelia greatly, she won't assume such dark things of the woman. "I suspect Vi would not want his chosen to live such a half-life either; would surely bring you to Mort's realm rather than see you suffer." She doesn't mention that he could always choose to end it on his own terms, given it's a rather morbid idea when time hasn't forced his hand. Such were the dark benefits of knowing their own loopholes for eternal life.
the Valkyrie
