The Next Ten Hours
Nov. 27th, 2012 03:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feredarStory: The Next Ten Hours
Year: 988 FY
Characters: Nida, Deva, Nava, Keta, Mellir, Andrell
Warnings: Character/familial death
Notes: This takes place in the Incest AU
One
When she wakes up, he is cold.
It takes her several minutes to connect the dots, to realize he is still, quiet, not breathing.
Not breathing.
Oh gods...
She rests her head on his chest, listening for his heart.
Nothing.
Two
There are things to do, people to inform. Confirmation has to be made, by someone who isn't his wife.
Widow.
She sends pages with the messages and then steps back, staying out of the way. She doesn't leave until they take him away, wrapped in a white sheet.
Widow.
Three
She goes first to Deva--but she hadn't been very close to her father. Mera, the first grandchild, was more...
But she can't say anything, can't even hold her granddaughter and help her with her own grief, can't...
She has to leave, after too short a time.
Four
She takes Nava out to the gardens. Nava doesn't quite understand what is going on, which makes it a little easier, oddly enough. Nava's grief is much less complicated, much less grating on her own.
She hates admitting that, even in the privacy of her own mind, that her children and their grief somehow make her own worse, in such harsh terms but...there it is.
She holds Nava close, pulling her tiny head onto her shoulder, and silently weeps.
Five
She finds Keta at Denill's five-year-old grave. They don't speak, just sit, quietly, staring at the headstone, until she remembers that his won't be far away, and she can't be there anymore.
Six
Kellom is tied up with details of the coronation, so she has no idea how he's handling this. And she's glad--Kellom was closest to their father of all the children, having to be there for him right now is more than she can stand. Tana is with him, at least, so neither of them is alone.
Seven
Mellir seems as stunned as she is, in the same kind of bleak fog. Odd, to see her usually so-impulsive son staring at the wall, as lost as she feels.
Eight
She receives a letter of condolence from Rema, under the family seal.
She tosses it in the fire unopened.
Nine
Andrell is the one who finds her and lets her know the details for the funeral have been put in place. Of course, most of them were arranged years ago, adjusted as necessary as children were born, died, had children of their own.
He's quiet, like Keta was. He briefly squeezes her hand and leaves her alone.
Ten
She returns to their room and stares at the spot where he was lying.
Quietly, deliberately, she smoothes his empty pillow.
There are no words for this.
Goodbye is not enough.
Year: 988 FY
Characters: Nida, Deva, Nava, Keta, Mellir, Andrell
Warnings: Character/familial death
Notes: This takes place in the Incest AU
One
When she wakes up, he is cold.
It takes her several minutes to connect the dots, to realize he is still, quiet, not breathing.
Not breathing.
Oh gods...
She rests her head on his chest, listening for his heart.
Nothing.
Two
There are things to do, people to inform. Confirmation has to be made, by someone who isn't his wife.
Widow.
She sends pages with the messages and then steps back, staying out of the way. She doesn't leave until they take him away, wrapped in a white sheet.
Widow.
Three
She goes first to Deva--but she hadn't been very close to her father. Mera, the first grandchild, was more...
But she can't say anything, can't even hold her granddaughter and help her with her own grief, can't...
She has to leave, after too short a time.
Four
She takes Nava out to the gardens. Nava doesn't quite understand what is going on, which makes it a little easier, oddly enough. Nava's grief is much less complicated, much less grating on her own.
She hates admitting that, even in the privacy of her own mind, that her children and their grief somehow make her own worse, in such harsh terms but...there it is.
She holds Nava close, pulling her tiny head onto her shoulder, and silently weeps.
Five
She finds Keta at Denill's five-year-old grave. They don't speak, just sit, quietly, staring at the headstone, until she remembers that his won't be far away, and she can't be there anymore.
Six
Kellom is tied up with details of the coronation, so she has no idea how he's handling this. And she's glad--Kellom was closest to their father of all the children, having to be there for him right now is more than she can stand. Tana is with him, at least, so neither of them is alone.
Seven
Mellir seems as stunned as she is, in the same kind of bleak fog. Odd, to see her usually so-impulsive son staring at the wall, as lost as she feels.
Eight
She receives a letter of condolence from Rema, under the family seal.
She tosses it in the fire unopened.
Nine
Andrell is the one who finds her and lets her know the details for the funeral have been put in place. Of course, most of them were arranged years ago, adjusted as necessary as children were born, died, had children of their own.
He's quiet, like Keta was. He briefly squeezes her hand and leaves her alone.
Ten
She returns to their room and stares at the spot where he was lying.
Quietly, deliberately, she smoothes his empty pillow.
There are no words for this.
Goodbye is not enough.