Acrasia

Healing Touch.

           Behind Ezekiel's massive palace, lies a huge and intricate garden. We had followed him outside and through the labyrinth of pebble and stone paths.  The flowers, having died this season, were replaced with greenery and shrubs that are winter hardy. Beside me, Seraphine pulls Axar into her body and rubs his arms to keep him warm.

         "You're a great mother, Seraphine." I lean to the side to whisper, careful not to drop Samael. She stops to look up at me, nearly yanking Axar over. I use my free hand to raise her chin and I lean down to give her a chaste kiss.

          "Never again will I ever doubt you. I'll spend the rest of my life to make this up to you." Her eyes are swollen and her face pale from grief and exhaustion, still the smile she gives me might be the most beautiful sight I've ever bore witness too.

          "Thank you. You can start by feeding me when this is over. It's wrong and selfish, given thesituation, but I'm so hungry." I manage to chuckle softly at her and nudge her forward.

          "Not selfish. Survivors guilt, lover. Also let's remember you are a pregnant..." What would you consider her? "Creature and typically pregnant things are often hungry." Axar snorts loudly, causing Ezekiel to turn back to us.

          "I can arrange for him to sleep with our horses, if you'd like."

           "I wouldn't trust him around them if they are female." She side eyes me. Ezekiel gives a hearty laugh.

          "I see the shape he's left you in, perhaps you have a point." Seraphine's face fills with blood and her cheeks redden. We all laugh despite our gloom and Axar breaks his silence.

           "Alex would have gotten a kick out of that. He actually made a rhyme about mama Sera's belly. It went 'Seraphine, Seraphine, big as a trampoline.' He also said if he looks like you, Nox, that he would put him in the corner and feed him with a slingshot if he ever babysit." We all crack up and Sera pinches Axar.

          "I'm not sure if I should miss him now." She smiles sadly. "He was such a smart ass, but he was a good person. I never even knew who he was, mom said that he gave me a ride to Barima's house after our fight and that he sat in the driveway worried. She said he didn't want to leave, that he knew by looks that I had to be his sister. He looked out for me, and I never even knew who he was. He always had my best interestsin mind. There will never be another like him."

          "All he ever did for me was ruin my intimate moments with females and wreck my home. Boy would wrestle with our relatives and allies, and destroy half my decor and furniture. When he was a kid, Samael and Ivara came to visit and he pissed in a vase and sat it back on the table to see if I'd notice. I told Samael about it later, and instead of dumping it he went and stuck flowers in it. He got his wise cracking from Samael, and his heart from his mother. Ivara was always so tender and helpful."

           Ezekiel tells his stories until we arrive and we all soak up the information, and we awe and chuckle at the right moments. I make Seraphine sit to rest while we, along with several other men of her family start to dig. Axar sits next to her, keeping her distracted and sending me nervous looks when she isn't paying attention.

          We get the holes dug, and Ezekiel does some sort of strange rituals over the bodies with flowers brought from inside the palace, candles, and some sort of relic. Each person comes up to the fallen, and places a hand on them. Some a tap on the shoulder, some a kiss on the head. Seraphine hugs each of them tightly, kneeling beside them and Axar does the same after helping her to her feet. Ezekiel vows tp find Ivara's body, and to bring her home to rest too. Then he starts introcing us, to everyone and naming names and relations to Seraphine. She seems pained, though she masks it to try to interact with her new family.