Kingdom Come

XI. Hold On Til May

"If you were me, you'd do the same

'Cause I can't take any more

I'll draw the shades and close the door

Everything's not alright, and I would rather"

Jaehaera and Sihtric had been woken up by Finan in the middle of the night. Sihtric held Jaehaera who had finally fallen asleep after hours and hours of struggling. He could kill Finan for making him wake her up, but her father had decided that he wanted to dig up her mother to give her the proper burial of their people. They all knew Jaehaera would want to be there.

So now they all followed after Uhtred through the streets of Wintanceaster at twilight.

Only stopping their walk when they got to her mother's grave. Just seeing it made Jaehaera want to either vomit, run away, or bury herself next to her mother. Sihtric held the exhausted girl in his arms as she rested her head on his chest. Uhtred called for Sihtric to help him and Finan dig her up. Sihtric didn't want to let her go, but she gave Jaehaera to Hild. The nun accepted the girl's embrace and held her like how her mother used to when Jaehaera was a child.

"Uhtred," Hild began softly as the men began their digging. "One moment please," she asked. Then men stopped as crickets sounded in the background, the night stood quiet, too quiet, and it made Jaehaera hate graveyards even more. The only things that gave her a small bit of comfort were the stars in the sky and Hild. "Lord, I pray," she began, "forgive the breaking of this peaceful ground. It is an act of love. Amen."

Jaehaera found herself repeating the steps Hild had taught her at that moment, and saying 'amen' as well. She didn't know why. Maybe deep down she knew they were disturbing the peace of the dead around them, but she didn't truly know.

Then once more her father, Finan, and Sihtric returned to digging. They only stopped when they found her mother's body in the ground, wrapped in delicate white cloth. The cloth she knew had been clean and perfect when they wrapped her mother, but now it had been tarnished by the soil and dirt from the grave. Uhtred and Finan stepped gently inside to lift her mother from the ground. Jaehaera turned her head away from the scene, and Hild's hand rested on the girl's head gently, cradling her in the nun's arms.

They then gathered branches and logs to build a pyre for her mother and gathered torches to help send her mother into the afterlife. Her father lit the pyre and stood back next to the others. Taking his place between Finan and his daughter like always. Sihtric wrapped his arm around Jaehaera's shoulders and held her close as she watched her mother's spirit drift on from this life and into the next. She held her father's hand tightly as they wept together. Sihtric let her go to him, and Uhtred held the girl in his arms tightly. Neither one wanted to ever let go.

"Lord," Finan spoke as he came to his side, gently placing a hand on her father's shoulder. Jaehaera let go and Hild took her father's place. "Lord," he repeated softly as her father continued to sob. Jaehaera had never seen her father like this before, and it only made the pain she felt worse. Her pain coupled with the intensity of her fathers truly broke the girl in the nun's arms.

"It's beautiful," Hild spoke gently as they all watched and stood with the father and daughter duo. "She is drifting away from the Earth, and upward to the heavens."

"We've done a good thing here," Finan told her father. "God knows it. The gods know it."

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