The Fate of Kailea

32| Forever

~Mason~

"Dearly beloved, we stand here today to honor the fallen,"

The pack elder speaks on the shoreline where our fallen lie in wooden boats, ready to be sailed out to sea. Each of us stood in our traditional pacific islander garb with the dead mummified in flammable cotton strips. Handwoven torches lit the way of the beach as the sunset and my mates stood beside me. The four of us stood in a line with the rest of our pack in a half-circle around the dead.

Thankfully the babies stayed quiet with Clementine strapped to Remy's shirtless back just as Cyprus sucked on his fingers behind Tristan. The drums shook the ground beneath us as the beat started. Waylon stood behind the boat containing our Rowan and started the traditional funeral dance along with the sixteen other children.

Even though it's a sad moment in our pack's history, I can't help but smile as Waylon proudly shows off the dance he had worked so hard on to perfect for Rowan. He took so much pride in his traditional grass skirt, wristlets, and the shark tooth necklace I got from my father when I was younger that I finally let him wear. His dark brown curls rested perfectly on his white crown of flowers to praise the gods of water but for some reason, his blue eyes shined a deep silver. It was almost unsettling, to say the least.

With a single stomp to end the dance, the children held their hands in front of them to ask for the blessing of the moon goddess. At that point, I join hands with my mates who join the rest of the pack. Standing at the end of the half-circle, I only held Remy's hand in mine. His hand shaking slightly as I gave him a small squeeze. Everyone bows their head as the pack elder leads a prayer for the fallen.

"Goddesses and Gods above, we come to you today to ask that you guide our fallen through the spirit realm to Valhalla. That you let their bravery become their light and may their souls rest in peace through your blessing. They will be missed below but let the love travel through to them and keep them warm through their heavenly stop and into their next life if they are blessed with such. In these words, we entrust their shells that remain to you, in this we pray,"

"AJEN!" The pack ends the prayer together as one and I feel Remy drift from me, letting go of my hand as he rests on Noah for support when the strongest warriors start pushing the boats out to the water. The drums start up again for a dramatic trill as the elder raises her hand to our number one archer.

"And now we will say our final farewells with the hand of our gifted archer, Juniper Kailea," She announces and Juniper stands well behind us, perched on the hill. Her blond hair tightly braided back so it would be out of her eyes as she wore a serious expression with the most intense focus.

We watch the boats as they float out with the remaining current, the sun now fully set with only the torches lighting the way as Juniper takes her first shot without missing. But I'm not surprised considering she never does. Within seconds all seventeen boats are lit and our little juniper takes a knee out of respect.

Ending the funeral ceremony and saying our final goodbye to Rowan Moon.

***

"Remy?"

I peek into the nursery which Cyprus and Clementine shared for now beside Waylon and Juniper. We had moved their rooms from below ours to the guest room and library in our suite so we could be closer to our children after the Crimson attack.

"Shh," Remy quiets me with a finger to his lips as he slowly tiptoes away from the two cribs, joining me at the end of the room as the two of us carefully exit the room.