DEMISE

PART THREE: SYMBOL

And in the land of the dead, Ernaline's lair, there are many animals that she keeps and cares for deeply. Snakes, bats, vultures, and cats, among others. But her favorite is a black crow named Mortifer. It is said she can speak to him, fluently, in his own language and understands him when he speaks to her. Some even say that they are related, siblings perhaps, because their great black wings are so similar. —Caligoson Scripture

Deidamia, despite being considered divine, lived a relatively normal life for an individual in Caligoso. She learned how to set small traps, weed the garden, and fish, to cook, and to protect herself. Although Deidamia's muttering became quite frequent and did not go unnoticed by Rayne (who also noted the phrase spoken was always "Wilall beseth eyld troyd." She had attempted to find the meaning of this sentence but there were no books nor people in her village that could translate the Ancient Language), no more strange events occurred until Deidamia was a little over five years old.

Rayne and her young charge were making their way to the household garden, and Rayne was lecturing Deidamia about how she needed to behave in school, since it was her first day tomorrow.

"Now, there will be some kids who will try to provoke you but don't pay them any mind. And remember--argh! Darn crows!" she abruptly hissed. They had arrived at the garden and a number of crows were eating the seeds that had been buried in the soil. "Stop!" Rayne cried, running towards them and waving her arms. The birds paused at her antics, before languidly taking flight and perching on nearby trees, waiting to return when their presence would be unnoticed.

"Thank goodness, they didn't seem to do much damage," Rayne sighed. "So, Dei, take this hoe..." She held out the article for several seconds before looking around to see why the child hadn't taken it. "Deidamia!" she shouted, for the girl was staring at the tree where many of the crows had dispersed to with a rather curious expression on her face. At the sharp call of her name, her head snapped down and she took the tool.

"Alright, so let's replace a couple of the seeds. Here, take this bag and start on that end. Wherever you see those ugly rivets in the soil, put a couple of seeds and cover them up. Not too hard, though, we want the sprouts to be able to come up easily."

They got to work replanting and had labored for a time, before Rayne sat back on her heels and shaded her eyes with her dirty, gloved hand, staring at the same tree Deidamia had. "Great Abelard, I wish those crows would shut up."

Deidamia stood up, brushed the dirt off herself, and removed her gloves. "What are you doing?" Rayne asked. The girl merely glanced at her, before cupping her hands to her mouth and making a series of noises uncannily similar to that of a crow. Suddenly, the crows dispersed in a large, black cloud, and the clearing around the cottage was silent.

"Well!" Rayne said, shocked. "That...was a nice trick! You'll have to teach me how you do that."

"They won't come back," Deidamia stated matter-of-factly.

"That would be nice if they didn't come back while we finish our work. Then we'll finally get a bit of peace and quiet."

"No. They won't come back to this garden. Ever."

"As much as you know I want that to be true, I don't think that's possible, baby girl."

Deidamia stared at her with an unreadable expression, before going back to planting seeds.

Not one crow was ever seen in the garden again.

~~~***~~~

"Dei!" Rayne called, rapping on the door to her adopted daughter's bedroom. "It's time to get up! You don't want to be late for your first day of school--it'll give a bad impression!"

"Coming, Rayne," came a muffled voice from inside the room. As Deidamia had gotten old enough to talk outside of her sleep, Rayne had taught her to call her by her first name instead of 'mother'. Although she didn't want to alienate the child and accentuate the fact that they were not biologically related, Rayne had figured it would do more harm than good in the social dynamics of the village for Deidamia to treat Rayne as her mother.

Soon, a groggy Deidamia emerged from her room, looking severely out of place in a white blouse and a long, frilled purple skirt. She made a face at Rayne, who was stifling her giggles, before speed-eating her breakfast and walking with Demarkalos to school.

Mark lectured her the entire five minutes it took to reach the school house; Deidamia listened for about three seconds, before she tuned him out and began daydreaming.

"And if the kids bully you, just tell one of the teachers and that will sort them out."

"Uh-huh."

"And don't give the teachers too much sass because you want them to be on your side."

"Uh-huh."

They arrived at the schoolhouse door. "Oh, and if a great, big sea monster comes and swallows the schoolhouse, just knock on the window and he'll be sure to let you out."

"Uh-huh...wait, what?"

Mark burst out laughing. "Now I know when you started listening. Sorry, I've been rambling. Just do your best and you'll do fine."

"Okay, I will," Deidamia said, smiling, before turning and entering the building, still trying to work out what Mark had said about a sea monster and school, two topics that were distinctly unrelated in her mind.

As soon as she walked inside, everyone ceased their talking and turned to stare at her. She stood rather stiffly for a moment, before uncomfortably choosing a seat in the corner and taking out her materials. No one sat next to her.

"Erm, alright," exclaimed the teacher at the front of the room. "Can everyone quiet down and pay attention, please?"

It was a rather unnecessary statement, considering no one was speaking.

"Thank you," she beamed at the silent sea of students. "My name is Ms. Sanlanta and I am going to be teaching your classes this year! To get to know each other, I think we should start out by going around the room and saying our names and the gods we like to pray to. These can be gods you pray to in your family, or ones you pray to by yourself. Okay, so how about you start us off?" Ms. Sanlanta pointed to a random, light-haired girl in the front row.

"Um. Uh, my name's Ophelia and my family prays a lot to Afon."

"Hello Ophelia! That's quite excellent! And you, sir?"

It was much the same for the next few minutes, as each pupil answered the questions. Afon, god of farming, was mentioned quite a few times. When it got to Deidamia, she said in a clear, unfaltering voice: "Deidamia. My family and I pray to Actaeon often, since my mother and father are hunters, but I also like to pray to Ernaline."

The room became dead silent as every student's eyes grew wide at this bold proclamation. Even Ms. Sanlanta looked taken aback. When she regained her composure, she spoke rather severely. "Deidamia, would you please explain why you decided to pray to the goddess of death? Does your family often do so?"

"No, they don't. But I think it's best to get on good terms with her in this life, because it might help me in the next. I mean, it's nice and all to have a good life here, and pray to gods to give you a good harvest or something, but we spend an eternity in the afterlife, don't we? And, in the end, isn't it Ernaline that decides if we spend it happily?"

If Ms. Sanlanta had faltered before, after Deidamia's small lecture she was left speechless. After opening and closing her mouth a few times (and forcibly reminding Deidamia of a large trout she had caught with Mark once) she finally nodded at her young, intelligent student, before hesitantly asking another student to introduce himself.

That day, Ms. Sanlanta decided she vaguely disliked the small pupil who stared at her with such serious grey eyes and spoke such words of wisdom. However, at the same time, she couldn't help but be in awe of Deidamia and began to regard her with certain respect from that day forward.