In the Land of Fae ♔ (gxg)

18. aftermath

The morning sun of dawn seeped its way up the parallel trees until it was shining through the willow tree.

Catori was placing flowers and herbs into the square-shaped hole in the ground where Aerwyn was to be buried. The Fae had a small cemetery behind their cottages only a quarter of a mile out. It was in a small clearing in the forest where someone had been designated to shovel Eira's snow away from the gravestones ever since she had brought them her ice.

There were only a handful of gravestones, which surprised Nyx since she had heard of so many people's deaths since Eira took over the Kingdom. What she did not know was that those killed by the Ice Queen had their bodies disposed at sea, since the Queen had an overwhelming lack of respect for the dead as well as the living.

While there were a few buried fae that were executed by Eira and had been found soon enough to take them back to that cemetery and bury them, most of the graves were fae who had died from accidents or general illnesses throughout the years. The gravestones were large pieces of rock that had been shaved down until they had a flat enough face to write on with a smaller piece of rock, thanks to the earth Fae.

Aerwyn's grave was right next to the boy who had been killed not long before. The dirt on his grave, freshly dug and covered, was darker than the dirt on the ground due to having just been dug. There were blue flowers and some stones sitting on top of his grave.

Nyx was standing next to Alastair, Caspian on the other side of her, along with the others. All the fae gathered around the grave, their heads hung low as they watched Catori bless the dirt. Then, a few stronger air fae came and carried Aerwyn's coffin made of expertly weaved sticks that were laced so well there were no openings where one could see the body inside.

The air fae gently lowered the coffin into the grave, stopping to stand over it and look down respectfully into the grave. Catori kneeled and placed an amethyst and an aquamarine stone on top of the coffin. The blue flowers and other crystals in her hand were to be placed on top of the dirt.

Lining up, each fae went by and said blessings over the grave, most of them having to wipe their tears as they walked away solemnly.

Nyx looked over to Al. The fae had not said a word all morning, although everyone was seeming to nervously look at her the way a child looks at his mother when he's upset. Alastair kept her head bowed, dull red eyes staring into the grave at the makeshift coffin.

Al wanted to cry, but she had cried over so many deaths over the years that her eyes simply refused. Oh, how she cried on the inside, though. How her blood wailed within her, how her skin burned with grief, how her heart crushed over and over again with each beat it reluctantly took. She was walking pain, and no one knew.

Except for Nyx. She did not have to see tears to know someone was sad. She could feel Alastair's feelings in her stomach. No matter how much the fae ignored her and kept the air cold and still between them, she knew there was a connection between them that allowed her to feel the fae's feelings like no one else.

They moved up in the line that they were at the very end of. Nyx turned to Alastair and pressed a gentle hand at her upper arm, restraining her gasp upon feeling how burning hot her skin was. Alastair's troubled eyes flickered to her threateningly, and she calmly took her hand away upon feeling the heat greaten.

"I know you are feeling... a lot of things right now," Nyx told her quietly. Her eyes flickered down to the cut on the back of her knee that had been bandaged with moss. "But please don't blame yourself."

"Do not tell me how to feel," the fae snapped, a twinge of orange sparking in her eyes as she kept them glued to the grave.

"Stop blocking me out like that," Nyx snapped back quietly, making sure Caspian's nosy self did not hear. "My intentions are not bad, like you always seem to think they are."