Rise or Burn

Chapter Twenty

It was night. The funeral for Gregon Lone was held at the starlit temple, the temple of the goddess Cristrana, the Cythropian pantheon's goddess of death and the afterlife. The temple was large. It had cathedral ceilings, high placed long windows, chequered black and white marble floors and hanging tapestries. The tapestries depicted imagines of the goddess and her legends. Cristrana, daughter of Atrina, goddess of water and Staeto, god of night and darkness. She was known as the star bringer. When someone died she carried their soul to the heavens and they became stars. Many of the tapestries showed her reaching for humans, of her flying to the heavens with brightly coloured blue wings and her holding orb shapes souls.

Theana looked at the tapestries as she walked down the aisle. She was in a traditional powder blue cotton dress with long sleeves, a high waist and a short train. It was patterned with silver stars around the waist and hem. She held a small blue jewel toned box in her hands. In the box were two coins; one for her and the other for her cousin Eon, her uncle's only living family. Eon who walked beside her was in a similar powder blue cotton tunic and trousers. They had the same silver-star pattern around their hems.

Blue was the traditional colour for the mourning kin. Everyone else in the temple was dressed a deep violet colour. Music played from the balcony above. Slow rhythmic drums and a lone bard's song.

They came to a stop at the chancel, the space around the pith and altar. The pith, a shallow stone bowl hoisted in the air by chains suspended from the ceiling. The Altar was a stone slab with ivy growing over it. It was were Gregon Lone's body had been laid. Theana took one of the coins from the small box and held it out for Eon to take. He walked to the pith and placed the coin in it and then whispered a small prayer. Theana took the other coin, passing the now empty box to Eon before she stepped forward. She placed the coin in the pith and whispered the same small pray.

Ve oko u juh make kurio ipper.

In her hands may you reach peace.

Goodbye.

The manor was quiet when they returned to it. Theana's hands were trembling as she stepped inside.

"My lady," Catriana said. She was waiting for them by the door, "And lord Eon, welcome home."

Theana shrugged off her coat. "Thank you," she said numbly as she handed her coat over. She moved further into the manor, following the warmth coming from the main sitting room. They'd be a fire lit, there always was.

"Bring us some tea," she requested as she settled on the armchair closest to the fire. She was so cold. Catriana nodded before excusing herself.

Eon settled across from her, silent as a statue. He'd been quiet all day. It was a bit unsettling. Of all the days for Eon to learn to be quiet, why did it have to be today? She needed him to speak. For someone to speak. She didn't like all the quiet.

"Aren't you going to say something?" she eventually asked as she stretched her hands to the flames.

"What is there to say?" he said a moment later.

"Shouldn't you be rejoicing? It's no secret you didn't like him."

"I didn't think it'd be respectful."

She scoffed. "Since when do you care about respect?"

He pressed his lips into a thin line before sighing through his nose. "He was my uncle too."

She rolled her eyes. "You hated him."

"Yes I did." His eyes shifted to the flames. They absorbed the glow of the fire. "Do you want me to dance on his freshly filled in grave? Would that satisfy you? Yes I hated Gregon, do you have any idea why?"