Rosetta

28

Warning: Mentions of injury
The body was burned in the afternoon, though no one was there to watch it dissolve to ashes except Winter and Jacin.

Carlos wouldn't leave the comatose Rosetta, Scarlet and Iko had stayed with Cinder and Kai to advise them about their coming child, Wolf was waiting with Thorne to see whether the doctors could help Cress; Thorne had sent a short comm to say that the dagger hadn't gone very deep, but her eye was unsalvageable. The nerves were severed in removal so cybernetics weren't an option. Winter shuddered to think what she would do.

Though she was interested in her cousins coming child.

Jacin noticed her shiver, though. "We should go inside," he said grimly.

But she was rooted to the spot. She was staring at the flames, which were now dying out, letting the hot ash creep into her eyes, making them sting. Tears slipped down her cheeks out of pain.

Jacin wrapped his arms around her. "Let's go."

So she let herself be dragged inside the house and seated in a chair. Jacin left to go smother out the remaining flames, and she was left to her own devices.

Then something clicked in her mind. Everyone should be remembered, right? Even though she caused the death of so many under her dictatorship, Levana had ruled Luna better than Channary. Sybil Mira had made sure that Cress had stayed alive, even if it was for malicious intentions. Aimery- well, maybe he deserved to die, but anyone that had been tortured by him would never be able to forget him.

So surely, Esmerelda, a mother who was avenging her son and husband, deserved to be remembered?

Thought in mind, Winter rushed out to where Jacin was pouring water over the fire. She screamed, "Wait!" and he spun around and dropped the bucket.

"Winter?" He questioned.

But she already had her knees in the ash, trying not to think about the remnants of the corpse as she fought her way through the debris. Then her finger came across something sharp, cutting her finger. She sucked in a breath as she pulled it from the floor.

A dagger.

Jacin knew better than to question Winter's antics, so he let her carry the knife all the way to the living room.

Whilst she was settling it below the battered netscreen, she said, "Everyone deserves to be remembered."

*

"Sit down, Jacin," she said softly.

He huffed and sat himself on the edge of the bed.

"Good," she said, walking to the bathroom and returning to with a small, fading yellow box.

Jacin stared at the box with alarm."Winter-"

"Don't talk," she ordered, her voice slightly louder in the empty house. Their friends hadn't returned yet.

She kneeled onto the floor and edged towards Jacin. Winter opened the box and took out an antiseptic salve. She dabbed it onto a cotton pad and gently applied it onto his face.

The blood had dried on the whole side of his face, and even before he settled down inside  and began to inform her of the fight, she could tell the knife had gone deep.

He winced at the first touch. Winter noticed and drew back. "Is the Lunar guard becoming soft?" She teased.

He scowled and gave his cheek. She began to wipe again, showing the scab forming on top of the wound, leaving behind a tinge from where she had not yet taken all the blood from.