Two years passed. Noni came home as often as he could, but he needed a long leave to make the journey to Bluehaven from Rindissillaron and back and he had little time when he was there. Jovinda had to rely on his letters to tell her of the progress of the war.
In one letter, Noni wrote of how the war was nearly won. Grimmshollin had retreated to a very small area and was barely holding it. It would be only a few days before the war was over.
Jovinda was delighted at this news and eagerly looked forward to welcoming Noni home. Every day she expected a letter, or even Noni himself to arrive. The letter came in just over a sixday saying that there was one more battle to end the war and then just a few things to sort out before Noni came home. She was ecstatic and began to prepare a welcome home party.
A couple of sixdays later, there was a knock on the door. Their butler answered and showed an officer into the drawing room where Jovinda sat reading to Carthinal. She rose as the officer entered.
He saluted and introduced himself as Roshinderal, who was Noni's friend.
'Yes, he's spoken of you often in his letters,' Jovinda told him. 'Do you know when he'll be home? I'm planning a welcome home party for him, you see.'
The young captain cleared his throat and looked embarrassed.
'Perhaps you'd better send your son out of the room, Madam,' he said.
Jovinda's heart began to beat quickly as she told Carthinal to go to the nursery. At first she though he would refuse as she saw tell-tale signs come over hs face, but the boy thought better of it and left.'
'Please, sit down,' said Roshinderal, as though it were his house and she were the visitor.
Jovinda sat down as requested, heart sinking. Then Roshinderal cleared his throat again and began to speak.
'It was the last battle, and nearly the end of that too. The enemy was retreating. Noni laughed and said he always knew we'd win as we were in the right. Just then, one of the enemy archers turned and drew his bow. The arrow took Noni.'
Jovinda's hand went to her mouth.
'How is he? Can I go to see him? Is he badly injured?'
Roshinderal took Jovinda's hand in his.
'I'm sorry to be the bearer of this news, but I'm afraid Noni died of his injuries soon afterwards. The arrow ruptured an artery, you see. He knew he was dying and asked me to come and tell you and to say he loves you more than he could ever express. He said to take care of Carthinal. He was very proud of you both.'
Jovinda looked at Roshinderal with a blank look in her eyes. All the life had gone out of them. Then she screamed.
'No! No! No! No! It's not true. You've all made a mistake. He's not dead. He can't be. Go back and check. I'd know if he was dead. I know I would.' She shook her head in disbelief, refusing to accept what Roshinderal had told her.
Her screams brought the butler, who was passing the door.
'Madam,' he said, 'What's the matter? Is it this man? Do you want me to escort him off the premises?'
Roshinderal turned and said, 'I've just brought her bad news. Her husband was killed in the last battle of the war. Is there anyone who I can get to be with her?'
Between them, they decided that Jovinda's parents would be the best people to get and so Roshinderal set off to their house to get them.
As soon as they arrived, they took Jovinda and Carthinal, along with Blendin, his nanny, back to their house. Ellire took Jovinda and put her to bed in her old room with a soothing drink and soon she was asleep.
Jovinda remained in her room for the next few days. She refused to answer the door, so Ellire left a tray outside. Some days a little of it disappeared, but others Jovinda did not touch it.
Ellire tried talking to her daughter through the door, but got no response. She tried to get her to come out to see Carthinal who was wondering what was going on. The six-year-old understood that his father had been killed in the war and had been inconsolable for a few days, but then, in the way of children, he seemed to bounce back somewhat. He could not, however, understand why his mother was ignoring him. Ellire tried to tell Jovinda this, but either the young woman did not hear or she was still too much enveloped in grief that she did not care.
Three days passed and Jovinda had not responded to anything. The trays of food and drink had been left untouched and no sounds came from her room. No sobs, no crying, no prayers, nothing.
Kendo decided that he would go in. After all, no one could go without food and drink indefinitely, especially drink, and Jovinda had not drunk anything in three days. He knocked on the door. No sound from inside. He tried the latch, but the door was locked.
Frowning, he called again, and when he still received no answer he said, 'Jo, if you don't answer me I'm going to break the door.'
Still nothing. Kendo put his shoulder to the door and pushed. There was a cracking noise as the hinges gave way and he fell into the room.
What he saw there broke his heart. There was his daughter, swinging from the beams overhead, a belt around her neck. He quickly cut her down, but it was to no avail. She had been dead for quite some time. A couple of days probably.
He left the room and told Ellire not to go in and to keep Carthinal away. The boy had taken to sitting outside his mother's room talking to her through the door, even though there was no response. He went out into the garden and sat under a tree thinking. Was there something he should have done? He ought to have broken the door down sooner. They should have insisted Jovinda come out and eat her meals with them. She was obviously brooding in there alone. All these thoughts went through his head until he felt he was going to go mad.
The funeral was held in the temple of Kalhera a few days later. The family was surprised at how many people turned up. Jovinda and Noni were popular figures in Bluehaven. Kendo knew he would never get over his guilt about his daughter's death, but he buried it deep.
He said to his wife after the funeral, when everyone had left and Ellire was weeping softly to herself.
'There's Carthinal to consider, Ellire. He'll need a lot of support and help. We need to be his anchor now that Jo's gone.'
Ellire blew her nose. 'Yes, of course. We'll need to bring him up. We should sell Jo and Noni's house and put the money in trust for him. He'll live here now with us.'
'Should we tell him how his mother died, do you think?'
'No. At least not for a long while. The poor child's had enough to cope with without knowing his mother killed herself.'
Thus Carthinal lived with his grandparents and they brought him up. No one ever told him how his mother died.
