Folks Of Fury (#1; Tales Of Elysia [COMPLETED])

twenty-one.

Today was my brother's funeral.
Jean St. Ours, eldest son but not heir to the Erinyes Coven deceased at twenty-two and survived by brothers, sisters and cousins.
Slain by his Fey half brother.
Okay maybe the family hadn't put that in the obituary. But the day was still early for that to happen.
Ezra had been called back to Legion House so that he would attend the funeral and pay his respects to the covens in his father's stead.
Eleazar had left Redwood to meet with the leaders of the Agnate; the Cross, the Rose and the Scepter.
I guessed it was because Redwood has been the confluence of so much commotion to be ignored by the Powers That Be anymore.
I didn't want Ezra to go. For one because the covens, most especially my family would most likely take out their retribution for me on him.
But he was a stubborn motherfucker and so here I was, perched at a perfect vantage on a branch of a willow tree overlooking the St. Ours mausoleum.
Ezra could say I came because for what's worth of everything Jean and my family had done to me over the years, I still cared for them.
Or maybe I just wanted a front row seat to the spectacle of their pain and grief.
All the Agnate of Redwood were represented in the gathering of black but the attendance was mostly witchkind as befit a witch of the St. Ours family.
The women wore long gowns of black with shawls and veils over their faces. I picked from the innermost circle of grievers, my sisters and brother.
I realized again the absence of Lisette- only Fleur and Margot stood, the latter holding the former as she wept profusely.
Mom and her sisters stood to their right, tall and stiff with raised heads and their eyes cast skyward. I also noticed that Johann wasn't with them.
Not even when Hans, Bo, Raymond and the rest of the Jeans trooped in with a wooden casket borne on their shoulders.
As the boys approached bearing the corpse of their brother and friend, a song carved from where my mother and aunts stood.
At first I thought it was a spell, but with the prolonged sonorous chants I realized it was too melodious to be simply just that.
I knew this ritual. It was the Song of Farewell, a last enchantment the family members of the deceased had to cast for the spirit's safe passage to the Ether.
I felt a slight stab of emotion as I watched from above their heads, the crowds parted as the casket approached further and made its way into the weathered marble mausoleum.
When Hans and the Jeans finally left the mausoleum and the Song of Farewell had seized, everyone started to march in with flowers of mourning and grief to pay their respects.
Family first then friends and then the others.
I'd thought Johann was too bereaved to be present but I saw him go into the pale marble structure after Hans had come out. And I wondered, being Jean's father he was supposed to be first.
When Ezra had started to go in after family and other witchkind had paid their due, a pensive wave of anger washed over the covens and whispers carried with scowling glares.
"He shouldn't be allowed to be here."
"His presence insults the dead boy."
"Perverted by the Fey vermin."
My talons clenched around the tree branch, anxious and fearful for Ezra. I knew this had been a bad idea, they would blame his involvement with me.
But Ezra who obvious to their annoyance, didn't falter as he walked into the mausoleum. I took flight and landed on a mortar window to look into the building.
Generations of St. Ours witches had been buried here since they settled in this part of the country. There were a few coven traditions that expected every witch to serve the dead for three nights.
The casket of my dead brother, Jean had been placed in an alcove in the newest section of the burial place, and its lid was open.
Jean had been cleaned and prettied up with makeup to cover the signs of the plague on him, wearing a snug suit with his spellbook clasped on his chest and underneath his folded arms.
"I'm not sorry you're dead." Ezra said tightly as he glowered down at my brother's corpse. "You and your family all but killed Senoy for no reason except he wasn't like you. It wasn't hate or spite for the Fey but jealousy that drove you. So I hope the Ether takes you to the darkest hell imaginable for it all."
I watched as others came and left, some saying he didn't deserve to die and others showing gratitude for saving his people. Some witches outright swore vengeance against me.
When I was sure everyone had left the mausoleum grounds and departed for the wake at the Manor, I flew down and took mortal form again.
Flowers were now piled around the foot of his alcove as well as lit candles and incensed sage and frankincense.
A plaque had been made and fixed on the stone wall above him.
'Here lies Jean Paul St. Ours, brother and son. He gave a sacrifice that freed many.'
"Isn't that too noble of you, brother?" I remarked, looking at the corpse as if waiting for him to wake up and punch me with iron spiked cuffs.
I conjured and placed a poppy flower, deep cerise against the backdrop of white- spilt blood on snow, before I took flight and left the mausoleum.