A Simple Act of Kindness

“Look, it’s snowing Ihnarion.”

I looked on at the chaos and outrage that burst in an instant. Rue collapsed on the ground sobbing, as Ihnarion held his wife. Everything went silent as I ran towards them. She’s gone. It happened.

He wrapped her in his arms and began to lift her, tears streaming down his face. His eyes devoid of his usual intensity.

“A proper funeral is needed. The casket?” I offered.

“No” was all he was able to muster as he marched to the tree. Her tree.

He laid her in the flowers as the town gathered around. I must be here for the living. A simple act of kindness is all that needs to be done. I began to pick flowers nearby. Sunshine joined me. As we built our bouquets, a Valkyrie cry broke out.

Rue honoring the dead in her way. I look up to see Clae, uncertain of what else to do but hug the tree and sob. Silk, consoling Clae and staring numbly. And Ihnarion… His tear streaked face looking in to the face of his bride for the last time. At least the face he knows.

I lay my bouquet in her hand so that she might take some life and beauty into the gravemind with her.

I lay my hand on the shattered visage of my friend as she slowly crumbles and returns below.

He looks up with tears in his eyes “So I’m a Knight now… This is what Hell is.” I have no response.

…

I follow him to the morgue. “She can come back once more. She’s coming back.”

“That is one option” I think to myself “however neither will end the way you hope” I finish the thought morbidly…

See, I know brains. I know how they work. What makes them tick. Based on the research the others found, it only confirmed my theory. Pre-frontal cortex. Tumor. Symbiotic to the Infection. It will heal just like we do if we miss even a scraping of it. When she comes back she’s dead again or zed again... That is fact.

…

Inharion sits outside the morgue staring at the dirt. Rue and Grayson on the ground beside him offering him the comfort of their presence. I stay back toward the road, giving them space and keep the others with me.

A figure emerges from the morgue, the self-proclaimed best farmer in Bravo.

“Are you okay?” I offer as I begin a diagnosis.

“Hooch. I want hooch.”

I give up and look onward to Doc Bravo who nods.

 

“Hooch, I’m buying,” he offers and they walk together towards the saloon.

With the morgue eerily quiet, I light a candle for Solvanii at the altar and enter the morgue. A simple act of kindness is all it takes to help the living.

I arrange the candles in the way that Slink did with me and begin to meditate and focus. I hear no whispers, but I feel the pull of the grave at my crystals. The sickly sweet touch of the gravemind washes over me and fills my consciousness. I focus. “Solvanii…”

Moments pass and I say once more “Solvanii..”

A tug. No, more of an acknowledgment to the name. I feel her below. Somewhere.

I exit the morgue. A simple act of kindness is all it takes.

“Ihnarion. Do you have any gifts from Solvanii? Something of great emotional importance.”

He nods and runs off towards McBride HQ.

Moments later he emerges from the woods.

“The first seed of Spring and this” as he holds up a small violet crystal.

I take his hand and lead him inside the morgue. A simple act of kindness.

“Concentrate on Her. Connect with Her once more. Once you feel Her, begin to guide Her. Give Her something to come back to,” I say as we sit in the circle.

We sit silent for moments. The silence is deafening as the onlookers stare sullenly outside.

He begins to speak. He starts with the story of how they met. I catch pieces here and there and smile gently at his lovely memory. A simple act, I remind myself.

A candle flickers out. I pretend not to notice.

He went on moments more detailing the days of their tribe. Another candle dims.

“Now is the time. Tell her what you never have.” I urge him.

"I-I… I want to leave this place with you, where we can return to the snow!" he says longingly.

The remaining two candles begin to flicker and we leave his items behind to greet her. A beacon in the darkness to guide her back to us. One last time.

We go to sit by the others and stop in our tracks as muffled squelches start to come from inside the morgue. The noise grows steadily as we wait, standing before the door. Waiting.

The seconds feel like hours waiting with baited breath. The crowd outside goes silent as the squishing, cracking, and gurgling stops at last.

He mouths something in a foreign tongue as we see movement inside. I cringe knowingly as the door slams open to behold Solvanii standing in the doorway, a halo of crystals protruding from her head.

I keep my mouth shut and look on in terror. Kindness…