Chapter 176: Chapter 162 – The Fragile Nature of Life

"The good people always die far too soon, while the bad ones rarely die soon enough." - Old folk saying.

 

City of La Fiachna

Former Vitalican Territory

Northern Ptolodecca

6th day, 1st week, 5th month, year 127 VA.

 

Maebh and Clovis had passed away mere hours after each other, in their bed, of old age. Aideen and Artair came to La Fiachna on an express carriage to attend their funeral, along with Mimia and Éirynn. They were all that were left of the older generations of their family.

 

To be fair, the two of them lived to a ripe old age. Both of them were well in their eighties when they passed away peacefully, older than most any other member of Aideen's family who had passed on so far.

 

Their funeral was a solemn procession, witnessed and attended by literally everyone important in the region, as well as many of the city's inhabitants. Maebh's decades of peaceful governance had won her the hearts of the people, and many of them came to see her off to her final resting place.

 

An honor guard composed of the Fiachnan Templars - the remains of the Templars back then had voted to rename their order to distinguish themselves from the new "Vitalican" templars - served as her pallbearers. Eight of the highest ranking templars supported the coffin where Maebh and Clovis' bodies were laid on their shoulders.

 

The younger members of the order formed two neat lines from the cathedral to the cemetery, a wide corridor for the funeral procession to walk through between them. They stood at attention, and as the procession reached them, raised their weapons in a salute of respect.

 

Despite the rain that fell during the procession, none of the citizens left. They stood there in the rain, and paid their last respect as the pallbearers walked by. Some knelt in prayer, others bowed until their forehead touched the soil, a gesture of deepest respect amongst them.

 

Aideen and Artair, Mimia and Éirynn, as well as Maebh and Clovis' four children and their respective families, all dressed in mourning whites, followed behind the pallbearers. Deidre sobbed into her hands even as her husband guided her forward, while her siblings, especially Grainne who had become the new governor for a decade now, tried hard to control their emotions.

 

Nearly ten of Maebh's grandchildren were part of the procession, with the youngest, Deidre's six-year old son, openly crying for his grandma. The boy had been particularly close to Maebh in her last years, and already missed her presence dearly.

 

Many cried when the templars solemnly lowered the coffin into the prepared grave. Maebh and Clovis were buried right next to Faerghus' and Akeshia's graves. By some good fortune Faerghus' grave had survived the Antemeian occupation relatively intact, with only some damage to the gravestone, as his remains had long decayed by then.

 

The funeral rites were done by two members of the clergy. One of Vitalis' faith, another of Tohrmut's, as the faiths had now co-existed for decades in these lands. The priest of Vitalis extolled the virtues that the deceased had achieved in their lives. The priest of Tohrmut wished them an afterlife that befitted their kind souls.

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It was only after the rites were done that the grave was refilled with soil and the coffin buried. Aideen, along with every other family member present and the senior templars personally shoveled the soil into the grave, then carefully leveled the ground above until it was perfectly smooth.

 

Then all the mourners paid their final respects to the grave. Some prayed. Others cried. Many offered bouquets of flowers that they laid before the fresh grave. By the time the mourners had dispersed, the gravesite was literally buried in flowers.

 

"If Maebh could see this, do you think she'll be happy?" Aideen asked absentmindedly. She was drenched by the still pouring rain, her white mourning clothes sticking to her body. Everyone else around her was in the same state.

 

"I believe she would be pleased," replied Éirynn with a melancholic sigh, which caused Mimia to lay a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. The two cousins had been very close since young, and even after they separated, with Maebh in La Fiachna and Éirynn in Tohrmutgent, they still wrote to each other regularly.

 

Even so, with Maebh being a normal human and Éirynn a half-elf, a premature separation was a fate they had long since come to terms with. The two girls were born in the same year, yet where Maebh's life had ended, Éirynn was barely a fifth into her potentially far longer lifespan.

 

Grainne represented her siblings and thanked Aideen and Éirynn for having traveled in haste for the funeral. They all went to the old family mansion - now the Governor's residence, in other words Grainne's - and changed into dry clothes before they quietly had supper in remembrance of the departed.

 

Aideen and Éirynn stayed with Maebh's children for another week before they said their goodbyes. It was a solemn separation, with melancholy still in the air around them. They took regular carriages for their return trip.

 

"So what say you? Want to spend time with your siblings while we can?" Aideen asked Artair during the journey. Maebh's passing reminded Artair all too well of his own - and his family's - mortality. Two of his mothers had passed away in the past decade, and his eldest brother was already in his seventh decade.

 

Grigori had abdicated five years prior, the position of Esrtgertsog now inherited by his eldest son. Similarly, the governors of the three cities changed accordingly. Maria's daughter and Zoya's son handled two of the cities, while Grigori's younger daughter took the last one.

 

"Maybe I should," admitted Artair with a melancholic smile. He was well into his sixties, and knew all too well that none of them were growing any younger. "Yea… if you don't mind, let's spend some time teasing Grigori's great grandkids."

 

"I bet they'd love for you to help them pull some pranks on him," said Aideen with a chuckle.

 

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