A soldiers Death

[SupaSaMM 246]

Ardad Rashul lays down on his bed. He coughs and hacks, grabbing a napkin. As he observes the once clean napkin, he sees the usual amount of blood on the napkin. Hearing Adam come up the stairs he quickly hides the napkin, not wishing for his son to know just how sick he really is. For months and months, now he has been getting weaker and weaker. He looks out the window of his small Balian abode and thinks about everything that ever happened. 

 

He thinks about when he first arrived into Balian at age 18, still unsure of the world, unsure of who to talk, unsure if he would be welcome and invited, unsure if he could ever make something out of himself. And yet Ardad would find himself sure, he would find friends and good people who helped him. Helped him become a Senator, helped him become a corporal. He thinks about the Vuillers and the Darkwoods, Captain, Arkent, the royal family who he all got to admire. He thinks about King JOhn and sighs, wishing he had been able to get and walk to the palace before he had died.

He smiles thinking about all his time in Balian. But then an old adage kicks in, not all good things would last forever and for him, he knew it didn't. He thinks about the first cough. THen the second and the third. He thinks about the first time he ever coughed blood. He thinks about the medics who said they weren't sure how to cure him. He thinks about how he travelled the world looking for a cure. He thinks about the bar in Oren where he first met Adam. 

 

Ardad smiles thinking of when he first me the lad and his excitement to fight the kid had. He thinks of how he realized he was his long-lost son of his long-lost wife and he realizes that he has been called to a higher calling. To be that of a father to his son. He remembers the feeling of the burning Balian sun as he returned back. He remembers reentering his old house. He smiles and grins of how he trained Adam and his son's excitement in being trained and the giggles they had reading stories and eating food together. Now, it's over for him. He rests, his final rest. He looks out the window and sees Adam, his only son, all that he has left. He sees him talking with some of his friends and smiles feeling happy. 

 

That night he would have his final dinner with Adam. He tells him that he will to be fighting dragons so his son thinks well of his father and to prevent his son from dealing with the pain of sorrow and grief. He hopes that one day when he is older Adam will learn of what really happened but still learn to love him in what little time they had together. 

[Fawnytheturtle 687]

Since Clara had begin her new life with a new name, new look, the news got to her through a passing of a crowd, she finds a place, she curled herself up in a corner, burried her head in her knees and cried "Oh Ardad, I will miss you so much" she mumbled through her tears, remaining there for a while