Onnensr 600 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Father Nerium slept with his Icon of San Godwin every night for the next several weeks, often weeping over the treasure given to him upon first meeting Father Toni so many years ago in Barrowton. It was now a bittersweet memory, and the young man was certain to visit Toni's remains often in Hypsia. How cruel was war, that venomous snake that strangles joy, and whose poison is the bane of laughter. He'd shared a laugh so many times with his mentor, maybe one day he could share another. He also searched the battlefield for one of Father Toni's earrings. Stanislaw and Toni can't be the only ones that chose to dress themselves to God's glory, draped up like cathedrals as they were. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaltaMoss 1773 Share Posted December 4, 2023 An old rugged face cracks with a wide smile, the grizzled visage of one Valentin Mareno greeting the late father in the seven skies. "Hey! Tony! I knew you'd make it up here one day. How about those Imperials? We really did a number on them, huh?" 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demented_Delila 1142 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Spoiler In counting the costs of victory, blood was expected. In review of the accounts, they had not expected to find grief. Until that is what they found. There is no war prize that could have weighed more then the weight of the Father's absence. The Templar had maintained her calm, for the blood still ran from the wounds of a friend, and Antonius' ashes still needed somewhere to be. Baerte was quicker then she could have ever been but she could hardly believe it. Uther had brought him home in a helmet. She had always thought the last she'd see Toni, he'd be wearing the black hat he always wore. Never a helmet. Death visits the doorstep of humanity so often that Caliene had thought she had braced herself for this. This inevitable, awful truth that she would bury the people she loved and cared about in time. The truth that the world would keep moving on, even when the Heavens gained another star. She had seen to Uther, made sure he did not bleed further. She could not lose him too. She listened to his sermon and the message he spoke at the end burned in her chest. At last, when those around her had gone to rest, the elvish Templar climbed to the roof of her city residence and sat, facing the Oasis. She let the breeze be the balm for her soul, let the incense she lit guide her thoughts. She drank tequila straight from the bottle, a shot poured and set on the sill nearby for the late Father. She remembers fondly first they spoke, of his fearful worlds towards the dragonwraith that had once killed a King. She remembers the rain on the Church as they spoke of God, the sputtering of the fire on the Ashwood Tree as it burned through the night. At last, the elvish woman puts her face in her hands and begins to openly weep for the loss of a dear friend. The Father's absence would noticeable for the years to come. In all the years of her long life, there had never been a priest willing to sit with her the way he had. He had given her the path to God, fulfilling at least some of a long dead Barclay's deathbed wish for the elf. To find God before her death, so that one day they could meet again. May God bring you swiftly home, Antonius. May you be at peace again in the green pastures of the Seven Skies. I hope that there is a brilliantly burning Ashwood Tree near a quiet place for you to make your café uninterrupted at last. All of that and more. You will be dearly missed. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morigung-oog 2377 Share Posted December 4, 2023 What could only be described as an agonised screech came from the quarters of a bedridden mali, tears rolling down her cheeks. She fought to rise from her confines, though impacted against the mattress as her strength failed her. So much she had missed, and so much she would miss. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Child Neglecter 2163 Share Posted December 4, 2023 A somehow familiar, gray-eyed figure in that of the venerated Father "Armand" welcomed the Father into the skies, and yet, for the very man himself, he came to dawn upon the realization of what had occurred. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_RoyalCrafter_ 3302 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Ser Sterling SILAS Whitewood wept inconsolabely throughout the night upon hearing this news. The man who he always referred to as Father Tonito in his heart, even when he became a cardinal, had died in war. He was one of the few people Sterling could confide in, trusting him more than some of his family. His spiritual guide, the one who baptised him and granted him his name, gone. The following day, Silas would construct a shrine in his lands in dedication of the Cardinal, wiping the tears away with his white fur cloak. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sander 3157 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Sixtus VI, once just Toni's cousin Arnaud, would weep as he heard the news of the Cardinal's death. As he prayed for Tonito's soul, he regretted not spending more time him and wondered why he hadn't; his cousin had always been a joy to have around. Sure, they did not always see eye to eye, but he hoped that Tonito knew that Arnaud or Sixtus felt they'd always seen heart to heart. He wept, for his... hermano. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slorbin 1774 Share Posted December 6, 2023 Aether squints reading this post from god-knows-where she exists now, even if she does. "There was a second Paco?" 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts