Eden sighed quietly as they approached the headstone they'd placed in a clearing of the forest behind their home. They didn't put his name there, but rather, a small quote about how he's waiting for them in Arvandor. They'd lean down to lower themselves with support, until they're sitting just in front of it. It was close enough that they could lay the flowers where they belonged, as well rest the wine bottle in its gentle little holder. They'd spare a shaky smile as they'd withdraw their hands, letting them fold and press together anxiously in their lap. Their voice is quiet, shaky.

"…Hey, Ashy. I know we haven't talked in a while. But. It's - it's supposed to be your birthday. Six-hundred eighty-fifth, to be accurate. I'm… not doing so great anymore. Not that I was before, but," They close their eyes, swallowing hard. "I just… miss you more this year, I guess. I still love you. I always meant it when I said I'd always love you. Even though it hurts a lot more now than I expected. I wasn't supposed to outlive you." They stop to swipe at their eyes, voice thickening. "Not by this much. Thirty years. Not by /four hundred,/"

It's a dull heartache, one that they'd ignore for bowing their head to place their face in their hands. "Life's rotten. The college is supporting itself. I'm - I'm apprenticing someone. To learn all I know about the Weave. The closest anyone's gotten to me since the Temple." They lift their head, pulling their legs up to their chest, lacing their hands behind their thighs and resting their chin on their knees, eyes level with the headstone. Their ears have gone up a little, finding the enthusiasm in them to emote Like That again. "They're making good progress. Sometimes painfully incorrect but they've got the spirit. Their heart's in the right spot, and. They remind me of our daughters."

That's when their ears go down again. The slight hope in their posture slipping away, and they'd rest their cheek to their knees, eyes glazing over. "That's… the other new thing, Ashy. You… you're back. You're here, our daughters are still…- Still Elflets. My family is here, now, and… they're finding, I'm Not," They close their eyes again. "Not the Eden they knew. I'm… I-I'm so scared you'll disappear again. That maybe this is all - one big elaborate dream my mind's making up and that - that this is all going to disappear and I'm going to wake up at home again. Alone,"

They roll their head forward, forehead to knees now, ears back and down about as far as they can go. "And if you are real, why can't I stop grieving you? Or - or, why couldn't you come sooner? Why couldn't I get my happy life like I was supposed to, Asher? Didn't I do good enough? Was I not - good enough?" The tears rose and fell hot and fast, and they'd try to take deep breaths. "And isn't it just a smack in the face, to be handed you now? Isn't it so grand that you come back when I've got less than a decade in me? Isn't it beautiful that I have to keep myself together because I KNOW you're empathetic and I - I can't break down without you crumbling too. Isn't it just fucking DANDY that you're here, a-and, I can't bring myself to touch you because what if you just disappear right under my fingertips, god, I can't handle it, I can't handle You -" They cut their words off as a tense sob escapes them, which they pull their hands free from their legs to bury their face in their hands.

Their grief pours out of them like a waterfall, leaving their heart bleeding like an open wound. It chokes them with ice and the cold fingers of sorrow wrap itself around their limbs until they sink to their side. Heartache rips the sobs from their throat, leaving them voiceless and exhausted where they lay on the earth. They spent god knows how long here, but the sun is setting, and its getting cold. Their voice barely shambles past their lips, but it triumphs.

"…What am I supposed to do, Ashy? How do I accept that you're here - how do I accept, that Four. Hundred. Years. Of grieving was for nothing. How do I stop grieving you, because I want…" They trail off as their lip trembles, having them press their lips into a thin line to cease it's inane quavering. A moment, a deep breath. "I want to be happy with you. But my heart's forgotten how and… I don't have the time I want to relearn it all again,"

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