Herbalists' Cache tell me tell me tell me, come on tell me the answer

She agreed with his plea, until she absolutely didn't, and Tuathal stared. Dumbfounded, face stricken, at a loss, for what he could even say to that. "Bury her? Kid - there's nothing left of her -- " but his voice seemed to fall on ears that could hear no voice of the living, but could only perceive, only touch, only feel those silent tears of the dead.

He leapt after her when she shuffled into position. "Kid, no, c'mon," his heart sunk when she latched onto her haunch. Tuathal paced alongside her. "We have to - " what was left of the woman's body rippled with each tug of effort the girl made to pull the corpse from her frozen grave, and he couldn't - he couldn't watch this - "there's nothing left to bury - "

And he forced himself between the girl and the corpse, and sought to push her away with the force of his bony shoulder. His neck came to rest over her shoulder as he tried to move her out, her face toward the body, his face toward the world. "Please," he begged her, and his vision met the line of trees. Sunlight pierced through the tranquil covering, oblivious to the darkness that festered away from her light. Vibrant, dancing rays. And he thought he saw, between the branches, a streak of glowing red. A body, as bright as fire. A phoenix.

His eyes burned, and he blinked, heat ran down his cheeks, and the vision disappeared. The girl fell back, eased onto her haunches, and he felt her weakness shiver through every edge his own body touched. His heart hurt, he could not handle the sudden myriad of thoughts -- this was someone's child, someone's sister. Someone's family, someone's heart. They knew her only in death, but they were all she had left. You have to bury her.

You have to bury her, you have to bury her, the mantra repeated, over and over, but Tuathal dropped his gaze and let the sunlight leave him. "I'm sorry," was all he managed to whisper, before he buried his face against the girl, the only comfort he could find through the sobbing that seemed to bleed between them both.