Stone Circle teach us how to say goodbye

A day had passed since the earth had shaken, and had in turn shaken and overturned his life. Merrit had not left Stone Circle since the mother stone had fallen. There had been no burial, nobody to uncover. Mother would rest beneath the stone she had worshipped, and they would carry on, as always --

Carry on, as always. That was what mother would have done, and had always done, after father, after Nanook, after Clay, after Greyback. But as he rose from his position beside the stone, as his gaze fell upon the stones, the earth, the snow-dusted fields, he felt the weight that had nestled between the crook of his shoulders the moment he had watched the stone crush her.

Wait till you do something wrong, Arlette had said, venom of the dove's kind mouth, you will see mother's real face.

They could not carry on, not as always. Their Matriarch was dead, and that was not a wound that could be solved with a bandaid and a kiss.

The first rays of dawn tried to peek through the horizon. But today was a cloudy day, overcast, and the light only scattered in a subdued haze. He cast his gaze to Kallik, who had stayed by his side and given warmth through the night — Kallik, he realized, who had lost a mother as much as he had — and sought his eyes, before he lifted in his head to summon the rest. No doubt they would understand his purpose.

And he was tired.

So, so tired.

@Kove @Xan @Laurel @Ikiaq @Kallik