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Fier

A Funeral for Two

A funeral was held for two of the three third generation Fier daughters. Cora and Chelsea, both named after the sea and both born and raised in Sulani, had lived long and well.

Everyone wore the traditional black, expect for Chelsea’s daughter, Shawna, who sparkled in lilac and wanted to honor her mother’s passing by giving a eulogy highlighting the good and celebrating their happiest memories.

Asher also spoke. It was difficult for him to talk about his children after their deaths, and his speech wasn’t particularly good, but he had wanted to say something about his daughters. He had cared for them and he missed them.

The thought of doing this again for each of the three of his currently young and very mortal daughters watching him, and continuing on for an eternity without seeing them … it bothered him. Asher was grateful for his four children who had inherited his immortality and weren’t destined to leave (even though he normally wasn’t grateful for anything). But even with that, if for the majority of his life he was only going to be left with memories for most of his children, it already felt a bit “too much”.

Dysis noticed that the family portraits on the walls in the Fiers’ second home still featured only vampires, but she felt less bothered by it, because it was clear that her father was struggling and that he cared for all of his children. Did he still favor her vampire siblings? Maybe, but he loved her too. Dysis also knew that Asher came from a patriarchal family with very strict rules that he was supposed to uphold, but she didn’t know what they were or the extent to which he was upholding them. “Rules” and Asher’s traditions were something the family never discussed, and she was smart enough to know that was likely intentional as these rules couldn’t be good.

Asher noticed Dysis lingering behind the others in the ceremonial room and stayed as well. Admittedly, he was not the best father or even one of the best fathers (not that he wasn’t trying to be or that he would actually admit that he wasn’t), but being a good father was in the realm of possibilities for him. He’d always had the basics down: he liked his kids and, specifically regarding Dysis, he was so incredibly proud of her. She was young and only human; yet, she’d accomplished so much academically, socially… – she was accomplished in basically everything except the arts. Dysis inspired him to push his youngest child, Elmire.

He told her as much, but also reiterated what he’d told before: she was human, life was short, and as such, it was most important that she lived her life as she saw fit. BUT, of course, there was nothing wrong with piling on the accomplishments to let everyone know how sublimely talented the Fiers were.

5 Comments

  • sims_Yimi
    December 30, 2021 at 4:17 pm

    Oooh, some hidden snippets there. I wonder what kind of rules Asher’s family is making him follow. And why he’s following them – is he just very indoctrinated and following them out of principle, or is there a more powerful being around then Asher the vampire?

    I like that he finally told Dysis how he felt about her, as well as urged her to live her life the way she wanted. It’s something Dysis sorely needed to hear.

    Reply
  • Manny
    January 5, 2022 at 2:58 pm

    hmmm the flipside of immortality, watching your loved ones die…

    Reply
    • Haneul
      January 5, 2022 at 11:55 pm

      Yes, I think it’d be awful or at least extremely lonely and could really destroy someone emotionally.

      Reply
  • Snow ~
    January 27, 2022 at 8:16 pm

    Even though it probably gets slightly easier every time, for lack of a better description, the heartbreak of having to bury your children over and over is unimaginable ;-; I like seeing this new side to Asher as well, that it’s true that he does care for all of his children; he just doesn’t want to be reminded of the eventual demise of the mortal ones because of how much it hurts him to think about it. I like that touch. I had a feeling that some of Asher’s attitudes towards life were the making of coming from some kind of strict family. And the times where he’s come across as emotionally unavailable, I can imagine eternal life will more or less make you put aside emotions eventually- especially when you have to keep burying your kids and knowing there is no escape from constant grief.

    Reply
    • Haneul
      January 28, 2022 at 12:53 pm

      Thank you – I appreciate all of your comments and how much time you spend reading my posts, but I really appreciate this comment. It’s so thoughtful. I agree that it would be extremely difficult to live for centuries and stay mentally/emotionally healthy while everything around you changes (including the people), but hopefully it doesn’t have to be constant grief.

      Reply

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