Remember the fallen

Kulman has been silently sitting beside the fire listening to Robyn, his back slumped forward and his face lightly kissed by the fire. His demeanor is one of sadness and anger tempered with purpose. With a heavy heart and exhausted soul Kulman turns to Robyn, his eyes glazed with the sheen of loss and tears.
His last few hours had been spent creating a funeral pyre using the bodies of the ravagers and placing Akeela on top in a position of authority and triumph. Kulman had stayed until the fire had subsided and used his hands to remove the bones of Akeela and buried them under an ancient oak tree off of the beaten path. When he returned he sat by the fire… It was clear he had received burns on his hands and chest during the ritual in which he set Akeela to rest.

Kulman’s eyes red with the fire in his heart places his hands together as if in prayer, the burns clearly visible down his forearms, “My soul weeps for the loss of Akeela, and he was my dearest friend….”

 Kulman struggles to choke down the tears from those words, “yet he was as noble a creature as has ever traversed this world. His anger at your treatment was visceral and complete, when we saw what was being done to you there was only a single action that was reasonable and we followed that course of action to the end. I thank you for your kind words and soft heart. What you endured is unforgivable. .. Unforgivable and those who committed that foul act deserved to be eradicated from existence and used as funeral kindling. Akeela was a noble companion. I raised him from his time as a puppy. The family who my Father and I worked for in Lastwall thought it was cute to give me the runt of a littler of wolves they discovered in the woods outside of the ranch. All of the other pups were slaughtered as they could have become a threat to the horses, yet Akeela.. I begged for his life as he had done nothing wrong. He was innocent of crime, innocent from malice, an innocent soul. In taking him as my own he saved my soul. He showed me that being born into cruelty does not make one cruel, that witnessing evil one need not embrace that darkness. He never wavered, not once did I sense him questioning our decision to protect you, he knew his life might end, even in the moments before his throat was cut he was calm knowing that you would be safe.”…

 Tears begin to course down Kulman’s face as the sense of serenity at the moment of Akeela’s death returns to his memory. “I thank you for paying him honor, for I know that it would have made his heart pump with pride. He was a great companion, he will be missed, and he would not change his decision to help you, knowing that you will survive him and continue his memory places him at peace… thank you for remembering him. I feel it is my time to retire. I look forward to learning more of your past and your future Robyn, Akeela would have enjoyed you.”

 With that Kulman takes his leave, he walks back to the tree where Akeela’s bones are laid to rest and prays for the soul of his fallen friend, tears consecrating the ground.