Chapter 138: Pathway for the Dead

Sophia had no idea how long they had been in the festival square. She ate, she drank, she laughed, she danced and right now, she was tipsy. Mixing Daniel’s ale and grape juice had been a bad idea. She should have at least rejected one. Then there were the other drinks she collected from vendors who passed to her. Some said they liked they way her eyes lit up when she drank and ate that they wanted to see more so they gave her and she took because it would be rude not to do so.

She stumbled a bit and noticed how the crowd was reducing. People were going home and some stalls were closing down already.

"Perhaps it’s time to call it a night." Orion said as he observed her.

Sophia nodded. "But first, we need to visit your parents." She told him.

Orion never thought that she would remember that she had promised Ronan she would make sure he visited his parents. It’s been a while since Orion visited his family and since he was here, it was time to do so. Was he scared? Yes...like his parents would scold him for ignoring them for so long even if he knew that wasn’t possible.

He swallowed, then nodded. "All right," he said.

But first, he turned in search for any stall that would be offering grape juice.

"What are you looking for?" Sophia asked him.

"Some grape juice." He told her.

He found the small stall that had started packing away and procured two skins. The vendor gave Orion a smile telling him it was the last batch for the night. Orion thanked him and paid or rather tried to pay but as usual, the vendor shook his head telling him not to worry.

Orion did not have the energy to argue anymore and so he sighed. He took the wineskins and thanked the man then he and Sophia began their trek to where his parents lay rested...he hoped.

They moved farther way from all the bustle if the festival and it’s noise. The lanterns here had been strung with care, not the bright gaudy paper moons of the square, but glass lanterns with tiny silver filigree and thinner ropes. Sophia noticed it as they walked, the way the light seemed to braid along the path, casting runes on the path as they walked. Even the ropes were filled with charms and painted with runes too.

"Why are the lanterns different here?" she asked. She tilted her face up to study the ropes that held the lights, squinting as if someone had painted a secret across them.

Orion glanced up without losing his stride. His eyes caught the pattern in the rope, the little carved beads threaded along the length. The runes drawn across them.

"The runes?" he asked her.

"Yes," she told him. "I know they are decorations but they are different from the ones at the square."

"These ones are not just for decoration." He told her. "They are meant to guide the dead."

Sophia blinked. "Guide the dead?"

He gave a small smile. "Yes. There’s a reason why there are runes on the ropes, it leads them directly to the square and the pack as a whole. When people come out here, they come to remember," he said. "Madam Tyler claims the runes are encrypted with an old language used by the old people to keep souls from wandering." He tapped a bead as they passed. "Tonight they are lit to welcome spirits of our loved ones who come to the pack."

"It is believed they come to watch us and at some point even play with us during the festival." He added quietly.

"You don’t believe that they do." Sophia pointed out.

Orion shook his head. "No, I don’t. But it gives people hope... something to believe in." He told her.

Sophia nodded, quiet as they walked. The cobblestone path narrowed. The lantern light pooled, then thickened; their shadows stretched long and intimate. Fewer people walked here; those who did moved as if they were threading the night together. An old woman sat upon a bench and laughed until tears tracked down her cheeks; a young couple stepped quietly past, their palms linked. While she and Orion were going towards where the parth led, they were coming back.

Sophia and Orion walked quietly until they came to a gate. Sophia had no idea a place like this even existed in the compound. It was like the festival opened her to more places in the compound.

"I had no idea a place like this even existed in the pack. It’s like the tours I received didn’t even touch the surface of how huge the pack compound is." She told Orion.

Orion laughed. "Nirvana is a huge place. And no one wants to settle here due to how harsh the climate is, the there are monsters...which you are aware of. We had enough land to settle in and some places are still vacant because we still don’t know what structures to build and some places are left like that because at some point, we’d have more members, children are growing, people are reproducing...so um, what I’m trying to say is..."

"...that you did a bad job at giving me a tour and Brynhild don’t even brush the surface when she gave me one before the monsters attacked." She completed.

Orion laughed. "You can put it that way."

They walked through the gate which was wide open . The fence was built with sturdy planks, iron bands blackened by years of weather a low threshold that seemed to humble even Orion. He stepped through first and elevated the sense of quiet that had gathered like breath. The lanterns here multiplied, hung from low branches and from carved posts; the runes carved into the stones of the pathway glowed a little brighter, as if the footsteps of the living fed them.

Sophia had never seen a space like this. She had no idea what she expected when they started walking towards this place but it wasn’t this.

The field unfolded like a small village of memory. It was a cemetery...she could not believe her eyes. This was the first time she was seeing one as beautiful and well taken care of like this. There were headstones, yes, but also carved wooden markers and flat memorial plaques laid upon low pedestals.

Each marker had a name, an age sometimes and a shirt description. Some only had ’a moving mother or loving sister or brother or father’ on it but some others had lengthy descriptions about how stubborn the person was.

Each headstone had items placed at their front. There were flowers, fruits, clothes, drinks, toys and so much more depending on what the family member decided to leave there.

It was just like the shrine where they went with something belonging to the dead family members and how they hung some on the tree.

Sophia’s steps slowed until she had to remind herself to breathe. Lantern light fell soft across the names and the offerings, and the air felt full of things unseen: prayers, jokes drunk hours ago and folded into the night.

She could smell lavender and smoke and honey cakes mixed into a single sharp scent. A little bowl of tea sat with a turned spoon near a marker. Someone had left a letter, sealed in wax, on the base of another stone. A small wreath of pale pine cones hung on a third.

They walked deeper into the cemetery, the cobbles hummed faintly beneath their boots, the runes singing a thread of warmth. At the top of the gentle rise, Orion stopped.

There were three graves there, not grand but cared for as if each had its own breath. Petals had been scattered across the stones. Two wooden cups of something deep and brown steamed faintly in the lantern air; a small, careful square of sugared bread had been placed on the third marker.

Ronan touched the headstones and smiled softly. His smile even though it reached his eyes were sad.

Sophia gave him space then, deciding to give him a moment to talk with his family. Orion didn’t even know that she was no longer near him. He paid attention to the stones instead.

He knew who had placed the cup and petals. He failed to visit especially during the festival but not Ronan. Because at the end of day, they were both family. Orion’s eyes watered a bit. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

He took a step back and then bowed deeply. It was a simple movement. A simple act but it conveyed everything he felt at that moment.

With his head bowed deeply and his eyes closed he said softly.

"I’m sorry."