Mara - The Lady Grief (Completed)

32 You're the Princess

2650 B.C.E., City of Tmari-on-the-Euphrates

Winter, Month of Tebetu, One Year and Ten Months after Mara's Rebirth

Thane

"This is inconvenient, isn't it grandfather?" I ask his corpse. Well, to be truthful, I ask the pieces of his corpse that lie scattered around the inside of the tomb. I kick aside a leg bone, sending it clattering across the floor.

I examine the door again. It's smooth, perfectly cut to fit right into its hole in the wall. It's mortared from the outside, and no matter how I try to insert my claws in the groove, the seal remains intact.

I shake my hands, dislodging a stubborn bit of my grandfather that wouldn't come off.

With a sigh, I sit on the stone altar and take out my flask. Nateos sent me here for a reason. Patience.

---

Mara

I search through the cemetery, Momo and Mishu with me. I am spending the first day of the New Year searching the cemetery for anyone hiding amongst the dead. Momo seems to think that some children are here, too afraid to come out from their hidey-holes.

Everyone is afraid.

No one feels safe in the city. Grief is heavy enough that I am only awake for a few hours a day at a time before I have to sleep again. My skin is wrinkled from the amount of time I have spent in the pool.

Six of the Recondites died that terrible night. They are entombed in the mausoleum. Belen had his warriors... gods, they're his warriors now... hack at the hedgerow until a free path was opened between War and Death.

We built a gate at the entrance to Death, but the neighborhood is empty, anyway. Everyone has fled to War. They feel safer behind the wall of flesh and bone of warriors.

The Mother temple sent word. They do not wish to be involved in this war. They are locked behind their gates and walls, hiding.

I gave our gold and gemstones to Belen. He is spreading the wealth amongst our allies. After that night I know that war is inevitable. No bribe will stop the First House from their path.

Mishu lets out a little bark of surprised joy, followed immediately by a coo of worry.

I hurry over. "Meesh? What is it?" Pulling away the brambles of a low raspberry bush, I find Tafia.

"Taffy!" I fall to my knees next to the female. Her eyes are closed, barely able to open on me. She is thinner than I ever thought she could be. Her skin is cold to the touch. Gaunt, worse than when I first met her. Her skin is dirty, with sores and bruises that will never heal if she stays hidden in the dirty cemetery.

Take her to the pool

My father's voice is faint. This war is taking its toll on even the god. I wish I could embrace him. Sometimes it's not advantageous to have parents who are in another realm.

"Let's go, Tafia. Come with me. Come on," I whisper in her ear as I haul her to her feet.

"Mara," she sighs. She stands, swaying, before crumpling onto me.

I walk, stumbling, calling out for help. Postite Antin and a Recondite I don't recognize respond. The Recondite doesn't say a word, just scoops Tafia up into his arms and starts to follow me as I run into the temple.

He stops short in the doorway to my father's sacred pool.

"Come inside. She needs to bathe in the pool," I tell him.