Snippet #1717101

It was about as nice as funerals got, she supposed. That was probably how it should be, for someone like Pandora had been. Zade’s would probably be a quiet affair, hopefully not with too many people around like this one had. Maybe she’d just be cremated. It’d be right in line with the level of irony she’d been existing at for a long time now, so she figured it’s be appropriate or something.

Loki looked… different. Sadder, burdened, as though there were an additional weight on her shoulders now that hadn’t been there before. Zade didn’t know much about such things, but figured it was probably what happened when you went home after a long day of trying to save everything you cared about only to find that one of the people you’d been fighting hardest for had been torn from you when your back was turned. Perhaps it was the idea of running the entire city that did it- Zade knew she’d turn and run like hell if someone told her she had to do that. She was already running from what little responsibility she’d managed to accrue, really, and the Princess seemed to understand. She’d certainly allowed it without protest.

A small hand closed over her own, and Zade’s attention was drawn to the small girl beside her. These people weren’t the only ones mourning, and when Ishtar had discovered what happened to Aram, she’d told the little girl here- Sigrun- to go with Zade. The daughter of a whore had agreed from perhaps some lingering sense of obligation. Though the young woman usually didn’t think of it much, Ishtar had been the one who tended her mother in her last days, so perhaps she owed the madam something. Circles within circles- and the child’s hair was the exact shade of Zade’s own, though they could not have been more different otherwise.

It was funny, that Gilgamesh’s child was standing there and looking so contrite at the funeral of someone her father would have hated so much. Was that hypocritical to think? Perhaps.

When it was their turn, Zade placed her flower wordlessly, nodded to Loki, and grasped Sigrun’s hand tightly. “Time to go,” she said quietly, gentling her tone for the benefit of the kid if nothing else, and the pair retreated. She wasn’t working for Loki anymore, but the future monarch would know where to find her, as would any of the others, if they really felt the desire. It wasn’t like she was going anywhere, after all. But all things being equal, she was damn well going back to the only thing she’d ever enjoyed doing. If this entire experience had taught her any lesson at all, it was that life was far too short to waste it doing things you didn’t like.