Paying Respects [Writing Prompt]

On Kairn, at least in the places Amelia knows of and has been to, there are few traditions regarding death. There are prayers to be said when someone passes on, gatherings that have become culturally accepted by most, and a few practices that are considered tradition. But how one honors the dead once all of that is over is left to each person or family to decide.

In Amelia’s family, the tradition regarding death was set down generations ago. The body was prepared as soon as possible and a ceremony held for those outside the family to pay their respects and offer condolences to family members left behind. The following day, the family took the deceased a half day’s ride from Masarra to a specific site on the beach south of the city. There, the body was burned in silence, with each person giving their thoughts and prayers to the one who had moved on to the Eternal Dream. When the fire died out, the family took a meal together, gathered the cooled ashes, scattered them into the Inner Sea, and rode home.

For the following six days, the family laughed and smiled together under a single roof as they recalled their fondest memories of the one they had lost. They held each other and encouraged tears, happy and sad, to get them through the worst of the heartache. It was a celebration of life, for there was always time to mourn when all had dispersed back to their own homes. All grieved for the loss they shared, but by the end of their week together, what few tears remained were never of the gut wrenching pain that always followed the death of someone so close to you.

And then they parted, never speaking the name of the fallen again, willing them with their silent protest to rest easy in the Eternal Dream.

( Then time passed, and things changed. )