********* (I Love You) Chapter XLIII: FuneralsFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Sorry for the delay…in college, and had a –lot- of stuff happen to my love, personal, and social lives in this past week that threw me into a sort of personal hell. Anyways, this is the latest piece to my love story, which I think you all should know the name to by now^.~

Previous chapters, aki, and Interludes

Part I - Connection (Enishi)

Kasho II - Kodoku (Solitude)

Part III - Reunion (Saikai)

Kasho IV- Suriyoru (Closer)

Part V- Secrets (Hiou)
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(Chapter XXXVII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1124889122641444604&num=1

(Aki XXXVIII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=112531765691425700&num=6

(Chapter XXXIX)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1125492417125977233&num=1

(Aki XL)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1125587395136231979&num=1

(Chapter XLI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=112601910239257410&num=0

(Aki XLII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1126096464286792422&num=0
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Bonus Story: Rainfall Memories

Dedicated to Yukito, may you never be forgotten.
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Chapter XLIII: Funerals
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"Father, did you know the deceased?..." I asked of the white-robed elvaan who was standing next to me. He was wearing a gold-striped tunic, with a tight black beard on his chin and a copy of the Goddess’ word under his left arm. The name sown with blue thread read 'Richelieu', and also indicated that he was from the cathedral in Tavnazia.

Richelieu only looked over at me, and shook his head sadly in time to the rolling and tolling of the Church bells overhead. "Alas, my dear child, I did not. But just because the Goddess may not have had reason to make our paths cross doesn’t mean that I may not mourn the death of a fellow member of the Goddess."

With that, he crossed himself with a couple quick jerking motions, muttering a small prayer in Her name before speaking again.

"No matter what differences the different branches of the Churches may have, we are all united under the one True goddess. Did you know her?," he then patiently inquired of me.

I smiled weakly, trying not to break down and give into my tears as I did so.

Gotta be the ice king once more…just like when Elayne and I were children…

"Yes...she and I dated at one point, and in an act of kindness that would no doubt do the Dawn Goddess proud, she then welcomed me into her home years later to stay as long as I needed."

Richelieu only nodded before turning away from me slightly, to gaze over at where the final preparations for Elayne’s final rites and funeral ceremony was to take place before walking off to the other side of the Elayne was laid naked with face upwards towards the sky, beneath a glass canopy that glimmered brightly underneath the sun, and with her phoenix tattoo in plain viewing of everyone around her. I knew that there was some religious significance to why she was nude and laying out in the public, but I couldn’t remember it offhand…

Religious stuff has never been my strong suit.

There were multiple striped flowers that laid all around her body, and also a purple velvet pillow placed tactfully beneath her head in an attempt to hide the fact that Elayne died of a snapped neck, courtesy of the beastmen who came to the guild to try to find that damn secret of the crystals.

Which I still have no idea of where it might be...

And what the hell is a ‘firey bird of resurrection anyways?’

My thoughts were broken by a single clear voice echoing out over the sound of the rushing fountain water, freezing everyone in place.

"If you will go to your seats, we will start the final rites for our fellow Dawn Maiden, Elayne." Looking up, I realized that it was the Father that I had been talking to just moments before who had now taken control of the situation, and was obviously directing the ceremony. Not really bothering to try to smile, I fumbled my way to my seat towards the back, in a corner where I could easily get away should anyone –or anything- show up that I would rather not run into.

Propping my feet up on the back legs of the chair in front of me (which sat a tarutaru from the branch of the Church in Windurst), I turned my head upwards to watch the ceremony happen with great interest.

Father Richelieu crossed himself in the Goddess name, and then silently picked up a small bowl that I had somehow missed earlier from among all of the flowers, and then dipped the fingertips of his left hand into it.

"Blessed be.", he said simply. With that, somewhere off behind where Elayne was laying in state, an orchestra started up. It played a haunting, yet beautiful melody that descended upon the crowd and I could hear some people start to cry.

He then pulled his fingers out, and I could tell, even from where I was sitting, that a oily clear liquid was dripping away from his fingers and leaking its way back into the bowl. Without hesitation the Father then turned to Elayne’s body, smearing the oil across her closed eyes and then without breaking the motion, across her forehead.

A tear slipped away from my eye unbiddingly, but I caught it in my hand before it could fall too far.

"Thou preparest a table before thee in the presence of mine enemies;
Thee anointest thou head with oil; thou cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy followed thou all through the days of thine life, and thy will
dwell in the house of the Goddess forever..."

The words rolled off of the elvaan’s tongue in a distinctively Tavnazian accent, and I couldn’t help but be lulled, along with everyone else there, into a tone of peace by his words. Once he finished drawing the mark of the Goddess on Elyane’s face, he then picked up a handful of rose petals, and scattered them across her body, up and down its length.

"Requiem aetemam dona ei, Domina.
Et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace..."

With that, Father Richelieu turned towards us all, and bowed his head calmly, crossing himself in the name of the Goddess.

"It is said that all men are destined to die. And after that, by the virtue of the Goddess, those men that die shall be casted into Judgement underneath the watchful eyes of Moonlite, leader of the Guardians to the almighty Mistress. Those that had lead a truly good life shall be able to enter into the gates of Paradise, and thus be reborn in Her true image. Much like the firey bird of resurrection imprinted on this girl’s body..."

My mind instantly drowned out everything else.

Firey bird of resurrection?

That’s what the phoenix is?

Does that mean...

It’s impossible...

But…could Elayne be the keeper of the Code that Lord Fenrir talked about?

My mind started to race forward with all the possibilities if that was true, and I started to twist in my seat impatiently, waiting for the formal ceremony to be over, and the viewing of the body to start.

If she is the keeper, then…

Suddenly...

I wanted to get an up close look at that tattoo.

-fin Chapter XLIII: Funerals