[B] Artistry [Catharsis/Sacred Grove]

[Ruriska]

The skull grinned at him from where he’d placed it between the split trunk of the tree, sunbleached and startlingly white. A canine of some kind. He wasn’t sure what exactly. He hadn’t done the killing and the corpse had been a mess when he’d found it. Sand Dog, maybe? It wasn’t big enough to be a wolf.

Catharsis dipped his head to the variety of bright flowers resting by his hooves and pushed them around with his nose until he settled on an orange and a pink. Harder to find decent flowers this time of year, at least spring was on the way.

He placed the orange flowers carefully next to the skull, the splash of colour bright against the white. Perfect.  

[Chrystali]

A single, pale petal of sweetest pink floated down from the boughs of the tree, setting in the nose cavity of the skull.

The swan took to flight from where she was perched, great wings beating for a sharp landing; by the time she had, the Kiokote she was born as took place of the avian, glowing eyes regarding the totem with interest an intrigue. This was new, and yet very old and familiar to her.

Ascent moved next to the smaller, beautifully adorned Acha and looked to him, warmth radiating from her pelt. "A curious effigy, but lovely. What is it for?"  

[Ruriska]

The petal was a blessing, perfection in sweet pink, the Motherfather’s touch.

Catharsis would have spent a whole afternoon fixated upon it, if the swan had not descended on graceful wings. His attention was immediately arrested away from his work, one step back taken in surprise and two steps forward with his delight at having been graced with the presence of such a magnificent Kiokote.

He didn’t answer at first, merely stared, transfixed.

“I,” he began, then was forced to swallow to find his voice. “It is for me, I suppose. But also for you, and any who look upon it. It is also for the creature that has returned to the Swamp and left part of itself behind.” His voice drifted as he spoke, soft and wistful, sometimes barely there. “There is beauty in death. When the flesh is gone, the bones still remain.”  

[Chrystali]

She smiled softly at him as his muted enthusiasm played out over his face, waiting, patient. He hadn't run or asked after what she was, and that might have been a first for her. A first, after all these years.

Ascent listened, ears turned towards the Acha, humming softly and nodding her agreement between words. "There's an honesty, in death," she added, "where the stories and embellishments of life are stripped bare, with only the life lived etched into what remains. There is peace in that."

She thought of her mate, and their children long grown. Their own sand dogs, the animals that chose to stay with them.

"A fine creation you've given, a fantastic testament to both life and death." Ascent tipped her head to one side. "What would you want your legacy to be?"  

[Ruriska]

Catharsis was not used to any such praise, his head dipping with delighted embarrassment. This was not a thing others understood easily. They could not look past the morbidity of death; they feared it too much to see the beauty.

“Thank you,” he said, hushed by the regard of someone such as her. Her question, he took a long time in considering. It meant something more, he could sense that somehow.

“I am not so bold as to presume I would leave anything behind that others would remember. Even memories are fleeting, as life marches on,” he told her. “But perhaps, it would be nice if someone saw my work and it gave them peace in some way.”  

[Chrystali]

Her small, enigmatic smile remained, bowing her head in acknowledgment of his thanks and offering no words to fill the silence while he considered her question. He was delightful, this Acha, glowing with the promise of life as to be blessed, but so respectful and considerate of the life long passed.

Ascent hummed over his words when shared, considering. "You will be remembered, in the sigh of a breeze over your favorite burrow, in the trees that reach for the sky - they have seen you. They will keep your bones and remember. And in time, share your stories with those who are worthy."

Closing her eyes, she thought for a long moment; when she spoke again, the words were weighted, yet feather light like the petal perched upon the errant skull.

"Those who grow from you will measure themselves by the road you travel. They will have the wisdom to see beyond this life, and indeed, any life at all - a beauty in the existence of the many, and comfort in the work of the few. Your legacy will be of peace."

Her eyes opened, the pale glow briefly touched by all colors before settling to their sunny brights. "Your children will be remarkable. It is my hope to meet them, some day, and share in your legacy."  

[Ruriska]

It was almost too much for him. Catharsis would remember this moment and those words for the rest of his life, they would ride with him through his dark days and hold him up when he needed it the most. He would have bowed before the Kiokote, if it had seemed appropriate. But it wasn't; that wasn’t what she would have wanted, he thought.

Instead his eyes closed, feeling the words travel to his heart, settling there, heavy and warm.

Catharsis drew in a breath, her scent in his nose as the distant promise of spring. How blessed he was in this life. And she spoke his children, his future children, and then he knew - at least the what and the why, and he thought of the doe he had met, who had laid beside him for a night.

“Thank you,” was all that he said but there was so much more in those simple words. His endless, fanthonless regard and gratitude that no words could truly express.

Chrystali

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