[hoc canon] stars fading but I linger on, dear [for Rachel; Elliot]

[ofthelions]

It isn't that it hasn't been difficult. It has been.

It's been incredibly painful, much of the time. It's been entirely difficult to know that they're standing on the other side of a veil, that there will never be exactly the sort of warmth and comfort anymore that a living father or friend could have provided. It's been an ache to be so close and still watch so many people who deserved so much suffer.

Helping Argine pass had been some of the worst of it. The genuine toll it had taken on Eileen and Rachel--the deep heartbreak, no matter that it was the first in a long chain of deaths which they'd actually been able to see coming--had wrenched through Edgar with the same intensity as his own death.

It isn't that, somehow, the loss has been 'worth it.' It's just that, finally, things are starting to come back into a better sort of balance.

There's nothing in the world quite like knowing Andrew and Argine are together the way they ought to be. There's nothing in the world quite like watching the way Elisha keeps his arm around Eileen's shoulders or the painfully paternal wonder in the king's eyes when he watches the girl who is now officially his daughter. There's nothing in the world quite like hearing his little girl laugh again with genuine glee actually lighting up the sound.

There's nothing like seeing Elliot being a father to his children. There's nothing like seeing Rachel actually rest her head on someone else's shoulder again.

He knows he isn't allowed all that much time. He knows that he's giving up the chance to kiss Eileen's forehead on her birthday or murmur soft advice in Elisha's ear when she steps down from being Ace. But he knows, just as much, that it's important tonight to take what time he has to sit carefully down on the edge of this particular bed and smooth back the hair of this particular sleeper as he settles into the realm of dreams properly.

Comments

[thecutdiamond]

She's so much happier now-- or, at least, she's starting to be. She's starting to be able to smile so much more naturally, to let herself laugh more. It's surely something wonderful to see, from beyond.

But she's also just pregnant enough, now, that strange dreams are starting to be par for course. They're not nightmares, at least, which is a relief.

Tonight, it doesn't seem like something special, at first. Tonight, she slips properly into dreaming and into a plane of existence that at first doesn't seem too interesting.

Except then she notices she's not alone-- and who it is she's not alone with.

No matter how many times they end up encountering in some way or another for the rest of her life, she suspects her voice will never lose the tremble it has now.

"--Edgar."

[fatherallthechange]

It doesn't happen for him as often as it does for Rachel or Eileen. He's hardly surprised. Much though they'd reached a certain level of friendship before Edgar had passed, he doubted that it was a level that warranted frequent otherworldly visits. Besides, being based at the Outposts had him farther away from the grave, which he was certain had some kind of impact.

No matter the reasoning, it seems that either the fact he was now spending a considerable amount of time in the Deck proper or the fact he spent so much time at the side of the woman sleeping next to him now meant that a more proper visit was due.

He'll hardly complain, when he shuts his eyes to sleep and open them to see his old friend standing nearby. He's gotten a lot better at smiling, since he more properly took on the role of father. It shows itself now, a little sharp and with the slightest hint of an ache to it.

"'m dreaming, aren't I?"