The work is hard and heavy, but faster than digging a big enough grave would have been - perhaps one last kindness from the woodsman to his wife. When the pyre is finished, Maret accepts Madison's help in carrying Borvald's body from his resting place inside the cabin to rest atop the wood, still shrouded in a bloodstained sheet. Wordlessly, she carries a coal from the hearth inside and sets it among a bundle of dried pine twigs and needles; soon, the well-seasoned wood springs into flame. Jory and Katlina hug their mother close, watching as the fire burns with tears rolling down their cheeks. Garen stands several feet off, watching with shame in his eyes; as logs burn out, he takes it upon himself to feed more fuel to the flame and let his mother and stepsiblings grieve.
After half an hour or so, Maret turns to Nadya. You've your journey ahead of you - I won't keep any of you any longer, unless you wish to stay. I can't thank you good folk enough for your help. Fate was unkind to my Borvald... A half-sob catches in her throat. ...but you stopped those fey from getting to my children. All of my children. She turns to include Garen in her watery smile. Anything you need of me, just ask. My home is yours.
Evelina gives Maren a sad smile. "Glad to know there's a place we'll be welcome here in this cold place."
Stepping away, she also walks over to Garen, who she notices is keeping his distance. "It was nice to meet you Garen," she says, before hesitating to consider if she wants to say more. Letting out a sigh, she adds, "Don't go running off again, 'kay? I know you might be feelin' guilty about things that have happened...an' maybe like you don't belong. But its clear to anyone with eyes you've got a mother here who loves you like crazy an' wants you around." She stares him straight in the eyes, hers looking a little bit glossy. "Some people'd kill for that, y'know?"
With that, she walk over to her pack and hoists it up, ready to head back onto the road.
Freyja sings a slow unfin ballad as the fire burns. She feels the families loss and a single tear runs down her cheek as she reminds herself that this was not a random event - that someone is responsible for all of this.
Cithembi watches the sparks fly upwards, thinking of them as stars flying up to Desna.
"His spirit walks now among the stars," he says quietly. "May he ever find wonders there."
He shakes himself slightly, refocusing on their situation. "We should continue on, yes, friends?" he looks at the others, a note of uncertainty in his gaze.
Evelina nods at Cithembi. "We really should get back on the road"
Maddy is quiet during the ritual, preferring to help physically and offer comfort that way rather than with words.
When the pyre was no longer blazing but just burning, she nods at Cithembi and the others. "Yes, it's time to go and allow this family to grieve and heal."
"Some people'd kill for that, y'know?"
I...I know. Garen's tail droops, and he looks down at his hooves. I'll be here. Nothing will happen to them again.
----------
Gathering themselves, the party sets off down the road once again, the column of smoke from the funeral pyre rising into the pale sky. With the midmorning start, there is plenty of time left in the day to travel - Ellsprin comes and goes by midday, and the town has disappeared over the horizon by the time eyes start to grow heavy. Soon after Ellsprin, the road falls into step alongside one of Irrisen's most prominent landmarks, Glacier Lake. This lake is the wellspring for all of Irrisen's major waterways...or at least it was, before the Winter Witches' freeze. Now, the lake is a sheet of glass as far as the eye can see, perfectly smooth and nearly undisturbed as far as the eye can see.
Nadya explains, though, that while it might look like a dream for travelers, looks could be deceiving. Beneath the surface of the lake were a few natural hot springs that could weaken the ice from underneath without warning, and vessels enchanted to break apart the ice fished the hidden waters for the seafood that provided much of Irrisen's sustenance. Groups of seals and walruses called the lake's beaches home, and wherever prey was, predators were likely to be as well. All in all, best to keep to the road.
The rest of the afternoon passes without incident, and you make and break camp undisturbed in the shadow of a small cliff. Around midmorning, a loud, shrieking cry momentarily breaks the silence of the march. Overhead and to the south, a handful of hawks sweep in wide circles over the edge of the lake - as you watch, one of them dives to the water and returns with something in its mouth, as if to prove Nadya's point about breaks in the ice and the opportunism of predators in this hard land.
Um...guys? Evelina asks as she points up to the hawks above, "Don't know much about birds, but anyone else thinks that's kinda weird? Her finger follows the birds that separated from the rest. She looked to the others for an explanation of their weird behavior. "Looks like they landed near the road..." She says, somewhat nervously, as she remembers the swarms of crows that had attacked them days before.
Freyja notes the flight too. Good eyes Evelina. I see them too. Arn't hawks usually seen alone? That is how I tell from a distance if they are hawks or buzzards. Something must be going on up ahead. Lets investigate.
Cithembi is too busy enjoying the new sights of the icy lake to notice what Evelina and Freyja do, but he trusts them.
"Yes, that does sound odd," he agrees, looking around as if to see if anything else strange is going on.
Maddy was instantly on guard by the strange behavior of the hawks. She draws her sword just in case and nods at Freyja's words. "Something strange is happening ahead. We need to see what's going on but also need to be wary. Matty, stay behind me with Maggie."
Evelina drew her rapier, "Alright. I guess let's take a look..." She turned to Nadya. "You might wanna stay back a bit with the kids...case it's something dangerous."
Matt readied himself for danger, and called Maggie back down to his shoulder. He didn't want to risk her getting targeted by one of the raptors. He then nodded to Madison, signalling his readiness to proceed.