[Achilles kneels before the pyre, buckled by grief as branches are bowed by weight too great. There in the heart of the slow dying flames lies all that remains of his dear companion, nothing more than ashes from which protrude bones scorched clean. Nothing more than a vast body of memories that lingers with Achilles as smoke lingers after the fire has been doused, but while smoke is scattered by the wind nothing would ever have force enough to clear such memories from his heart.
The primal reek of the smoke thickens the air and clings to the simple black suit Asher had lent him. Its dark sleeves are stained with the spatter of sacrifice. His eyes ought to have run dry of tears by now, so tirelessly has he wept in these last dozen days, yet always there come more. And while his eyes work to draw more tears from that interminable well, his body trembles with dry sobs cracking his lips. Then he falls still and silent until the tides of his grief rise again to drown him.
Graham finds him washed up in the silent stretch of his grieving cycle. When Achilles feels the weight of a hand upon his shoulder, he lifts his head just enough to see who has come to his side. No shadow of happiness crosses his features and no words does his tongue shape, but he seeks Graham's hand where it lies upon him and clasps it tight.]
no subject
The primal reek of the smoke thickens the air and clings to the simple black suit Asher had lent him. Its dark sleeves are stained with the spatter of sacrifice. His eyes ought to have run dry of tears by now, so tirelessly has he wept in these last dozen days, yet always there come more. And while his eyes work to draw more tears from that interminable well, his body trembles with dry sobs cracking his lips. Then he falls still and silent until the tides of his grief rise again to drown him.
Graham finds him washed up in the silent stretch of his grieving cycle. When Achilles feels the weight of a hand upon his shoulder, he lifts his head just enough to see who has come to his side. No shadow of happiness crosses his features and no words does his tongue shape, but he seeks Graham's hand where it lies upon him and clasps it tight.]