Pavel: Mom… Is she really up there?
The two step out from the ramen tent after the crowds have dispersed. A full moon rests high in the sky. Lighthouses line the horizon. On a neighboring hilltop, the winged shrine building glows blue in the night. The path winding up to its door is lit with lanterns carried by the crowds of mourners.
Vanna: Couldn’t say. But this IS the closest shrine to the Western Seawall.
Pavel: Should we go see her? I’ve never seen a dead body....
Vanna raises a hand to her chest, gazing with worry in her eyes at the shrine. Pavel stands patiently beside her, holding the skull headdress in his arms and looking on with a similar expression.
Vanna: Two months dead at sea? You don’t want to see that. But… I’m worried about the cardinal… The shrine can’t handle a crowd of mourners if they PANIC. If only this wasn’t Fracture Day… I do owe him a LOT of favors by now… I should go offer my help.
Pavel: It’s past midnight though. Sofia will be mad if I’m late.
Pavel seems reluctant to remind his mother of the curfew but Vanna simply smiles.
Vanna: Ah… But if the cardinal asks me to stay… Then the Abbess will just have to DEAL, won’t she?
Pavel’s eyes go wide at the realization.
Pavel: Ooooh. That’s truuue.
Suddenly filled with energy, Pavel jumps ahead of his mother as they start to stroll down the hill, looking up at her excitedly.
Pavel: Can we stay until morning?! Can we go get breakfast somewhere?! Can we watch the sunrise out on the water?! Can we say I caught a disease from Phaedra’s corpse and have to stay home forever and ever?!
