The smell of spicy mac and cheese wafted through the spring air as the Lepaute family walked the trail up a tall slope.
Soon they reached a level area of land, further up the path, there was a large area walked off.
Walking through the gates, the found themselves walking amongst gravestones, some covered in moss, some more recent, some had flowers left at them, while others were solitary.
Carman's grandfather led the way, having walked this route regularly. Livre and his brother followed, Caron had arrived during lunch and Livre had been teasing him for being the late one for a change. Now though, they walked solemnly behind their father, their faces a mix of nostalgia and sadness.
Carman and Ryuzu followed, bringing up the rear. Carman wasn't sure what tj do or say. He had never met Livre's mother, his now grandmother. And while she sounded like a wonderful person from the stories he had been told, it was hard to miss someone he had never really known. At the same time, he knew her death had affected his father greatly.
As they stood before a grave, Carman gingerly wrapped an arm around his father's waist to try and bring him some comfort. Livre, feeling Carman's attempt at comfort, smiled softly as he ruffled his son's hair.
"Thank you son. You know, she would have loved to get to know you. Spoiled you rotten. But alas, she passed before we even met." Said Livre.
"She did always ask us when she could expect grandkids." Said Caron. "And I concor, she would have been ecstatic to welcome you into the family Carman."
"Boys, boys, how about we introduce him to her now? I'm sure she will be able to see him from wherever she is now." said Aimé, Carman's Grandfather.
Carman walked over to his beckoning grandpa and stood before the grave, reading the words as his grandfather thought of what to say.
[ Ondine Lepaute
Born: 8/3/1945 A.S.
Died: 13/6/2002 A.S.
A beloved mother, excitable neighbor, and kind soul. Your absence is felt by all who knew you.]
"Mon Amour, this is Carman. He is Livre's child. He is the child he had to leave to take care of before visiting you with me and Caron last year.. he has blue eyes like your mother, and the warmest rose red hair you could imagine. We have a beautiful, and smart grandson. And we all know you would love to do nothing else than to dote on him." Said Amié.
As his grandfather spoke, Carman's gaze couldn't help but drift from the clean marble headstone down to the soft green grass speckled with small wildflowers.
He could sense something. Something was under the ground. Responding to his grandfather's emotions.
Shifting his attention fully to his elemental sense, Carman was alarmed as he saw the specter of an older woman floating in the earth below him, her eyes locked onto him and his grandfather.
Their gazes met, Carman was scared, he wasn't sure what the hell was going on. The woman radiated surprise, then, after some time, he felt her send out a warm feeling, like a warm hug, a fire on a cold day, and a feeling of acceptance.
After a few minutes of staring at each other, the woman closed her eyes, and her image faded from his senses leaving only a scattering of dimly twinkling lights where she had been.
Carman could sense that she wasn't gone, but rather seemed to have gone dormant.
Turning his attention back to what was going on around him, he realized that Livre had started talking to the headstone, apologizing for not visiting often and telling the stories of how he had met Carman.
Amié had walked over to a bench and motioned for Carman to come over and take a seat.
"I know I may seem crazy. But sometimes when I come out here to be with her, talk to her about my day, it sometimes feels like she is next to me, like I can almost hear her talking back…" said Amié, his voice soft.
"Oh? What does she say?" Asked Carman
"Well sometimes it's more of a feeling.ime I can feel her love, her regret for not being able to see Livre again. Reluctant amusement at this old man's bad jokes…. I am glad I got to meet you Carman because honestly… I'm not sure if I am hearing and feeling her presence because I am crazy, or because I am getting close to joining her." Said Amié with a melancholic expression on his face.
"It could be that her spirit just refused to leave without you…" said Carman. He was pondering what the appearance of his Grandmother's specter under the ground meant, while also trying to give his grandfather some comfort. "I felt her too. It was very warm. Like sitting in front of a fireplace on a winter day."
Amié's face showed surprise. "You felt that too? So I'm not going senile. So she is still watching over us…"
Carman watched the doubt melt off his grandfather's face as he smiled up towards the sky.
Carman's thoughts however went back towards the softly glowing dots he could still sense in his Grandmother's grave as well as in a few others. The implications of which he was scared to think of.
He already knew that Fontaineians were hybrids, no more like the halfway point, of oceanids turning into humans. Oceanids had an elemental core that served as their heart and mind. Everything that they were was stored in that core. As part of being changed into humans, his ancestors had to fracture their cores and scatter them throughout their bodies. He and other descendants also had scattered remains of elemental cores throughout their bodies. Though they had seemed to no longer serve a function to their biology. But what if it did?
He knew that Vasher's dissolved victims didn't just disappear when their bodies were dissolved. Heck Meluce and Silver retained memories even when their brains had been dissolved. So where were those memories and consciousness stored…
Their cores. The once thought vestigial core fragments had become a backup of the mind, collecting the memories and consciousness of the person, a backup of who they were. Seeing as not every grave in the cemetery seems to have glowing fragments in them, Carman could theorize that this process wasn't universal. But the thought of some people still being able to be conscious while trapped six feed under the earth, he counted it as a blessing that his grandmother didn't seem to have enough energy to remain awake.
He would have to send Ryuzu to see if she could find any records of someone discovering this fact before, and if any method had been found to put these lingering spirits to rest.
After some time, Carman and the others left the cemetery. One old man feeling much lighter than he had coming in, and one boy feeling an immense amount of pressure, and fearing the implications of his discovery.
The next day, the family parted ways, Livre, Carman, and Ryuzu bidding farewell to Caron and Amié after breakfast as they made haste to catch the afternoon aquabus back to the capitol.
-To be continued