The sea greeted Hissera with a blue horizon, parading warm waters which lazily hit a rocky shore. Maybe the whole Free Marches could feel grief in the air, allowing the clouds to cry faintly over a lonely dwarf who observed the waves; his mind, however, was lost to memories.
As Hissera approached, she searched her mind for the right thing to say. It didn't took her long to realize there was no such thing.
"How are you holding up?" she asked, standing just a few steps behind Vennik. He, in response, took a deep breath.
"I'm alive," Vennik noted as sincerely as he could. After a moment, he looked over his shoulder and noticed the Tal-Vashoth had a white flowed in her hand. "Is that for me?"
"For your father. I didn't... I didn't know where he'd be cremated."
"He won't," Vinnek tried to growl, not to Hissera, but to the idea of his father's death being treated in an Andrastian way. However, the attempt just made his scar hurt like it's burning; stubborness once again bringing him only pain.
Vinnek grabed his waterskin and took a sip before continuing. "My father is-- Was... A staunt believer in the Stone."
"I thought dwarves were not religious." Hissera steps closer.
"Not usually, we're not. Many dwarves are Andrastian, but Orzamaar is very different. They love their ancestors, talk about them all the time if my father is anything to go by." A faint smile showed in Vennik's face. "And when they die..."
Hissera paciently waited for Vennik to go on. She sat by his side, laying the flower over her lap. "When a dwarf dies in Orzamaar," Vennik continued, "their body is supposed to be buried deep into the Stone."
"The stone?" Hissera asks.
"The Stone is this... Loving being, like a deity. She's literally the earth under us, and I guess around us too if you're in Orzamaar... But the Stone is also the culmination of all of Dwarven history. It protects and communicates with the dwarves in the underground. When you're burried, embalmed deep in the rock, it's said you either strengthen or weaken the Stone depending on your value in life."
Hissera took a silent moment to digest what she'd just heard. "Sounds quite religious to me."
"Are you religious, Hissera?" Vinnek asked bluntly. He was not one for subtlelty.
"Not very much," she shakes her head. "Andrastianism is not a big thing in Rivain and my parents abandoned the Qun a long time ago." Hissera stops for a moment and smiles to herself, as if agraciated with a pleasant memory. "You know, I had a... A friend back in Rivain. She was amazing and she always talked about the Natural Order; that's a thing in Rivain. I would tell you about it, but... I never really got it. And despite that, I would stay up late, listening to her talk about the nature and spirits for hours on end. And even though it didn't feel like something I could ever fully understand, I felt how important it was for her. It's like appreciating a song even if you don't understand the lyrics. The shine in one's eyes need no explanation."
The Tal-Vashoth noticed a smirk in Vinnek's face. "Point is," she explained, "we don't need to understand someone to respect them, or even admire them for that matter." She rests a hand over Vinnek's shoulder. "What would your father want, Vinnek?"
He turned his gaze south, back to the old waters of the sea. "My father left Orzamaar with honor. Despite it all, he still believed in the Stone... Being buried in Orzamaar: that's what he would want."
Hissera smiled and handed him the pale flower. "Then I guess you'll know where to put this."
