When the young soldier gave Princess Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca the news of her husband's death, she did not cry immediately. She thanked the soldier for the information and went to her father to make preparations for the funeral.
Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg had informed the king that there was nothing left of Nabradia, and its skeleton was occupied by Archadia. It was this information that made Raminas decide to inter Lord Rasler and his father in the tombs below the palace in Rabanastre.
Lady Ashe surveyed the carving of the sarcophagi for both men, having them carved from the finest slabs of white marble she could find. Reliefs depicting angels helping their souls to Heaven were carefully inscribed in the slab coverings. Rasler's father was immediately interred, but his son's final resting place stood open, waiting for its tenant.
Ashe did not cry until the funeral. The pallbearers carried Rasler in an open casket and placed him before Ashe and the king. Studying her husband, Ashe decided that, for someone who had never seen the prince while he was alive, the Mortician had done a good job. He had powdered Rasler's face so pale, then colored his cheeks and lips with pink rouge. He almost looks alive, she thought.
Then she knelt by his body and started to weep.
At the end, the procession moved to the tomb to place his body. Flowers were placed around him in the sarcophagus, and just before they covered him, Ashe stopped them for a moment.
She bent down and removed Rasler's glove, wincing at how cold and stiff his once strong hands felt. She slipped his wedding ring off and put it on her own hand, replaced his glove and refolded his too-stiff arms. Ashe stepped back and let them cover her prince in stone.
And that should have been it.
The king led her out of the tomb and it was closed.
Her father signed the peace treaty with Archadia, and Dalmasca maintained an illusion of sovereignty. However, the Archadian soldiers in Rabanastre did not go unnoticed by anyone.
