Ravensong
By HrinTiyr
Her path took her through each room, from one to the next and the next after that, until finally leading her back to her own sleeping chamber. She had left nothing behind. There was no trace left of her inside the structure, save for within her own chamber. Soon that, too, would bear no sign of her.
Briefly, she wondered what would become of the chamber; what, or perhaps who, might occupy it. No matter. The chamber would not be hers for much longer.
Looking about her room for the final time, she slung her backpack onto her shoulders and, for the final time, crossed the threshold of what had been, but was no longer, her private, special place.
Her mother's family stood in the foremost room of the residence, waiting for her. Their faces bore no expression, their postures lent no comfort. Her own face, similarly, was expressionless, and her walk was stiff and straight.
She halted before them and waited for someone to speak. None of them did.
She raised her hand in a salute of farewell.
"It is time that I leave you," she said simply. Her voice, usually clear as a chime note, was dull. Semel, her mother's father, lifted his own hand in salute to her.
"It is indeed," he stated. His ever-somber baritone betrayed nothing.
"Then farewell to all of you," she replied, inclining her head to each, and gaining their salutes in return. "Live long and prosper." Her voice was strong.
"Live long and prosper," came their choral response.
Five hands lowered in perfect synchronicity. She turned from them, lifted her second bag, and, for the final time, left the place that had been, but was no longer, her home.