Will's Oxford, Midsummer's Night, Midnight
Will Parry sat on a deserted
park bench, staring into nothingness and stroking Kirjava's furry back. He
looked into the sad cat-eyes of his dæmon and felt his heart pang. He missed
Lyra just as much as Kirjava missed Pantalaimon.
The knife had been broken over
seventy years ago, but Will wished with all his being that he hadn't destroyed
his only way to his one true love. As he thought about her, tears flowed down
his cheeks, and fell onto the park bench. She was sitting next to him in her
own world, but neither could see or touch the other. He lay down on the bench,
as he had done seventy two times before, and pressed his cheek to the
near-ancient wood. Maybe, on the other side, Lyra was doing the same.
Will had married years after he
and Lyra parted, but his heart had never really healed from the separation. His
wife had never really filled the void that opened when the gap between their
two worlds sealed. It was not fair to his wife to mention Lyra, or anything
having to do with her, so he never did. He kept his sorrow bottled up inside.
Will only had one child, who was
born without a dæmon. This saddened Will, because he would have liked to pass
that down. Will's only friend he could talk to, and whom Kirjava could feel at
home with, was Dr. Mary Malone. Mary always would offer him comfort, and he
would do the same for her.
Mary passed on when will was
fifty-five. He and Mary's children held a service in the park, by the bench on
Midsummer's Night, at Midnight. No one knew why, but Will had promised Mary
that he would do this for her, so that Will, Lyra and Mary could be together
one last time.
When will was sixty-three, his
wife passed away. He grieved bitterly; she was the only human he had ever loved
deeply, aside from Lyra. Soon after his wife's death, Will fell into solitude
with Kirjava and only left his house to buy food or visit the park bench on
Midsummer's Night.
Now, Will lay on the bench,
feeling the worn wood against his wrinkled cheek and humming a sad melody,
while Kirjava curled up into a ball beside him. "I love you, Kirjava." Will
whispered.
"I love you too." Was the soft
reply.
Slowly, Will drifted into an
endless sleep, and Kirjava disappeared into the night air.
***
Lyra's Oxford, Midsummer's Night, Midnight
Lyra Silvertongue lay down on the worn park bench, like
she had done so many times before, mourning the loss of her one true love and
her friend. Pantalaimon was wrapped around her neck, whimpering. Lyra always
missed Will and Mary the most on Midsummer's Night. She longed to reach out and
be held by him, like she had over seventy years before.
"That was then, this is now." She reminded herself,
bitterly. Pan howled in his ermine form and whispered Kirjava's name into the
air. Lyra was not the only mourner on the bench.
Lyra had come to the bench every year, never faltering.
Even through her husband had questioned her many times, she never told him
about Will, or the adventures they had shared. Soon, her husband believed that
she was just mourning the death of a family member.
Lyra's only child, a daughter, had followed her one night,
to see what her mother did at the park. There, she saw nothing but Lyra lying
on the bench, weeping with Pantalaimon curled up next to her.
Lyra's husband passed on when Lyra was sixty-five. She
never really recovered from the death of yet another lover. Lyra still went to
the park bench, though, to be close to Will.
As Lyra and Pan became even weaker, Lyra put her arms
around Pa's neck and kissed him. "I will always love you, Pan." She whispered
into the ermine's ear.
"I love you too, Lyra." Pan whispered back, before
disappearing into the night.
***
When Lyra entered Death, she saw Gracious Wings talking to
another spirit. It was a boy of about thirteen and he had his back to her, but
something was altogether too familiar. "Will!" Lyra shouted, running towards
him. He turned around and smiled as he saw his lover running at him. They
embraced as the two young adults they had been when they parted, seventy-two
years before.
Will had changed, as had Lyra. The scar she held on her
forhead from Gracious Wings's claws had disappeared, and Will had all of his
fingers again. Gracious Wings turned to both of them.
"Do you two have a story to share with me?" she winked and
led them down into the tunnel that would lead to the world of the mulefa.
"I think we might have a few." Will said as he and Lyra
began telling their stories from the moment Lyra and Pan had snuck into the
Retiring Room at Jordan College.
Soon, they reached the window and Gracious Wings gave them
each a kiss on the cheek. "Until I meet you in Death." She said as the two
lovers went to join their dæmons and friends as simple atoms in the air.
