Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from the Underland Chronicles.
"My Queen, there are respects to be paid."
Luxa looked up at Mareth, the usually jovial soldier pale-faced and solemn while he addressed her. "Of course," she whispered, then picked herself up from the cushions lying on the floor.
From there, they mounted their fliers, and arrived speedily at the cliffs where dead were sent to their eternal rest. Leaving Aurora after a brief hug, Luxa made her way through the crowds of listless, black-draped people, to where the many, many bodies lay waiting, their wounds bandaged, their faces smooth and emotionless. In some cases, the bodies were little more than pieces, but still they were set there, for all to see.
With no further prompting, Luxa recited the lines that had been burned into her mind from her parents' own funeral service.
I pray for no more youth
To perish before its prime;
That Revenge and iron-heated War
May fade with all that has gone before
Into the night of time.
Ironic, she wondered internally, that only the old and the children are left by war. The majority of the dead were teenagers and people in their early twenties; people who had plans, futures, loves. Even so; this thought could not bring forth her tears.
How horrible, to have forgotten how, and be unable to cry. Mareth watched his queen's face grow weary, so weary, with lines where there should be no lines on one so young.
And he wept unashamedly for her.
After all; it is tearless grief that bleeds inwardly.
Whee, my first sort-of drabble for the Underland Chronicles. :) I've been meaning to write more fanfic for this series, but I just never got to it. Anyhow, the poem-ish thing is by Aeschylus, an ancient Greek playwright; I found it when reading in Webster's Pocket Quotations Dictionary; a wonderful book. Also, the quote I changed a teensy weensy bit is "Tearless grief bleeds inwardly." and it is by Christian Nevell Bovee. I'm planning on making this a drabble/short oneshot series, so you can expect more whenever I can get to it. ^^
Anyhoo...comments and constructive crit are always welcome, I hope you all enjoy reading this, and whether or not you do, thank you for reading. :)