Dying Peacefully

The Toran plague was real. There was no poison. People had removed their masks, exposing themselves to needless infection. Lief found himself wondering whether the sickness he felt was due to the guilt he felt, or because of the plague itself. Despite the fact that such a terrible illness was not how he thought he would die, Lief felt that his own death would bring justice to those who would lose their lives because of his actions.

As Lief contemplated just how he would move the top of the marble platform that he now knew had to be what concealed the hiding place for the sister of the south, he heard Barda's voice. He looked around, and saw him standing there with Jasmine. They had come, as he knew they would, to fight beside him one last time. But this only made him feel a little better. How was he to tell them that they were all dying of the plague? Suddenly, the idea of facing the sister seemed like nothing compared to the anger and blame that he knew Barda and Jasmine would hurl at him as soon as they heard the truth.

But then, Jasmine took his arm, and thanked him for saving her birds. As she softly kissed him, Lief burned the smile she gave him into his memory, so that when the end finally came for him, he could hold the image in his mind until he left this world. The idea of death by illness no longer seemed so cruel. After all, the plague had taken Joseph just recently, and Lief decided that if Joseph could die peacefully after all he had been through, then so could he.