~*XVII*~
Ashes
The sun had set a while ago. When exactly in the chaos amidst Ezio's return, Tristan couldn't recall since it was hard to tell anymore with the lack of modern timekeeping. Regardless, it caused Florence to dip into a blanket of midnight blue and black, speckled with lazy clouds. and the occasional glimpse of an arm of the Milky Way painted overhead since the moon hadn't risen yet which had been perfect for the small family to sneak out.
Tristan suspected it to have been an asthma attack.
The word was often thrown around where she came from but given medical advancements, the terror and scariness of the word had significantly lessened. Her one exposure to it had been a boy in her fourth-grade class and yet, he easily was given an emergency inhaler and was eventually fine.
She thickly swallowed as she pulled the cloak around her shoulders tighter, her hand gripping the fabric to the point of shaking.
But once again she was reminded this wasn't modern times.
They had gathered on the dock that jutted out in the Arno like a sore thumb. A trait that Tristan reflected she miserably shared as she shrunk back from the mourners as they neared the gondola, packed to the brim with firewood and cloth. The method had not been ideal, but the ground was too frozen and proper rites had to be done.
He looked so small. So frail as he was laid to rest next to his father, whom the cold had preserved in the days following the gallows.
And yet, despite everything that happened, they both looked so peaceful as their hands were crossed over their chest, random flowers picked from nearby gardens tucked under their hands.
She heard soft murmurs from the red-eyed women who came along— Maria, Claudia, and a third young auburn-haired woman who had accompanied Ezio, whom Tristan suspected to be his girlfriend.
Prayers.
Tristan didn't believe— not like her mother and grandmother but she still bowed her head all the same to respect and grieve two souls she had barely known.
With a final grunt from Ezio and Federico, the boat was pushed off.
They all watched as it drifted almost lazily into the middle of the Arno, the current swiftly grasping its hull and tugging it along to deeper waters.
It did not take long for the flames to consume it.
~*End*~