So here is the second chapter...

Not beta'd and I don't own the characters

I know who 'he' is but who do you think 'he' is?

Shades of orange, purple and red streak across the sky, stripes of color smudging the horizon. Colors too vivid to do his passing justice, the sky should be midnight blue, heavy with storm clouds and weeping in his memory. The dark of night is giving way to a new day, the passing of time is relentless. The world seems a darker place without him, the sparks from the pyre have reached their destination, heaven or hell? Only he knows where he ended up, if anywhere, and he is gone.

They appear on the cliff top walking reverently, like monks of days long past. Following the faint scent trail they gather round the burnt out remains of his pyre. The circle of ash on the floor is all that remains of him, he will not rise like a phoenix, he is not there.

Heads bowed with their hands in front of them, they seem as if at prayer, but they don't pray. How could they? They stopped believing years ago, he was the only one who still believed. Who or what he believed in died with him, they can only guess whether he whispered a deities name or her name as he burned.

They whisper his name, softly but with feeling. One of them sighs her name. It becomes a chant, his name, then hers, then his again. The elegy grows in sound, tuneless but hypnotic, his name, hers, his, hers, his... Ending in a crescendo of both their names screamed at the heavens. A scream of supplication, of pain or of mourning? It doesn't matter to them, it's the last thing they will ever do for him. They need to do this.

The blond one reaches down to the ash and taking a handful, he brings it up to his face, unfolding his hand and pursing his lips he blows the ash away. In turn they copy his movements, bending, taking, pursing, blowing. It takes time, but time is all they have.