Everyone got to work cleaning out the rooms in the mysterious mansion. That was priority one after the class chosen once again went through and cleared the building. The only three who weren’t on cleaning duty were Synexus, Laiko, and Gene. The owl was asked by Vorin to investigate the lock on the door downstairs. He wasn’t interested in getting inside, he was just concerned that something would come out. Synexus was on repair duty since he had the perfect skill for it. Laiko stayed close to the mansion but was looking for a spot to finally lay his sister to rest.

  Funerals were important on Motholo. Every culture even used the same ceremony. Instead of mourning the fallen, it was a ceremony to balance their life with their death. There was the Fulcrum who would lead the ceremony. This was someone the fallen trusted implicitly when they were alive. Next, there was the Weight of Family who was often a family member or a proxy for family. After that, there was the Weight of Friendship. This would be someone who was a friend and often was chosen by the remaining family. The others who attended were called Witnesses of Balance.

  Two people deserved their remembrance today, but only one would have a funeral. They hadn’t recovered Rupert’s body, so there was nothing to bury. When Vorin informed the family, they would have a ceremony for him. Everyone had already started mourning him. When Synexus found out, all he could say was “all he wanted in this world was a pastry”. The news had been devastating following Layola’s death. Tonight, the group was happy that she would finally find balance.

  Drackenn and Minily had told them all about the pirates they knew personally that had perished in the battle. Everyone listened and took in the stories of the fallen. It was a reminder that they were all lucky to have escaped the massacre. This life is dangerous and the best anyone can hope for is to be remembered. Their class would live on in the System, of course, but having actual people think about you or share your tale once you were gone was the highest honor.

  Night fell over the island, and enough bedrooms were clean for the class expected to have a safe place to sleep. The whole group was exhausted, however, that wouldn’t stop them from having Layola’s funeral. They had waited long enough.

  There was a beautiful spot in an alcove. The starlight seemed to bounce off the gemstone cliffs and if you looked up you could still see the night sky twinkling overhead. In the distance, the waterfall was making its gentle sound. Kumo had some candles inside her thundercloud bag, and those were lit all around the open space. On the ground was a triangle drawn around the grave they would bury Layola in. Around the triangle was a bigger circle. The point of triangle at the head of the grave was occupied by Vorin, the Fulcrum. The right-side point at the foot of the grave had Synexus, the Weight of Friendship on it. Laiko asked him since he had found her body and brought it back to her brother. Laiko was of course on the last point, the Weight of Family. On the outer circle, the Witnesses of Balance were standing equidistant from one another. Everyone was holding a pile of dirt.

  Her body had been dressed in something magical that had slowed the decay which is why they had waited this long. Minily had thought fast when she found the body on the floating forest. Laiko had refused any help to carry her even on the long trek across the island. Now her corpse was lying in the grave.

  “I, Vorin the Plague Doctor, have been asked to be the Fulcrum of this ceremony. I have known both Layola and Laiko since we were all children and I regard them both as family. We have all been mourning the loss of two of our friends, and the pirates who fought bravely against the fear kraken. Tonight is only about one of them. We will balance her life against her death and finally lay her to rest.”

  Vorin had started the ceremony. Whenever someone spoke, they would stand. If you weren’t speaking, then you were kneeling. This was a sign of respect for the departed. They were being lowered into the ground to embark on their final rest, and to mirror that, the living would kneel to the ground.

  “As all of you know, I will speak first. Layola was special to me in more ways than one. As I said, she was family, but also my student. She was doing everything she could to get the same class as me. It was an honor that such a person would want to follow in my footsteps and sadly, she was only a month away from getting her class. I wonder if she would have been offered the Plague Doctor class even now. If she was, there was no doubt in my mind that she would have surpassed me. Her compassion was one of a kind and she would jump at the opportunity to help anyone she could. This is a great loss to the entire world. As we balance our memories of her tonight to bring equilibrium in our hearts when we think of her, we should add the weight of that one-of-a-kind compassion to the side of life.”

  He sat down and Synexus stood up.

  “I didn’t know Layola as well or for as long as most of you here but, I was asked because I found her body and wanted to bring her back to her brother. When he asked me, I wasn’t sure what I would want to add to the scale. I thought of all the times I talked to her on the Windswept, and how nice she was or all the times we chatted as a big group, and she would make some hilarious comment that had everyone laughing. In the short time I knew her, I could tell she was someone special. Someone who deserved to be happy. What I finally decided to talk about was her dedication. We would train together in swordsmanship with Prith, and she didn’t even have a class yet, but would do everything she could to keep up. It was miraculous how committed she was to being as strong as possible by the time she became class chosen. It was truly something for everyone here to learn from and that is why we should add her dedication to the scale tonight.”

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  He knelt with his dirt still in his hands. His sight went towards Laiko who was crying. The tears were falling from his face into his dirt. With a nod, he stood up.

  “Thank you to everyone here for doing this with me. Vorin, and Synexus both said beautiful things about my sister, and they are both right about her. She had a heart big enough to fit everyone inside and dedication to put everyone else to shame. My parents always called me the lazy one as a joke because I would do the work and stop but, she would do the work and then do it ten more times. My sister was someone special, and I’m glad most of you got to see what I did even if it was only for a short amount of time. I wanted to keep this short because I’m struggling right now to keep the words flowing. I’ve cried more times in the past week than I have in my entire life. She was my twin sister. We were as close as you could get to someone else and I loved her deeply. I was supposed to protect her as her brother, and we all know that I failed. Now, I have to say goodbye. Before that, I will lay something on the scale tonight that no death could overcome. That is her fierce loyalty. She stood behind her family, behind me, and behind her friends no matter what. Even in death, I know she is standing by us and telling us to keep going.”

  His tears started to come down faster as he knelt once more. Vorin stood back up.

  “Everything has to be balanced. One thing cannot exist without the opposite. You have heard our offerings for the scale tonight to balance Layola in our hearts and in our memories. Now we say the words together.”

  Everyone stood and they began in harmony.

  “Love, and hate.”

  “Happiness, and sadness.”

  “Joy, and pain.”

  “Freedom, and imprisonment.”

  “Peace, and war.”

  “We still live, to balance the death in our world.”

  One by one the Witnesses came to dump their dirt into the grave in silence. Once they were all done, Synexus dropped his in with the word “Dedication”. Then Vorin dumped his in with the word “Compassion”. Finally, Laiko dumped his tear-soaked dirt in with the word “Loyalty”.

  They all knelt except Vorin.

  “Now from this night forward when you think of Layola, remember of her death, but remember her life too. Her compassion, dedication, and loyalty were only three aspects of the beautiful person she was. Her life was vast and full of experiences. Let us remember those experiences. Her death does not get to weigh down everything she was.”

  Everyone got up and walked away except for the three on the triangle. Vorin filled the grave in with the rest of the dirt. Synexus pulled out a seed and grew a beautiful moss that looked like the night sky all around and on top of the grave. Laiko sat in silence until the other two left as well. When everyone was gone, he said his final goodbye.

  “Layola, I’m not sure I can do this without you. I am going to do my best because I owe you that. I feel like I must live on and become a class master, so I can make your memory live on forever. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, but I will protect your memory. I love you and always will. Even death can’t put an end to that. Goodbye, Layola.”

  ***

  It was respectful after a funeral to not work on progress until the next day. That was okay since the class expected practically fell down as soon as they got into their rooms and the class chosen all wanted to take a little break.

  They all had met upstairs in the map room so as not to disturb the sleeping class expected. Zuls pulled out a bottle of strong alcohol.

  “I think we should drink to Layola, and Rupert before we all try to sleep. I know I never sleep well after a funeral.”

  “I agree. I’m not sure I will sleep for days.” Kumo grabbed the bottle from her and took a big drink before passing it to Prith.

  “Loss is a part of life, but it’s one of the only things that doesn’t get easier with repeated exposure.” He took a drink and passed it to Shell.

  “That was actually only my second funeral. The Wave don’t leave our settlements very often and because of that we live extremely long lives. After two, I don’t believe I want to go to a third. I didn’t even know her, and I was crying.” She recoiled at the taste of the alcohol before swallowing and passing it to Synexus.

  “Sadly, I think a third will be unavoidable. I saw so much death that day. As class chosen, I believe we will encounter way more loss than anyone is comfortable with. This one was hard for me because just two weeks ago we were all on the ship laughing and chatting about pastries, you know? It doesn’t feel real.” He almost spit the foul liquid back up but held it down and quickly gave the bottle to Drackenn.

  “Synexus is sadly correct. I have been a class chosen for almost a decade now, and in that time, I have been to hundreds of funerals. That day would have doubled that number, but we will never be able to recover all those bodies. Some of their families will never know what happened to them. I have to live with that the rest of my days. I believe that can be harder than the loss itself sometimes.” He took three big swigs and then hesitantly gave the bottle to Minily.

  “I believe that’s why funerals are so important. Listen to what the Fulcrum said. When we think about the fallen, we should accept their death as fact but remember the people they were. Death doesn’t get to erase us. Those families will know. You can feel it when a loved one is gone.” She nearly finished the bottle in one continuous drink before realizing Vorin was still left.

  “Tonight was rough. The last few weeks have been rough. Tomorrow we will start anew. We are still alive to balance the death in our world. Let us get some rest and start fresh tomorrow. There are a lot of plans to make, and a lot more to do in order to get everyone off this island safely. We will avoid another funeral for as long as we can.” With that he tilted the bottle back and finished it.