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Alien Soulmate(4)



They also believed that the body needed to be burned once the spirit left it so that no other spirits could come and taint the body that had belonged to someone else.

No one was allowed to watch the burning of a body because it was a private thing, and there would be no lavish funeral. The Sitheri clan would wear blues for two weeks to mourn the passing of their leader and then they would return to their lives as normal. That was their way.

Someone had to go tell the people who were keeping vigil in the homes and in the public halls that the leader had passed. That his spirit had broken free of its flesh container and had gone to take its place in the stars.

Ideally, it would be one of the three of them. E'lira was having a hard time, it seemed, but when Carver brought it up, she wiped her eyes.

"Let me do it," she said. "You two need to go speak to the Council. I'll go and tell the people what's happened."

Ithril didn't seem to have any complaints about that, so Carver nodded. "Alright." He drew his sister into a hug that she seemed grateful for and then let her go, watching as she slipped out of the room, leaving the two brothers alone.

"The Council should already be prepared to meet," Carver said. "They knew Father would pass tonight and that he would be naming the new leader."

"Yes," Ithril said, but he didn't meet Carver's eyes. "They'll be surprised, I think."

"Everyone will be surprised. This has never happened before. Leave it to Father to do something no other leader has ever done."

"Will they reject his decision?"

Carver shook his head. "They can't. The leader's word is law. Father was still leader when he said it, and now…now we're the leaders, and if we say it then it's law."

Ithril was quiet for a moment, and then he finally looked up. "And what if we say something different?"

For a moment, Carver couldn't speak. True, they could come up with something new and that would override their father's decision to make them co-leaders, but that was unheard of and disrespectful. Their father had been dead no more than fifteen minutes, and they were not going to end this night by going against him. Not if he had anything to say about it. "No, Ithril," he said firmly. "We'll share the power. Father was right in his judgment. Neither of us know all we should to be a leader, and we will already have to rely more heavily on the Council than is strictly wise. We won't cripple ourselves further. Not now." Not when things with the Des'kos were barely what you could call civil and the people would be mourning the loss of Angen and less vigilant.

"You're right," Ithril said, smiling a little. "I was only asking what would happen. I know we are stronger together. So come, brother. Shall we go and speak with the windbags? Better now than later if we plan on getting to sleep before the sun comes up."

Seeing his brother smile and hearing him joke made Carver relax, and he nodded. It had been ages since he'd slept properly, and the coming days were going to be a trial. They would have to go through their father's belongings and divide them up, decide what they were going to do about where to live, have a million meetings. It made his head hurt just thinking about it.

But now was not the time to succumb to that. Now he had to put on a brave face and go with his brother to meet with the Council.

Luckily, the Meeting Hall was in the same building as the leader's home, so they wouldn't have to stop and speak to anyone on the way. From the windows Carver could see the throngs of Sitheri gathered outside, and he could hear E'lira's gentle voice singing the song of the departed. She really was the perfect one to speak to the people about this, and Carver made a mental note to go to her before he went to bed and make sure she was going to sleep alright.

The Hall was already full of the Council, each member sitting around the square table that dominated most of the room. Some of them were watching the large screens on the wall that showed the breaking up and reforming of some of the vigils outside, and others were looking at the screens that displayed the current state of events with the Des'kos.

When the doors opened, all of them rose and looked at the two brothers.

Ithril and Carver exchanged a glance, as if trying to decide who was going to break the strange news.

The look in Ithril's eyes clearly said ‘you're the oldest; you do it', and Carver rolled his eyes but turned to face the Council.

They were a mixed bunch, to be certain. The purpose of the Sitheri Council was to serve as a go between for the Sitheri people and the leader. The leader of the Sitheri was just one person (usually), and the Sitheri people were a varied bunch. There was no way that one person could see to the needs of all of the people on their own. So the Council worked to help, each member taking a region of the Sitheri land and speaking to the people, serving as their representative.