Embrace

So many people came to her, all of them filled with grief and with no one else to articulate their sorrow to.

"Do not hide your tears. Weep until you no longer can, for it is all we can do for them now."

A child buries his head in her bosom, helpless to control his emotions. Honest. Others around them hang their heads as their cheeks grow wet.

She feels them all. She understands their pain. She embraces it. Her own eyes well up as shares in their mourning. At first, it was her belief that she alone cried for the departed. That the hearts of the City's denizens had grown too cold to care. She was wrong and glad for it.

They comforted her mind as much as she comforted theirs.

"Look upon the lost. Because of you, they are found in this world and the next. Through you, they are granted peace they could never have known."

The crowd raises their gaze. They call out their names as they let go of their sorrow and cry tears of joy. Mothers and Fathers. Son and Daughters. Brothers and Sisters. Friends and Lovers. They see them and understand what they believed to be lost resides in Her.

The child's eyes meet hers and she feels his longing. To be reunited is a beautiful thing.

"No."

She whispers while caressing the boy's cheek, but all the congregation hears.

"It is good that you let go of your fear, but you must live. To remember them, and to leave without regret."

Death would always welcome them, warmly. All she desired was to ease their pain after all. Yet to abandon life was not her message. There was only so much she do for them now, but how could she grant them good deaths when they had not led good lives?

"You must try. You must be sure."

Her hold on the boy tightens, as if afraid he would disappear. Fresh tears roll hotly down her cheeks and onto him.

Yet how could she not deliver from their suffering? To remember was quite a burden. Perhaps it was cruel to ask these children to do so, but how then could the fallen be at peace? There was only so much a stranger could do.

How could she be at peace?

Their troubles flicker before her like twisted candles but she is helpless. All she can offer is her embrace.