Work Text:
It was unfortunate, as all things were in these kinds of situations.
Jean was no stranger to loss – first and foremost, she was a knight. Blood was shed on the battlefield in the name of freedom. It was in her own blood as a member of the Gunnhildr clan.
And today, loss smelled like fresh roses and afternoon tea.
She couldn’t quite pinpoint what the hardest part of this was. Could it have been the initial explanation of it to Razor? How he had simply frowned, asking why Lisa wouldn’t wake up? Or perhaps, it was the arrangement of her funeral.
Jean knew her girlfriend’s favorite flowers by heart, but never had she imagined preparing bouquets for this specific occasion.
Flora had been more than kind, insisting that she place no price on her purchase.
She was the Dandelion Knight, the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius. There was no time for her own personal feelings to get in the way of this.
The Church of Favonius was where they were hosting it: Lisa loved many things, but nothing more than her homeland, and her job. Despite how lethargic she tended to be, knowledge was one of the many lights in her eyes.
Lights that were now long gone, it seemed. Lights that Jean would never be able to gaze into with adoration ever again.
“Jean?” her thoughts were interrupted. Barbara, her younger sister, gently pushed the door to her office open. She seemed unsure of herself, twirling one of her pigtails with her finger.
“Ah. Good afternoon,” Jean nodded curtly, returning her focus to the scattered papers in front of her. Many of them were Lisa’s studies gifted to the knights by the Academia following her recent passing.
“It’s actually nighttime, now,” Barbara bit her lip. “I’m just here to, uh, make sure that you’re ready. I… I’m sorry for—“
“It’s not your fault. There is absolutely nothing anybody could have done to alter the outcome,” Jean recited the mantra she had been telling herself for the past few days. “There is no need for regret, nor apologies.”
The younger of the two sisters hummed in affirmation.
“Let’s go. Lisa never liked when people were tardy,” Jean laughed humorlessly.