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Eda took a breath -- in through the nose, out through the mouth -- and forced a smile.
“Hey, kiddo. I, uh… I know I said we’d talk after the Day of Unity, but life suddenly decided to get busy. Long story short, everybody’s trying to figure out what we do and don’t don’t know and… well, there’s a whole lot we don’t know.”
“But on the plus side, Boo-los is Goo-los. No idea how you managed to pull off that particular stunt, but, uh, great job. Seriously.”
Eda chuckled and scratched the back of her neck, unused to the slight breeze coursing along it.
“Man,” she muttered, “half the scrapes you kids manage to get yourselves into would have little me quaking in her boots. Heck, it’s giving big me the shivers just thinking about it.”
“Speaking of scrapes…” The stump at Eda’s right side shot into the air and playfully wiggled about.“And before ya ask, no, I didn’t drop an arm behind the couch this time. This… has got a real, real long story behind it. Only trouble is, I can’t tell you everything without Raine, and they…”
Her eyes flitted down to her lap and she cleared her throat.
“Well, they’re real set on getting their beauty sleep right now. Which is. Fine. Um…”
She bit her top lip before using her remaining hand to wipe away the moisture.
Pretty dusty, these days.
Eda cleared her throat and chuckled. She brought her head back towards the stone.
“I think this'll gonna be the last time I'm gonna see you both for a while, so before I go, I just wanted to tell you... you changed my life."
Eda's head hung low.
"You saved it," she admitted, soft, voice cracking.
Eda reached her remaining hand out, thumb brushing across the ‘L’ engraved there. Underneath it, a ‘K’ reached up in her peripheral, almost mocking her.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at the names below.
Eda took another breath -- in through the nose, out through the mouth. She didn't bother smiling.
“I’m sorry I didn’t save yours.”