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She lay on a blanket, looking up, staring at the big, bright full moon and the smattering of stars that accompanied her. "It wouldn't have been quite the same, back then, back when you were…" Her voice trailed off, not wanting to speak of it and him like that - her companion on this magical night in their secret garden. So she danced around it and him, as she always did. "Physics and all that. And other modern things. Electric street lights and pollution too, in the atmosphere, I suppose…?"
"It looks similar enough to me. Although, I suppose if one looks up every night for five hundred years, you do not notice the changes," he shrugged his ethereal shoulders.
"I suppose… It's so peaceful here though, whatever the changes. I can see what you asked your son… you know… to…"
"To bury me here?"
"Yes. But I don't like speaking of that. About you being…"
"Dead?"
"Please… Don't say that…"
"Why? It is the truth of the matter. I am."
"I know. But…"
"But…?"
"You'll go on and I'll…"
"You'll die."
"Yes…"
"And you wonder what will happen to you?"
"No."
"No?"
"I wonder what will happen to us."
"Us? I do not understand, my Lady."
"I'll miss you. Our conversations. Your company."
"Ohhhh. I see. Well… There is an easy remedy for that."
"There is?"
"There is room aplenty under the ground, where my head is buried, for another's to lie there. And, as we have learned, the spirit remains where its mortal remains lie."
"Oh…"
"So… Make provisions for when the inevitable happens. And…" he shrugged. "In the meantime, let us enjoy the peace and quiet here. Let us resume pondering over La Luna way above us."
"Yes… Thank you… Thomas…"
"It is no bother, my Lady."
She let out a long, slow sigh.
"Is there aught else that is troubling you, My Lady…? Your sighs are heavy and laden with sorrow this night, when they should be soft and carefree."
"No… No… I'm just… This is so peaceful, this garden, here, with you…"
"I would hug you if I could, but I cannot, so I will allow the garden to do so for me."
"The garden? But, how ca—"
"Hush! Do as I say and you will see. Now… Close your eyes again and just… listen…"
She sighed, a laden sound, just as he had said, but did as she was bid. Her eyes were closed and listened.
"Can you hear it, my Lady… the stillness?"
Not hearing him breathing was something that she had taken a while to get used to, but it had its benefits. She could listen to the night, to the hum of the busy insects, the larger creatures that chased them and the wind rustling the branches and leaves in her small, verdant paradise. "Yes…" She opened her eyes and turned to face him, where he lay next to her. "Thomas…?"
"Mmmm…?"
"I'll alter my will tomorrow."
"Good. This garden will not be the same without you."
"Thank you." She smiled and turned to smile back up at the moon. Wondering what she and their garden would all look like in another five hundred years' time.