[With Solomon gone Raine overbalances, falls to her knees. Now, only now, does she allow herself to weep, quietly, shoulders shuddering with how desperately she's trying not to.]
[They'd been wed less than a month. She'd always assumed it would be her that lost him -- even had they a lifetime, she would likely outlive him. That should make the loss easier to bear, having been prepared for it in some little way, but it doesn't. Nor does it make her want that lifetime any less.]
[Raine can't say quite how long she stays there, hands pressed to her mouth, fingers interlaced so tightly that her wedding ring bites into her skin. Eventually she has to get up. Keeliai keeps moving, and injuries won't wait for one woman's grief, and it isn't as though staying in his laboratory will let her pretend Solomon's still there. He's gone, though not by his choice, and Raine will carry on.]
[When it occurs for her to look for it, she can't find his ring, the sage-leaves engraved with a fine line of Gaeilge around the inside vanished as thoroughly as he is.]
[It's better that way, she thinks. It lets her hope.]
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[They'd been wed less than a month. She'd always assumed it would be her that lost him -- even had they a lifetime, she would likely outlive him. That should make the loss easier to bear, having been prepared for it in some little way, but it doesn't. Nor does it make her want that lifetime any less.]
[Raine can't say quite how long she stays there, hands pressed to her mouth, fingers interlaced so tightly that her wedding ring bites into her skin. Eventually she has to get up. Keeliai keeps moving, and injuries won't wait for one woman's grief, and it isn't as though staying in his laboratory will let her pretend Solomon's still there. He's gone, though not by his choice, and Raine will carry on.]
[When it occurs for her to look for it, she can't find his ring, the sage-leaves engraved with a fine line of Gaeilge around the inside vanished as thoroughly as he is.]
[It's better that way, she thinks. It lets her hope.]