The Funeral of Mally Avalon

[Lilith Royce]

The day was raw and dark with a stiff wind and occasional bursts of rain. It suited the sad proceedings. The Silent Sisters met Tilda and Betrina at the sept where the simple service was to be held. A septon said the traditional words but no sermon in praise of the dead was given. Executed criminals did not get a glorification before the gods like other citizens. He words echoed through the almost empty chapel. Tilda, Betrina and their parents sat in the first row, not seeing who, if any one was there.

Tilda was furious that Mally didn't get her proper eulogy. For all her faults, she had been a good sister. She remembered the last time they had been together and happy, all making food in the kitchen, something that had always drawn them together.

[Deleted]

People from the Avalons' village entered the village sept, if only to comfort Willem Avalon and his wife and daughters. The Avalons were yeoman farmers, but good, religious and respectable people. Mally had simply been a mistake - yet, she had been a vivacious and bright girl. Many of the villagers remembered her vividly.

[Lilith Royce]

There was no formal funeral breakfast, again because of the sept's traditions, but the Avalons were glad to see the turn out of the village. The haughty had stayed home but the life blood of the community was all there, and when the local pubkeeper had yelled, "Come have a drink in honor of Mally," they all followed him to their local, The Three Headed Sheep. There Tilda felt Mally did get her eulogies. Villagers cheerfully traded stories about how pretty and how very bad and charming she'd been.