Echoes Read Free

nodded his head and fell into a fitful sleep. The next day, when Alanna came to the garden, she saw Hugh sitting in her spot, waiting for her.
    “She smiled at him, in the same, soft way she had smiled at all the gifts Hugh had left for her. She sat down beside him and said, ‘I told my father you would be along today to ask for my hand.’
    “I thought Hugh was going to swallow his tongue, he looked so shocked, but then he just nodded. ‘How did you know?’ he asked her.
    “Alanna took his rough hand in her own soft one. ‘I knew from the moment I first saw you. I just had to find a way to get you to notice me. I knew you liked to walk in the garden, and so I came. I thought that I might as well work on your joining clothes while you worked up the courage to speak to me.’
    “Hugh’s eyes widened. ‘My joining clothes! That’s what you’ve been working on?’
    “Alanna took Hugh’s other hand and tugged him to his feet. ‘Of course. You must have them to join with me, and I don’t think I want to wait. We were always meant to be together, and I am anxious to start our forever.’
    “I’d never seen anything like it before. Lord Hugh allowed himself to be led away. I didn’t follow, so I don’t know how he ever managed to get the words out to ask for permission to join with Alanna. My guess is that she did most of the talking, but one way or another, they were joined within the month.”
    One story after another followed, and as the afternoon sun began to sink in the sky, they arrived at Hugh’s funeral pyre. He was dressed richly, and rested on a bed of pine boughs, carefully removed from the tree Cyrus had planted so long ago. Though he had died nearly two months earlier, he looked as though he was merely asleep. Carly was responsible for that. Normally there would have been no practical way to return him all the way to Maj, and there would have been a sea burial, but Dearra had refused to release him. She had thrown herself across his lifeless body until Carly took pity on her and encased Hugh in a frozen chrysalis of ice.
    One achingly sweet soprano voice rose Heavenward, eventually joined by others until the air was thick with their song:
     
    The sun dips low as day’s end nears.
    Darkness closes in; you journey into the final night.
    We cannot hear you; your voice has been taken from our chorus.
    Your candle has gone out, and we grieve the lost light.
    Still, you are with us.
     
    Time claims us all and calls us home.
    Heartbeats are numbered; now our hearts beat for you.
    Your spirit goes where we cannot yet follow; you walk a path apart.
    You are never really gone; your soul is only made new.
    Still, we are with you.
     
    Our voices call out for you to hear.
    Your breath is in the trees; your eyes in every star.
    We look for you in the faces of friends; we search for you in every voice.
    We will join you when our sun sets; you are never very far.
    Still, you are with us.
     
    Lay your comforting hand on weary hearts.
    Your laughter rings in our ears; your smile fills our memory.
    We know you will always be waiting for us; you are just beyond the next hill.
    Light a new candle in the place to come; its brilliance our guide will be.
    Still, we are with you.
    Still, we are together.
     
    Dearra stepped forward, and she held her candle between the stout logs that supported Hugh. The fire caught the kindling and straw that had been stuffed inside, and the flames licked greedily at the wood. The people of Maj crowded closer and held their small flames to the pyre as well. There were far too many people for them to all get within reach, but they held their candles forward symbolically, so that their lights could join with the rest.
    Over three hundred people surrounded the flames in a circle several bodies deep. The sun disappeared on the horizon, leaving behind only an orange and yellow glow. 
    Dearra walked toward Daniel first. He laid his hand on her head for a moment, and she extinguished his