A garden in the room of bones. How tragically fitting. Then came Venari's farewells, and they washed over him half-heard; he had to struggle to refocus on what it was that she was saying.

He tries to curl his lips into some gruesome semblance of a smile.

"Thank you again. You're-... very kind," he said softly, with a nod. And then, empty, feeling hollowed out from his core, he echoed her goodbye. "Farewell." He hardly knew that he had said it.

And then she had left him. Left him alone--no. Left him with Azizos's gemstone. Lifeless, dead--well, not according to Venari, but his brother was gone.

"Azizos is gone," he half-whispered aloud, trying the thought on his tongue. It tasted acrid. His eyes squeezed shut. "He's gone."

He lay there for a long moment before at last pushing up, approaching the abandoned horn, and then a far more practical problem presented itself: how was he going to carry it..? This simple question laid a practical problem on top of all the day's horrors, and this alone broke him: standing silent, over the gemstone of his brother, Arsu began to weep--and then sob, quiet and unable to think even the simplest thoughts.

It was a long while before it ebbed, before he thought to force the stone between his teeth--awkward, but possible. And awhile longer--staring off at nothing, tasting the horror of moonstone and its death on his tongue--before he started off for Orion.

Where he'd have to tell his parents... that their son was dead.