Random looks over to his brother Julian and nods once, briefly.
            Julian steps forward and speaks to the assembled company. "Today we honor my son Adonis after the custom of the Rangers. There is no body to lay to rest here on Kolvir, but we will assemble a cairn to mark his passing." He turns to Jovian and Robin, and gestures to them.

Robin shoots a glance to Vere, her face firming up.  He has given her the strong arm to launch from and this task is hers.  Choices regarding his own tasks are always his own.
            She steps forward to join her father and brother.

Jovian and Julian move to the two ends of a rather large and somewhat flat rock.  It's perhaps four to four and a half feet long and two or two and a half feet wide.

Though her own strength is not that of her father or her brother, Robin squats down and grasps a side of the stone.

They hoist the thing into the air, not without some strain, and together, they move the rock into the center of the clear area, where they place it carefully, mindful of fingers and toes.
            When the rock is set in place, and the dust of its placing has settled a little, Julian goes to the edge of the cleared area and places picks up a large stone, about the size of a man's head. He says, "Adonis never wanted to leave Arcadia, but he did so for those he loved. Let that memory lighten grief."  Then he places the stone in the center of the flat rock.
            "I stood with my brother on the edge of the Void, and I recall his shout of pure joy at seeing Her. I shall remember him as a man who was capable of purity. Let that memory lighten grief." Jovian places a black rock atop the large flat stone. When he does so, there is a roar from Canareth.

Robin chooses a flat stone of rosy pink.  Holding the slate to her chest, Robin speaks to her father and brother.  "When last I saw Adonis he was laughing and playing.  We were -- and remain -- truly brother and sister from that point."
            Her green eyes seek out Paige and the twins.  The three young Rangers.  "For Adonis, family always came first.  Let that memory lighten grief."  Robin places her stone like a bridge atop the rocks of Julian and Jovian.

Vere steps forward and selects a rock, seemingly at random.  Standing, he gazes at the cairn for a moment, as though searching for something, then says, "He is a cousin I never met, a brother I shall never know.  But he has not gone from our hearts or our minds. He will live, wildly and tenderly, in our memories, and in our actions from this moment forth.  As night precedes day, and winter precedes summer, so does destruction precede creation.  He lived as he wished, and died as he chose.  His sacrifice was not in vain.  Let that memory lighten grief."
            He lays his rock down gently, its corners making an almost perfect fit to the rock Robin had placed, then returns to stand next to her.

Paige steps forward, if not confidently, at least with purpose. Her newly cut hair falls about her face as she looks down at the stone slab before meeting the assembled eyes. "I met Adonis twice and knew him at once without words," Paige began. Her normally rich round tones were strained. "So I'll spare none for that. When we last spoke, mere minutes before his sacrifice, my understanding of that man changed. Where I had seen just a man, I saw a someone not concerned with just my children, but those he left behind in Arcadia."
            "He asked me what I needed, explaining that in his divinity he was Everyman," she continues. "I answered that before my needs were those of our children. That they needed a father, a protector, but that nothing had shown me that such a man existed within him. That others had told me him incapable of the role."
            "I was wrong," Paige finishes. "He died so his children might live.  Let their memories lighten our grief," Paige hefts a stone and brings it gently to her lips. As she leans to place it upon the slowly building cairn a tear marks the stone.

The twins take a single rock between them and move to the cairn. "Our father lived according to his law and died according to it. Let that memory lighten grief," Brooke says as Leif places the stone. Then they retreat to Paige's side.
   
Bleys follows the children to the cairn with a long oval stone that a lesser man could not hope to carry. "We have learned to our cost that family is all we have. Adonis loved his family, even unto death. Let that memory lighten grief." He places the stone and takes up a position on the other side of the twins.

Brennan steps forward, a solemn air wrapped around him like a second cloak.  He looks up.  He speaks quietly, with a heavy voice that carries easily.
            "I knew Daeon as Kern.  I knew him as Adonis.  I knew him not in his other names, but they were always with him.  Daeon was many men, and many things.  Son and sibling, warrior and wanderer, lyricist and lover.  But two things he was, above others: a divinity of life, and a father.  Always, inseparably, both.
            "When his time came, he made his choice.  He laid down those lives, a father's right sacrifice that his children might live, and learn, and love in safety and in freedom.  Let this legacy lighten our grief."
            Brennan stoops to pick up a generously sized rock with a rich vein of red material running through it, and places it on the growing structure.

Cambina places a single stone on the slab and comes to stand by Brennan, slipping a hand into his. Corwin, behind her, chooses a large stone and places it gently on the slab without saying anything.

Celina pads silently forward. She curls down like a wave greeting the shore and retrieves a rock that nearly overpowers her hand in size. One more step and she halts at the cairn. "I did not know Adonis. I don't know his choices or his burden. I do think he has taught me something powerful. Let that memory lighten grief." She sets the stone gently down and steps back to her former place.

Merlin takes a reasonably large stone and moves over to the cairn.  "Adonis was brave beyond Ygg, in a realm for which he could not have been adequately prepared. Let that memory lighten our grief." He places the stone on the cairn and returns to stand by his father and sister.

Fiona takes a stone that she probably shouldn't be able to lift and brings it to the cairn. "He did not shy from danger. Let that memory lighten grief."

Conner steps forward and selects a stone with a jagged edge.
            "When first I met Adonis, he rent his own flesh rather than accept healing by energies not his own.  I thought he was a fool." Conner says matter of factly.
            "When last I met Adonis, he took his children's doom upon himself and won for them a reprieve."  Conner pauses.  "From self centered to selfless.  Let that memory lessen grief."
            Conner places his stone in an empty spot and withdraws.

Brita steps up after her brother and pulls from her pocket a small brownish-green stone that has been carved to look like an acorn.  She looks around at the assembled and smiles slightly, "God-Cousin Daeon may Strike Me Down for this assessment, but ... He has Proved to be a _True Warrior_. He Lived for what He Believed.  He Fought for what He Believed.  He Died for what He Believed."
            Ranger Brita turns and bows slightly to the Juliani. She straightens and says in the voice of a Goddess of Asgard, "Eternal will He Feast in the Halls Of Valhalla and His Legacy will Walk the Nine Realms."
            Brita then moves to the cairn and places her stone on the pile as she says, "May this Knowledge lighten Grief."

Ambrose follows Brita up to the slab and places his own stone on it wordlessly.

Reid steps up and finds a stone with just the right weight, flat on the bottom, more rounded on the top, as if other stones placed on it will slide off. He carefully places it among the others before stepping back into place, not making any distinct or recognizable vocalizations.

Papillon comes with Reid and silently adds a comparatively small stone to the cairn.

Caine adds a large rock to the cairn. "He risked his life beyond Ygg so that his fellows could return home. Let that memory lighten grief."

Llewella adds a small rock to the cairn, and after placing it, takes a pouch, which Celina recognizes as a funerary offering-pouch after the Rebman custom, and nestles it among the stones of the growing cairn.

Solange takes a deep breath and steps forward. She chooses a grey stone that fits nicely into the palm of her hand. Gazing at it for a moment, her fingers closed tightly around it, Solange contemplates what to say.
            She's already listened to her cousins paying their regards, their speeches filled with uplifting things said about the deceased, all very correct and appropriate. She has no such speech inside of her. In the only interactions she had with the man, he was behaving irrationally: first, lashing out at Aisling when she tried to heal him and then reopening his own wound, and second watching him commit suicide. Everyone here seems to think he did this Honorable Thing, that he needed to die to save his children and in dying he achieved some Great Victory, but Solange suspects that's a lie. The Dragon is still out there, and not even Aunt Fiona is sure how to protect Paige's children. In Solange's opinion, he would have been the better father by staying alive.
            So here she stands on the mountainside, a grey stone in her hand, everyone watching and waiting for her to say the appropriate and correct things. Silent, Solange places her stone on the cairn and walks back to stand by Gerard.

Gerard wheels himself up to the cairn and places the large stone he has across his lap on the edge of the slab. He looks at Julian, but doesn't say anything.

Hannah simply picks up the stone closest to her.  She pulls something from her pocket with her other hand and silently walks to place her stone next to Solange's, and sets three feathers tied together with twine on top of it.  Just as silently, she returns to her spot.

Lucas moves forward.  For once he is silent, his dark eyes gazing at the cairn for a long, inscrutable moment.
            Then he steps forward and sets two stones, already weathered with green lichen, in their place among the growing pile.
            "Let memories of him lighten grief," he says, and quietly retires.

Solace, with him, adds another small stone to the pile.

Couth escorts the three youngsters to the graveside. Each carries a stone.
            "He was kind to me when he escorted me to the castle. Let that memory lighten grief," Sage says, and places his.
            "He was a ranger among rangers. Let that memory lighten grief," Tatter, who was clearly coached, tells the company, and places his.
            Breeze hesitates a moment, then abandons whatever speech he had prepared. "He knew he was gonna die, and he took time to be kind to me.  Let that memory--lighten--grief." The boy chokes up and turns away, and Couth takes the stone and places it.
            "For the rangers who cannot be here today to thank him. He saved a lot of our people in the war. Let that memory lighten grief," Couth says, and places his own rock. Then he rounds up the boys and takes them back to their place.

Benedict can only manage a small stone with the single hand he has remaining to him. "Adonis fought bravely at the last battle. He earned his knighthood by deeds of arms. Let that memory lighten grief," he tells Julian.

Martin places two stones. With the first, he says quietly, "For Folly." Then he turns to look at Julian, Jovian, and Robin, and says, "When I first met Adonis, he greeted me with trust and open arms, a rare thing among our kinsmen. Let that memory lighten grief." Then he adds his own stone and retires to his father's side.

After the first couple of speakers, Garrett realizes his carefully researched and practiced remarks will simply not fit the tone of this service.  So he improvises.  He steps to his right, selects an irregularly-shaped stone flecked with mica and moves to the cairn.  He says in a clear voice, "I did not know Adonis, but from everything I've heard, he was much like this stone - many-faceted.  Strong as granite, with a spirit that sparkled like mica.  He must have had great love in his heart to make the ultimate sacrifice for his children.  Let that thought lighten grief."  He fits the stone carefully with the others and returns to his spot, assuming a parade rest.

As Lilly steps forward, a change overcomes her. The girl departs and the woman reemerges. Within the course of a few steps, all confidence is recalled. A good sized stone is chosen and swiftly retrieved. Once at the mound she pauses for a moment, gazing around the crowd. When last she speaks her voice is clear.
            "A sacrifice of blood is a powerful thing. As we traveled back from the Abyss, he came to my aid. I had been confronted by a strange race. They asked that we come forward to earn our the rite to travel through their lands. We soon realized that a great sacrifice would be needed to ensure safe passage. Daeon devised a plan and asked for my help. I agreed and when the time came, I did not hesitate. I plunged my sword into his side spilling his blood and bringing him to the edge of death; exactly as he requested. The danger did not concern him. It was, as he saw it, necessary. He never hesitated to do what must be done regardless of the consequences."
            Lilly places the stone gently and odd smile coming to her face for the briefest of moments.  Looking up, she allows her gaze to fall on Julian for the first time all day, "Let that memory lighten our grief." With a nod she return quickly to her father's side.

After everyone else has gone, Random picks up a stone and hands it to Vialle, and then another. He takes the first back from his wife and proceeds to the cairn. "I spoke before as King, and now I speak for myself and for Vialle. I look at what you all have built here in honor of Daeon and I can only think 'that boy sure has a lot of stones.' If I were a preacher-man, I'd have a sermon on that topic with three supporting paragraphs with three points in each, bracketed by an opening and closing paragraph which told you what I was going to say and then told you again what I had said. It would take about an hour, unless I got rolling. As it is, you get this. That on this day, as many of us as could came together despite our differences with each other and with the deceased and we honored him. He was one of us, and, I've learned, that's damn important. His choices have consequences; for him, for us, for many worlds. Let that truth lighten grief."
            Random turns away and leads Vialle back to the edge of the cleared area.

Julian turns to the assembled company and says, "Thank you for coming, and for honoring Adonis. Let us go now, with our grief lightened by the memories we have shared." Those who have attended Ranger funerals recognize this as the end of the ceremony.