It takes a funeral to make you feel alive

A familiar feeling began to pull in the woman's abdomen; something light and yet heavy at the same time, something stirring in her inner soul. The fawn woman took a deep breath before approaching the water's edge. The unearthly glow of the water may have illuminated the area in a creepy glow, but casting her amber gaze down into it's shallow depths, she could see nothing foreign to her. Staring back at her were her won amber eyes, settled in her own reflection except for the  occasional ripple in the water's surface. At last, she could open her mother's door into her second life. Finally, she was at the Shrine.

Turning to Branch, she offered a small smile before she would begin. She collected the ingredients required; lavender for her mother, and the soil from her mother's grave for the door to the afterlife. She laid them out next to the water's edge before she began the ritual. Eyes fluttered close, her chin tilted upward slightly as she focused in the feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Spirit of Death, Sister to Life, I bring you a beloved soul for you to guide and protect into her next life." Hopefully, she Spirit would hear her plead, and would come to open the gate for her mother. But this was just the first step, so she quickly moved on to the next as to not waste any time.

Slowly did Serene begin to dump the holy soil into the shrine's waters; this would hopefully create the key to connect her mother to her door in the shrine, which would lead her to the afterlife she so deserved. As she carefully let the soil fall, spreading it out to the water before her, the algae would be disturbed, causing the lights to flicker and move as if a spirit was actually being summoned. "Soil from my mother's grave, placed in the holy Shrine, I ask the Spirits to welcome her in kind. May the Spirit of Life come to mourn this day, for her time of guardianship has come to pass, passed on to her Sister Death for her journey through the afterlife."

She bent down and began to gently take the petals of the Lavender and throw them into the water, hoping they would bring her mother's spirit forth. The purple petals glowed softly in the water as they floated across the edge, towards the opposite end of the pool. It was there, that Serene's amber eyes would narrow and widen, focusing in on the gaps between the fog. She could almost make out the defined shape of a ghostly figure, standing by the waters edge, and although most of the figure's body was undefined, those eyes she could never forget.

Like the petals she had thrown down, violet eyes stared back at the fawn woman with love and pride. So much so, the feeling washed over Serene with the force of a title wave, making her sucking in a sharp breath. Water glistened in her eyes as she spoke softly, mostly to herself but loud enough for Branch to hear if he so desired. "You made it." So much relief washed over her, that the fawn woman almost forgot she was in the middle of her ceremony. But quickly did she glance back down to resume her work.

"Esmeralda Validis, I bring your soul to the Holy Shrine, so that your journey through the afterlife may begin." A lone tear slipped down the woman's cheek, as the smallest of smiles graced her lips. She could feel the shadow of her mother's spirit being lifted from her shoulders, she could feel it being brought towards a peaceful place, and the relief was immense. Softly did her closing words slip by her tongue, and as she would speak, her mother's spirit would slowly fade away to another plane.  "I pray you find peace and happiness mother, and I pray you watch over me until I see you again."