one last breath

Kassander met his son's gaze, and studied it.

He wasn't the best judge of character. He never had been. He had always been too willing to go along with stronger wills, more forceful personalities. He'd always found himself gravitating towards those sorts, never quite having the courage to actually put himself forward but always orbiting them like a little, anxious satellite. Katja, Valentine, Dagmaer, Chaos. It hadn't ever really taken much for him to fall in line, or fall in love. He was lucky that no one had ever really taken advantage of him. Luck favors the fool, they say.

But he truly, truly only saw sincerity in the boy's eyes. Pain, yes, and anger, and a great deal of bitterness. But beneath it all, the same earnest sincerity and desire to help others that had always allowed Kassander himself to push past his own faults to heal others. He looked down at the jumble of herbs. He was right. There was nothing that would magically make old age go away, stop Kass' body from shutting down. He was going to die slowly and messily and in immense pain. No healer could save him from death.

But.

He would never have been able to make that that decision as a healer. He'd always lacked the confidence in himself. What if he'd made the wrong call? What if there was something he could have done after all? But Cassiel...

He was right. He couldn't stop Kassander from dying.

But he could stop the pain. He could make it fast.

Understanding and love tightened Kass' throat and shone from his faded eyes when he looked back up to the young healer. He swallowed hard, then nodded. Without a word, he gulped down the herbs and mushrooms that he'd been given, then laid his head upon his forelegs to wait.

Wait as the pain faded, and the herbs sent him into a deep sleep.