Jefferson and Laruku speak for the last time.
Sunflower Sunsets, November 20. wc501
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Peaceful.
It was peaceful there. As he stood overlooking the long pasture of drooping flowers, he found peace. They must have been beautiful once, in the spring and summertime, when their thick stalks could support their heads to stare so brilliantly up at the sky, welcoming the birds that glided past overhead... They must have danced in the winds, must have bumped into each other sometimes, but now... now they were wilting sunflowers, heads hung over and leaning towards the earth. Many had already fallen over, and only a few veterans still stood their ground, though their blossoms were bleaching of color and stalks had become sickly and thin from the many frosts and the slowly declining temperature. The breeze had picked up that day, chilled from the lack of sun in its hiding place behind the clouds, and a light drizzle had passed shortly before. His coat, now thick from the changing seasons for the first time in years (emaciation made for a sickly coat and little warmth come winter), felt the wind's brushing and he inhaled deeply. A peacefulness could possess his heart there, in those wilting, dying fields.
He found no reason to step any further where the dying sunflowers laid; the birds were long gone, they no longer fed there this season. Winter was coming, he knew. It would be a good winter, he had decided, considering that he had made some noticeable improvement since he'd first limped his way onto Phoenix Valley lands months back. His ribs were hidden for once in his life, he was a mentor, he had underlings... Much had happened, and yet nothing at all. Jefferson was still the Jefferson he was when he was a loner, but with more... "outstanding" qualities, he decided. His anger had flared up once, maybe twice in the past few months--rather new, considering he spent many of his former days fighting and snarling to stay alive. He knew how much he had changed from his time as this "Maluki", this shrouded character he still did not know or understand, but who would know? He doubted he would be recognized anymore, with the scars his flesh bore and the attitude carried. Maluki had been a "good guy", according to Iskata. Jefferson was nowhere near such a status any longer. All he knew of Maluki was his parents, his homeland, and that he wasn't the cruel creature he was now. What of the memories he'd once managed? His own childhood?
The brute shook his head and lowered himself down onto his stomach, crossing forepaws and placing his head atop quietly. Why did the area stir such thought, anyway? It was wilting and dying, just as his memories had done. Just as Clouded Tears had. Just as, slowly and day by day, he was as well. For now, his single eye stared out silently at the wilting sunflowers from his little perch overlooking them, one of a few small boulders jutting from the ground at a small distance. It was... peaceful.
