An Old Friend Sleeps
May 31, 2017
My old friend passed away two days ago. It seemed almost a dream when I was informed by an aide that Herida had suffered a heart attack and then just an hour later another aide telling me that she was gone. I was frozen in my chair, the hospital was solemn but buzzing with activity as people went about their tasks. I had nothing to do, no crisis to tackle, no party to wrangle with and certainly no policy to be looking over. No the only thing I had to do was sit there in that hospital chair and think about the marvelous woman that this world has lost. That had been difficult for me, in years past when I was the Archon or even Tararch and before that as MoA, I would simply drown out my feelings by burying myself in my work. Now all I had was time, time to reflect on the relationship I had with Herida and the memories we shared over the six decades we had known one another.
Her mother and my father had been neighbors growing up in Cinnia in the southern portions of Tisiphone. My father had always said that Herida's mother had been one of the most brilliant people he had ever known and that her untimely death when Herida and I were just eight had been a great loss for the world. Her death shaped her daughter, Herida was obsessed with doing what her mother had done, oceanography. Saving the oceans from humanity became her calling and she was truly spectacular to watch when she gave one of her rather famous passionate speeches about conservation. Growing up on the island meant that we were near the ocean every moment of every day. Herida always joked that whenever she went inland or to the mainland, where she could no longer see the sea, she felt sick. Our friends called her a legged mermaid, one who had been cursed to walk the land but who needed to be near the sea to feel free. Herida embraced this idea and 'swam' with it.
That's when a nurse had come over to ask if I was alright. Her act of kindness was by no means unwelcome but it had taken me off guard since I had been lost in thought. I remember stumbling over the simplest of words before just absolutely tearing up and letting the orbs of sadness fall into my lap. That nurse stayed with me for nearly an hour before she was called away to her own tasks. I sent some flowers and a hand written thank you note the next day as a sign of appreciation for her kindness. My husband would have done what she had if he had been there, Pericles had been in Sartoria on business and was catching a flight home the following morning. Thankfully he would be with me on the day of the funeral.
I have to admit that yesterday and today are the emptiest I have felt in a long time. Losing a friend like Herida would be like if the world lost the moon. A partner you never imagine you would be without. We told one another everything, asked the other for advice and always sought advice on our most difficult decisions from one another. The beauty that Herida would have brought to Parthenopias as Archon would have rivaled that of the First Archon. 'Beauty and Radiance upon the Waves'. Truly.
Pericles is calling me to supper so it is best that I end here for the night. Till another day when these pages are turned once more.
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Cinnia - a city on an island off the coast of mainland Parthenopias. In the south, southeast of Genora.
Archon the elected Head of Government of Parthenopias
Tararch the deputy-Head of Government selected by the Archon (essentially a VP)
MoA abbreviation for Member of the Assembly (like an MP) they are elected representatives of the lower house of the Parthenopian legislature.