A sad goodbye

It seemed wrong, somehow, to place his hands on her, though he’d been the only living mortal to speak to her for months. So Cleo stood slightly aside and watched the fading twilight as Tonan placed her comatose body gently into the wagon.

Cadence.

The name connoted music, but he never saw the theatre come alive with song. He never saw his own play take shape there. He never lived there, as he might have, or learned how Cadence really felt about the world around her. Those were all just fanciful ideas, he supposed.

Instead, he’d only come to know the Cadence he could contact in brief interludes through Sending, the Cadence whose spirit was no longer in this world, captivated by memory, free from care, disconnected, wise.

He’d come close, a few times, to bringing her back. He’d figured a way to force it, to make her see herself lying in her room, listless, inert. But he’d imagined the shock of the sight would kill her. So he’d relented, and let it come to this.

Cleo nodded to Tonan--a curt gesture of respect to another one he’d hardly known--and watched him climb up to his place beside the driver and say "Moonshaes".

"Moonshaes." He liked the sound of it, if only because it made him think of Jay.

"Moonshaes."

He gave Cadence’s form one last look. In the gloaming, finally resting beneath sky instead of ceiling, she seemed flowing, ethereal, beautiful in repose--languid moonlight on water lilies.

He said a little prayer for their safety and happiness, then watched as the wagon lurched to a start and slowly made its way around the bend.

He waited until he could see them no longer, then wandered to a stop atop the waterfall, where he stood awhile and watched the cascading current tumble down, down, to its tumultuous end.

When Mark learns about Cadence his heart beats faster trying to get out of his chest until he regains control of himself, he could have been there to say goodbye if not for the recent banishment from The Dancing Moon grounds.
He could have thank her before she departed, had the Chief of Security and the man in charge of the Moon respected Cadence pact with Mark. All the hatred within Mark collapsed into a tiny ball, to loose one more friend and be unable to say goodbye due to two persons...
Mark stopped himself from thinking about it and looked at the Moon trying to smile "I will honor our deal even in death Cadence, no blood will be spilled on The Dancing Moon grounds, if things work out I might even meet you again."

If Amatria hears about Cadence, she would be saddened by the news and pay a visit to the Dancing Moon Theater and say a prayer to the Seldarine to show her respect, but as she didn't know her very well, she wouldn't do much more.

Tonan met with Celovar for a time, in quiet conversation. The rest of his comments were saved for the staff of the place, exchanging well wishes and clapping a few backs in encouragement. In the case of Mark, he gave even less, considering the man to be unworthy of the expenditure of breath. As the wagon left, the man gave the place one final look back, and little more.

A wandering bard watches in the distance, his hat held low before he disappears down the road.