The words were spoken matter-of-factly, but Julianna was quietly horrified. Not that it was unheard of. Vampires could tell tales for years if they managed to kill a Slayer, riding a wave of glory for a literal eternity unless another girl came along and drove a stake into their chest. And if they couldn't get to the girl in question, they singled out the people she cared for and killed them instead.
"I can't imagine what that must have..." The Watcher cut herself off because it sounded like an empty platitude. But she really couldn't imagine it. Despite Mother's years of service to the Council, she'd lived a long, full life and died peacefully in her sleep. Father passed away six months later because he missed his wife. But Julianna's mind literally could grasp the horror of having to dispatch a parent, even when it was life or death for innocent people. Could she have done it if she'd been one of the chosen?
There was no answer to that, at least none that she liked.
"Valerie." The older woman's voice was still quiet, but now there was a thread of something undefinable underneath the gentleness. Compassion, empathy, a wish to give solace? All three simultaneously? She'd never been motherly in her life, but there had been moments when her urge to counsel and guide had pushed her emotions to the surface. This was one of those times. Damnation, now her throat was tightening up.
"Of course you couldn't leave her there. Even if it was...even if it was over. She was your mother, and you can hardly be blamed if you held out some tiny shred of hope that things would be different. That she'd remember she loved you. To see her as just like all the rest, that's...that's unfathomable."
The Watcher's other hand had alighted on Valerie's opposite shoulder, and the only thing preventing her from trying to hug the blonde was her dread that the Slayer would come completely apart at the gesture. She wasn't sure she'd be able to keep from crying herself at the sight of tears. The two of them must have made quite the picture.
"There's nothing I can say that will close the wound, not without sounding ridiculous. It'd be rich for me to tell someone how to put guilt aside. But you can and should take whatever solace you can in the knowledge that your mother is at peace now, body and soul. I'm sure her soul went to heaven."
no subject
The words were spoken matter-of-factly, but Julianna was quietly horrified. Not that it was unheard of. Vampires could tell tales for years if they managed to kill a Slayer, riding a wave of glory for a literal eternity unless another girl came along and drove a stake into their chest. And if they couldn't get to the girl in question, they singled out the people she cared for and killed them instead.
"I can't imagine what that must have..." The Watcher cut herself off because it sounded like an empty platitude. But she really couldn't imagine it. Despite Mother's years of service to the Council, she'd lived a long, full life and died peacefully in her sleep. Father passed away six months later because he missed his wife. But Julianna's mind literally could grasp the horror of having to dispatch a parent, even when it was life or death for innocent people. Could she have done it if she'd been one of the chosen?
There was no answer to that, at least none that she liked.
"Valerie." The older woman's voice was still quiet, but now there was a thread of something undefinable underneath the gentleness. Compassion, empathy, a wish to give solace? All three simultaneously? She'd never been motherly in her life, but there had been moments when her urge to counsel and guide had pushed her emotions to the surface. This was one of those times. Damnation, now her throat was tightening up.
"Of course you couldn't leave her there. Even if it was...even if it was over. She was your mother, and you can hardly be blamed if you held out some tiny shred of hope that things would be different. That she'd remember she loved you. To see her as just like all the rest, that's...that's unfathomable."
The Watcher's other hand had alighted on Valerie's opposite shoulder, and the only thing preventing her from trying to hug the blonde was her dread that the Slayer would come completely apart at the gesture. She wasn't sure she'd be able to keep from crying herself at the sight of tears. The two of them must have made quite the picture.
"There's nothing I can say that will close the wound, not without sounding ridiculous. It'd be rich for me to tell someone how to put guilt aside. But you can and should take whatever solace you can in the knowledge that your mother is at peace now, body and soul. I'm sure her soul went to heaven."