Both Iluq and Onainat threw their shoulders into the door, once, twice, three times, before the door gave way for them to enter the hall again. Iluq's eyes fell on the creature for only a moment, dead, had to be, before her eyes found Koe there. She couldn't breath. She was scrambling across the small distance, it was as if every crack reached out to catch her boots but she was there suddenly, upon him. She dropped to the floor and grabbed hold of his arms. No life. She shook him only once before her arms came around him and everything fell away. She knew she was sobbing and screaming but none of it made any sense. It had only been a few moments, seconds stuck in the span of a minute. How could he be gone. How could he have died. How could he leave them like this. She was choking on breaths. There was no one else but him.
Every memory assaulted her at once. Of the stupid song he'd sung that day she'd met him, that day she'd fallen in love with him. To the inn where they'd first kissed. To the first time he'd caught a tear as it rolled down her cheek. She knew all the words to every song he'd ever sung her right then. From Bel Tine, to the untitled one he'd whispered to her about snow. An adventure he'd had in discovering more about the things she'd liked. She hated herself, for having ever left his side. For all the time she'd spent without him. For ever thinking there was another being in this world worthy of her affection.
I love you. Don't leave me. I love you.
When Koe had been so pure. So genuine. But she knew nothing of him. Nothing but songs, nothing but a few short stories he'd spread throughout the years for her to know. She'd never once told him exactly how much she felt. Or how keenly she felt it. How complete he made her when he was there beside her. She'd never tried to play a song for him, sing one, yes, but play one. She felt like a fool shaking him there and hoping against hope that he'd breath again. It was a madness that took hold of her in those instants when she realized that those memories were all she would have of him now.
She wanted to let him go. It wasn't fair to lay here sobbing against his shoulder when his daughter was there but Iluq didn't have it in her to let him go. He was all that was left of her past. The last of it. All else was gone. Her home. Her family. Her friends. It was Koe she'd missed the most.
"D-don't go. Please." She begged the silence. How could they have let this happen? She could not be still, her body was shaking and she could not hold a breath for longer than an instant before she sobbed again.