Betty - Dealing with loss

Betty Hearthstone was writing a list of dwarven words on a chalkboard. The scrape and click of the chalk was soothingly rythmic and homely, in the same way a saw cutting wood or the sound of laughter of children at play is. She was listing words for facial expressions, while trying to avoid those accosiated with booze. She was muttering in dwarvish under her breath as she wrote.

"Smile. Frown. Sad. Hmmm, no, I can't use happydrunk or saddrunk. Mmmm. No, vomitdrunk won't do. Puzzled, I can use puzzled. But probably not confuseddrunk. Or forgetfuldrunk. Or fightdrunk. Sometimes I think the ale dwarves drink has more culture than they do, bless their rocky little hearts"

With a flourish, she finishes the last rune and turns back to her class. 3 small human children, two elven children and a tengu chick were sitting in a semicircle around her, charcoal and tablet in hand. A tall Pale Lady was standing at the back leaning casually against the wall. She hadn't been there a moment ago. Betty opened her mouth to question her, before her eyes widened slightly in recognition.

"I didn't think it worked this way, but I assume you are here for me" Betty said to her in dwarvish. "Let me finish with the children before we return to The Forge"

"What did you say Ma'am?" One of the children piped up

"I'm just talking to my self, sweetie." she replied. "It's what old ladies do sometimes. You know what, I was going to teach you some new words today, but I think I have changed my mind. I lost a friend of mine a while ago, and every now and again I think about it and it makes me sad. Have any of you ever lost someone important to you?"

"My dog went missing once. We didn't know where he was for a WHOLE WEEK!" Charlie, one of the human children exclaimed.

"Did you feel sad when he was gone?" Betty asked

"Yes, very. I cried and everything. But I was happy when he showed up again. He was dirty and smelt bad, but I was still happy"

"I'm glad you found him again, Charlie" Betty said. "What about you Yorokobi?"

"My uncle died" Yorokobi replied sadly. She was one of the elvish refugees

"In the fighting? Thats sad. Were you close?"

"Yes. He taught me how to fish. And he used to tie my bag shut using a knot I didn't know just to annoy me"

"He sounds like he was an interesting person. Do you still like to fish?" Betty asked gently

"No. It reminds me of him and then I feel sad"

"Well, I think you should try to go fishing again, even if you feel sad. It was something you shared. He mightn't be here anymore, but you can still be close to him"

"I guess so. I just don't like feeling sad" Yorokobi looked on the verge of tearing up

"Being sad when you lose someone is part of what makes us what we are. Its okay to feel that way. Besides, while he mightn't be here any more, you still have a relationship with him. You still share things with him. You have things of his that you can use, like fishing and knot-tying, and through that its almost like he's still around. Death only wins if you forget about him."

"I won't forget" Yorokobi promised

"I'm happy for you" Betty said with a smile.

When she nextlooked up, The Pale Lady was gone.