A dying elderly woman's final wish. She had spent her entire life helping others. And while that life had made her very happy, a tiny little piece of her wishes she could be spoiled a little and treated like a queen. Just for one day, though. -- BKF
A Saint for Wraithvine had reached the point where she was no help to anyone. A lifetime of charitable action had worn her near to a whisper, but she was happy.
"It is our turn to help you, Grandmother. What can we do?"
"In these, my last days, I wish for indulgence. Let me have the luxuries we treat the wealthy with. All the things that aren't worth a gnat's spit, but feel nice all the same."
They all knew that Grandmother Dimass was beyond the help of medicine and magic, just as they knew some of the treatments available were not worth a gnat's spit. But they did smell very nice and feel wonderful. Every physician worth their pay knew that half the magic was in the delivery of the balm.
Grandmother had been with the Temple of Kind Hands since she was a child. She had raised most of the acolytes who gave her the kind of treatment an Emperor might expect. The most expensive-sounding unguents - most of which she or her acolytes had made themselves. The best perfumes in the bathwater. The smoothest oils on her fragile skin.
And, of course, the most tempting treats to tempt what little remained of her appetite.
The people who massaged her were tremendously gentle, given her frail health and bones.
She was snoring when they carefully carried her to the most restful bed that they had. Bards played gentle music to ensure her sleep. Keeping a careful and paranoid eye on the rise and fall of her chest.
Grandmother Dimass did wake in the morning, in much better spirits. "Ah," she said, "I see why they love it all so much." She breakfasted with her fellows and managed the walk to her favourite chair in the sun.
It was there that Ereshkygal escorted her to the lands beyond.
They said she was compassionate to the end. She knew that the chair would be easier to clean than the expensive bed, so that was where she met the Hostess Who Welcomes All.
[Photo by Parker Coffman on Unsplash]
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