La Mort- The Island Called Death

Siren stood to the side of the gangway, watching as workers and the like poured onto the large wooden boat carrying crates and materials. She was pleased T.R.H Lyte had agreed to help her home. She smiled politely at the various people boarding- most of which gave her a sour look.

She played with the ends of the long dark olive green cloak covering her body. A breeze passed by, causing the long ribbons at the end of her cloak to dance in the air. She hoped the boat would not encounter the same storm her island had faced. Once everyone had been boarded onto the ship, they set sail towards La Mort, Siren having given them a sea-chart.

She walked around trying to greet people, most of whom seemed wary of the stranger. About to give up, she approached one final person "Hello dear Lyte citizen!" she curtsied in respect to the passenger before her.

 

"Yes!" Siren grinned, happy that she was being talked to at last "I'm Siren Song! I'm a fisherman- woman?- anyways, I fish for La Mort! There's alot of fishing on our island. It's an important part of our economy. Oh, yes! I know how I know you!"

"You work on mosaics!" Siren thought aloud "I saw you in the list of workers that was sent to me! You'll be working to help fix the Mortal Wall!"

"It's very beautiful. Sure the depictions are a little macabre and dark, but it was built long ago as a testament to our own mortality, that eventually we will die like all other things." she said to no one in particular "From a young age the children of La Mort are taught about what death means... I hear Lyte isn't very fond of speaking of death with there young, though."

 

"How shocking!" Siren's eyed gleamed, excited to be finding out about this new society "Women in La Mort are very diverse in there occupations. My direct neighbors are a mortician, grave-digger, doctor, and a botanist!" Several people looked at her when she mentioned morticians and grave digging.

Was that odd? She decided to expand "Being a mortician or grave digger is a very respectable job in La Mort!"

"The founding of La Mort is quite the tale, most outsider must find it unreasonable, but we hold it dearly! They say that a crew stumbled upon the island many years ago. Stranded, they worked to build a temporary shelter. There were 24 men and women in all. Due to the island having never been tamed before, people were killed by nature's forces left to right. By the time it had cultivated into a habitable place, only 2 remained. The two had acted as a mortician and grave digger for there friends- and held a new respect for those men and women. When more people began finding the island, they were taught by those two that these jobs are important!"

"A mortician makes sure our dead will find there rest and be in peace. They also make sure all our wishes can go with them as they leave us! A grave digger makes a home for our dead. Though it may be simple, a grave in La Mort takes 7 days to dig! On the first day, a location and the size is decided upon and the area to dig is marked. Then we dig one foot each day, and on the seventh day, the dead is buried. It also works on two other little things... The week is seven days, we work and play on 6 of them- we live. And on the seventh day, we rest. We dig a grave for six days, on the seventh the dead is buried! The average lifetime of our people is also 70 years. 6 days, representative of decades, we dig- we work. On the seventh day, the seventh decade, you are buried!" she finished with a grin.

 

"Hmmm..." Siren pondered what to talk about next "Oh- the Mortal Wall!"

"Let's seeee-" she continued saying the letter until she figured out how to start "Since you're going to help fix it, you should know about it, right? The wall is very pretty, I can't stress it enough! Most mosaics I've seen in books use bright red, green, blue, and yellow glass- the Mortal Wall has different colors than what I normally see form your country! Death is portrayed by pitch black glass, and the burial is a fading green glass. Living people are portrayed in three colors- blue for children, red for adults, and purple for elderly! It depicts a story, really. Various figures living and then with each row they grow and each figure transitions to the next color that represents there next stage in life and eventually every figure falls into black, and the final row is a row of gray graves! Though at times the unexpected events in life are shown too- a young islander of will be shown dead in the next row, or the same with an adult- but the joys too! Sometimes a purple islander, and elder, will appear alive again in the next row!" she kicked her legs back as she sit on the hammock, twirling her pale blonde hair with her finger as she spoke.

 

Siren hopped of her hammock and onto the once Ophelia was sitting on. She checked the green pieces of glass and played with them in her hands "I isn't too broken, only half a row. I'm sure you'll be fine with this. Black glass isn't too difficult. Although... well no one knows how to make it. It's odd, found naturally in caves like gems. Almost like obsidian, but more, um-" she moved her hands around as she thought of the word to use.

"see-through? I think." She slipped the glass back into Ophelia's hand "Oh- but I should warn you! La Mort has an animal called a Canis Mortale. They're hound like animals, and on all fours they stand about 36 inches tall, so they might alarm you! But they're sweet little things!"

A person could be heard storming down the stairs, before knocking on the doors one-by-one "Storm above deck!!"

Siren's hand twitched and she ran to open the door, speeding up the steps before running to the side of the deck to get her bag. She watched as a strange black cloud approached the ship, ice and thunder readying to strike.

She ran towards the front of the ship, and when sure no one was watching, pulled up the right side of her cloak, revealing a long scar. She concentrated and willed a large see-through black dome over the ship just as the storm hit- the defense only stopping a little damage before the ship was jostled with the storm- hail and lightning shooting holes through the ship's deck.