The realisation that Sasha was dead hit me like a punch to the gut. We had dragged her along, taken her far beyond her natural range because I was curious about her physical, mental and spiritual make-up, and now, she was dead. Because we had taken her into danger beyond her capabilities.

Closing my eyes for a few moments, I forced my mind away from the recriminations and grief that tried to well up from within me. There would be plenty of time to think about this later, to consider my mistakes and what we could learn from them. Now, the living had to take priority, especially as Silva and Lia remained injured. Sasha was beyond my ability to help; the other two were not.

Kneeling down next to Silva, I centred myself, letting my mind dip into the Astral River, briefly marvelling at the chaotic, frothing essence flowing through it here. It was quite obvious that the guardian's death, or maybe the way it had died, had echoed into the Astral River and stirred things up. Not necessarily dangerously, but any ritual done in the area would have some fascinating side effects, if it didn't blow up outright. Any delicate working through the Astral River would be impossible in the area, likely why my constructs had been destroyed. Or maybe it was the other way around; my constructs had been destroyed by the explosion that stirred up the Astral River. Either way, it didn't really matter; I could still work with my internal Astral Power, I just had to be a little more careful when working at a distance.

Not that working at a distance was something I usually did with Blood Magic. Those tricks were far too anchored in the physical plane and a distinct physical medium, namely blood, for me to wield it over a distance unless I had a prepared anchor. Without one of those, direct physical contact was needed, which is why I placed my hands on Silva's body, letting my magic flow into her once more.

There was a lot of damage, almost as much as Sasha had suffered; Silva was simply able to bear it better. Still, the spirit's final explosion had hurt my friend deeply, so I let the world pass me by as my entire mind was focused on healing her. Restoring the damage she had taken, working around what little I couldn't fix so Luna could take a look later. It was slow-going, especially as I wanted to ensure I didn't make any mistakes, but eventually, my work was done. My excuse for ignoring the world around us, and the companion we had just lost, was gone.

With a soft, almost inaudible, sigh, I opened my eyes again, realising that Lia and Luna had caught up to Silva and me, looking at me with wide, teary eyes.

"I was too late," I quietly admitted, glancing over to Sasha, "When I got here, she was already gone." My words caused my daughters to flinch, a few tears running down Luna's face, but both nodded in understanding, unwilling to say anything.

"We should give her a good burial. Maybe say a few words," I continued, just trying to keep order within my mind as a storm of guilt was brewing inside me, trying to tear at my composure and rationality. The other two nodded, glancing around the area as if looking for a good spot to bury our companion.

Luckily, Silva chose that moment to wake up, looking around for a moment before realisation obviously hit her. She turned to me, her eyes filled with hurt and grief but I could only shake my head and tell her that I had been too late to help Sasha.

For a moment, she didn't react, but then, she raised her head to the sky and let out a mournful howl. For a few seconds, the valley echoed with her voice and I felt a few tears run down my cheeks, the sheer emotion overwhelming my self-control. Other howls, some from fairly close by, others from far away, answered Silva, the numerous wolves and possibly other canines replying to her call. Maybe they simply wanted to let her know that she wasn't alone, maybe they were inviting her to join their packs, I wasn't sure. But I could see that Silva seemed to take a certain amount of solace in the noise, even if a part of me was somewhat uncomfortable with the reminder of how many wolves there were in these mountains. At the moment, we were all worse for wear, not in the right state to fight yet another battle.

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"We wanted to bury Sasha," I told Silva, "Where do you think would be a good spot?"

Silva returned my gaze for a moment before turning and slowly padding over to one of the walls, where the topography had shifted due to the spirit's final explosion. There, she started to dig, her claws somehow managing to break through the solid ground and move aside large chunks of earth and rock in her efforts. I started to call upon my Earth Magic, but a growl from Silva stopped me, making it quite obvious that this wouldn't be done with magic.

So, I started to help her with my hands and was soon joined by Lia and Luna, the pair using their hands, too. As we were working, I let my mind drift back, thinking of the time spent with Sasha. How we had found her, how we had taken her in and how little I had actually done with her beyond the initial experiments.

Now, in hindsight, I started to feel bad about my behaviour. I had taken her into the ground, but ultimately, it had been Silva who had taken care of her, with me largely ignoring her presence. For a moment, images in which Sasha's body was replaced by the broken bodies of my other companions, especially the broken bodies of my daughters and fresh tears ran down my face. How often had we taken risks during our travels, how many times had it only been due to luck, circumstance or pure chance that we got away with things that could easily have killed one or more of us?

I would have to consider the impact of my actions and decisions on my children and take some time to reflect on the risks I should take and how I could help them all become the best version of themselves they can be. Or at least a version they could be happy and content with; there didn't have to be a superlative expectation involved.

But those were contemplations for later; for now, we had a grave to dig.

With six hands and four paws, digging the grave went a lot faster than one would expect, though that was likely related to the fact that all four of us had a lot more strength than any human or dog was supposed to have. Just the fact that Silva could dig through solid rock as if it was dirt boggled my mind a little. It was such a normal-looking action, but so at odds with its insane impact that I had to briefly shake my head.

Finally, the grave was dug, so we went to get Sasha's body. This was where Silva accepted some magical assistance in the process, namely, Luna's help to make a simple, wooden coffin, though I could see that Luna added her own twist to things. The coffin was imbued with seeds and Life Magic, meaning it would soon sprout and flower into a small copse of trees and flowers, maybe a couple of shrubs. When I noticed the working, I placed my hand on the coffin and carefully added my own contribution. When I was finished, the seeds were a lot hardier than they had any right to be and would be able to thrive in the arctic conditions of this valley. The magic was, ironically, quite similar to that needed to make the Eisblumen we had used to bring down the guardian, just with a different twist.

Together, we carried the coffin over to the freshly dug grave, having to adjust a bit because Silva wanted to carry part of it on her back for lack of hands, but the physical part was easy. The emotional part, not so much. Guilt was still tearing at me, especially about the lack of time and effort I had spent on Sasha. If I had done more, would she have been able to withstand the blast? Or if I had been able to guide her on a path that gave her access to more abilities, how likely was it that one of those could have saved her life?

Mistakes had been made, and now, I was questioning where I had made other mistakes, what I could have done better to help my family. While the distance between the place Sasha had fallen and her eventual grave was short, the walk between them seemed to stretch for hours, giving me ample time to think and blame myself.

Then, we were at her grave and let the coffin sink into the ground. Despite the short time Sasha had been with us, I was confident that I wouldn't forget her for a long time. Especially as I wanted to make sure to remember her, so I wouldn't repeat the mistakes I had made with her.

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