[For a moment Kratos simply cannot answer. He nods, swallowing hard a few times. Then he exhales and reaches for a honey-cake of his own, picking it up to tear the side of the waxed paper cup.]
When we got our orders, the night before we shipped out, my siblings and I used to go to that bakery. We'd get a dozen honey-cakes and take them into the central garden, where the orange trees grew, and make a picnic under the lanterns. We'd eat. We'd talk. We'd sing.
[His throat closes again. He doesn't know what happened to his younger siblings. He might never know. But ... but he has this. He lifts his face and takes a breath, blinking tears down his cheeks, and for a moment lifts his cake at Yuan.]
Eneulodeus.
[It's a blessing, of sorts. A bid to confer upon Yuan all the benefits of the future, brought by the mightiest powers in the world. A word of hope.]
no subject
When we got our orders, the night before we shipped out, my siblings and I used to go to that bakery. We'd get a dozen honey-cakes and take them into the central garden, where the orange trees grew, and make a picnic under the lanterns. We'd eat. We'd talk. We'd sing.
[His throat closes again. He doesn't know what happened to his younger siblings. He might never know. But ... but he has this. He lifts his face and takes a breath, blinking tears down his cheeks, and for a moment lifts his cake at Yuan.]
Eneulodeus.
[It's a blessing, of sorts. A bid to confer upon Yuan all the benefits of the future, brought by the mightiest powers in the world. A word of hope.]