"I had a son," Bariyan corrected, gently, and found that even that was too much. He shook his head, smiled, added, "He couldn't have been much older than you when he left," and said no more.

It'd been a long while, now, and so much had happened since, but some things would always hurt. Some things were a long time dying.

Ko was gone, now; and Bariyan soon would be, too. Ko had converted to he Court after he'd left home. Ko had believed in an afterlife. Bariyan didn't.