The rainfall carried on throughout the night.
Time passed faster than it usually did, and a slit of sunlight peered into the landscape, marking the first sunrise since the spring equinox.
It wasn't a happy occasion, however.
"Huff..." Enheduanna breathed heavily, trying to maintain a tight grip on the bronze shovel in her hand.
Besides her, there was a shallow and empty pit.
From the mound of dirt next to the pit, and the shovel in her hands, it was conclusive that she had been the one to dig the pit.
After taking a look at her finished work, Enheduanna turned to her left.
On the ground, there was a limp, lifeless body of a woman.
She was naked, and on her body, purple bruises and wounds that stopped bleeding showed the nature of her death.
Enheduanna leaned down and covered the open eyes of the woman with the long, now lifeless hair.
'Her muscles are starting to lose stiffness, she must have succumbed a few hours ago...' Enheduana closed her eyes and shook her aching head.
She seemed to be taking this death in a cold manner, but in reality, she was a bubbling pot of emotion on the inside.
From the location, and severity of her bruises, the doctor knew that the perpetrators defiled Siria's body, up until the very moment of her death.
She rubbed her glabella and thought to herself, 'Even as she gave up her son for his safety, she couldn't find peace in death.'
The least she could do was bury the woman.
Not burying a person was the greatest offense one could do to the dead, as it left their souls hanging in the overworld, forever grieving and never receiving peace, at least according to her culture.
Enheduanna looked at the blue, now clear sky.
By burying Siria, the woman's soul could finally roam to the place she deserved to be, alongside the gods.
In spite of her resolve, she couldn't describe the hopelessness she felt as she carried the dead body.
Normally, one expected a doctor to be familiar with death, but perhaps as a testament to her medical skills, Enheduanna wasn't comfortable with the feeling of a lifeless body, though, in reality, no one was.
Even as she hoped the woman would miraculously wake up in the midst of her burial, real life did not conform to the ideals of stories and fables.
And thus, she wielded the heavy shovel and carried a handful of dirt.
*Thud*
The dirt covered Siria's feet away, burying them eternally.
Yet, she still did not wake up.
*Thud*
Now, the dirt covered the woman's lower torso, and there was no sign of reaction from the cadaver.
*Thud*
This time, Enheduanna shoveled the dirt inside the pit in a weaker way than she did earlier.
*Thud*
Only Siria's face remained uncovered now.
And finally...
A rough patch of soil now stood where the burial had taken place, concealing the death, and finally paying respects to the soul housed within.
"..."
Next, she had to find Babyl's body, and in the best case, he would still be alive, though she doubted it.
Enheduanna made her way to the village in slow steps.
"I still have some of those hallucination herbs, right? I should probably try them tonight."
She laughed dryly.
The village was empty and quiet.
Some people took notice of her, though no one said anything.
After a night of retrospection, the villagers seemed to realize their irrational and savage actions, but no one would ever admit to anything, as it seemed.
She clicked her tongue in disappointment, though disappointment did not, and would, save lives.
In the location where the ceremony took place yesterday, rainfall had extinguished the fire, and in its place, there was ash, and...
'Bones?'
Black, burnt masses seemed to belong to a ribcage.
Enheduanna's gaze darkened significantly at the realization.
'Barbarians...'
She stole a large wine pot from a nondescript hut and gathered the ash, and the remnants of the bones the best she could.
Then, she went back to her hut in silence.
There was nothing more to say.
Lives had been lost.
She still had a responsibility, however.
A child, to be precise.
How would she explain death to a child?
________
-At the hut-
Enheduanna stared at the child in front of her.
He was fully awake and looked at her with big eyes.
"Auntie, why am I here? Did I touch the forge again? Where are Mom and Dad?" Anku expressed utter confusion, as he saw no wounds or burns on his body.
However, he did not receive a reply for a few seconds.
Then, Enheduanna leaned next to him and took him into a tight hug.
"Child, have you ever seen a withering flower?"
Anku nodded and replied, "Yes..."
"Then, you know that once a flower withers, it can never bloom again?"
The child's answer was still an affirmative one.
"Well, us, too, we wither one day, and we can never come back."
"Why?" Anku didn't understand the notion very well, as one could expect from a child his age.
"Well, we can't always stay at the same place forever, and to go to the sky, we need to give up this place."
Anku suddenly recalled something, and exclaimed, "Going to the sky? The place where there is a big lake of water, and fruit for everyone?!"
His mother once explained this to him.
"Yes, child."
Now, she had to tie up this explanation with his other question.
"You know, your parents also went to the sky yesterday?" She bit her lips in guilt.
"Uh? Why didn't they take me with them?" Anku's expression changed.
"Well, it's not your time yet."
"But if they went to the sky, that meant they withered like a flower, and I will never see them again?" A hopeful face came directly in front of her.
Enheduanna slowly nodded.
Suddenly, the child pushed her away, and with strength she never expected to see from a child.
"You're lying to me!" Anku screamed.
Enheduanna stepped back to the corner of the room and turned away from the child.
At her lack of a response, and the absence of his parents, who were usually always here with him, he slowly realized the truth in her words.
"AAARGH!" His little fists hit the ground, and he began sobbing.
She hated this.
But she didn't want to lie to the child, she didn't want to give him hope, only for it to be broken as he grew up and realized the truth.
No one could handle death, and for a child who always relied on his parents, it was even worse, but she preferred that he cried now, and moved on later, than having him grow up and retain worse scars when he came to the realization.
And thus, he cried and cried, until his little body could no longer keep up.
She made him food, fed him, and put the exhausted boy to bed.
Then, she went to the other room, took out a few herbs from her cabinet, and placed them in the brewing pot.
Over a slow fire, the herbs began emitting an odorless smoke, and when she inhaled it, a numb feeling spread through her mind.
Everything faded away for some time.