Jupiter

Jupiter stared across the horizon, watching the last of the party still dancing with haloed silhouettes whorling before the dawning sky. The committal ceremony had exceeded the night, and the mourners had spent all of their grief, commending their sorrow into the Higher Heavens, along with the spirit of their dearly beloved and friend.

This night his mother had gone to a place where he was not permitted to follow, for a time.

She had been, and still was, a gracious woman. A strong, yet kindly mother, who was always conceding to the wills of the gods she had birthed; not once did irate anger summon against her sons. She admired and loved her offspring, and bore a quiet confidence in each and every one of them.

Jupiter’s brother was unaware of this happening. He had migrated into the lesser planes of the Mortal realm, where communication was insolent at best. His brother - this brother - had not walked the gardens of his birthplace for over a century or so - perhaps in the knowledge that should he return, he may well want to remain.

The weather is always mild in the Lower Heavens - its purple sky becoming over-lit by a golden sun, Jupiter watched the small rainbows twink the dewy foliage. He could hear the rays alight this, his place, and feel them as they infilled his chest with new life once again, in preparation for what was before him.

Fairy wrens with rainbow plumage hopped lightly across the lawn. Smaller birds, tits and mudlarks, pecked at the ground for golden seeds. This daily renewal was as important as air and water is to mortals of the lower worlds, and he paused to acknowledge the life-giving radiance as it imbibed his very being.

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series