Coffins stood in neat rows inside an enormous tent. Those lying inside were all Order Clerics who had died in the last battle, though not all the dead were here. For many, not even a fragment of their bodies could be found, leaving them listed only as missing.
According to the Church's traditions, clerics' remains would be reclaimed by the Church-not for the First Knight Order, but to be made into spiritual materials.
To secular eyes, this practice was inhumane, but to believers, it was the fulfillment of their vows: to devote their piety, bodies, and souls to their faith.
Kallen walked silently among the coffins, his gaze passing over every occupant. Some had young faces, some mature, and some no longer had heads.
Their remains had all been tended to, and they had been dressed in new Order Clerical Robes designed specifically for the deceased. Without special materials or embedded formations, they cost little, but still had to be exquisitely made.
If someone's clothing was creased, Kallen stopped to smooth it out. If an arm had slipped down, he repositioned their hands, folding them over the abdomen.
With one young cleric, Kallen had only just arranged his hands when an arm slipped down again. He arranged it again, and it slipped again, as though deliberately teasing his army commander.
Kallen smiled, and seemed to hear laughter from the surrounding coffins as well.
He arranged the body's posture once more. The arm no longer slipped, and everything around him fell quiet again.
Meliye entered, looking toward Kallen amid the coffins.
"Commander Kallen."
"Sorry, this isn't a suitable place for an interview."
In fact, a photograph taken here would undoubtedly have made excellent publicity, with a striking sense of substance.
Of course, that depended on Kallen showing neither pride nor high