Orian and Storm held an assembly at the school and personally told them all about Lavender's death.
The entire school took the news hard, she was a well liked student with a bright future ahead of her and everyone mourned her passing, both students and teachers alike.
The one who undoubtedly took the news the hardest however was Quill and Quicksilver, the Silver lining of Orian losing memories of her was that it helped to cushion the blow he normally would have received.
He hadn't met with his friends in that entire time, the truth was that he couldn't face them. He saw how they struggled with the news.
He just didn't handle this the same way they did and this made any interactions awkward with them.
They had begun to drift apart after he had grown to adulthood, but Lavender always fought to keep them together.
She was the glue that held them all together and with her death, those cracks widened.
Orian did not believe his friendship would survive this rough patch. His father met with him ofter and tried his best to help him work through this, but truthfully Orian never felt so alone in his life.
Her death also officially ended the investigation into his lost memories, with no further leads he was forced to accept that he would never retrieve them again.
His father decreed that classes were cancelled for 2 weeks so that people could grieve but this only gave Orian more time to mope.
Her memorial service and burial was scheduled for today and Orian had volunteered to write her eulogy.
His father warned him that doing so would reveal his true identity to the rest of the school, but he choose to do so regardless.
Currently he was staring at a blank piece of paper in front of him.
"This was a stupid idea!!" Thought Orian.
His father knocked on the door.
"How's the speech coming? Asked Storm.
Orian grunted and held up the blank page .
"That bad huh?!" Asked Storm.
"How am I supposed to write a eulogy for someone that is a complete stranger to me!!? This was a stupid idea!!!" Exclaimed Orian.
His father sat down beside him.
How much do you actually remember about her?" Asked Storm.
"That's the strangest thing... I remember everything she has ever done for me, but what I can't remember is the face of the person who did these things..." Explained Orian.
"Sounds to me like you have everything you need to write this.." stated Storm.
"I'm supposed to be sad as I'm writing this and yet I don't feel anything? How can I comfort others if I can't grieve with them." Stated Orian in frustration.
"Believe me son, I've seen many different ways that people grieve a loved one and I can say with complete certainty that you are grieving.
You're just doing so in a way different to everyone else. Your problem is that you are still struggling to accept that Lavender and the mysterious benefactor in your memories are the same person.
Because if you did, then it meant you lost someone precious to you, so you're trying to hide from that truth.
But trust me, you cannot hide from this, and you'll not only lose your remaining friends, you'll also forever be stuck at this point, unable to move on.
Tell me, son. Do you have any reason to doubt our testimony that Lavender was your benefactor?" Asked Storm.
"No..." stated Orian.
"Then it's time to stop hiding from this. Your friends need you now." Stated Storm.
Orian nodded and began to call up everything his benefactor had done, instead of keeping their identity anonymous like he had done before.
He forced himself to accept that Lavender really was his 'guardian' and that she was truly gone now.
Slowly the words came to him and he started writing.
2 hours later, he stood in front of the open pit that would serve as her grave, he spoke of her many achievements, as well as the many contributions she had done in her short life.
He spoke about the injustice that she had been taken so early in her life, but told them that they owed it to her to continue regardless of their pain.
Everyone was surprised to find out that the small golden dragonling they grew up with was now an adult ready to enter the next stage of life.
At the end of his speech, her body was slowly lowered into the grave, a pure white burial cloth had been wrapped around the body in order to hide it's condition from the mourners.
He reached out and touched the spot where he knew her forehead would be.
"Goodbye... my friend..." thought Orian.
And he wept for the first time since he discovered her death as they began to throw dirt over her burial mould.
Once her grave was covered, a stone with her name engraved on it was placed behind the mould.
With the burial officially ended, everyone got together and had a small lunch.
In the midst of a discussion between himself and several teachers, who were still struggling to come to terms with the fact that he was Orian, and now fully grown.
He saw his two remaining friends approaching from the corner of his eye, he excused himself and walked over to them.
"How have you two been?" Asked Orian.
"Won't say it's been easy, but we're getting there." Stated Quicksilver.
"Listen... I'm sorry for pushing you away like this!!! It was selfish of me and..." started Orian.
His friends stopped him.
"It's all right... we know you were grieving... we're just sorry that you had to work through this on your own..." said Quicksilver.
"I'm still struggling to believe this!! It feels like a bad dream!!" Stated Quill.
"I know." Stated Orian.
"You know what's the hardest part!! All the unsaid things that we'll never have a chance to discuss now!!
I just wish there was some way of talking to her one last time!!" Stated Quill.
Orian was about to agree, when a totally crazy idea came into his mind.
"Maybe there is a way..." thought Orian.