Don't Poke the Luna (Xena and Ryder)

Chapter 245

Xena's Pov

Logan walked toward the pile of wood where Dad's body lay. The tor flickered in the breeze, casting dancing shadows across his face. When he touched the flame to the kindling, the fire caught immediately, crackling and growing with each passing second.

"Goodbye, Dad," Logan whispered, his voice barely audible over the sound of the flames.

I closed my eyes as the fire grew higher, the heat warming my face ven from this distance. The smell of burning wood filled the air, and I knew that soon there would be nothing left of the man who had shaped my entire world.

Ryder's arm tightened around me as my body shook with silent sobs This was really it. Dad was gone, and there was no bringing

him back.

his ashes. We're letting them become one with the land where he died. This is what Dad wanted, Logan said as he walked over to sit beside Penelope. Leonard took

ashes dance in the wind before settling into the earth. A low rumble in the distance told us a storm was

until the flames died out. Leonard stood and began digging a pit to bury the

tore my gaze away from the freshly dug grave

numb. Not sad, not angry, just a

My pace was much slower than Logan's, so I fell behind as we quietly walked down the hillside toward the

More than once I reminded myself that Martha wasn't here, that I was finally safe here. I could safely come back to visit my

open since he and Penelope had arrived a few minutes before us. When we walked in, he was doing something on the computer. Penelope sat in an armchair, so I took

through his hair, then rubbed his face before looking at me. "Dad left you this letter. He wrote it this morning. Logan handed over a vanilla-colored envelope