You looked at the floor and found the small tulips Sumiko had offered to you and Ayane.

"It doesn't mean anything weird if we take this, right?" You said, referring to tulip and the small note.

"Probably not." Ayane replied. "Mother never spoke of her hobbies, as such I only know what I've learnt on my own. I don't recall what tulips mean, but white usually means peace and purity."

Will you and Ayane take the tulips?

>Sure. It was a gift, right?
>No. You were done with all this flower language stuff.
>(Write-in)

"Blegh, there's some petals in my mouth." Ruby said, spitting the fake plants out.

"Yeah. I'm fine with some flowers, but this is too much." You honestly wouldn't mind ever seeing another flower again in your life.

"At least they make us look pretty!" Mel, ever the optimist, stuck a random one to her hair. It promptly fell apart and scattered to the ground. "Uh, at least they make for good scenery?"

"For a little bit, sure." You said.

"A little bit..." Ayane smiled. "For us kitsune, a little bit of time can be a decade. It all passes by so quickly..."

"Maybe that's why your mom took so long to stop fighting us." Herta scowled.

"What's up with you?" You demanded with enough roughness to please her.

"Just the thought of some nobody using her powers to do something to Master without his knowledge... It makes me mad!" Herta nearly shouted.

Ayane gave an apologetic smile at Herta's words, saying that she hoped everyone would get along in the future.

"But didn't you power me up without my knowledge to make me a Savant?" You said to the goddess. Mel gave you another strange look.

"Well, y-yeah," She stuttered a bit more before finding her footing, "But it's different when I do it! I want to obey you! Hmph!" Herta puffed up her cheeks.

A small chuckle escaped your lips, and you were already thinking of the ways you were gonna bully this cute goddess of yours.

===

"Oi, what's with the flower petals?" Cattleya asked as she stuffed her face with fish and eggs.

It was lunch, and preparations to go to the funeral caused everyone to scurry around. Getting rid of the petals proved to more difficult than expected.

You and Ayane exchanged a look.

"It's a long story." You said.

"I'd be happy to share it at dinner." Ayane added.

It became evening. And the time to go to the funeral proper was coming near.

You flew your wives over to the area it was being held, the flying ferry costing next to nothing thanks to Hisashi paying for guest expenses.

It was much like the wake yesterday, except it was held outdoors in a rather remote area of the plateau. It was, by the looks of it, in an actual gravesite.

However there were less tombstones here than you'd imagined for a city as big as Centria.

It was explained to you that most people prefer to be buried in their homelands instead. On some occasions however, such as with Aneko, Centria was pretty much a homeland. So burials did happen from time to time.