At first death had been a concept that drew no interest from the earthen-child. She assumed that her body would be absorbed back into the earth, and that in death, she would likely continue the work that she was doing in life. Bringing balance. She might achieve it more quickly while her body functioned actively, but death was merely another way to contribute to the overall functioning of their planet.

However, as she was confronted with lifelessness on a more regular basis, her contemplation of the deaths of others was more often on her mind. Existentially she didn’t worry about what would happen, but metaphysically there were more questions than she had answers to. Like, how quickly did decomposition occur? Were there more or less ideal circumstances to die under? Should one find an appropriate place to die, so that their body could better decompose and aid the growth of other species? And so on.

And so when the earthen child saw the crumpled form of Nyx bending low to embrace the pale stallion, Iso’s thoughts immediately flew towards the state of his lifeless corpse, rather than to offer consolation to the robust mare, who was seemingly upset by his death. Why be upset? She wondered idly, hesitating in the thick shadows of the trees. She wanted to investigate his body, but the rough and ready understanding she had of social policy  suggested that if the mare thought he was ‘there enough’ to embrace, that she likely wouldn’t think he was ‘gone enough’ for what she had planned. Iso had no idea how long grief normally took, but she was already growing impatient. 

All this considered, the girl sighed softly to herself. She didn’t feel like waiting - she didn’t want to know how what she had planned would affect a body which was  a few hours old - she wanted to know the immediate results. 

"It will be better this way." The quad-horned giantess mumbled, moving from her shadowy hideaway and into the dappled sunlight.

Magic rushed from her core, plucking and holding the earth around her, moulding the stones to fit the unmoving form of the pale stallion and the dragon. The rocks were heated from her magic - Tallsun was warm, but the extra heat would hasten the decomposition, more easily allowing his body to be absorbed back into the womb of the earth. She fitted the stones carefully around the body, her magic moving each diligently and carefully. On top, she placed a large flat stone, that she used her magic to etch a spiderweb pattern into, with a robust tree (like the one she saw on his shoulder) engraved into it. Iso was not sentimental in the least, but she thought the perceived horror of her actions might be mitigated if she left a sentimental engraving behind. 

"Back to the Earth." The Earthen-child whispered softly, prophetically. Although she persisted in a state of emotional detachment from all that occurred around her, something about this seemed right.