Libation Bearers

Sally Jackson's gravestone is simple, like the woman herself would have wanted. It's a granite headstone in a cemetery full of others like it, and though the words of its inscription are full of love, so too are the hundreds of others around it. They say:

Sally Jackson-Blofis

Treasured Wife

Beloved Mother

1974 – 2027

"No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away…"

It's well-maintained plot of land, and should anyone care to look, they would notice that great care has been taken over it: the grass is kept trimmed so that it only ever reaches between two and three inches above the soil, while the headstone itself is clearly regularly cleaned. These things too, though, are not enough to mark it out from amongst the crowd. There is enough love in the world that many families and friends work hard to preserve the good condition of a loved one's final resting place.

What marks out Sally's grave is the array of offerings laid before it.

The first gifts lain down were from her son, daughter, daughter-in-law and husband: one lock of black hair, one of brown, one of blonde and one of grey, as was the Greek style, along with small pots of milk, honey and other traditional offerings.

Those were lain down immediately after the funeral, but in the days and weeks after she died, a kind of shrine sprang up around her resting place.

There are flowers, of course, as might be expected, but these are again different from those on other graves in the area. Pale Underworld flowers from Nico which turn away from the sun sit next to moonlace from Calypso, whom Sally never met but still affected. These are framed by a beautiful spread of lilies given by the Demeter cabin of Camp Half-Blood, and a garland of wildflowers from Grover Underwood.

Many demigods have given gifts, grateful for the shelter or food or first aid she offered them. It's small things, trinkets mostly, which bore significance in the way they saw her: old toys, torn clothes, dog-eared books. All are obviously used.

All are obviously loved.

From her daughter, there is a box, locked shut. It holds memories of all their years together, in the form of photos and diary entries.

From her daughter-in-law, there's an ice cream tub where a phone nestles in a bed of flowers. It's an in-joke from when Percy was missing, when the two grew truly close.

From an old lover, there is a conch shell, displaying a dazzling and splendid array of colours, the likes of which can only be found in the deepest parts of the ocean.

From her husband, there is an engagement ring, worn once for roughly a year before many more years of happy marriage. Her wedding ring was buried with her so she could take it to the Underworld; he still wears his.

The final gift is from her son. It is a chocolate chip cookie, nestled in the grass at the very foot of the grave. It has been there for years now, as have all the gifts, but none have decayed, nor have they been stolen by wild animals in the area. Vandals have left the area alone, and no thieves have ever attempted to break into the box Estelle left there. In the case of the cookie, it may simply be something in the blue food colouring liberally added to the recipe, but then again, everyone who comes to this spot (and there are many who still do), agrees that there is something special about it.

Some might even say magical.

The quote on the gravestone is by Terry Pratchett. The title is from the Aeschylus play, also called Libation Bearers.

Hope you liked it. And also that I didn't forget anyone obvious who should be mentioned here but isn't.