[ At first, Elena doesn't want to participate in the little ceremony happening at the harbor. She's only just arrived, it doesn't seem right to grieve things that hadn't even happened here... but the assurance that it's alright is enough to get under her skin, to remind her of another time she'd honored the dead.
So she takes her place beside the others, choosing a design and making an attempt at folding the paper into the correct shapes. After her second try, one of the spirits comes to her aid, the strange creature exuding kindness as it shows her each fold and carefully helps her secure the little boat so it will hold its form and float above the water. And then it offers her a marker, gesturing toward another spirit who is covering their own boat in little designs — she accepts it with a small, sad smile, but instead uses it to write a string of names around the edge of the boat in rounded print letters.
The last name takes the longest to inscribe on the paper, and she's close to tears as she stands with her construction and makes her way to the water, the paper lantern glowing softly in the darkness next to her own. She walks a little way along the shore, just far enough to put a bit of distance between herself and the others, before kneeling down to carefully set the little boat atop the water and give it a tiny push to send it on its way to meet the others.
She stays there, kneeling beside the water, watching the soft lights of the boats, for a long time. Hours maybe. Because for a while, at least, this is all that matters: letting go of the grief that has consumed her for so long. ]
elena gilbert | the vampire diaries | ota
So she takes her place beside the others, choosing a design and making an attempt at folding the paper into the correct shapes. After her second try, one of the spirits comes to her aid, the strange creature exuding kindness as it shows her each fold and carefully helps her secure the little boat so it will hold its form and float above the water. And then it offers her a marker, gesturing toward another spirit who is covering their own boat in little designs — she accepts it with a small, sad smile, but instead uses it to write a string of names around the edge of the boat in rounded print letters.
Grayson. Miranda. Jenna. John. Isobel. Vicki. Aaron. Bonnie. Damon.
The last name takes the longest to inscribe on the paper, and she's close to tears as she stands with her construction and makes her way to the water, the paper lantern glowing softly in the darkness next to her own. She walks a little way along the shore, just far enough to put a bit of distance between herself and the others, before kneeling down to carefully set the little boat atop the water and give it a tiny push to send it on its way to meet the others.
She stays there, kneeling beside the water, watching the soft lights of the boats, for a long time. Hours maybe. Because for a while, at least, this is all that matters: letting go of the grief that has consumed her for so long. ]