dead people receive more flowers
than living ones,
because regret is stronger
than gratitude.

                                  ⏤ Anne Frank

The return to the Dragomir Mansion had been painful, both physically and mentally, and tiring.

It was strange to enter the Mansion that very Friday, January the 13th of 2012, and have all of the Dragomir's staff bow and curtsy to Mira, not like they'd done during her entire life, but rather much like they'd done to her grandfather and father.

It made her almost sick to her stomach.

"Welcome home Princesses, Miss Hathaway." The Head Maid, a Non-Royal Moroi named Aerica Mayers, told her. Mira glanced at Grant, who was carrying her bags. Grant nodded softly at her and Mira turned back to the Head Maid and gave her a weak smile.

"We moved Princess Lissa's room to the ground floor until her leg heals." Aerica informed as everyone. Lissa groaned in annoyance but nodded, following after a maid that took her to her new, temporary room, with Rose following close behind, much like Grant had been doing with Mira.

"Princess, we-" Aerica started but was cut off by Mira saying "I'm not changing rooms, it's-it's too soon and I have no need for it."

It was clear that, besides Mira, no one had really wanted to enter the untouched rooms of the late family members, as everyone nodded with relief clear in their faces. Mira turned for the stairs for only one moment before turning back to her family's household members.

"The funeral will be this weekend and the coronation will be sometime next week. I want you to take personal time to grief after the funeral, you've been with us for longer than I can remember and you deserve to grieve." Mira's voice shook as she spoke but there was intense emotion. "That includes you Grant, along with every Guardian that has been working for us, we'll stay at Court for as long as it's needed."

It was unusual for a Moroi to give their Dhampirs and other beings that worked for them time off after a grave loss, on either party. But then again not many Royal-Moroi were like Mira was, and like Andre had been.

As Mira walked up the stairs to her twin's bedroom, Grant followed after her, complaining and telling her that he could not and would not leave Lissa or her, more importantly, without protection, even if they were in the utmost safest place in the whole of the Dominion.

Everyone that had seen Mira before and after the accident could tell that the now eldest Dragomir and the Heir and Head of the Family was overly burdened and it showed in the way she walked. Mira no longer slumped her shoulders as many unburdened Moroi did, as many un-Promised Dhampir, she walked with poise that matched that of Queen Tatiana.

The room that Mira entered, upon reaching the first floor of the Dragomir Mansion in the Dominion, was however, not her but rather her twin brother's, Andre. She closed the door in Grant's face as he continued to argue with her about taking time off.

And there it was, behind the closed doors of her brother's bedroom did Mira finally allow herself to cry, consciously, for the first time. She waddled to her brother's wardrobe and threw it open, grabbing the leather coat that Andre had gotten for his 15th birthday and had nearly grown out of, an item of clothing he used quite frequently, an item of clothing that Mira would sometimes steal from her brother.

An item of clothing that smelled like her brother, an item of clothing that Mira sunk to the crown between Andre's bed and wardrobe clutching, and cried, allowing her tears to fall freely down her face. Allowing herself to mourn her brother privately before she had to face the world and the Heir and Head of the Dragomir Family once more.

On the other side of the door stood Grant Miller, tears also filling his eyes. He also hadn't allowed himself to grief the loss of his best friend, he forced his emotions back until he knew who had made it out alive, truly alive and truly not.

He walked against the bannister and looked down to the Moroi below, waving his hand as if to disperse them. Silently telling them that the new Head of the Family would be down for a long while. 

Everyone knew how close the twins were, even with being twins, non-identical and different gender twins. They were as close as close can be without passing into an intimate level, which there had been rumours in the Academy, started by many of either of the twins's exes.

Lissa was helped into her temporary bedroom by Rose after Grant dismissed everyone, they knew, much like Grant, and slightly better than everyone that worked for the Dragomir Family. The room didn't look like Lissa's actual room, but it did have some sentimental things and it had two single beds instead of just one.

This item alone showed the two girls that the Dragomir staff knew the family well enough to know that Rose would not leave Lissa's side, as she barely had before.

Despite both girls also being affected by the loss, it seemed that in that moment they weren't as burdened as Mira, in a way they would never be as burdened as Mira, or as pained as Grant. And that was because their other half was standing right there, in the same room with them.

Mira had lost her literal other half, her twin brother, the genetical other half of herself. Grant had lost his best friend, his Moroi from a young age, his best friend since he could remember. While Lissa and Rose were lucky enough that one got out of the wreck with a broken leg and the other with her life.

The day of the Funeral was two days after the Dragomir's returned home, having been communicated to everyone in the Dominion so that they could arrange to be present for the funeral, mainly the 12 Royal Moroi Families.

While usually the only one to command such attention was the Ruling Monarch, such as the Queen/King, but no one was missing the funeral precession of the Dragomir Family. And those who couldn't make it, namely the Non-Royal Moroi and the Dhampir who didn't live in the Dominion, would be able to watch the funeral procession televised in the comfort of their Academies or the Comunes in which they lived.

So on the morning of Sunday, January the 15th of 2012, at 8:00 am, Princess Mirela Dragomir descended the stairs in a black formal suit for the funeral, both she and Lisa were wearing their family's sygil on a pin over their hearts and with minimal makeup covering their features. Just enough to cover the bruises that were still fading.

It had been agreed and so as to not strain herself, Lissa would be confined to a wheelchair when out of the carriage that would take them to the church, there were be a blanket covering her cast leg, not only to cover the leg but also because Lissa was in a dress.

Grant had asked to be the one to walk behind the carriage that would be carrying Eric and Rhea Dragomir's coffin, and Percy Sinclair, a newer addition to the Dragomir security, having only been with them for two years since his Promising, was asked to walk behind the carriage carrying Andre's coffin. 

Obviously, Mira had argued against this for hours on end when it was first brought up in the Hospital room, but when the Queen told her that despite Andre being her twin brother, Mira was still a Princess and the new Head of the family, and therefore had to be in the carriage with Lissa. Where they would be joined by Rose, who was wearing the typical Dhampir attire but completely black, no ounce of any colour visible or available.

Everyone was already waiting for them, even if the procession itself didn't start for another hour.

Mira approached Lissa and placed a gentle kiss on Lissa's baby curls, doing the same with Rose before turning to Grant and nodding to him with a masked expression. It wasn't that hard to know what Mira was hiding, it was what everyone was hiding, their emotions.

Thankfully, despite being within the Dominion borders, each of there 12 Royal Moroi Manors had their closed off spaces, as fir the castle, which meant that the surviving Dragomir's could get inside the carriage without any problem without the cameras flashing in their faces and snapping pictures of them to display on the multiple tabloids and newspapers that ran through the Dominion.