In atmosphere, the cemetery is much like the Mt. Auburn cemetery, with trees and a bit of mist and winding paths and hedges and some areas a little more overgrown (though not completely wild). There would be disorderly wildflowers in the spring, around the edges. There are little group-plots surrounded by hedge or bush or trees, small hillocks, one pond, some above-ground mausoleums, a pavilion with urns...
The plot in question is at an edge, a round area of grass dotted with daisies. Two medium trees stand as the "gate" to the grass, flanked by shorter bushes and rocks which join with the forest that borders the cemetery; the trees shade the grass a little, but not much.
The coffin (closed) is already in the grave, but it hasn't yet been covered over. There is a stone, more like a natural boulder than a formal headstone, but on the grave-side of it there's a smoothed-out square with text on it:
Martan of Pierogi
2747.39-2781.153
Friend, husband, father, hero"Yet for a moment stood the foe forsaken,
Eyeing Love's favour to our helmet pinned;
Death is our Master, -- but his seat is shaken;
He rides victorious, -- but his ranks are thinned."
On one side of the stone is a large rosemary plant; on the other side is a white rosebush.
Katya and Mirris are there before the rest of the crew. Mirris seems to be handling logistics, and also hovers near Katya, sometimes holding her hand or offering her water. Katya wears a dark red dress with a swirling skirt (recognizable from some of the images of her wedding vows). A sprig of rosemary and orange blossoms is pinned at her breast, and she gives each person a sprig of rosemary as they come in.
When everyone has arrived, the guests form a circle around the grave and join hands.
Katya starts broadcasting images: unlike her usual semi-iconic style, these are much like actually being at a scene, except that all the speech is garbled and you're still aware of your own body and surroundings. (Mirris murmurs translations to Hippocrates.)
Akito is thrusting his hand into a jar of stones. Martan takes the jar and thrusts his own hand in, then yelps in apparent pain and holds up his hand. Akito looks at the missing tip of Martan's finger in alarm...
The quarry-lake is surrounded by pumps and machinery. You look at Martan and Ciernan, who stand beside you. They each nod, and then stretch out their hands. Martan barely winces, then frowns in concentration, holding the earth still as the machines begin to vibrate...
Martan stands in Med Lab, looking stoic and a bit angry, with Kith, Sophia, and Hippocrates-bot around him. Kith gestures for you to leave the room, and as you turn to go, Martan catches your eye and smiles reassuringly...
The city is breaking apart, sinking into the ocean. Jayla organizes the refugees into an orderly flow, into the ship, while you and Martan move debris and hold cracks in the pavement together so that trapped people can make it to safety...
A nightclub: Martan takes your hands and leads you in a dance, sometimes flipping you through the air with your combined TK. He is skillful, graceful, smiling. The two of you rejoin Eva and Janzur, but they both decline your offer to dance, so you tug Martan back out onto the floor, and he follows, laughing...
In Med Lab: Martan angry and defensive, Kith watching with concern. Martan drops to one knee in front of you, speaking curtly, nodding. Then he leaves...
Sophia gestures to the incubator, explaining. Martan looks at it, then at you, joy and worry blended in his eyes. You take his hand and he smiles...
You send Mirris flying through the air at Martan, who stands in the water. He yelps, startled, and though he catches her, they both go down into the water with a splash and the sound of laughter...
Through the faceplate of a spacesuit, looking across/through/down a strangely fractured barren moonscape at a gazebo. Kye gesticulates, Kith looks nervous, Sharra nods. Ace and Max start fussing with ropes. Martan steps forward, resolute. He kneels, lays one palm on the ground, holds out his other hand towards the gazebo. Ace hands him one end of the rope...
Crouched in the dark, trembling with the effort of maintaining the force bubble around you and the others, can't see Stannis but imagining him there beside you, an image of Katya in your mind, and focusing your mind on the task again, holding on...
In the Bowl: noise and wind and a horrible crash. Martan stretches out his hand and everything is still, though the earth buckles and writhes outside the quarry. He holds up his hand to yours, the shield between you preventing your palms from meeting, and despite the pain that twists his face, his eyes are calm. He begins to crumple slowly to the ground...
Martan, in his wedding clothing, takes your hands and looks into your eyes as he speaks his vows...
Katya touches the fingers of her right hand to her forehead, then lays that palm over her heart, then cups both hands over her heart. Right hand still in place, she gestures with her left hand to each of the people in the circle in turn, at chest-height, as though touching each of them with the flat tips of her fingers.
Then she turns her hands palms-up and stretches them out in invitation, looking around the circle.
Mirris steps forward a little and says:
"Martan of Pierogi was a man of true courage and devotion. He was always there when you needed him, always patient, always kind. He helped you see things that you might not see for yourself, and to share in his friendship was a blessing. His strength of character was, is, and shall be an inspiration. For as love endures all things, we carry the memory of Martan in our hearts... always."
Hippocrates steps forward and says:
"In the hour before I met Martan, he rushed to the docking spine at the Pierogi Orbital to give Xanthippe and Padira a chance to live. He almost didn't make it back. Perhaps he thought in that moment that with Pierogi gone, there was nothing left to fight for.Kith picks up a fragile-looking, lush green plant which has been sitting at her feet, and says:But there was something to fight for--first for each other, and then the Outworlds, and then all of the Linked Worlds. Martan never hesitated to put himself in harm's way to protect another. He didn't worry about when his time would come. I'm thankful that it didn't arrive until we had a chance to become his friends, and I'm thankful that he was at his post when the Linked Worlds needed him."
"This is called a bleeding heart plant. It grows to waist height every summer, sending out sprays of beautiful heart shaped flowers. Its enthusiasm and generosity in life will remind me of Martan. Though it dies back to the ground every winter it returns again, full of life, in the spring."She sets the plant down beside the grave.
Katya kneels for a moment and places a piece of paper into the grave. She unpins the rosemary and flowers from her dress, kisses them, and places them in the grave as well. Then she stands up and joins the circle again.
The pile of earth picks itself up in chunks, which hover over the grave and then disintigrate into it. When the hole is filled in, Kith goes over and plants the bleeding-heart at the foot of the grave. Katya looks around the circle, then holds her hands up and outstretched, palms down, as if in benediction. The hands come together in two fists over her heart, and she bows to the center of the circle. Katya closes her eyes and turns both palms outwards in a gesture of dismissal.
As the circle starts to break up, Katya sinks to her knees beside the grave, staring at the stone, or maybe at nothing. She stays there for a long time, waving away or ignoring any attempts to talk to her. It eventually becomes clear that the ceremony is over, but that Katya doesn't intend to return to the ship right away.
The crew eventually start to drift away, though Deirdre remains,
waiting at a discreet distance. Ciernan waits with Deirdre for a
while, not saying anything, but when he leaves, the sun is shining
brightly on the rosemary and rosebush, which are perhaps a little
larger, and strongly in flower.