Old Remly, the resident deathspeaker over the eastern cemetery in the Golden Leaf capital, walked among the graves, making small charcoal marks on the occasional headstone.
It was an old ritual, each mark specified which grave was to be exhumed, and the body moved into the catacombs beneath the temple.
Elves were long-lived, death wasn't a common occurrence in the capital, and when an elf felt that death was close, they'd usually travel to their home villages to die there.
Things were changing, however. The universal claiming of Golden Leaf half-elves meant that deaths were happening more often.
Half-elves didn't have the same longevity as their elven parent and died at the same rate as humans.
Which meant that more space was going to be needed for the influx of bodies.
So Remly was marking graves, making room for the newly departed.
He didn't know how he felt about the current half-elf policy, but like most of the elves he knew, he kept his thoughts to himself.
