[Intro: Cracked handbell, cello, slow triple meter]

[Verse 1]
The western stair lay buried under glass,
Its silver rail bent inward from the blast.
The training rings were black with boot and rain,
Blue scoring crossed by one deep crimson stain.
I found a robe caught underneath a door,
A child's small practice weapon on the floor.
The walls retained the marks our lessons made;
Between them ran the cut of your red blade.

[Chorus]
Ash in the sacred hall, ash upon the stone,
Ash where a thousand guarded lights had shone.
I called your name; the broken chambers gave
No answer but the mark your weapon made.
Ash in the sacred hall, bitter in my breath;
My brother crossed these rooms and carried death.

[Verse 2]
The council room had lost its painted dome.
Rain crossed the marble where we once found home.
One elder lived long enough to clutch my sleeve;
He formed your name, ashamed to draw a breath.
I called it some impossible mistake.
He turned toward every life you chose to take.
A red line scarred the chair where you had stood.
I knew the truth before I understood.

[Refrain]
Not the boy beneath the suns.
Not the hand that saved my life.
Not the student at my side.
Not my brother with the knife.

[Piano Interlude: Child's theme beneath a cracked bell]

[Verse 3]
I taught restraint as if restraint alone
Could reach the wound you would not make your own.
The order prized a silence clean and wise;
We left a gifted child to court his lies.
A soldier's record named the world you chose:
Black rock, red rivers, manufactured snow.
Her vessel crossed the southern traffic lane.
I took the final craft into the rain.

[Bridge]
I will not follow merely to condemn,
Nor call the dead to make you whole again.
I go to face the hand that crossed this line
And learn what still remains behind your eyes.

[Final Chorus]
Ash in the sacred hall, settle where you will.
No law can raise the voices you made still.
I speak your name, not to condemn or save,
But call the buried brother from the grave.
Ash in the sacred hall, cling to robe and breath;
I go to meet my brother after death.

[Outro: Small blue blade trembling by the ruined door]