A circle may end as a hearth goes dark,
Or pour itself into another, as a stream into the river;
Yet its fields still wait for hands,
Its wounds still ache beneath the ash,
And the threads it owed, and those owed to it, still pull across the loom.

The Mothers favor the circles that plan the passing while the fire still burns:
Who shall walk its furrows, who shall bind the wounds it dealt,
Who shall carry the ache it bore,
And upon whose lips its forgiveness may yet rest.

When streams meet, let neither drown the other,
But let them mingle fair for the springs that feed them, the fields they water,
And the sea that holds them all;
For no debt dissolves in the mingling of waters.

And when the hand that felled the tree would tend its orchard, look twice:
Let it carry water to the roots, but never hold the measure of the harm,
For no wound is measured by the blade that made it.

The Mothers frown upon the ways that bury wounds beneath the ashes,
Or cast debts upon the wind, owed or owing.
Guilt is not a seed that falls into the next field;
But the hands that gather the harvest gather the mending too.

And they bless the circles that weave the ended one into their song:
A hearthstone warm with remembering, not a boundary stone raised again to claim.

Where fog lies thick, ask the way of those who have walked longest with justice and with care,
But walk it on your own feet.

Thus the Mothers whisper:
The hearth grows cold, but the ash remembers the fire.

Explanation

Sometimes a person dies, or a group ends, and this should be planned for early. Circles should have rules to say who will care for the resources it managed, who will repair the harm done, who will carry the harm done to it, and who may forgive what others owed it. When circles join, it must be fair to both, to those they owe and are owed, and to the larger circles around them. Debts do not disappear when circles join. If a circle takes over one it harmed, look closely. It may help repair, but must never judge its own debt. Rules should not simply erase wounds or cancel debts when a community ends. Guilt does not pass on, but the duty to repair does. Circles should honor the ended one in their stories, without reviving old claims. When the path is unclear, listen to those most experienced in justice and care.