Congratulations! I loved this piece. You could really feel the sorrow and pain from his loss.

'This was the way it should be: a strong leader betraying no vulnerability.'

I really liked the way he kept a stoic face in public. That is the way we all know Sess, unemotional and seemingly unaffected.

'No, it was not until he was in his private chambers…alone, again, for the first time in fifty years…that his determination faltered. He couldn’t bear to look down at the bed they had shared, much less return to it, with the knowledge that she was forever gone.'

But the pain really resounded by the fact, when he was at home, he was truly alone and there was no way to avoid that fact.

This was really beautiful. Great work!