All I remember is on Day/Week 2, the mayfly persona is very blasé about dying the next day/week, and the longer lived one is already kind of mourning/concerned. However the next day/week the mayfly is inconsolable as they realise their mortality.
Anyone got anything?
Danny McG may be remembering this story. I'm thinking a strong possibility with several matches including 'petals' and 'rose' in the title is "Petals of Rose" by Marc Stiegler.
The creatures or people are very short-lived, and sometimes fall dead while speaking. One does not even finish a full sentence of greeting: "May you die by a rising star."
They are called Rosans. Not just because they're short-lived; they are also covered in petals.
They also live on a planet called Khayyam and quote a version of Khayyam's rubaiyat about the ephemeral rose blossom:
Look to the Rose that blows about us — "Lo,
Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow:
"At once the silken Tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw."
It's a long story, in the "Aliens from Analog" anthology. It has got some descriptions of Bloodbonds and attempts to use technology and biology to reincarnate a Rosan prophet.
Both human engineers, the man and the woman, have some kind of affectionate relationship with a Rosan.
