05-28-2017, 06:34 PM
He’d been.. What had he been doing? The meadow, he thought. He’d been taking Polaris to the meadow to play. Little girls needed sunshine and adventure.
Now he stood in front of a stranger, a woman. His brows softly pinched in quiet puzzlement, ice-blue eyes bright with the Winter magic that surrounded him in a cold snap, his breath fogging in the chill of it. Why was he here before her, drawn to this woman? She wasn’t what he usually watched for the rare times he actually showed his face in the field. Not built for fighting, for defending their forest as the others were expected to. Not helpless or dependent, the type he so rarely brought home to offer his protection.
Like Polaris, the tiny girl made of glass standing at his left hip that he’d found abandoned in the forest, taken home to raise as his own. She lipped at his back leg just then, waking him from his thoughts.
Awkwardly intense and staring. Perfect.
Sounded about right.
His jaw twitched as it tightened, annoyed with himself though he silently renewed his daughter’s little diamonds of ice, embedded in the nicks and pocks carved out of her near-transparent surface. He could have hidden them, could have filled them in with smoothed ice to match her glass. He’d rather teach her to embrace who she was. Her flaws made her beautiful. Perfectly unique.
His own only made him so strange.
”Ruan,” he offered, his voice the deep rumble of a distant avalanche. He tried for a smile, a ghost of a thing that probably looked more like a grimace. Damn, diplomacy would never be something he would be good at. His friendliness used to be so easy, so effortless to wear a smile. Now it was closest to the surface only when his daughters were at his side. ”Polaris,” he added, instantly warmed with quiet affection as he introduced his little companion. So often, he believed he might need her more than she needed him. A star to guide him through the darkness.
"We're from the Taiga." A forest, he didn't add. She would smell it on them, and he wasn't one to waste breath on useless small talk. He waited a moment for her name in return before continuing. "What makes a place home to you?" Because they only ever came to this field for one purpose. And some required more than a place to sleep and food to eat. They didn't make a habit of bringing just anyone home to their forest, and it would be an opportunity to get a sense of who she was.
Now he stood in front of a stranger, a woman. His brows softly pinched in quiet puzzlement, ice-blue eyes bright with the Winter magic that surrounded him in a cold snap, his breath fogging in the chill of it. Why was he here before her, drawn to this woman? She wasn’t what he usually watched for the rare times he actually showed his face in the field. Not built for fighting, for defending their forest as the others were expected to. Not helpless or dependent, the type he so rarely brought home to offer his protection.
Like Polaris, the tiny girl made of glass standing at his left hip that he’d found abandoned in the forest, taken home to raise as his own. She lipped at his back leg just then, waking him from his thoughts.
Awkwardly intense and staring. Perfect.
Sounded about right.
His jaw twitched as it tightened, annoyed with himself though he silently renewed his daughter’s little diamonds of ice, embedded in the nicks and pocks carved out of her near-transparent surface. He could have hidden them, could have filled them in with smoothed ice to match her glass. He’d rather teach her to embrace who she was. Her flaws made her beautiful. Perfectly unique.
His own only made him so strange.
”Ruan,” he offered, his voice the deep rumble of a distant avalanche. He tried for a smile, a ghost of a thing that probably looked more like a grimace. Damn, diplomacy would never be something he would be good at. His friendliness used to be so easy, so effortless to wear a smile. Now it was closest to the surface only when his daughters were at his side. ”Polaris,” he added, instantly warmed with quiet affection as he introduced his little companion. So often, he believed he might need her more than she needed him. A star to guide him through the darkness.
"We're from the Taiga." A forest, he didn't add. She would smell it on them, and he wasn't one to waste breath on useless small talk. He waited a moment for her name in return before continuing. "What makes a place home to you?" Because they only ever came to this field for one purpose. And some required more than a place to sleep and food to eat. They didn't make a habit of bringing just anyone home to their forest, and it would be an opportunity to get a sense of who she was.
