TM Challenge 207
"Girl!" he shouts, as his daughter spins around, turning on one foot, to face him. Her hair is loose and long and has flowers in it--like her mother, she's not beautiful, but she's pretty enough, and she's laughing.
"Nay, nay, canst not catch me!"
He's a clumsy runner, but she's laughing too hard to catch her breath, and a moment later his arms are around her waist, pulling her close, and he kisses the top of her head from behind. The rough linen of her gown brushes his ankles.
"Damn," she says.
"Learning more words from thine uncle, art thou?"
"Nay, that I heard thee say." She looks up at him, tipping her head backwards, and smiles.
"Thy mother wants thy help at making supper."
"She has thee."
"And thou hast had my cooking, girl."
His daughter laughs again, and turns, leaning up to kiss him.
(It's been fifteen years since he stood by his mother's bedside, stained with blood; fifteen years since the day he first began to wake up every night screaming and weeping in his dreams. Fifteen years since the girl was born in exile, and she doesn't even remember how she spent the first part of her life alone, without the cousins and uncles she knows now.)
When her lips brush his cheek, he doesn't flinch.
Words: 221
"Nay, nay, canst not catch me!"
He's a clumsy runner, but she's laughing too hard to catch her breath, and a moment later his arms are around her waist, pulling her close, and he kisses the top of her head from behind. The rough linen of her gown brushes his ankles.
"Damn," she says.
"Learning more words from thine uncle, art thou?"
"Nay, that I heard thee say." She looks up at him, tipping her head backwards, and smiles.
"Thy mother wants thy help at making supper."
"She has thee."
"And thou hast had my cooking, girl."
His daughter laughs again, and turns, leaning up to kiss him.
(It's been fifteen years since he stood by his mother's bedside, stained with blood; fifteen years since the day he first began to wake up every night screaming and weeping in his dreams. Fifteen years since the girl was born in exile, and she doesn't even remember how she spent the first part of her life alone, without the cousins and uncles she knows now.)
When her lips brush his cheek, he doesn't flinch.
Words: 221