I bring more story!
Strawberry #27. Ribbon
Rating : PG
Timeframe : winter 1253
This takes place in the winter, during the first year of the story.
Evenings were generally spent in the common room, seated about the fireplace. There was often a sword or two being polished, a hefty book in someone’s lap, or a friendly game of cards or dice spread between the lot of them. Whatever their individual pursuits might be, there was always conversation. Somehow it rarely centered on what should have been pressing concerns regarding demons and prophecy and such, as if there were an unspoken agreement between them that none wished to spend all their time dwelling on these things.
Rune found he was learning a great deal about his new companions’ world, as politics were a frequent topic of choice. He had to admit this education in nobility was rather biased, but it was certainly more insight than he’d had before.
Tonight there was a wooden slab, like a cutting board, laid on the floor. Rune, Tess, and Farran sat near the corners, each with a collection of brightly colored marbles beside them. The board was lined with indentations and the goal was to place one’s marbles on it in a manner that would capture the other players’ pieces. Rune was still learning the details of the game. The others assured him he was doing quite well, but it was usually Farran who won. Ilya had retreated to the couch behind him to watch, having already been eliminated from this match. Masakari was seated near the fire, with her nose in a book as usual.
After studying the current state of the board, Rune leaned in to place a piece and felt a tug at the base of his skull. He turned to find Ilya twirling his hair around her fingers. With an apologetic look, she hastily dropped it and turned instead to winding her fingers amongst themselves.
“I am sorry,” she said. “I could not help myself. It’s just that I was thinking how lovely it is and yet you never do anything with it. I should love to… nevermind.” She shook her head, a blush creeping across her pale cheeks. “I will leave you be.”
Rune cocked an eyebrow. “You’re wanting to mess with my hair?” He thought he heard a poorly concealed snort from Farran’s direction.
Ilya looked hopeful. “If you would not mind…”
He shrugged. He’d never given much protest when Tish did the same. In fact, he rather enjoyed the attention, though he assumed that was because it was from Tish. Ilya never seemed to have so much as a strand of her own hair out of place. “What could it hurt?”
“Splendid!” she said, launching herself excitedly from the couch and racing for the hall. Watching her leave the room, Rune thought he would have been hard pressed to believe this giddy little girl was among the Knighthood’s finest new members if he hadn’t seen her skills firsthand.
A flying marble striking his leg brought his attention back to the game. He frowned at the board as Farran picked up two more of his pieces and tossed them his way. She grinned. “Your turn again.”
He set a marble on the board and threw one of her own her way. Ilya returned with a comb and a handful of ribbons.
“Whatever you’ve got in mind,” he said, “You’d better think again.”
She tossed her own platinum curls with an exasperated shake of her head. “Trust me,” she said.
“Considering what you’re holding, I’m not so sure I can,” he said.
“I promise, nothing embarrassing,” she said, coming back to the couch.
Rune glanced around the room. Tess and Farran’s eyes were on him. Masakari’s face was still buried in her book. “You heard her,” he said.
“Brave man,” Farran said as Ilya tucked the comb between her teeth and loosed the band from his hair. She piled the ribbons at her side and spread the hair across his shoulders. Unhindered, it covered nearly his entire back.
He felt the comb rake his scalp. It was an odd sensation, though he had to admit a pleasant one, to have someone else tending to him. Ilya’s touch was firm but gentle. She encountered little resistance, though he hadn’t expected her to. Long and thick as it may be, his hair rarely gave him any trouble.
“Your turn,” Tess said. Rune was careful not to lean in too far as he placed his piece on the board.
“This really is lovely,” Ilya said, making another pass with the comb. “You ought to let it down more often.”
“Can you imagine the hassle that would be?” he asked. “It’s longer than any of yours. I’d spend half my time trying to get it out of my way.”
“I wonder if Dalton would grow his out if I asked,” she said. Rune tried to picture the prince with waist length red hair and bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud at the thought.
Tess shook her head. “Ilya, that boy would do anything you asked him.”
“He is sweet,“ Ilya said.
“If only it were a family trait,” Masakari grumbled, showing the first sign she had been paying attention to more than her reading.
Farran laid a marble on the board and swiped three others. “Poor Masakari.” Rune eyed the board. Farran’s green marbles were beginning, as usual, to dominate the playing field. The best move he could make would only take out one of her pieces.
“Just how long did it take you to grow this?” Ilya asked, sliding the comb down his back.
“If you’re still thinking about Dalton, I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” he said. “I can’t even remember the last time I cut it.”
“Why go to the trouble of having so much of it when you never bother with it?” she asked, neatly dividing the hair to the left from the rest.
“I suppose I could cut it,” he said, as she started weaving it together. “The idea just never seemed right to me. It’s foolish, really, but I always heard it looked like my mother’s. There was a time I rather liked having a piece of her. Eventually I just kept it out of habit.”
“So is she…?”
He nodded, noticing that all eyes, even Masakari’s, were on him now.
“You know,” Tess said. “We carry on and on about our lives and we never hear anything of yours. What was your mother like?”
Rune frowned. “That’s not the question to ask if you really want to find anything out about me. I wish I knew the answer to it myself.” The tugging at his temple ceased as Ilya paused in her task. “You don’t all need to look at me like that,” he said. “It’s not as if I ever knew what I was missing. I never met the woman.”
“How…?” Ilya started.
“I… When I was born, she…” Maybe their concern was appropriate after all. He’d never had to put it into words before. He hadn’t thought it would be such a difficult task. Feeling it to be suddenly rather tight, he cleared his throat. “I know that I look like her. Gods know I certainly don’t take after my father.” He smiled slightly at the thought of presenting them with the strapping blacksmith and trying to convince them the man was any relation at all. “And I know he loved her, and he missed her. He still does.”
Ilya let the hair she had been working on drop and put her arms around his shoulders. “Really,” he said, patting her arm. “I’m fine.”
“What of your father, then?” she asked, returning to weaving his hair.
“I suppose he’s doing alright,” he said, scooping up a handful of the red marbles from the floor. “Maybe a little more lonely and a little less well fed without me. But I’m sure he manages. He never knew what to make of me, and I guess I never really knew what to make of him either, but we took care of each other well enough.” He stared at the marbles as he passed them from hand to hand rather than look at any of his friends.
“It was always just the two of us. We had a nice little house off the smithy, with my mother’s gardens all around, but I spent most of my time at the inn. I don’t know how he felt about that, since it was his father’s shop before it was his, but I think we both knew pretty early I was better suited to a kitchen than a forge. And I’d have been laughed at if I even considered work in the mine.”
“Mine?” Masakari’s sudden interest drew his attention. “I found you in the Durnan province.”
Rune laughed. “You didn’t think I spent my whole life in a temple in the woods, did you?”
“Well, no,” she said, still looking puzzled. “But you were halfway across the country from the mountains. That is quite a distance to have traveled.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps. But not so much when you’re running away.”
Ilya paused again. Her hands were nearing the end of his hair and he could feel the weight of it shifted to the left where she had been working. “From what?” she said.
This was another thing he’d never put words to. Somehow no one had ever asked. If the old hermit felt the need to take in a boy from nowhere, it was hardly the strangest thing he’d ever done. And when Rune proved himself useful in unexpected ways, they made a point not to question it. He felt more at home now than he had in ages. If there was ever a time he was among people he could confide in, this was it. Still, it was difficult even to think of that day, much less speak it.
“I… well, I saved someone,” he said. “And I learned I could heal. And then…” He took a deep breath and forced himself to continue. “I saved someone else. And I… I learned I could hurt too.” He was staring at the marbles in his palm again, but his vision blurred and he was no longer seeing the red balls of glass, but a body instead. The room was silent, save the crackling of the fire, and in his mind he could hear Tish’s accusations as clearly as if she stood beside him.
A pair of arms encircled him, and he released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as the memory slipped away. “See?” he said, collecting himself enough to look around the room to his friends’ faces. “This is why you don’t get much out of me.” Even Masakari looked concerned.
“Weren’t we playing a game here?” he said to Tess and Farran. “And weren’t you playing with my hair?” He gave Ilya’s arm a pat and she, somewhat reluctantly, relinquished her hold on him.
Tess offered a reassuring smile and placed a marble on the board. Farran carelessly took her turn, leaving herself open to losing nearly half her pieces when his came.
Ilya pulled a blue ribbon from her pile to tie off her work. Masakari smiled and shook her head. Tess and Farran grinned. Though they’d all been staring at him, they were paying too much attention to his words to notice what Ilya was doing. Having secured it, she dropped the braid over his shoulder, where it hung from his left temple down across his chest, trailing a pale blue ribbon into his lap.
Rune looked from the braid to Masakari, who wore hers, as usual, in a similar fashion, to Tess and Farran’s smiling faces, and chuckled. “Ribbons or not,” Farran said, “You will find yourself in trouble if you call that look embarrassing.”
Masakari frowned. “All the same, I would not wear it in public if I were you.”
Ilya scowled at her. “Why not? He is one of us, is he not?” Masakari sighed. “The only reason anyone has to contest it is that you let them.”
“You don’t need to fight over it, “ Rune said. “I hardly have the patience to go to the trouble myself. I do appreciate it though,” he told Ilya. “Ribbons and all.”
He looked over the braid, secretly thinking it just might be worth the trouble now and then. He was one of them after all, and he’d never felt such satisfaction as knowing that he had somewhere to belong.
Rating : PG
Timeframe : winter 1253
This takes place in the winter, during the first year of the story.
Evenings were generally spent in the common room, seated about the fireplace. There was often a sword or two being polished, a hefty book in someone’s lap, or a friendly game of cards or dice spread between the lot of them. Whatever their individual pursuits might be, there was always conversation. Somehow it rarely centered on what should have been pressing concerns regarding demons and prophecy and such, as if there were an unspoken agreement between them that none wished to spend all their time dwelling on these things.
Rune found he was learning a great deal about his new companions’ world, as politics were a frequent topic of choice. He had to admit this education in nobility was rather biased, but it was certainly more insight than he’d had before.
Tonight there was a wooden slab, like a cutting board, laid on the floor. Rune, Tess, and Farran sat near the corners, each with a collection of brightly colored marbles beside them. The board was lined with indentations and the goal was to place one’s marbles on it in a manner that would capture the other players’ pieces. Rune was still learning the details of the game. The others assured him he was doing quite well, but it was usually Farran who won. Ilya had retreated to the couch behind him to watch, having already been eliminated from this match. Masakari was seated near the fire, with her nose in a book as usual.
After studying the current state of the board, Rune leaned in to place a piece and felt a tug at the base of his skull. He turned to find Ilya twirling his hair around her fingers. With an apologetic look, she hastily dropped it and turned instead to winding her fingers amongst themselves.
“I am sorry,” she said. “I could not help myself. It’s just that I was thinking how lovely it is and yet you never do anything with it. I should love to… nevermind.” She shook her head, a blush creeping across her pale cheeks. “I will leave you be.”
Rune cocked an eyebrow. “You’re wanting to mess with my hair?” He thought he heard a poorly concealed snort from Farran’s direction.
Ilya looked hopeful. “If you would not mind…”
He shrugged. He’d never given much protest when Tish did the same. In fact, he rather enjoyed the attention, though he assumed that was because it was from Tish. Ilya never seemed to have so much as a strand of her own hair out of place. “What could it hurt?”
“Splendid!” she said, launching herself excitedly from the couch and racing for the hall. Watching her leave the room, Rune thought he would have been hard pressed to believe this giddy little girl was among the Knighthood’s finest new members if he hadn’t seen her skills firsthand.
A flying marble striking his leg brought his attention back to the game. He frowned at the board as Farran picked up two more of his pieces and tossed them his way. She grinned. “Your turn again.”
He set a marble on the board and threw one of her own her way. Ilya returned with a comb and a handful of ribbons.
“Whatever you’ve got in mind,” he said, “You’d better think again.”
She tossed her own platinum curls with an exasperated shake of her head. “Trust me,” she said.
“Considering what you’re holding, I’m not so sure I can,” he said.
“I promise, nothing embarrassing,” she said, coming back to the couch.
Rune glanced around the room. Tess and Farran’s eyes were on him. Masakari’s face was still buried in her book. “You heard her,” he said.
“Brave man,” Farran said as Ilya tucked the comb between her teeth and loosed the band from his hair. She piled the ribbons at her side and spread the hair across his shoulders. Unhindered, it covered nearly his entire back.
He felt the comb rake his scalp. It was an odd sensation, though he had to admit a pleasant one, to have someone else tending to him. Ilya’s touch was firm but gentle. She encountered little resistance, though he hadn’t expected her to. Long and thick as it may be, his hair rarely gave him any trouble.
“Your turn,” Tess said. Rune was careful not to lean in too far as he placed his piece on the board.
“This really is lovely,” Ilya said, making another pass with the comb. “You ought to let it down more often.”
“Can you imagine the hassle that would be?” he asked. “It’s longer than any of yours. I’d spend half my time trying to get it out of my way.”
“I wonder if Dalton would grow his out if I asked,” she said. Rune tried to picture the prince with waist length red hair and bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud at the thought.
Tess shook her head. “Ilya, that boy would do anything you asked him.”
“He is sweet,“ Ilya said.
“If only it were a family trait,” Masakari grumbled, showing the first sign she had been paying attention to more than her reading.
Farran laid a marble on the board and swiped three others. “Poor Masakari.” Rune eyed the board. Farran’s green marbles were beginning, as usual, to dominate the playing field. The best move he could make would only take out one of her pieces.
“Just how long did it take you to grow this?” Ilya asked, sliding the comb down his back.
“If you’re still thinking about Dalton, I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” he said. “I can’t even remember the last time I cut it.”
“Why go to the trouble of having so much of it when you never bother with it?” she asked, neatly dividing the hair to the left from the rest.
“I suppose I could cut it,” he said, as she started weaving it together. “The idea just never seemed right to me. It’s foolish, really, but I always heard it looked like my mother’s. There was a time I rather liked having a piece of her. Eventually I just kept it out of habit.”
“So is she…?”
He nodded, noticing that all eyes, even Masakari’s, were on him now.
“You know,” Tess said. “We carry on and on about our lives and we never hear anything of yours. What was your mother like?”
Rune frowned. “That’s not the question to ask if you really want to find anything out about me. I wish I knew the answer to it myself.” The tugging at his temple ceased as Ilya paused in her task. “You don’t all need to look at me like that,” he said. “It’s not as if I ever knew what I was missing. I never met the woman.”
“How…?” Ilya started.
“I… When I was born, she…” Maybe their concern was appropriate after all. He’d never had to put it into words before. He hadn’t thought it would be such a difficult task. Feeling it to be suddenly rather tight, he cleared his throat. “I know that I look like her. Gods know I certainly don’t take after my father.” He smiled slightly at the thought of presenting them with the strapping blacksmith and trying to convince them the man was any relation at all. “And I know he loved her, and he missed her. He still does.”
Ilya let the hair she had been working on drop and put her arms around his shoulders. “Really,” he said, patting her arm. “I’m fine.”
“What of your father, then?” she asked, returning to weaving his hair.
“I suppose he’s doing alright,” he said, scooping up a handful of the red marbles from the floor. “Maybe a little more lonely and a little less well fed without me. But I’m sure he manages. He never knew what to make of me, and I guess I never really knew what to make of him either, but we took care of each other well enough.” He stared at the marbles as he passed them from hand to hand rather than look at any of his friends.
“It was always just the two of us. We had a nice little house off the smithy, with my mother’s gardens all around, but I spent most of my time at the inn. I don’t know how he felt about that, since it was his father’s shop before it was his, but I think we both knew pretty early I was better suited to a kitchen than a forge. And I’d have been laughed at if I even considered work in the mine.”
“Mine?” Masakari’s sudden interest drew his attention. “I found you in the Durnan province.”
Rune laughed. “You didn’t think I spent my whole life in a temple in the woods, did you?”
“Well, no,” she said, still looking puzzled. “But you were halfway across the country from the mountains. That is quite a distance to have traveled.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps. But not so much when you’re running away.”
Ilya paused again. Her hands were nearing the end of his hair and he could feel the weight of it shifted to the left where she had been working. “From what?” she said.
This was another thing he’d never put words to. Somehow no one had ever asked. If the old hermit felt the need to take in a boy from nowhere, it was hardly the strangest thing he’d ever done. And when Rune proved himself useful in unexpected ways, they made a point not to question it. He felt more at home now than he had in ages. If there was ever a time he was among people he could confide in, this was it. Still, it was difficult even to think of that day, much less speak it.
“I… well, I saved someone,” he said. “And I learned I could heal. And then…” He took a deep breath and forced himself to continue. “I saved someone else. And I… I learned I could hurt too.” He was staring at the marbles in his palm again, but his vision blurred and he was no longer seeing the red balls of glass, but a body instead. The room was silent, save the crackling of the fire, and in his mind he could hear Tish’s accusations as clearly as if she stood beside him.
A pair of arms encircled him, and he released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as the memory slipped away. “See?” he said, collecting himself enough to look around the room to his friends’ faces. “This is why you don’t get much out of me.” Even Masakari looked concerned.
“Weren’t we playing a game here?” he said to Tess and Farran. “And weren’t you playing with my hair?” He gave Ilya’s arm a pat and she, somewhat reluctantly, relinquished her hold on him.
Tess offered a reassuring smile and placed a marble on the board. Farran carelessly took her turn, leaving herself open to losing nearly half her pieces when his came.
Ilya pulled a blue ribbon from her pile to tie off her work. Masakari smiled and shook her head. Tess and Farran grinned. Though they’d all been staring at him, they were paying too much attention to his words to notice what Ilya was doing. Having secured it, she dropped the braid over his shoulder, where it hung from his left temple down across his chest, trailing a pale blue ribbon into his lap.
Rune looked from the braid to Masakari, who wore hers, as usual, in a similar fashion, to Tess and Farran’s smiling faces, and chuckled. “Ribbons or not,” Farran said, “You will find yourself in trouble if you call that look embarrassing.”
Masakari frowned. “All the same, I would not wear it in public if I were you.”
Ilya scowled at her. “Why not? He is one of us, is he not?” Masakari sighed. “The only reason anyone has to contest it is that you let them.”
“You don’t need to fight over it, “ Rune said. “I hardly have the patience to go to the trouble myself. I do appreciate it though,” he told Ilya. “Ribbons and all.”
He looked over the braid, secretly thinking it just might be worth the trouble now and then. He was one of them after all, and he’d never felt such satisfaction as knowing that he had somewhere to belong.