My Warden (COMPLETED)

Howls

Slamming back and forth like a flag caught in a hurricane, the front door barely had time to rest upon its hinges before another person tossed it open. Everyone raced from the front of the house to the back, dropping off things or shouting for people to come help. Lana watched it all from her chair, uncertain what strange things were about to happen. Safe in her fingers sat a mask carved from thin wood. With an elongated nose and pointed ears it reminded her a bit of a bat or other terrifying creature of the night. It would look as out of place at an Orlesian ball as denizens of Halamshiral would on the farm, though she'd pay good sovereigns to see the latter happen.

Cullen kept up with the cavalcade, chasing after children draped in furs that belonged with deepest winter not the autumn chill working across the tamed farmland. They wore their own bat/creature masks, each of a different design but with the same snout and sharp ears look. One of Mia's girls kept pausing in front of a mirror to grin madly, showing off the 'teeth in a box.' Two real fangs, most likely from a wolf or bear, distended off wires she shaped against her own real teeth giving the eleven year old the jarring look of a blood thirty monster out of legend.

Every once in awhile, her husband would stop, make certain she was okay, and then be beset upon once again by ecstatic children. He'd shrug at their cries for help at tying off masks and fur cloaks, always insisting he double knotted them for safety. For a brief moment, Cullen ran his fingers over the back of Lana's chair, his lips glancing near her ear so he could whisper, "Very grateful I can return them to their parents. Yes? I can help with that."

The latter was shouted out the door before he slipped back to being the helpful uncle, but Lana ran her fingers down his before he got too far. She smiled at the erratic preparations, but was no closer to an explanation beyond something was about to take place. As time ticked by, silence swept across the indigo bathed land, but a bubbling excitement swarmed over the families. It was Mia who came for her first. She had her own mask strapped on, this one decorated with swatches of real white and tan fur. So, probably not a bat.

"It's about to start. Are you good to go?" she asked, pausing before the resting woman.

Lana bent over to unearth her cane. For a brief moment, her fingers glanced over Cullen's carving under the handle before she looked up at Mia. "I am, assuming I have any idea what's about to occur."

A noise scattered from the hall and Cullen prodded his head into the sitting room. "Love, it's about to...what?" He caught Mia's mile long stare eying him up.

"You didn't tell her?" she folded her arms over her bosom that was amplified from stacks of furs tossed across her shoulders.

"I was going to, eventually, but then there were the issues with the kindling, and the rocks and...do not try that look upon me. Hundreds of soldiers and templars have failed at such an endeavor."

"But those soldiers and templars didn't know about the time you ripped off your nappy and ran stark naked through the--"

"All right, all right!" Cullen threw up his hands, a bright blush burning across his cheeks. "I am well chastised, please stop." His wounded eyes turned from his sister to Lana, and she could only shrug. After rubbing the nape of his neck, he extended a hand to her. She shifted her cane to the other side and took it, caressing the back of his hand with her thumb.

Mia smirked at her win, then she eyed up Lana. "Maker's breath, is that flimsy dress all you have to wear?"

"I, uh, there are other clothes left back in the..." she began to point in the direction of their belongings in a shared room, but Mia waved her hands.