❦(LᴏᴋɪxAsɢᴀʀᴅɪᴀɴ!Rᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ)❦
(Y/n) was abandoned at a young age, being forced to live on the streets, and steal the most basic of resources to survive.
She made a point to stay as far away from the royal gates to the palace of Asgard, but wh...
That was four years ago. Faline is eleven now, and I have given up on finding her parents. In truth, I did plan to return her, after getting my use out of her, but she's grown on me.
After I took her in, it didn't take me long to figure out that she was an excellent tool, always willing to help out. She could get into places that I couldn't, and still can't. Not to mention that every shop owner is willing to feed a hungry little girl's mouth.
Today was a little different than all of the rest. Today, on as sunny Tuesday afternoon, no vendors were set up, in fact, there was not a face to be seen within the plaza of the city.
"Is there anyone here?" Faline tugged on my hand that was clutching hers.
"No....it's....deserted." I looked around at the houses lining the empty booths, and all of the shutters were drawn, not even a lamp was lit.
A bright white parchment caught my eye, and I made my way over to the fountain in the middle of the square, that usually had water spewing out of it, but today it was bone dry.
I examined the paper, deciphering words that I could understand.
I squinted at the paper, a lot of the words I was unable to understand. Not having grown up wirh enough money for schooling, I was quite illiterate. But I knew for a fact that this could mean nothing good.
"What's going on, Sibb(1)?" Faline's voice seemed nervous d she squeezed my hand.
"Nothing. We're going to look for some food, and then we're going back home." My eyes shifted around, looking for any sort of sign that any life still existed here.
*****
After opening all unlocked doors and windows, we ended up with no more than a quarter of a loaf of stale bread, and a couple of tomatoes that the moldy parts could be cut out of.
I led Bezos through the countryside with Faline on his back. It looks like food is going to be scarcer than ever, and I don't want the old horse to work up an appetite from carrying two people.
We finally reached our comfortable home, with the tree still standing, and a few of the boards rotted, but still home none the less. I helped Faline down, and tied Bezos to a board sticking out of the ground, feeling anxious that someone might try to steal him.
I ushered Faline up the ladder, her pace quick, as she had memorized the layout. She may be blind, but she can see better than anyone I know. Since she's missing a sense, she makes up for it with all of her other senses being more capable than mine. She can hear a farmer cutting down the harvest of corn over the clopping of Bezos' hooves, and can smell the market before it even comes into sight.
I set out our rations and wrapped them in cheese cloth, giving Faline a small chunk of bread before I put them away in a makeshift cabinet. It was rickety, but it was off the ground enough to keep mice out of it.
The ride back home was long, and the sun was already making its decent across the horizon. I stay leaned against the hole of a window, watching the sunset when Faline spoke up from her corner of the 'house'. She was busy feeling her way around a murex(2) shell that she had found while we were walking the beach one day. Well, I actually found it, I stepped on it and yowled, and she was brave enough to pick it up and keep the damn thing.
"Yes?" I hummed in her direction.
"Can you tell me about the sky?" Her face looked wistful as she spoke, looking up to the hole-filled roof.
Whenever Faline wanted me to describe something to her, she always asked me to, 'tell' her about it. She claimed that I was extraordinary at painting pictures with words.
"It's sunset. Near the horizon, it's the prettiest color of vermillion, that's an orange-red color. It fades into a dark orange, almost rust, and each shade gets lighter, until it blends into a pastel purple, then it blends into the dark night sky. A few stars are starting to make an appearance now, and only the sun's forehead is visible." I spoke smoothly as I watched her face as I spoke, my back to the window.
Outside the real window, clouds were starting to form, but I didn't want to break this spell of peacefulness. And Faline hated rain.
"I didn't know that the sun had a forehead!" She exclaimed as she giggled, her face slighting up as she grinned.
Her dark, almost black hair cascaded down her back, almost to her bottom, and her clouded eyes were sparkling. She had tan skin, with many dainty features that made her the prettiest little girl that I'd ever seen.
"Oh, yes. The sun does too have a forehead, along with a face, just like you and me." By now I had made my way to sit Indian style right in front of her, I had no doubt that she felt my presence. "It smiles down on us everyday, and he gets sad when the clouds come 'round, because he can't see us anymore." We both smiled at the fairytale I'd made up.
She knew that the sun didn't have a face, and she knew that I told her it did. We both knew that the sun was just a bright, flaming star, but it brought us a little bit of bliss and something to lighten our spirits when we felt down.
'I wish the sun would frown! It's hot!' (Hiking through the village after eating)
'The sun smiles once again.' (After a particular violent rainstorm that ripped a couple of boards from the house.)
'Do you think the sun smiles at us?' (When we lay in the grass, me telling her about the different shapes of clouds)
She always pretended as if she didn't know that the sun had a face in our little fantasy world, just so that she could hear my reasoning behind it, once again. At least that's what I think.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) Sibb is the Norse word for kinship, (Y/n) and Faline see each other as siblings
(2) This is a Murex shell
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