#i'm not done with the okayest soldier joke

[funniestbitchinfaerun]

Halsin Gives a Five-Star Review

Soooooo... a while back I promised to write something relating to this interaction as a reward/punishment for getting 100 followers on this blog....

and after an exhausting couple of weeks at work I have FINALLY produced something! featuring two best boys (Halsin and Thaniel) discussing one best girl (my tav Kestrel, Selune's okayest soldier).

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It was probably wishful thinking on Halsin’s part, but the shadows seemed lesser somehow, as though they knew they would soon be gone. There was still much to do, but for the first time in countless years, he felt a glimmer of hope.

Beside him, a small not-quite-child stirred and stretched, awkwardly pulling himself up into a sitting position. Dark green eyes darted about the camp in suspicion.

“Am I awake?” Thaniel asked quietly.

“Awake, and in better health than I could have dreamed of. The Shadowfell is long behind you, I swear.” The boy still looked confused, and Halsin eyed him with concern. “What do you remember?”

Thaniel screwed up his eyes in concentration. “I remember…light. More light than I’d seen in a century. And then you, of course, and some woman with orangey hair, who cast a healing spell on us. Who was that?”

“Her name is Kestrel,” Halsin replied. Even saying her name sent a rush of warmth through his veins. “A cleric of Selûne, and a very brave soul. She and her friends risked their lives defending the portal I opened to save you.”

“Why?”

Why, indeed? The question had occurred to Halsin plenty of times, and he still wasn’t sure he had an answer. There were strategic reasons, of course–defeating Ketheric and ending the curse would make finding a cure that much easier–but none of them quite rang true.

“She helped,” he began slowly, “because she had to. Or rather, I don’t think she realized she could refuse. I’ve never seen her turn down a friend when they ask for help, no matter how badly it might backfire.”

A wry smile flickered across Thaniel’s face. “That reminds me of an old friend.”

“A flattering comparison, though perhaps giving me too much credit. She’s made more progress in a few days than I made in a hundred years, all while suffering from a deadly brain parasite.”

Thaniel tilted his head. “You love her,” he said simply.

Heat rushed to his cheeks, like some love-struck adolescent. “Well, of course I love her. She’s become a very dear friend.”

“That is not,” Thaniel said sternly, “what I meant.”

Halsin cast an instinctive glance toward the campfire, where Kestrel sat on a log next to Wyll, both of them giggling over a worn red-covered book. The firelight illuminated her autumn-leaf hair and lent a golden cast to her skin. Perhaps it was his desire-addled imagination, but she seemed to almost glow with warmth, like a living moon lantern. 

“No,” he said at last. “I suppose you’re right.”