#lihn adri

[bumblekits]

Here's a redraw of a very old collection of doodles I once made about how I picture the Lihn's in my head

[queenlilliana1]

A possible first chapter for a Fantasy AU, what do you think?

Chapter 1:

The fire was hot against Cinder’s face as she held the short blade inside of it. She pulled it out and placed it on the anvil, beating it into shape. It would be a small lady’s dagger when she was done with it, almost entirely ornamental. She plunged the metal in a tub of water to cool it when it was shaped to her liking. 

The square was, allegedly, the biggest in all of the Kingdom of the Commonwealth, full of shops and bakeries catering to the nobility and peasants alike. Cinder’s Smith was in between a shop that sells wards against witches, which Cinder knows are not even enchanted against anything, and a travel supply store. Both shopkeepers claim the smell of iron and fire loses them customers, but Cinder knew the smell of the Bakery across the square was more than enough to disuse the smell. They really just don’t like their shops being next to her’s. She didn’t blame them, she was cursed. The markings swirled up from the fingers of her left hand to her wrist and up her left leg to her mid- thigh. The other shopkeepers fear that it will rub off on them from her proximity. 

As Cinder dried the blade she heard the sound of children playing outside:

Ring around the rosy

a pocket full of posey

Ashes, ashes

We all fall down!

The children fall to the ground laughing as if their nursery rhyme is not about the deadly disease that is sweeping across the kingdom. One of the children, the son of the Baker, is called over by his mother. The woman pulls him in, checking his hands for any sign of a curse. 

“It’s not like curses are contagious,” Cinder muttered to her empty smith. They weren't, with no witch to spread it at least.

Her curse is not the worst she had heard of by any means, some are cursed to feel constant pain when they walk, slowly turn to wood, or have eternally bad luck. Her curse was never finished, her curse was meant to kill her, but it never spread to her heart before she was rescued. Cinder now was left unable to cry, unable to change temperature, and sometimes she just knew things, like the dead were whispering in her ear. It was like she had dipped her foot, well a leg and a hand, into the world of the dead, she was just a little dead. Adri would say she’s dead inside too. It was rare to see the cursed outside of the border towns, witches rarely came far enough out of Luna to attack the capital. That’s where her stepfather had adopted her from, nobody knew who her parents were or where she came from after she had lost her memories falling from a tree when she was 11, and nobody wanted to take in a cursed child, thinking her parents had abandoned her. Except Garren Lihn, a witch hunter that was in the area at the time. 

Cinder tied her hair back with a leather cord and reached down to grab a fallen tool under her counter.

Thud.

Cinder jerked up, smacking her head on the edge of the counter. Pulling herself up, she scowled at the battered sword now sitting on the counter, then up at the boy who set it there. Copper eyes were smiling at her apologetically, “Sorry, I didn’t realize there was anyone back there.”

As he reached up to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly, Cinder realized who she was looking at. The illustrations she had seen of him in town failed to capture how enchanting his eyes were, but his hair that hung just passed his ears and striking smile could only belong to one person, hidden under a gray cotton cloak.

“Your Highness,” She stammered, bowing. She subtly checked to make sure her gloves were on right. 

Prince Kaito flinched and looked around before hunching toward her, “Maybe,” he pressed a finger over his lips in a shushing motion, “On the Highness stuff.”

Wide-eyes, Cinder forced a shaky nod, “Of course. How can I um….” The words stick like paste to her tongue.

“I’m looking for the blacksmith, Cinder Lihn,” The Prince glances around her smith, “Is he around.”

Slightly offended, she crosses her arms, “I’m Cinder Lihn, the blacksmith.”

“Your Cinder Lihn?” 

“Were you wanting to replace the blade on your sword?” She was avoiding eye contact by staring straight at his chest. 

The prince bent down. Craning his neck so she had no choice but to meet his eyes, and shot her a grin, she screems inside. 

He straightens, her gaze following him, “Your not what I was expecting, I was expecting, I wasn’t expecting-.”

“A girl?” Her gaze is accusatory, she gets it a lot. Women are seamstresses or bakers, not blacksmiths.

“I was expecting an old man, they say you’re the best blacksmith in the capital, one would think it takes a long time to garner that kind of skill,” he leans one hand on her table, shifting forward, inspecting her, “I was actually hoping to get the blade replaced on this though.”

“Any enchantments?” She gingerly picks up the sword, inspecting the damaged metal.

“Just on the hilt, amplifies the voice of the user, when they say the activation word.”

“To carry commands in battle?” Cinder guessed examining the ornate hilt.

Kaito nods, “It’s mostly ornamental now, I was hoping to bring it to the ball.”

“You need it by the ball?” The ball was less than two weeks away and she had a long line of clients, she had been telling clients it was at least a three week wait all day.

“I know you probably have longer waitlists than that, but I was maybe hoping for some royal treatment,” He smiles hopefully at her.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Cinder says.

Suddenly a small child with deep brown skin and dark braided hair comes dashing around the corner to the Smith, “Cinder! I was able to get the shopkeeper down to just 6 copper pieces!” 

The child, Iko, is holding up a pair of lightweight cotton gloves. Iko, like Cinder, had been cursed. She had been cursed to remain in the body of a child as long as she shall live. She was a servant for the Lihn family in exchange for food and shelter. She was older than Cinder by five, maybe six years.

“Thank you Iko,” Cinder pulls open the small wooden door, letting her in.

“Should I get started on polishing Lord Nguyen’s knives?” Iko asks Cinder.

“Not right now, pay your respects to our customer,” Cinder flourishes a hand toward Prince Kaito, “His Royal Highness.”

“Prince Kai!” Iko beams at him, “My stars, you're even more handsome in person!” 

“That’s enough Iko,” Cinder tells her, mildly-embarrassed.

“Do you need payment up front?” The prince begins to reach for a bag on his belt.

“I take payment after completion,” Cinder runs her hands down the front of her skirt, smearing soot over the apron she’s wearing.

“Perfect! Sent a letter to the castle, or bring it to the palace, or will you be here next weekend?”

“We’re here all market days, your highness,” Iko pipes up next to Cinder.

“I can stop by then?” He asks.

“You don’t need to-“ Cinder flinches.

“It will be my pleasure,” The prince pulls the hood of his cloak, which must be miserable on such a hot day, up over his head before he turns and leaves.

[a-salting-the-world]

Adri: Do you think I’m a bad mother, Ash?

Cinder: My name is Cinder!

[whimsicalbees]

Lihn girls.

[libralita]

Adri and Pearl? Oh my god. Levana is cruel.