Stavanger Bay as if anyone could wait for you

velen had left the borders not long before dawn, and returned with a bouquet of wildflowers and a pretty green stone he had found beneath the snow in a meadow. @Dalia liked rocks, and though velen really couldn't tell one from the other beyond colour, he wanted to make her happy.
tucking the stone into his cheek like a giant chipmunk kept it safe, but his flowers fared more poorly: a great gust of wind rose, tearing away the heads of several. and when velen ducked to the earth to protect the remaining few, the subsequent thud of the flowers against the earth ended a few more of the pretty things.
when the boy finally arrived at dalia's den, he wore a windblown pelt, a bulging cheek, and bore a single creamy flower with a yellow center. he had looked hard for them, finding the blossoms along little outcroppings here and there, but she would never know; he could only hope she would accept his most pathetic offering.