Barrow Fields My skin, my soul, my finest jewels

@Stjornuati

This place at least reminded her of home, of the giant fields that ran parallel to the vale, her home. The wide open meadow made her giddy, and the adventurous young girl ran full tilt into the chilly wind. A bright smile on her face and her laughter echoed around her.

And just as quickly as the feeling came….. the happiness and excitement vanished. For she was still alone. She remembered playing, just like this, with her brother and sister only a few months ago. A now… now she was reminded of the absence. And that of her whole family. Mom, Dad, Haruki, Hotaru… everyone from the Empire.

Her pale white fur stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of the soggy field. Her legs were splattered in mud and muck, but she didn’t care. The princess just stood there, staring up at the sky, the sun beating down on her. Daring her to smile.

The meadow beyond their Watch was a thing the pale man had not yet explored to its fullest extent. All his passings through and while he had noted a thing or two during his travels, Stjornuati's knowledge on the location was lacking. This, he knew, was foolish of him and so sought to strike it from the list of items scrawled in some cryptic font inked across the worn papyrus. If the decision was made for them to well and truly settle under the watchful eye of the raven's, it would serve useful for them to know the lay of the lands that surrounded them.

Carefully, he picked his way along the muck, side stepping sections of the earth that seemed less than firm. Hoof prints here and there told the man a tale of prey, informed him that these lands held value, held secrets that the would help them survive the harsher times if sussed out. Such extraction of information would require more in depth investigation rather than the initial sweep the stareater was conducting in the present time, far more distracted by the one thing that he should have come to expect but could not yet wrap his head around.

A child, not yet a yearling by the smell, wandering, lost, alone. Such a discovery incensed the man, his ire for inept parents growing to be as vast and deep as the sea that rode the coast so close. The sheer level of incompetence that it took to lose a child was unfathomable to the man draped in creams and golds and knowing this, he had half a mind to collect the children he found to the Watch and keep them there, sit on them as though he were a dragon and they his treasure. Children needed protection and wandering alone, this child certainly did not have that.

His approach slowed when he finally spotted her, standing there as though a child left in the store, waiting for their mother to sweep them up into her arms and rescue them. Sá litli, you are lost? Mother? Father? His voice was careful, gentle, and he gave her a berth of many feet. After the situation of Legion's children out where they should not be, Stjornuati did not want to startle or scare her. I can help find, He would offer gently, the plight of yet another lost child warming that so frozen heart.

Despite the gentle tone of his voice, it still startled the girl. Mostly because she hadn’t expected it. Turning quickly in his direction, Sumi stared up at the man. Her eyes grew into large saucers and her jaw fell open slightly. She wasn’t used to meetings strangers on her own. But she was a PRINCESS! She could do anything she pleased.

”No!” She answered impulsively. ”I’m not lost. My parents are dead.” Of course she didn’t really know what that meant. But that’s what she had been told, and she hadn’t seen her parents since. She didn’t need them. They always kept her from fun anyway! (we just won’t talk about those pent up emotions yet….)

”I’m just fine on my own.” She puffed out her chest slightly, and raised her head. Daring the man to prove her wrong. When suddenly…. Her stomach growled. It had been days since she had eaten. Her feeble attempts at hunting had left her with nothing in her stomach. Embarrassed the girl sat down, and crossed her paws in front of her. As if to cover the sound, and pretend like it never happened.

The outburst both startled the man and made him curious, his ears switching back against his head for a moment as if to show that he had not expected the girl to yell. He hadn't, of course, but there was nothing more he appreciated than a little spýtaeld. They were the kind of women that could stick up for themselves, as she did, though her yelling did little to turn the Nordic away. With her parents dead, there was no one left to care for the babe, something he assumed by the lack of guardian hanging around to ward him off.

The rumble of an empty stomach contradicted the words, the lie, that fell from her tongue, But perhaps it was not a lie, perhaps it was some bent and broken form of the truth; she was here, she was alive, thriving, and even running on empty she still had enough hjartahlýja when confronted with a stranger. Had she been closer to a pack, Stjornuati might be inclined to take her there, but for now, he would do what he could to see to the child. As much as she'd allow him, anyway.

You hunger? Rabbit, bird, fish? What you hunger for? This one will hunt.

She quirked her head to the side in a curious way. He talks funny. She thought, but didn't dare speak it. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Sumi did know what was polite and what was impolite. And this man had offered to feed her. Should shouldn't be rude to someone being nice to her. She suddenly felt guilty for yelling. Why is this so hard? The girl thought, casting a now guilty gaze on the man. But she was hopeful, because she was starving. And her stomach growled once again to prove the point. Sumi nodded her head softly, "Would you really feed me?" She asked, giving him the once over.

Her deep violet eyes scanned his pale outline, he looked similar to her and her whole family. Maybe he knew one of them and where they all went. Surely they hadn't forgotten about her right? And where were Hotaru and Haruki? Once again she was reminded of how a lone she felt.

Were children valued so little in these lands that none had gathered this one to their bosom after such a tragic loss? The more he ruminated upon the idea, the stronger his displeasure burned; not with the little one in front of him but with the ones that had failed her, the ones that had not fought hard enough to protect her. Tragic though their deaths were, Stjornuati cast his judgment upon them. If this had been his child, he'd have fought tooth and claw, he'd have made sure there was someone to take care of her if something should happen to him, he...

Internal diatribe ceased, peering at the young girl with a livered colored gaze, thinking, wondering, deciding. Ja, He answerred firmly, bobbing his head to accompany his answer. This one will feed you. You come? The invitation was made as he turned slightly, his intention to lead her closer to the Watch. You have name, sá litli? This one is Stjor.

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