Post by naxensfancy on Jul 4, 2011 10:41:22 GMT 10
Title: Bright Flame, Light Fire
Rating: PG
Character: Gareth of Naxen (I)
Event: 400 Word Dash
Words: 400
Summary: The first spell a Naxen learns isn't always a useful one.
Gareth likes to make things burn.
It's the first real spell he learns, taught to him by his Gifted uncle. He uses it to light candles, then, when he gets better at it, the hearth. It's a useful spell, and he feels good about himself, very important, very grown-up. Father is so often away at Court, and this is one thing he can do so that his mother or the steward do not have to. His father has told him that he must be the man of the house, must take care of his mother and little Lianne, and he takes this responsibility very seriously.
There is more, though. Secretly, truly, what he likes most of all are the fires not confined by doors and wicks and fireplaces. He likes the wild, outside fires. He starts small, sticks and leaves promptly extinguished in a puff of steam. But his confidence grows, and he begins to make a game of it, creating the fires larger and larger, feeding them more and more, keeping the water further and further away.
He does this until one day the fire is a little too big, the water just a few too many steps away. It rips through dry grass, heading for the garden, and he tosses water and shouts spells, but it's going too fast and too far, and by the time he gets it out, it has completely consumed Lianne's favorite rosebush, the one she patiently waters, sneaking out despite the fact that she has been warned that the thorns will destroy her delicate lady's hands.
She comes outside to see what the commotion is about, all baby fat under her skirts, and her eyes fill with tears as she sees the wreckage. "Oh," she whispers, and there is such horror in her eyes as she looks to Gareth that she knows this is her first experience with betrayal. Her beloved brother, her knight in shining armor, has destroyed the thing she spent her time and care on, her representation of beauty and romance. She says nothing to him, just weeps with her hands pressed over her mouth.
He casts around about himself, but there is nothing he can do, no spell or trick to restore has been burnt. He's killed it, and as she lets him embrace her, he swears that he will never, never, start something he cannot control ever again.
Rating: PG
Character: Gareth of Naxen (I)
Event: 400 Word Dash
Words: 400
Summary: The first spell a Naxen learns isn't always a useful one.
Gareth likes to make things burn.
It's the first real spell he learns, taught to him by his Gifted uncle. He uses it to light candles, then, when he gets better at it, the hearth. It's a useful spell, and he feels good about himself, very important, very grown-up. Father is so often away at Court, and this is one thing he can do so that his mother or the steward do not have to. His father has told him that he must be the man of the house, must take care of his mother and little Lianne, and he takes this responsibility very seriously.
There is more, though. Secretly, truly, what he likes most of all are the fires not confined by doors and wicks and fireplaces. He likes the wild, outside fires. He starts small, sticks and leaves promptly extinguished in a puff of steam. But his confidence grows, and he begins to make a game of it, creating the fires larger and larger, feeding them more and more, keeping the water further and further away.
He does this until one day the fire is a little too big, the water just a few too many steps away. It rips through dry grass, heading for the garden, and he tosses water and shouts spells, but it's going too fast and too far, and by the time he gets it out, it has completely consumed Lianne's favorite rosebush, the one she patiently waters, sneaking out despite the fact that she has been warned that the thorns will destroy her delicate lady's hands.
She comes outside to see what the commotion is about, all baby fat under her skirts, and her eyes fill with tears as she sees the wreckage. "Oh," she whispers, and there is such horror in her eyes as she looks to Gareth that she knows this is her first experience with betrayal. Her beloved brother, her knight in shining armor, has destroyed the thing she spent her time and care on, her representation of beauty and romance. She says nothing to him, just weeps with her hands pressed over her mouth.
He casts around about himself, but there is nothing he can do, no spell or trick to restore has been burnt. He's killed it, and as she lets him embrace her, he swears that he will never, never, start something he cannot control ever again.