ARISE
Snakes among sweet flowers do creep
Is she taken by surprise? Of course she is. She watches the black stallion carefully and listens closely as he speaks. Perhaps it is lucky that Grice wakes, blasting crude good mornings to her. She tries to shush him, his outburst most inopportune, and luckily this time he listens. Perhaps it is the way she stands there, unmoving, her eyes fixed on something ahead. Maybe it was because she did not return fire with cold words of her own. Either way, for whatever reason, he came to her and that was all that mattered. She is not surprised to find him already speaking, holding her breath for the words to leave his mouth. He usually managed to say something stupid, something to ruin it for them both. He is relatively collected this time though she can see the tensing of his muscles, the same way hers did now. Her legs idled, ready to burn the energy they gathered.
He tells them they are looking for someone, she isn’t sure she would have done the same, but the apology. She agrees with that, offering her brother a regretful look. It was her fault they had taken anything, she was just so damn hungry. The stranger doesn’t seem angry with them, she’s about to ask his name when someone else parts the clearing. Another girl, a woman more or less to Arise. She was older anyways, a bit unsettling too. Those eyes, orange as fire light against her black coat. She asks or rather confirms his calling ‘Fennick’, she is ‘Thorrun’ she says.
Grice is already peacocking, trying his best to look handsome, he looks ridiculous she thinks. Dramatically she rolls her eyes, he was such an idiot, far too young for this one. Far too young to be handsome or sought after, they had barely seen their first year, hadn’t even grown into their awkward bodies.
They are invited to stay and eat, welcome to it. Arise tilts her head slightly for a moment in consideration, that was odd, this is new. “May we?” she says skeptically, waiting for him to take it back, for this to be a trick. When he doesn’t she calmly gives their names, “I’m Arise, this is Grice.”