the risk it takes to blossom; fennick, hestia + any

[Fennick]

Fennick was not in the habit of making children cry. He couldn’t actually remember ever having done so. Luckily, this jungle princess didn’t seem likely to break down in tears. The jungle had taught her well, it made her a fighter. Again, Fennick couldn’t help but feeling like he had made the right choice. Underhanded and sneaky as it was.

If he was being honest, and if he was trying to find a good excuse of his actions, he would say that this little visit would benefit both their kingdoms. The Valley could learn from Anguisette, and if Anguisette learned something from them, all the better.

Fennick had been waiting for her. He’d figured she would want an escort across the fire wall. For a moment the black stallion looked up at it skeptically. He wasn’t even sure he and Gallows would keep the damn thing. It was a near constant pain in his ass, but it did have his uses. With more joviality than Fennick felt, he stuck his head through the curtain of flame.

“You can come in you know. You’re a guest, the flame won’t burn you, and I can’t pretend to stand on the dignity your mother manages.” No, pretending to be as intimidating as the Amazon queen would be a complete waste of time. His size alone, might make Fennick intimating, and his propensity to hit things rather than talk to them. There was something about him, however, a strange boyishness that undercut all of that. Nobody had ever called him intimidating, and if they had, Fennick hadn’t been around to hear them.

Fennick cast a look at Anguisette, and wondered if she was so very miserable. Next, he wondered what he would even do about it if she was. He certainly couldn’t send Gallows over to cheer her up. That would be an utter disaster. These days Fennick had very few kind thoughts to spare his co ruler. His grievances were perhaps all in his head, but he held her solely responsible for the uncomfortable position he found himself in. That position, namely, being king. Still, his pride and sense of duty wouldn’t allow him to admit that out loud. So no, he refused to believe that Gallows could cheer anyone up. But maybe her daughter? Or perhaps Hestia? She had grown up in the Amazons, once upon a time, perhaps she could ease a little of the homesickness Anguisette might feel.