A Homecoming (Of sorts)
Elwryn sighed. The queue outside the train station in Barton was always long, but this was getting ridiculous. Shielding her eyes against the sun, she looked up at the sky. It was dark...about to rain, apparently. But she might have time. She'd known going to town would be a hassle, but today it had been unusually so, the cold weather forcing her to don her thick, cumbersome faux fur coat and boots, while the constant threat of poorer weather ahead instilled a strange sense of gloom wherever she went. And now, when she was finally ready to go home, the train had been delayed due to rumors of ice on the tracks ahead.
She glanced back to the line once more. Not going anywhere soon, she thought, and nodded to herself, turning away and taking an alternate route, alongside the tracks but away from the trappings of civilization. She hummed to herself as she walked, a solitary figure in dark brown sporting a bright head of close-cropped blond hair disappearing in the weedy bramble of the horizon.
...
A long, chilly hour later, she could see the sparkling lights of her aunt Penelope (Peep for short)'s neighborhood ahead. She quickened her pace, when a wail cut through the sudden, dreary silence she'd trudged through all evening.
She cocked her head to the side and considered it's course. An unusually dense thicket of brambles dangerously close to the track shivered slightly, and a warm breeze suddenly blew past her, rustling the leaves around her.
She was shocked as she recognized the tangy scent it had left behind. Sea salt? she was interrupted from her musings as the cry was repeated, this time noticably weaker.
Elle trudged forward, abandoning the coat to the briar patch before her as she wormed her way through.
In it's center, a tiny child squirmed helplessly. It's lips were blue with cold, but the air around it somehow seemed...brighter. She seemed to be wrapped in what appeared to be the remains of a sail, and a golden tiara incircled her wild, red hair.
Elle hastened to gather up the pitiful thing, ripping what remained of her coat free of the branches around them and wrapping it around the struggling baby.
The light abruptly dimmed, and she shivered in the sudden cold that assaulted her. She could feel something dark, something...considering her?
The moment passed however. Elle, looking to the sky, noted the hour with a curse and, after a brief search for any sign of where the child might have come from, she abandoned her position, trotting quickly toward the welcoming lights of home.
Elwryn sighed. The queue outside the train station in Barton was always long, but this was getting ridiculous. Shielding her eyes against the sun, she looked up at the sky. It was dark...about to rain, apparently. But she might have time. She'd known going to town would be a hassle, but today it had been unusually so, the cold weather forcing her to don her thick, cumbersome faux fur coat and boots, while the constant threat of poorer weather ahead instilled a strange sense of gloom wherever she went. And now, when she was finally ready to go home, the train had been delayed due to rumors of ice on the tracks ahead.
She glanced back to the line once more. Not going anywhere soon, she thought, and nodded to herself, turning away and taking an alternate route, alongside the tracks but away from the trappings of civilization. She hummed to herself as she walked, a solitary figure in dark brown sporting a bright head of close-cropped blond hair disappearing in the weedy bramble of the horizon.
...
A long, chilly hour later, she could see the sparkling lights of her aunt Penelope (Peep for short)'s neighborhood ahead. She quickened her pace, when a wail cut through the sudden, dreary silence she'd trudged through all evening.
She cocked her head to the side and considered it's course. An unusually dense thicket of brambles dangerously close to the track shivered slightly, and a warm breeze suddenly blew past her, rustling the leaves around her.
She was shocked as she recognized the tangy scent it had left behind. Sea salt? she was interrupted from her musings as the cry was repeated, this time noticably weaker.
Elle trudged forward, abandoning the coat to the briar patch before her as she wormed her way through.
In it's center, a tiny child squirmed helplessly. It's lips were blue with cold, but the air around it somehow seemed...brighter. She seemed to be wrapped in what appeared to be the remains of a sail, and a golden tiara incircled her wild, red hair.
Elle hastened to gather up the pitiful thing, ripping what remained of her coat free of the branches around them and wrapping it around the struggling baby.
The light abruptly dimmed, and she shivered in the sudden cold that assaulted her. She could feel something dark, something...considering her?
The moment passed however. Elle, looking to the sky, noted the hour with a curse and, after a brief search for any sign of where the child might have come from, she abandoned her position, trotting quickly toward the welcoming lights of home.
