Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day, be you single or otherwise! In celebration, here's a short story.
A Moment's Peace
The typically inhospitable Skandian weather had vanished in the last couple of days, leaving behind nothing but clear blue skies, a few fluffy white clouds, and just enough wind to make sailing fun. Most of the inhabitants of Hallasholm had decided to take advantage of the nice weather, and the Herons were no exception.
Hal was, predictably, down at the docks with his Heron, accompanied by Edvin and Stig. Stefan and the twins had joined up with a few of the Wolves and were causing just enough chaos to make things interesting, while Jesper was nowhere to be found. Thorn, meanwhile, was helping around Karina's eating house after Hal had politely insisted that no, he didn't need Thorn's help with the Heron, thanks, Stig would be there after all, but his mam could probably use some help with the eating house...
Thorn had not offered much resistance to that argument.
This left Lydia and Ingvar without much of anything to do. Normally, Ingvar would also be assisting Hal with the Heron, but Hal had been working with small details lately (such as finally putting reef points on both sails), and that wasn't really Ingvar's field of expertise. So Ingvar and Lydia ended up sitting on the cliffs overlooking the ocean, doing nothing more productive than talking.
"Favorite color, then?"
"Mm...blue. Or gray," she frowned. "Blue-gray, I suppose."
"Like the ocean," Ingvar supplied, and Lydia nodded gratefully.
"Yes, like the ocean. A bit cliché, I suppose."
Ingvar shrugged. "I wouldn't think so. Hal's always had a fondness for green."
"Green, really? I wouldn't have guessed."
"Hal's full of surprises."
"That he is," Lydia said dryly. "That he is. What about you, then?"
Ingvar hummed uncertainly. "I never really thought about it. I suppose..." he trailed off, and was silent for a few moments, seemingly studying her behind those spectacles of his.
"Brown," he decided finally.
"Brown?" Lydia repeated, surprised.
Ingvar nodded firmly. "Brown, he repeated." Incidentally, Lydia's eyes were also brown.
"Brown," she mused. "Mud-brown, or more bear fur-brown?"
Ingvar grinned. "Coffee brown."
Lydia laughed. "Coffee is always good," she agreed. "The more coffee, the better."
"An excellent policy to live by," Ingvar said. Lydia nodded, and the pair sat in comfortable silence, enjoying each other's presence and the momentary peace so rare in the Hal-fueled chaos they called life.
Eventually, Lydia sighed and made to stand. "We should probably start heading back," she said reluctantly.
Ingvar nodded and climbed to his feet as well. "It was nice while it lasted," he said - ever the optimist.
Lydia smiled. "That's true," she agreed. "We should - um," she stuttered, not having planned to start this sentence and now terribly uncertain about finishing it. But Ingvar just tilted his head and watched her patiently as she fumbled over her words before finally straightening them out into a viable conclusion to the sentence. "We should do this again...sometime."
Ingvar's face split into a smile. "That would be nice," he agreed, and Lydia beamed.
Both of them returned to Hallasholm proper with lighter hearts than when they had left.