A/N: This is the first of a few short drabbles that I will be writing to help explain how I imagine Sarra and Weiryn first met. It will all focus on whatever equinox it is Weiryn visits the mortal realm on – I forget that part so please forgive me.
PAIRING: Sarra/Weiryn. Wootah!
RATING: I don't understand this new rating thing enough to rate here, so I will just say PG and fix the rating when it comes to.
DISCLAIMER: Any characters recognizable in this story don't belong to me, they are the property of Tamora Pierce and I mean no ill intent nor do I claim profit by writing about them here.
Six Years Old
When she first met him, she was only six years old.
It was her very first time in the forest without the company of her mother or father, and her first time alone outside the boundaries of the village and neighbouring homes. Here the trees grew tall and wild, the air was thick with the scent of earth, flowers and berries, and she restrained from skipping as she made her way down the sun bleached path, because she felt grown up.
There had been no noise of bandits over the past year so she felt confident as she strayed from her parents chosen course, turning deeper into the forest where her father had once showed her where the best berries grew. Although it was the equinox there was still work to be done, here in the bright early morning light. Her Da made prayers as he carved small totems out of wood, handing them to her friends in the village with a rarely seen smile as he wished all good luck in the next years bounty. Her Ma had cooked up several geese for the occasion, already roasting in the oven of their small cottage so that the air all around smelt warm and inviting.
As such, she could not help but hum as she plucked the firm berries from their homes, smiling as she anticipated the full day to come.
It was soon that she realised however, that she was not alone. Although the air still carried the sounds of the birds, of the wind rustling in the leaves and of her own soft breath there was something else, something humming like a bees buzz and tingling through her skin before the sound even reached her ears.
Crawling deeper into the forest, the sun above dwindling further and further as the trees grew closer and closer still, she followed the strange sensation, and fought her very hardest not to gasp when she at last laid eyes on the source.
He was tall, much taller than any of the men she had ever seen in the village, and much taller than she thought her own father could ever think to grow. He wore less clothing than the men in the village also, dressed only in loincloth that exposed more skin than her mother would have ever liked her seeing. And oh! His skin. Tan brown swirled with streak of green; they glittered like patches of moss in the rare rays of sunlight that seemed to fall in the darkness only for him. A mop of dark curly hair and he looked both regal and wild, something terrible and something wonderful all at once, and when the humming under her skin only got louder still she couldn't help this time the gasp that left her lips.
And when he turned, it was only to present her with the most gorgeous eyes she might ever have seen, a bold green that made the forest around him look weak and pathetic, and all at once she felt the knees give out from under as she fell to the ground.
Slowly, the humming under her skin abated, becoming a dull tingle in her fingertips. Her basket fell unheeded to her side, and she regained enough sense to worry about what her mother would say when she saw the dirt she had no doubt obtained on her best sundress.
"Here." A hand fell into her line of vision, plucking stray berries easily from her side and popping them back into her basket, and she relaxed, for no terrible monster of a man would be kind enough to her in such a way and then strike her down.
Briefly she met his eyes, just a fleeting second of blue on green, and then she too began to help gather them together, the work done twice as fast when they worked at it together.
When it was done she plucked one from the basket, the biggest and juiciest one that she could find, and smiling she gently took his hand and pressed it softly into his palm, his long green brown fingers curling over it hesitantly.
"Thank you," she had whispered quietly.