Dawn woke up early, as usual. After changing into her usual shirt and pants and refreshing, she prepared tea and crept toward Gale's room, only to find it empty. The bedding lay completely unattended, with not even a single crease on it.
Thinking he was already awake, she spread her awareness to find him. Her spiritual sense picked up on the adepts, most of whom probably hadn't slept after Gale's announcent yesterday. Even Jenni was asleep at her study table with her mouth open.
Perhaps he hadn't been back at all, she thought, rembering Gale's tendency to sleep outside, especially in hammocks. She ca out of the house, holding onto the serving tray.
It was only a couple of minutes' walk. The first thing she saw was the enormous white crane resting soundlessly. Next to it was the elf woman, her hair dishevelled, skin red, as she ran her palm over her dress to smooth the creases.
The elf noticed her quickly, and her cheeks grew even redder. "Hello," she waved.
Dawn bowed curtly. She had no opinion about her, but it took only a little to be courteous.
"I'm leaving," the elf continued. "Please tell him I'll be back in a couple of days."
Why don't you tell him yourself? Dawn didn't voice the question, her eyes darting to the figure sleeping soundly in the hammock.
After giving up on her dress, the elf stepped forward to tap Dawn on the shoulder. "I haven't got ti to talk with you really," she said. "I'll try to rectify that at our next eting."
She likely wants to know more about Gale, Dawn thought as she nodded. "Tea?"
"Thank you, but I have to pass this ti," the elf said, waking her ride to depart directly.
Dawn watched them leave and turned her attention to the man sleeping. She crept closer and fell into the conundrum of whether to wake him up or wait.
Like the elf, his hair was dishevelled, all over his face. Unwittingly, she drew her palm and eased the locks of white hair off his face. She worked slowly, worried about waking him.
Suddenly, Gale muttered sothing unintelligible and pulled her into his embrace.
Dawn's mind cried out, but she collected herself imdiately. Her essence flashed, creating a semi-tangible hand that caught the tray of beverages, preventing the hot tea from spilling. She slowly let the essence hand disperse after resting the tray on the ground.
Dawn sighed in relief, then faced the actual issue. While she was dealing with the tray and teapot, Gale had pulled her completely into his embrace, his arms wrapped around her back.
Her head rested on his chest. Dawn could hear his heartbeat, which was so different from what she rembered. It was like a slow clock, barely audible to her superior senses.
The last ti she was so close to him was just before the disaster. She had mustered all her courage to embrace him, though unable to express her true feelings.
Dawn looked at his familiar yet unfamiliar face, moving away the strands of hair, biting her lip.
I haven't seen you for two years, and you fell in love with another woman...
Dawn stroked his hair, causing Gale to move in his sleep. He pulled her up to kiss her on the head.
"I'm not going anywhere," he mumbled in a sleepy voice.
I won't let you, Dawn muttered to herself. She remained in his embrace for so ti, feeling safe, and secure... until it was ti to let go.
It was so hard to show your affection to a man who doesn't rember you.
Dawn slowly slipped out of his arms, substituting herself with a small pillow. She stood up and clasped her cheeks, feeling the heat.
The sun rose in full splendour, the sunlight filtering through the atmosphere and the canopy to fall on Gale's face, waking him up.
Dawn was standing with the serving tray in hand when he opened his eyes. He blinked, finding her the first thing he saw.
"Tea?" she offered.
"I told you not to aggravate yourself over all this," he said, sitting upright. "Where's June?"
"She left half an hour ago," Dawn answered. "She ntioned she'll be back in a couple of days."
Gale sighed and was about to relieve her of the tea when he stared at her. "Why is your face red?"
Dawn said nothing and looked at her feet, causing Gale to scratch his bushy beard. Only then did he notice he was wearing nothing, with the blanket only covering his lower body.
"Sorry," he muttered, summoning clothing from his spirit domain to cover himself.
"The golden fate mark is new," Dawn muttered.
Gale raised an eyebrow. "Yes, just recently got it..."
"Is that how your hair turned white, and your exterior and aura changed sowhat?"
"It did change a little," he said, running a finger comb through his unkempt hair. "Though I feel it's far from being the last ti."
"You look good," Dawn said, feeling her heartbeat rise. "Just the beard..."
Gale asured his beard with his palm. "There's still about an hour left before I have to take the class... I should get rid of it by then."
With that, he brought a razor and shaving cream out of his spirit domain. He probably needed a mirror too, but there was none with him. Well, he planned on clean shaving; he was dexterous enough to not make a mistake even without a mirror.
"Is there sothing you need?" he asked, noticing her suppressing herself.
"No, I...," Dawn mumbled. "I can help with the shaving... and cut your hair too."
"Do you have training?"
"I can do a better job of it than you," she said curtly.
He raised an eyebrow before handing her the instrunt. "Help yourself then..." he said, then grinned. "If you make a mistake, I'll do your braids. It would look wrong if only one of us had a terrible hairstyle, right?"
Dawn suppressed her blushes and accepted the challenge. As a matter of fact, he had done her braids on multiple occasions. All it had taken was for her to show him that she was terrible at it, and he couldn't help himself.
"You should lie down on the hammock and relax," Dawn advised. "I'll be done in a few minutes."
Gale did as asked, while Dawn stooped down to cover his beard with shaving cream, filling it with foam. She pulled the razor and worked slowly.
Gale stared at her as she worked, putting her full attention into it. Only now did he notice how bright her eyes were, grey with a spark of purple in the pupils.
Her face was like a porcelain doll, with pale pink skin and pale silvery eyebrows matching her long hair. It wasn't simply albinism, because sothing so simple like that could not made her cute beyond asure.
A mory resurfaced in his mind... of a boundless blue sky overhead, wind rushing along while he was sitting on a perch of a familiar ho, and Dawn shaving his beard, massaging his head, while another young girl said sothing to her, causing her cheeks to redden.
He tried to go deeper into the vision, clutching whatever he could take with him. A pinprick of pain assaulted his mind, and he ca back to reality. Gale clenched his teeth.
"Sir... um, Gale?"
"Yes?" he looked up at her, staring at the familiar face, a wave of familiarity growing in him.
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"Please lift your chin up, I need to shave underneath—"
Gale pulled her into an embrace. Dawn let out a wling noise but didn't object. Her figure beca rigid instead.
"You have told about myself and showed evidence of who you are," he muttered, stroking her hair. "But I finally glimpsed what you truly are..."
"Mhmm..."
"Thank you for looking out for ," he said. "Thank you for finding ... I've been a pretty terrible lord so far, I guess."
He let her go, finding her face had turned another shade pinker, shaving cream saring the side of her face. Gale extended his palm to clean it off her face.
Dawn's eyes turned watery as she stared at him, biting her lip.
"I..." Gale cleared his throat. "I should have... I didn't know what to say..."
"You did all you could," she said, releasing the weight off her chest. "You changed my life for the better... and so many others. Let us bear so of your weight."
He nodded slowly. Then both of their attention darted to sowhere else.
"OH!" Jenni yelped. "I have seen nothing... only two adults hugging... nothing serious..." Only then did she realise she should just shut her mouth. "I should co soti after..."
Gale clicked his tongue. "If you run away now, I'll return you to your father."
Jenni's feet froze as she turned to glare at him. "I just ca to show my improved design," she waved the graph paper in her hand.
He called her over and took the paper with a serious look on his face.
"You look weird with half your beard and foam," Jenni chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.
He sighed. "I don't think you're the gossiping type, nor do I care about you or anyone spreading anything about ... but make sure whatever you say does not affect Dawn."
Jenni nodded without even recognising the seriousness of his words.
"She had a hard life that you can hardly imagine," Gale continued. "And being unable to express herself truly only made it worse in so cases. I don't want anyone else, even the most insignificant person, talking behind her back."
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