7/15/2024, 7:02 PM
![[Image: dasj6kh-fcc362f4-4eae-4ea0-ab51-566d0609...VRtQg5FHd0]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/dc92adb3-a0c8-44d8-a700-f82686783b80/dasj6kh-fcc362f4-4eae-4ea0-ab51-566d06091b70.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2RjOTJhZGIzLWEwYzgtNDRkOC1hNzAwLWY4MjY4Njc4M2I4MFwvZGFzajZraC1mY2MzNjJmNC00ZWFlLTRlYTAtYWI1MS01NjZkMDYwOTFiNzAucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.rNDHj-ycuC0jySblHh1U5lqpZDv-L4XVkVRtQg5FHd0)
What lay on the other side had been mostly more smoke, but it was a thinner wall of dark cloud that she could mostly see through, and as her paws landed on the ashen ground, Kairos' pools of fire and ice caught sight of autumn fur. Francis! She coughed as she startled in surprise in seeing him there, ash and smoke clinging to her fur as she notes the expression on his face. He looks — well, she isn't entirely sure, but he doesn't look dismayed to see her.
Francis!The Parthenon greets jovially, as if they weren't standing within fire and smoke. Embers swirl before her and Kairos takes a glance over her shoulder as the branch she had been so close to was now entirely consumed by flickering flame, and it was steadily spreading to the canopies above them, weakening the bark and eating the foliage whole.
She didn't desire to be eaten like the leaves and she rather thought that Francis didn't desire it either. His cough drew her attention back to him, concern lingering upon her sooty face and she lurched through the rest of the smoke wall to be on the same side as he, just as cracking wood sounded over head.
Walk, run, jump, leap — whatever you so wish,she told him with some cheek, but she's smiling up at him trying to ease whatever tension he may be feeling. They were going to be fine.
To the castle then, my favourite Groundskeeper,Kairos briefly touched her soot covered nose against his chin, so much taller than her, and turned her attention to around them. They could not go back the way she had come, fire spreading steadily. Glancing to the side, she noted the way the trees grew thinner, and she started to nudge him towards it.
Off we go,the maiden encouraged him, heart pumping in her chest — it was moments like these that she was not her mothers daughter, but more so her fathers. This did not fear her, it did not quake her, if anything, it drew Kairos' adrenaline to the surface and ate away her lady-like mannerisms and replaced them with that of a reckless adventurer.
Yet she could not be so reckless, not when it was not only her life. Francis' life was far more important than giving into the rush that gathered in her blood, and she was moving forward as soon as that thought entered her brain. She flurried her tail against his chest, beckoning him after her, and she was quick against the terrain as the fire threatened behind them. Edges of her fur were a touch charred, and she puffed out her cheeks as she coughed, her eyes stinging from the smoke and ash that whipped against her face as they tried their escape.
