he is a clumsy, foolish boy— and his antics warm her ice-bitten heart even still. a girlish sigh parts her lips as success at last meets him halfway, flailing fish in tow. ishi's bone-white tail sweeps the ground pleasantly, and she cracks a smile.

he shrinks beneath her gaze like a scolded child, and she covers her mouth with a paw to stifle her laughter.

she wonders, dreamily, whether blackfell might approve of his noble heart and brave face. and she knows it would be true, were he not cen's boy— sun eater's blood, hated by blackfell and all who call themselves his kin. perhaps she is bound by duty to shun him, too. to cast hate upon him for the unforgivable crimes of his father before him.

but as she looks upon him, dripping with lake water and eyeing her fondly, she cannot bring herself to feel an ounce of contempt.