The Dresden Files / Bob / #40. Twilight
Title: Twilight's Last Gleaming
Author: Cyloran
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Hrothbert, Winifred
Prompt: 40. Twilight
Word Count: 1,014
Rating: G
Summary: Winifred has a premonition she doesn't quite understand.
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me; just passing through.
Table: Here There be Ghosts
"It will be a beautiful evening," observed Winifred upon hearing his familiar tread behind her. "Not too chill and cloudless."
"It could not be more beautiful than it already is, my Lady," said Hrothbert as he stepped into view, his eyes only for her. Reaching down, he took her slender, calloused hand in his and kissed each fingertip. "Even the Goddess Moon pales beside you."
"Take care, my Lord, that you do not offend the Morrigan," she warned although her cheeks pinked at the compliment, for his tongue was often as silvered as his hair.
"I believe the Goddess will forgive me if ever she were to see you through my eyes." Still gently clasping her hand, he lowered himself to sit upon the grass beside her so that they might watch the setting sun together.
Winifred leaned into his strength, laying her head upon his breast. The steady thrum of his heart beat in time with her own in perfect harmony. Hrothbert slid his arm about her narrow waist and rested his cheek upon the soft fall of raven-black hair. So they sat in companionable comfort as day slowly gave way to night.
"I have had another dream," she said after a time.
"Did you so," he replied in a voice he hoped sounded unconcerned. Nonetheless, his apprehension relayed itself to her through the tightening of his arm about her.
Winifred tilted her head back so that she might look up into his gaze. His eyes were blue, their shade variable with his mood. Tonight they were almost violet and held concern.
"It was not as dire as the last," she assured him.
The previous sending had been a nightmare that had wakened her with her own screaming. She still clearly recalled the wicked, grasping talons that had appeared out of a roiling black mass to plunge into her beloved's chest like scything blades, tearing out his heart and ripping it in two. Even now it made her shudder. The foul dream had presented itself twice. If it were to appear a third time…
But no! This dream had been different in both substance and feel. She did not awaken in terror and foreboding. Instead, it had seemed warmer … brighter, if no less confusing.
"Tell me of it, if you will."
"I will, and I shall," she replied. "I was fleeing a terrible Darkness."
"The same Darkness that plagued your other dreamings?"
"It felt the same and yet it differed. Older, but no less frightening for that."
He frowned. "This sounds no better than the others."
"Patience, my love. Listen." Winifred briefly closed her eyes in order to better recall what had gone before. "The Darkness was fluid, like an oil. I knew that it would soon surround and devour me if I could not find a way to escape it. Just when I feared that I could run no further and must fall, a hare suddenly appeared before me."
"A hare?"
"No different from any that we might see in wood or field. It was light brown in color with no special markings, and yet when it looked up to meet my gaze, it had the most human dark brown eyes!" There had been intelligence and understanding within those eyes. "It beckoned me to follow and so I did. Together we ran and the Darkness pursued."
"Where did this creature lead you?"
"To a field filled with bright copper flowers as tall as my waist. They smelled light and fragrant and yielded before us even though there was no wind to bend them. I remember turning to look over my shoulder as I ran, that I might see how close the Darkness had come. The flowers closed before it like a barrier and would not let it pass!"
"So you were safe within this field," he said, his expression now thoughtful as he tried to divine the meaning. "And what of your guide? Did it vanish then?"
"No, it did not. The hare led me to the very heart of the field where stood a tall black stone carved in the shape of a man's skull. It should have been fearsome but instead I felt a great sadness at the sight of it. Once arrived, the hare leaped high and landed upon the dome of the rock. It looked at me once more as if it were trying to impart some wisdom but I did not understand what it wished to impart," she said with regret. There had been a message there, of that she was certain, but by then the edges of the dream had begun to unravel. "It stamped its foot thrice and the rock shattered beneath it, releasing a shower of stars." It was that sudden bright swirl of light and color that had awakened her.
"You have not had this dream before?"
"Never, but I would not mind its return," she confessed.
"Certainly it had a happier ending," he agreed, drawing her close once more and bestowing a soft kiss upon her brow. Although it troubled him that he was absent from this sending. Where was he that he could not defend or protect his lady fair from the Darkness? "The hare did not represent me."
"No," she agreed. A spirit might take on many shapes within a dream but the eyes would always remain the same.
"This other … is he known to you?"
A slight smile touched her full lips. "There is only you, beloved. In truth, I have never seen those eyes before."
"Perhaps the hare was merely a symbol," he said, somewhat appeased. "Some believe the hare to live in burrows to be closer to the underworld, so that it might carry messages from the living to the dead."
"Forgive me, my love, if I would prefer to think of it as a soul sent to guide us." The alternative filled her with a bone-numbing, icy dread. "But fear not," said Winifred as she lifted a hand to caress his cheek. "No soul, living or dead, will ever steal me away from you."
Author: Cyloran
Fandom: The Dresden Files (tv-verse)
Characters: Hrothbert, Winifred
Prompt: 40. Twilight
Word Count: 1,014
Rating: G
Summary: Winifred has a premonition she doesn't quite understand.
Disclaimer: The Dresden Files do not belong to me; just passing through.
Table: Here There be Ghosts
"It will be a beautiful evening," observed Winifred upon hearing his familiar tread behind her. "Not too chill and cloudless."
"It could not be more beautiful than it already is, my Lady," said Hrothbert as he stepped into view, his eyes only for her. Reaching down, he took her slender, calloused hand in his and kissed each fingertip. "Even the Goddess Moon pales beside you."
"Take care, my Lord, that you do not offend the Morrigan," she warned although her cheeks pinked at the compliment, for his tongue was often as silvered as his hair.
"I believe the Goddess will forgive me if ever she were to see you through my eyes." Still gently clasping her hand, he lowered himself to sit upon the grass beside her so that they might watch the setting sun together.
Winifred leaned into his strength, laying her head upon his breast. The steady thrum of his heart beat in time with her own in perfect harmony. Hrothbert slid his arm about her narrow waist and rested his cheek upon the soft fall of raven-black hair. So they sat in companionable comfort as day slowly gave way to night.
"I have had another dream," she said after a time.
"Did you so," he replied in a voice he hoped sounded unconcerned. Nonetheless, his apprehension relayed itself to her through the tightening of his arm about her.
Winifred tilted her head back so that she might look up into his gaze. His eyes were blue, their shade variable with his mood. Tonight they were almost violet and held concern.
"It was not as dire as the last," she assured him.
The previous sending had been a nightmare that had wakened her with her own screaming. She still clearly recalled the wicked, grasping talons that had appeared out of a roiling black mass to plunge into her beloved's chest like scything blades, tearing out his heart and ripping it in two. Even now it made her shudder. The foul dream had presented itself twice. If it were to appear a third time…
But no! This dream had been different in both substance and feel. She did not awaken in terror and foreboding. Instead, it had seemed warmer … brighter, if no less confusing.
"Tell me of it, if you will."
"I will, and I shall," she replied. "I was fleeing a terrible Darkness."
"The same Darkness that plagued your other dreamings?"
"It felt the same and yet it differed. Older, but no less frightening for that."
He frowned. "This sounds no better than the others."
"Patience, my love. Listen." Winifred briefly closed her eyes in order to better recall what had gone before. "The Darkness was fluid, like an oil. I knew that it would soon surround and devour me if I could not find a way to escape it. Just when I feared that I could run no further and must fall, a hare suddenly appeared before me."
"A hare?"
"No different from any that we might see in wood or field. It was light brown in color with no special markings, and yet when it looked up to meet my gaze, it had the most human dark brown eyes!" There had been intelligence and understanding within those eyes. "It beckoned me to follow and so I did. Together we ran and the Darkness pursued."
"Where did this creature lead you?"
"To a field filled with bright copper flowers as tall as my waist. They smelled light and fragrant and yielded before us even though there was no wind to bend them. I remember turning to look over my shoulder as I ran, that I might see how close the Darkness had come. The flowers closed before it like a barrier and would not let it pass!"
"So you were safe within this field," he said, his expression now thoughtful as he tried to divine the meaning. "And what of your guide? Did it vanish then?"
"No, it did not. The hare led me to the very heart of the field where stood a tall black stone carved in the shape of a man's skull. It should have been fearsome but instead I felt a great sadness at the sight of it. Once arrived, the hare leaped high and landed upon the dome of the rock. It looked at me once more as if it were trying to impart some wisdom but I did not understand what it wished to impart," she said with regret. There had been a message there, of that she was certain, but by then the edges of the dream had begun to unravel. "It stamped its foot thrice and the rock shattered beneath it, releasing a shower of stars." It was that sudden bright swirl of light and color that had awakened her.
"You have not had this dream before?"
"Never, but I would not mind its return," she confessed.
"Certainly it had a happier ending," he agreed, drawing her close once more and bestowing a soft kiss upon her brow. Although it troubled him that he was absent from this sending. Where was he that he could not defend or protect his lady fair from the Darkness? "The hare did not represent me."
"No," she agreed. A spirit might take on many shapes within a dream but the eyes would always remain the same.
"This other … is he known to you?"
A slight smile touched her full lips. "There is only you, beloved. In truth, I have never seen those eyes before."
"Perhaps the hare was merely a symbol," he said, somewhat appeased. "Some believe the hare to live in burrows to be closer to the underworld, so that it might carry messages from the living to the dead."
"Forgive me, my love, if I would prefer to think of it as a soul sent to guide us." The alternative filled her with a bone-numbing, icy dread. "But fear not," said Winifred as she lifted a hand to caress his cheek. "No soul, living or dead, will ever steal me away from you."