Post by kestrelbyrne on Jan 21, 2009 23:49:33 GMT -5
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walking in the winter wonderland
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A soft breeze swept threads of bright red hair into her face. Those soft threads caressed her chin and tickled her cheeks. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed in the cool night air; slowly and steadily rising and falling. The cold chill in the air kissed her face tenderly as she raised those hazel eyes to the night sky above. Light grey cloud speckled the black abyss and floated delicately in the open air as if attached to strings like a puppet.
Shadows darted in and out of the corners of her vision – some sort of birds were darting about the trees of the forbidden forest; their darkness creeping across the ground as the moon moved through the sky. The sinister leaves of the trees were being bullied by the wind and were rustling noisily in protest. Cool drops of rain were splashing the bridge of her nose and dribbling down the sides of her face. It was only a light shower; nothing to leave the courtyard for. Behind her the windows of the castle were shivering in the wind, rattling loudly.
The atmosphere caused her to smile, tugging her blushing lips into the shape of a bow. The lights from the castle were enough to see by and so stretching her body out across the bench like a cat, she slowly got up and swaggered over to the fountain. It was not frozen over as yet but dipping her fingers into the water it was clear enough that it would be freezing over soon enough. Despite its chill bite, Kestrel let her fingers continue to trail through the water. After a few moments they began to numb, realising her off all feeling in her left hand. Little did it matter as she starred into the rippling image of the sky above. Stars were speckled about the pale of the moon and the those pale clouds were fading into the black background.
Absentmindedly, while she stared up into the open, she started humming a tune. It was nothing special, an original piece made up of a few simple notes strung clumsily together. There was no one to interrupt her as she continued, adding a few small words here and there as the tune run away with her. The moon was now high in the sky and casting ghostly light across the rooftops of the school.
A sudden noise to her right startled her and the tune suddenly stopped. A small group of birds were fighting noisily over something that had caught their attention; perhaps a few of the last seeds that had fallen from the trees in the late autumn. The sight reminder her of harvest time on her aunt’s small vineyard outside of Derby. Every late summer they would travel from their home in Sheffield to Derby to help their aunt and her family with the harvest. Of course for Kestrel and her siblings harvest time was the opportunity to wolf down as many juicy sweet grapes as they could possibly get their hands on. That and they were always glad to see the rest of the extended family and their muggle friends.
The memory washed over her. The smell of the grapes; she could almost taste their purple syrup and the laughter that had oft erupted around the large wooden dinner table in the kitchen at meal times. Nausea surprised her and she suddenly felt dizzy. Crashing back down to reality the cold of the night and the chill of the water hit her.
Her hand had stayed submerged for the long part of thirty minutes and her entire right arm was now numb. Pulling her hand out of the fountain she shook her arm about a little hoping in vain that she would regain some feeling. Her arm stayed numb. Her situation caused her to erupt with giggles. Smothering a laugh a sudden voice rang in her ears. It was her father’s voice and it had been something he had said often to her.
“Oh Kest, what are we ever going to do with you? ... head always in the clouds”
Smiling blissfully and in amusement she chuckled before resuming her forgotten tune. Humming loudly and proudly she watched the lights of the castle as slowly one by one they too faded into the dark of the night. The air was still, cool and surprisingly, despite the time Kestrel felt wide awake and ready for the action of the night-time.