Dust and Ruin

A chill swept through the open window of the kitchen. Aria tucked a black lock of hair behind her horn, stopping to fiddle with the silver charm set into one of them. Aria’s felt a bolt of pain through her shoulder, gritting of teeth followed as the battles of old made their memory known. She’d come to hate winter, the cold seemed to sharpen all her body’s pains, and so she drew closer to the warmth of the fireplace. Though nothing hung over the crackling logs the smell remained intoxicating, there was something so magical about fire to Aria. The smell, the colors, the heat, how it seemed perfectly suited to both the lonesome and the well accompanied. A tear dropped from her eye as she caught sight of the grey sketch of her family above the fireplace. Her and Caspar in their old uniforms smiling from ear to ear, Dimitri holding her hand and Blake holding her father’s and between them the old company banner. Aria let out a muffled laugh, how her and Caspar had trained Dimitri and Blake to hold the banner for hours. For just a moment the fire seemed brighter, and a knock came, the clang of flesh on metal seemed to echo through the house. Aria threw her shawl around her shoulders the warmth draining from her bones.