Winter had already reeked havoc on the Emerald Forest as tree, shrub and mossy growth alike fell dormant, turning his beautiful home from the Emerald splendor it was to one of near desolation. A layer of snow had fallen silently over the past few days, blanketing his world with a different sort of beauty, but one that was just as pure and promising as the last. Tucked into the crevasse of a rocky outface near the north eastern border of his forest home, which provided him not only with an escape from the elements but a rather decent vantage point now that the leaves had all fallen from the limbs. Sinners frame dances with the flames he controlled, warming both himself and the interior of his moderately sized shelter, their light flickering on the walls, now moist with condensation. Watching the lower valley for no other reason then he could Sinners dark, oil slick optics spot the familiar pinkish for of Ankh long before she draws near his borders and his heart begins to flutter in his chest. It had been a year or so since she had returned only to tell him that she wished to take willow to the Valkyries so that she might grow strong in herself and that she wished to think some things over; a year since he had pleaded with her to remain with him because he had fallen in love with her. Alas, she had gone and he had stayed away, not wanting to add any undue stress to her already chaotic life. He had fought with himself over and over again, reasoning out why he should not just go to the Valkyrie jungle and bring both Ankh and Willow back with him. How many times had he started out in that direction before coming back to his senses? He had even ceased to even try bringing in new members to the Emerald Forest, it just hadn’t seemed worth it to him without Ankh there.
But there she was, making her way back to him, trudging through the frigid snow. It is moments before he realizes that Willow is not with her and knowing full well that the girls is no more then a year old he begins to fret over her absence, wondering where on earth his golden daughter could be then within a blink of an eye he is overwhelmed by the fear that something may have happened to her. Calming himself as best he could under the circumstances he moves out of his hide away and down the gentle rolling slope, his flames flaring to ward off the cold. It does not take him long to find the trail Ankh has left in her wake as she makes her way toward the heart of the forest and like a hound dog on the hunt he drops his nose to the winterized ground beneath his feet. Stopping only when he reaches the place where she had apparently startled at something, evident by the sideways scuff in the blanket of snow. Raising his dark face and throwing his upper lip out, exposing a set of yellowed teeth Sinner scents the air, trying to discern, by other means, where she had gone. Moving on he spots her, just as she lifts her head to call for him, seeing her slender body as it is raked by violent shivers. Surprising a smile his eyes dance with affection as her reaches out to her with the ribbons of warming flames that flicker around him as a chilling gusts howls through the skeletal forest.
Carefully keeping control of the flashing fires Sinner moves forward, wrapping his flames around her quaking torso far enough away that she could still benefit from the heat while receiving no bodily harm. “You should not be out here in this cold love.” He whickers affectionately as he comes along side her, bringing with him the added heat of the point of origination of the flames that slowly began to encompass them both, creating their own private little world.
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