Meadow

She knew he wasn’t thrilled to have her follow him. It was in the way he sighed, the twitch of his flesh. How he turned his stark white face towards her like a great lantern.

The smile on his lips makes her pause. Echidna could look an enemy in the eyes, but a smile was strange to her.

But,

He talks of naps and spaces enough for two. She notes they are roughly the same size. They are opposites in everything else. This Björn is made from blue shadows, Echidna from honeycomb.

“Echidna,” she offers him from pale lips. She stands beside him, not touching. She can feel the heat of his body though and there is comfort in it. Björn asks her a question so many have. Echidna lowers her head gently, lipping at a shrub, then takes in a deep breath.

It was tiresome telling stories all the time, she much preferred to hear them. “It was a long time ago now. I don’t suppose the beginning matters all that much.”

A thoughtful pause一

“There was a war. A great and terrible war. I was,” Echidna closes her dark eyes and for a moment there is pain in her expression.

Her eyes open, the stony mask returns.

“I was a soldier for a very long time. I fled. I washed up here.”