Recent content by Rori

Rori’s shoulders tensed the moment he began circling her, every movement of his like a predator, assessing her. She could almost feel his patience thinning, and that thought alone was enough to make her spine straighten in stubborn defiance. Still, she watched his demonstration carefully...

Rori had to hurry along to keep up with his strides and stumbled to a halt just short of colliding with him, the edge of her bow thumping softly against his back before she caught herself. Her frown deepened at the incredulity in his tone.. it wasn’t her fault she’d been raised to embroider and...

Rori’s stomach sank the moment he said what she feared he'd been about to say. Go hunting. Of course he meant to. Of course she’d have to go along with it. The frown that tightened her brow was almost comical in its despair. She had no business stalking through woods with bows and blades, and...

Left alone, Rori lingered in the quiet for a time, the only sounds the low crackle of the fire and the distant murmur of morning somewhere deeper in the camp. When she’d finished the porridge, scraping the last of the honeyed grains from the bowl, she set it aside and rose stiffly, every muscle...

Rori was grateful that he hadn’t pressed her further. She closed her eyes as he worked, refusing to flinch against the sting of the poultice. Her head dipped forward to rest against her knees, the warmth of the fire and fur seeping into her bones. Her eyelids grew heavy, her breath slowing. When...

Rori stiffened beneath his touch, breath catching as his fingers brushed her hair aside and the cloth met her skin. The heat of the fire and the sting of the water mingled into something unbearable, something too intimate. His words sank in slowly, and for a moment she forgot how to breathe...

Rori drew her legs in instinctively, clutching the pelt tighter around herself as his eyes lingered. At his blunt remark, heat rushed to her face, staining her cheeks a deep, furious red. She ducked her head, unsure what to do with her hands or where to look, a small, awkward huff escaping her...

It felt wrong. Unbearably, confusingly wrong how gentle it was. Each drag of the cloth across her skin stole a layer of grime and blood, and with it, the edges of her fear seemed to dull. His hands were too steady, too careful for a monster. He cleaned her feet as though she were something...

Her eyes flicked away, avoiding his gaze as he accused her of lying, something timorous crossing her expression for a fleeting moment. But when he spoke again it was, once more, without the anger she expected. Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him, and still her fingers clenched tighter...

"I still need to bind those," Rori murmured, her voice frayed a little around the edges. She watched as he stirred the fire to life, sparks leaping into the air like startled stars. The light painted his face in gold and shadow, and she studied him for a quiet moment. The warmth reached her in...

Rori watched him draw the blade from his back..Had he really carried that through the wolves’ attack and never used it? She took the knife carefully, her cold fingers brushing his briefly before she pulled back. It was heavier than she’d expected. Real. Dangerous. And he’d just handed it to...

“I won’t freeze,” she murmured, though her voice trembled faintly with impatience, aware of his swaying. The warmth had yet to sink into her bones, and every breath she drew still felt like winter clawing at her lungs. It would likely take hours for the chill to leave her, but she was certain...

Rori froze. “I beg your pardon?” The words came out sharper than she intended, half outrage, half disbelief. Her brow arched, lips parting to deliver a biting retort, but the sound died in her throat when he stepped toward her, draping the massive pelt over her shoulders. The weight of it...

Rori’s gaze lingered on the torn mess of his arm, her stomach twisting. It’s nothing, he’d said, as if the gashes weren’t deep enough to show sinew, as if the blood wasn’t pooling thick and dark from the wounds. It wasn't nothing. At least, to a human it wouldn't have been. Then again, how many...

For a moment, Rori could only hear the blood pounding in her ears, loud and chaotic, like the drums from the camp, like the storm of her own fear. So this was how it ended. Devoured by wolves whilst running from a tribe of orcs who had taken her captive. It made for an interesting story, at...