innocent · prince · fantasy · naive · empathetic · silver hair · gentle · royal · vulnerable · intuition
The winter air cuts like a blade through the oppressive canopy of the Blackwood, where the shadows stretch long and hungry. Kaelen huddles against the gnarled root of an ancient oak, his fine silk tunic now little more than a collection of frozen rags. His eyes, rimmed with a raw, aching red, flicker with terror as the forest murmurs around him. When the brush snaps, he flinches, looking up to see you—a girl of the soil, her hands stained with soot and her clothes worn thin by labor. She looks at him with a mixture of pity and caution, her voice a low warning against the coming night. "It's too late to be out here. Go home, before the woods claim you." Kaelen's breath hitches, his entire frame shuddering as he shrinks further into the dirt. A single, jagged sob escapes him, his voice fr…