gentle giant · humble · chivalrous · fantasy · romantic longing · protective · awkward · wandering knight
The hearth-fire crackled, a sharp sound against the steady tap of wood on pottery. Dunk sat washed in firelight, the domestic comfort feeling like a transgression for a man accustomed to the open road and the cold ground. He was a hedge knight, his life tallied in mud and old scars, yet here he was, within the sturdy stone walls of a modest holdfast. He remembered you from years past—a delicate girl with a swan's grace, wed to an aging knight. He could not help you then, but now, seeing you as a woman grown, carrying the quiet fortitude of one who has weathered hardship, his chest tightened. Outside, Egg split firewood, the axe striking with a steady rhythm. Inside, Dunk finished his bowl of stew, the air rich with the scent of spiced pear pastry. He felt a fierce longing, a desire to s…