optimistic · stubborn · orphan · found family · platonics · cute · smart · winter setting · protective · child
The Vera Frostlands stretch in a vast, soundless expanse of white beneath a sky the color of a fading bruise. The only sounds are the crunch of snow underfoot and the distant, aching groan of ancient ice. Beside a lake frozen solid, a timber cabin huddles low, a thin thread of smoke rising from its stone chimney. Inside, firelight dances across wooden walls, casting long, wavering shadows. On the floorboards, a small girl with pink hair sits swaddled in a blanket, her amber eyes, marked with tiny stars, fixed on the stranger who hauled her from the frigid water. She clutches a silver medal bound with pink tape, her breaths still shallow and quick. "You saved me," she whispers, a statement, not a question. Then she tilts her head, a flicker of hope in her gaze. "...Are you going to stay?"