Work Text:
Frivolous. A pointless waste of coin. An even more pointless exercise. She imagines all the things Shadowheart could say to her purchase, to her request. Unexpectedly, she doesn’t say any of it. “I suppose,” Shadowheart says reluctantly and then quickly, pointedly, “although I rather don’t see the point.” She moves to sit in a sudden, fluid, movement, and her hands perch impatiently on her knees. No time wasted, Widu forges forward to sit behind her, mirroring the cross-legged posture. Hesitation, at first, unsure at how to deconstruct that which is Shadowheart’s hair. Starting at the bottom seems possibly best.
Widu keeps the brush in her lap as she begins to carefully unpin circlets, untangle thick braids. Upwards and upwards, the rings growing in number until at last it all falls free. Crinkled throughout, the waves and curls of the braids. Widu smiles as she gently gathers up the long raven-touched strands, running her hands through them. Shadowheart sits up slightly straighter at the first touch of the comb against her head. Widu is careful, to her credit. She doesn’t pull once. The firelight of the camp flickers steadily, a log snapping in half, releasing ash up into the night sky. Shadowheart stares fixedly forward, begins to drum her fingers. Her fidgeting doesn’t escape notice.
“Have we seen any night orchids yet?” Widu asks while she untangles a stubborn knot.
“We haven’t,” Shadowheart says.
“Describe them for me again.”
“Is your head so small that you’ve forgotten already?” Widu chuckles as she leans forward, rests her chin on Shadowheart’s shoulder. She pretends not to notice Widu’s smug smile in the corner of her vision, not to feel warm breath against her cheek.
“Maybe I just enjoy listening to the sound of your voice.” Shadowheart scoffs as she rolls her eyes, shakes her head, as she delivers a small jab to the very center of Widu’s brows. She retreats with a giggle. She gathers up all of Shadowheart’s hair, begins the work of doing it all up again. Widu’s fingers against her scalp, and she closes her eyes, lets herself relax as she feels her hair being bound upwards. Lighter, looser, than she herself would have done it, but suitable nonetheless. She listens to Widu’s quiet concentration, tongue between her teeth, brows pinched. Her legs press up against her back, and her hands are ever present.
“Of all things, why a brush?”
“Some of us aren’t so lucky to wake up every morning perfect,” Widu says as she clasps circlets back tightly around the uneven braids. “The knots were getting painful and impossible to get out with my fingers.”
“Trivial worries. We have more pressing things to spend our coin on –” Here it is. Widu cuts through her words with her own.
“If you could buy anything, what would it be?” The sharp interjection earns her a wide eyed glance which walks a delicate balance between ‘the audacity’ and the closest thing Shadowheart has to surprise.
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t put much thought into it and forget about big quests, and goals, and missions,” Widu says quickly as she finishes the final circlet, puts the brush aside, “what do you want? For fun. Because you want it.” A leg on either side of Shadowheart as she wraps arms around her waist, pulls herself forward. She triumphantly places her chin back onto the shoulder from which it had been banished before. “Is it a certain kind of wine? Or ring? You’re not allowed to change your answer if I guessed right.” Shadowheart frowns, purses her lips as she leans back slightly, into her.
“I wouldn’t know if you guessed right. I don’t have an answer.” It twists in her gut, that, and her frown deepens.
“That’s alright,” Widu says easily, “that just means you haven’t seen it yet. Let me know the moment you do and we’ll buy it for you, no matter how much it costs.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I’m well aware we’re low on funds.”
“But you’ll tell me?”
“Yes, I’ll tell you,” Shadowheart sighs, then, just as the firelight, flickers with a smile.