Work Text:
"What are you doing up here?" Helbram demands. The Fairy King's Forest is expecting it's first storm of the summer, and here she is- the new-born Fairy Bard- way too high up for this kind of weather. Hadn't anyone explained to her yet? Maybe not. She'd been born in the Winter, and while that doesn't change a whole lot in the fairy forest, it does effect the weather.
"It's raining." Maranwe answers, holding her hands out to let the raindrops hit them. She'd been playing in the rain all Spring. She loves it. And he's usually with her when it rains. He loves dancing with her, and watching her free-spirited excitement. But this is no time for that.
"It's not just rain, it's a thunderstorm." He warns.
"Thunderstorm?" she questions. He tries not to be distracted by the way her mouth wraps around the unfamiliar word, or how cute she looks with her head cocked slightly like a curious puppy.
"Yeah it's-" He's cut off by a bright flash.
Maranwe gasps and throws herself against him to look over his shoulder where a streak of bright light had suddenly split the sky, "What was that??"
"That was-"
BOOM
He barely has time to register her stunned expression as a crack of thunder drowns out his words. At this height it's ear splitting and even though Helbram was expecting it, he can't help flinching, covering his ears with is hands and squeezing his eyes tight against the pain.
When he opens them again, she's gone. "Maranwe!" He calls out to her, turning in the air and scanning for where she might have flown off to.
The area directly below is a clearing, a meadow that's mostly clover and ground ivy, with only a few patches of taller grasses and flowers. Flying a little closer to the ground, he catches a scuffed spot in the rain-soaked ground. The ground cover is torn up, leaving a shallow muddy rut where her foot must have slid as she pushed off. He looks towards the undergrowth at the clearing's edge opposite of the scuff and, squinting through the downpour, he can see some broken branches in the thicket. There she is.
He flies over and pushes aside some of the foliage. She's sitting there in the dirt, with her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands over her ears, trembling.
"I tried to warn you." He says, with his usual humor. It is funny after all. Seeing her reactions to things that are new to her is always funny.
Although, she clearly doesn't think so. Her response to his poking-fun is just a pitiful look.
"Aw, come on. It's not that bad." he says, feeling a little sorry from that kicked-puppy expression. "It can't hurt you, it's just a loud noise. The lightning though, that's pretty dangerous."
That doesn't seem to help much, and she draws a breath to reply- or maybe ask a question? Whatever it would have been, she doesn't get the chance as another loud crack of thunder splits the air. And again she moves faster then he can react. Though this time instead of flying away from him, Maranwe had launched herself straight into him. When his senses catch up, he's been knocked backwards into a sitting position and she's clinging to his mid-section with her face buried in his chest.
He stares down at her for a moment. Her hair's darkened from the rain and her shoes and parts of her dress are muddy. She's so close. Her body's between his legs and she's pressed into him, clinging like he's a life-line. He can feel his face heating up against the cool rain soaking them both. But she's still shaking, and her shoulders are giving little jolts. She must be crying.
He sighs and wraps his arms securely around her. "Hey, it's ok. You're safe."