Loch+and+Wren

“Loch…” Ibis smiled warmly and stood up to greet her daughter, “I haven’t seen you in a week! Where have you been hiding?” Loch crossed the room and the two embraced in a hug.

“In the woods, of course,” Loch answered nonchalantly. She loved being outside. She always did. Loch wasn’t born into the coven. No one really knew where she came from. Raven had found Loch alone as a very young child in the woods. She moved swiftly among the trees, so Raven dubbed her Lochlian, like the fast hummingbirds of Rawlinswood. Ibis was a close friend of Raven’s and was unable to have children of her own. Raven suggested that Ibis take her in as her adopted daughter. Ibis fell in love with the little girl immediately.

“I hear you’ve been spending extra time with Wren,” Ibis peered at Loch, “You know that girl always finds trouble… what is it you see in Raven’s favored daughter?” Loch laughed softly. Her mother used to ask her that when she was young. She thought back to when they were children…

***** Loch had her classes, but she always finished early and saved extra time to go and play with Wren. Magic came easy to her and she never had to work hard to learn control or new spells.

Loch walked into the alchemy room, where she heard the sound of glass vials rattling around, but Raven wasn’t there. She looked up at one of the tables and Wren was there alone, pouring a clear liquid into a red liquid. Loch watched her carefully. She never really had an interest in alchemy and had no idea what Wren was mixing.

“Does your mother know you’re playing with that?” Loch teased her as she approached closer. Wren looked up to see Loch and spilled some of the clear on to the table, where it burned the wood with a little puff of smoke. Loch’s eyes grew wide.

“LOCH!” Wren yelled at her accusingly, “You made me mess it up!” Loch stared at the red vial still on the table and watched it start to foam as Wren’s attention was on her yelling at her.

Raven walked into the room with the sound of the voices, just in time to see the vial on the table explode. “Wren! What did I tell you about playing with that table?!”

Wren smiled her sweetest smile and hugged her mother’s legs. “…but I want to be like you.” Raven sighed and shook her head at the big-eyed angelic monster hugging her.

Loch covered up her smile with her hand and managed to hold back her laugh. *****

“She makes me laugh, and she keeps my life exciting,” Loch reassured her mother. It was the same answer that Loch always gave Ibis. Ibis smiled at her and looked her over. “I think it’s more than that…” Ibis said thoughtfully. Loch smiled at her.

“I’m going out with Wren today. She wants to work with her new bow, so I’m going to go make it more difficult for her,” Loch grinned. Ibis shook her head.

Loch laid comfortably on her stomach on the wide branch of a tree, stretching her legs out with her ankles crossed behind her, and propping her head up with her hands. The air was crisp, but the sunbeam Loch was lying in was warming. She watched Wren on the ground below. She was practicing with Cirdan, bonding with him, and getting a better feel for the bow. Wren was decent with a bow, not the best archer in the elven city, but she had skill.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Loch thought back to when they were children…

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">***** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren was learning to shoot her bow and the string had burned her wrist when she let it go. Loch remembered kissing her wrist to make it better like Raven would have and then wrapping it in leather to protect her. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They were just children then, it was all innocent.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They certainly weren’t children anymore. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5;">*****

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Loch dropped out of the tree silently and snuck quietly behind Wren who was concentrating on her bow. Loch blew softly on the back of Wren’s neck, exposed by her long braid. Wren missed her shot and Loch giggled. Wren glanced at Loch out of the corner of her eye and grinned.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She aimed again, and Loch touched her softly with her finger tips, caressing the back of her neck and moving her hand slowly down Wren’s back. Wren fired and hit her mark. She grinned wide.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Loch smiled wickedly behind her and continued to move her hands down Wren’s back as she took aim for the next shot. Wren was focused, she could barely feel Loch’s touch. She took her aim, and as she went to fire, Loch placed a gentle kiss on the side of Wren’s neck and then bit her, holding her with her teeth, and gently sucking on her neck like a vampire’s kiss. Wren gasped, the bow whipped upward and the arrow sailed somewhere into the air. Loch released her.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“I don’t think that’s going to happen in combat!” Wren turned around accusing Loch, who was now giggling uncontrollably.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Focus is important, no matter what’s going on around you,” Loch teased her.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wren tackled her and the two of them rolled down the hill. They laid together laughing while Cirdan chastised them from a branch above.