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Old 04-06-2006, 01:09 PM   #198
JennyHallu
The Pearl, The Lily Maid
 
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Linduial jumped in surprise as Léoðern took off running, and she caught her breath watching the child running through the rubble. What if she should fall? But the girl's footfalls were swift and sure, and Lin scrambled to her own feet as quickly as she could. Léoðern was already out of sight, and Lin followed where she thought she'd gone more sedately, wondering how her father (or any parent, really) had the energy to keep up with such a vivacious little squirrel of a person. As she reached the corner where the girl had disappeared, she found it easy to follow the sounds of giggling to where she could see reddish hair poking up behind the short remains of a wall.

Lin smiled to herself and began searching the rubble in earnest, careful to keep her skirts out of the dust as she overturned boulders and pebbles alike. "Léoðern...!" she called. "Léoðern? Where could she be? Is she under here?" Lin lifted a thin piece of wood and checked for a girl in its miniscule shadow. The giggling from behind the wall intensified, but Lin cheerfully didn't show any notice of the small head peeking at her as she straightened up, carefully schooling her features into a perplexed frown.

"Hmm...," Lin tapped a slim finger against her face, rolling her eyes around in a parody of concentrated thought. "Maybe she didn't come this way at all." Another fit of giggling from the wall. "Maybe she disappeared! Like magic!"

There was a quickly stifled "No, I didn't!" from the wall, followed by more giggling, and Lin spun around as though searching for the source of the sound.

"I knew it!" she crowed happily. "Léoðern's invisible! She's probably following me around! Maybe if I go back into sunlight I'll be able to catch her by her shadow." She stepped carefully out of the rubble into the clear courtyard. The sound of footsteps behind her nearly made her giggle, but she forced it down and schooled her face back into perplexity before spinning around, searching the ground with her eyes, but carefully never meeting Léoðern's impish grin. "I know you're back there...I can hear you. Make yourself visible again!"

"I'm not invisible...," the little girl said, but she seemed a little unsure of it, and Lin once again fought off a smile, as she turned and walked a little further into the courtyard, as Léoðern followed her, tugging on her skirt and insisting "I'm right here!! Right here!"

Lin ignored her completely until they had almost returned to the cart and the party there, then swooped around as fast as she could and tickled the girl, who squealed and tried unsuccessfully to get away. Lin picked her up and happily handed her over to her father with a serious expression on her face. "Your daughter, sir," she said, "bears watching. Did you know she can turn invisible?"
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