[1] WEEPING MONK // you're not what I was looking for

21| Beauty in Silence {Part Two}

Lancelot sorts out some of his feelings but is left even more confused when Ari crosses the line between them.

Fresh snow fell in the morning just as Ari had predicted, waking each of them up earlier than they had hoped. Ari eyed the boy, a warning of sorts for she knew what he was about to do. Squirrel's tongue stuck out and ran over his lips as he stood himself up, taking aim. He raised his arm and flung it forward, hitting his target.

Lancelot stopped in his tracks at whatever had just hit him in the back, the boy shouting his pride at his aim from across the camp filled his ears. Lancelot turned slowly, his face darkening as he looked the boy in the eye, silencing his joy.

Squirrel closed his mouth and stood still, swallowing the lump in his throat and suddenly feeling as small as a mouse under the man's threatening stare. Lancelot started to cross the camp towards him and Squirrel stepped back, his eyes starting to widen in fear. The man moved quicker and Squirrel turned on his heels and decided to run. He did not get far before something came around his chest under his arms and he was lifted into the air, twirled in a circle as snow hit him in his face.

Ari saw how Lancelot's face changed as the boy turned away and began to run, it shifted from a feigned anger into somewhat of a grin as he scooped some snow into his hand. He caught the boy and lifted him up easily to his chest, turning them both on his heel as he chucked the snow in the boy's face. Ari had not said a word to stop Lancelot. She knew that he would not hurt the child, and she had hoped that he might have seen the lighter side of what the boy had done.

Squirrel's hands came up and wafted at the air, his face scrunching from the cold of the snow as he spat out what had landed in his mouth. Lancelot dropped the boy to his feet and didn't bother to hide the fact that Squirrel's face of disgust amused him. Squirrel wiped at the freezing cold snow on his face as his eyes looked angrily up to Lancelot who had stepped a couple of paces away, still towering over the child.

"What was that for?" The dent between Squirrel's brows deepened, his tongue still lapping to get the snowy taste out of his mouth.

"You started it," Lancelot shrugged stiffly at the boy. His tone was still quiet and husked as usual but it was playful, an unusual combination. He didn't know what has come over him this morning.

Squirrel pouted at the man like a tiny raging bull and Lancelot couldn't help but laugh to himself at the boy's angered expression. Before he knew it, Squirrel had moved fast and gathered more snow, throwing it in Lancelot's direction. Unfortunately for the boy, Lancelot was faster than him, and his hands were able to carry more than twice as much snow.

Ari just watched with a grin that reached her eyes as the boys fought it out, dodging each other's attempts to land a snowball on the other. Squirrel ran across and ducked behind a rock, using it as cover from Lancelot's advancements. The boy used the time to produce a litter of snowballs which he could reel off one after the other, and he did, sticking his head up over the rock and launching them at Lancelot. The Ash man was good, and caught more of them than not, throwing them back at the boy.