Daughter of Luka (LGBT+)

Thirteen 🌑

It took me a mere three seconds to voice my answer. 

"Alright," I said. 

Accalia's gorgeous golden eyes grew slightly brighter with surprise. 

"Really?" she asked. 

"Really," was my easy reply. I may have been anxious, but I still knew well-enough what I wanted.

My father came to the door, then, as though he had been standing back for a short while. 

Accalia's eyes scanned his face, as though she was fascinated by the both of us. 

"Hey dad," I said, so Accalia would realise who he was, if she hadn't already done so. 

"Hello, Mr Amarilla. I hope you don't mind if I take Ophelia out for the day?" she wondered. 

My father gave a small shrug of his shoulders. 

"I'm glad that Ophelia is making new frien-" he started to say, but I swiftly waved my hand to silence him. "Sure. Have fun!" he said, with a friendly smile. 

I took a step towards my father and brought him into a quick hug. 

"Thanks dad, see you later," I said, before I followed Accalia down the path away from my house. 

It was a temperate day, which I was glad for. The rain wasn't so bad, once you had gotten used to it, but I had always preferred the sun. 

Once we were a short distance away from my house, I turned back towards Accalia. 

"So, how did you know where I live? Are you a stalker?" I asked. 

Accalia's eyes widened innocently enough at that question. 

"Fenn said that you lived nearby, so I did the maths. If it hadn't been you that had answered the door, then I probably would have asked for you. If they had no idea who you were, then I would have apologised and left but...I like to believe I have pretty good intuition," Accalia explained. "Honestly, I've been wanting to talk to you for some time. I just haven't been sure of what to say. I suppose I wondered whether the two of us could be friends...and you live near these woods. My brother can't keep himself out of the woods. I don't know, it made sense. Maybe you could help me watch out for him," she suggested, then, with a gentle laugh. "In all seriousness, though, I do care about you." 

"Why me, though?" I asked her. 

Accalia paused momentarily, as the thought on an answer. 

"I suppose that it's just in my nature," she said. 

"I usually have a hard time making friends," I said quietly. 

She heard me, though. 

"I can understand most things but that's something I can't understand. You seem like a really nice person. An actual nice person," she said it as though 'actual nice' people were hard to come by. I supposed that she was right. "I want to be your friend," she added with decisiveness. 

I could hardly believe my own ears. 

"I mean that," she added and I could tell by the genuineness of her voice that she truly did mean that, too. 

I smiled at that. If there was anything that I could be told that would make me happy, then it was that, and up until this moment I hadn't even realised just how much I had needed to be told that. 

"You have a brilliant smile," Accalia said and then she turned her face away quickly. 

I wasn't sure why at first, but then I noticed the faint pink blush that had blossomed on her cheeks.

"We should go and find that cave," I suggested. 

Accalia chuckled but it was a short-lived sound. 

"I don't know, Ophelia," she said. 

"It'll be fun!" I said excitedly. 

She released a breath of concern. 

"Maybe to you," she said quietly. 

I was sure that she thought that I hadn't heard her, but I had heard her. All the same, I acted as though I hadn't. 

"I should have brought my sketchpad with me," I said, then, deciding to change the subject. 

Accalia looked a little more relaxed at that statement. 

"You draw?" she asked. 

"I draw, paint, you name it. I love art. Always have and I imagine I always will," I said. 

In response to that, Accalia's smile returned to her face. 

"I'd like to see some of your work one day, if you'd let me," she said. 

"Sure," I agreed. 

I smiled back at her. 

The two of us continued to walk on for a good few minutes before Accalia voiced another question. 

"What kind of art work do you do?" she asked, "I mean..." she trailed off. 

"What do I actually draw and paint?" I replied. 

She nodded. 

"These forests," I said, as I gestured to the evergreens surrounding us, "And if not the forests, then things and people that interest me." 

"Really?" she asked. She then took a step towards me and brushed her hand gently against my forearm, as she steadied herself from tripping over a nearby tree trunk. 

"Yeah," I said, with a smile. I tried to focus on steadying my breathing. We hadn't been walking for too long, but my legs felt exhausted. I supposed that I had been walking a lot recently, though something told me that my walking wasn't the only thing that had me needing to catch my breath. 

"Give an example," Accalia said, with her most beautiful smile yet. I never wanted her to ever stop smiling. 

I thought on her question for a few moments, before I came up with my answer. 

"I had this strange dream the other night," I said. I couldn't believe that I was telling her this, but here goes nothing. "And a wolf with golden eyes was staring at me." 

I felt myself blushing despite myself. Perhaps I had closely linked the golden eyes of the wolf with Accalia's own golden eyes by now. 

"That is a strange dream indeed, but not unusual," she said. She seemed calm enough, but it appeared that she had a lot on her mind. Her expression mirrored the one that I had seen on Fenn's face a few hours ago. "I have strange dreams, too, sometimes."