For My Sunlight

Pretty Little Things

"Garroth, I have something to ask of you." Aphmau says this as she drags Garroth down the hallways of the guard tower. To many outsiders, this is a hilarious sight as they watch a 5'0 woman drag a 6'6 man who is essentially a walking mountain. To those who are close to the pair, they know that the tiny woman is far more powerful than the bear of a man she is dragging.

Garroth is dragged into his room, and Aphmau quickly makes him sit as she closes the door. She immediately starts pacing the room, stressed, as if she were a locked animal in a cage. Startled by her forcefulness and rush, he quickly says "My lady, what is wrong?".

Aphmau stops and turns to him with a serious look.

"Garroth, as you may know, Alina's powers have been growing, and we have no way of knowing what will happen. She and I will be traveling to Yggdrasil Forest to see if the elves will be willing to help. Travis and Katelyn will be accompanying me as well."

Garroth nods along before interjecting, "What about Lilith? Who will take care of her?"

"That is what I am getting too. I am going to need you and Liochant to take care of her."

"BUT -" He quickly stands up to argue, but is silenced.

"I am not finished, Garroth." Aphmau put her hand in front of him, effectively silencing any of his protestations. "Garroth, I know that he is from Tu'la, but I do not care. He has done nothing to warrant any hate except being born in a different region. He is the girl's guard; they trust him. Katelyn trusts him. I. Trust. Him. "

Garroth sits back down, unwilling to risk his lady's temper. Aphmau pinches her brows and just sighs. "I know that you do not trust him, but you are going to have to at least be polite to him, for Lilith's sake at least. Now, given the shadow knight threat, I need you both to be extra careful. You are to be her shield; do I make myself clear, Garroth?"

"Yes, My Lady."

Garroth watches as the carriage leaves the village, off to a forest villages away with no reasonable way to to contact her, and now he is stuck with the enemy and a child. Grumbling to himself he heads off to the manor, taking as long as possible to delay the inevitable. When he reaches the purple door he simply opens it and walks in to see Lilith happily drawing on the table, no care in the world as to the dangers in the world. As Garroth walks up, a guard in full armor walks up and places a small plate of fruit slices next to the girl, who happily starts eating, ignoring the fact that apple slice juice is seeping into the paper.

"It is good to see you, Sir Garroth." Liochant says, his accent coming out as smooth and soft, but Garroth chooses only to hear the the difference. "It.... is nice to see you as well... Liochant." The words sound forced coming out of his mouth, but Garroth was raised to be polite in the face of circumstances and Liochant chooses to ignore it. 

"I see that we are going to be here together, I hope we can makes this partnership work."

"I do as well." Garroth has to force the words out of his mouth, with the well being spoken with the smallest bit of vitriol. Through the knights element, he can see Liochant's eyes crinkle is what can only be assumed to be a smile. "Good, now if you don't mind me I am going to go make dinner."

Liochant exits the room and head to the kitchen, and  Garroth finally relaxes, not realizing that he was tense. Choosing not to dwell on it, he sits next to Lilith and watches her draw. Going from dogs, to wyverns to birds, and she even attempts to draw him. It is  a bit crude, the yellow is too yellow, the eyes are definitely sisters and not twins but it is genuinely sweet.

"Thank you, my dear."

Garroth accepts the drawing with grateful hands, making sure as to not crease it as he takes a closer look. As he looks more, he even sees that the little artist managed to capture his freckles, while they are bright orange, it is the thought that matters. After admiring the drawing he looks over to see Lilith working on another drawing, this time the figure has brown skin, black eyes, and medium black hair and a beard?

"I don't think Lady Aphmau has a beard, Lilith."

"It's not mama silly!" Lilith looks at him as if he is crazy as she continues squiggling in the mans beard, and if Liochant looks anything like how Lilith depicts, how he gets his beard under the helm is a mystery. Rolling his eyes, Garroth asks "Then who is it?"

"It's Liochant!"

"Dinners ready!"

With that, Liochant walks out carrying two plates full of potatoes, chicken, and green beans. He sets the plates in front of Garroth and Lilith before scooping up the plate of fruit that has been long since finished. He looks over at the drawing, joy incredibly evident in his voice as he exclaims "Oh is that me! Thank you so much, you did such a good job!" He places it on the side table by the couch before heading off the kitchen. Raising an eyebrow at Liochant, the blonde speaks out, "Aren't you going to eat with us, Liochant?"

"Not today, unfortunately I made a LOT of dishes but I will still be eating if that is what you are concerned about." That is clearly not what Garroth is concerned, or even interested about but the man chooses to let it slide for now. Unwilling to press the issue further, he enjoys the food, and unfortunately for his decision to hate the man, the food is really, really good. It reminds him of his youth in the Castle of Okhasis, a time of constant and flavorful warm meals and damn, it is hard to hate the man.

The two eventually finish the food and Garroth brings the plate to Liochant, who is cleaning what Garroth can only assume to be the mans own. "Lilith and I have finished our food."

"Ah, thank you Sir Garroth. You can just set them to the side, I'll be done in a moment."

The blonde just nods, an awkward silence forming between the two but Liochant quickly finishes the dishes and turns to the giant man. "Now, lets tuck Lilith into bed." He passes by, and Garroth can't help but follow. The air of calm lulls Lilith into bed as the two tuck her into bed and Garroth can't help but but be impressed. Lilith is so difficult to put to sleep but Liochant makes it seem as easing as breathing and before long the girl is in the land of dreams and the two guards carefully leave the room.

As the two split off to head into their own seperate rooms, Liochant asks "What do you want for breakfast, Sir Garroth?"

Surprised by the genuine question, Garroth quickly replies without a thought behind it "Muffins?"

"Well, muffins it is, Sir Garroth."