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The grass was perfect today, soft and dry, but not to the point where it’s crispy.
Marigold’s bare paws trotted in the greenery as she walked alongside her father, the two both in Lycan for and out to do their morning run together.
“Now, remember, try not to go anywhere near the Dalish Camp, yes, because-”
“Because the sight of a wolf may scare them, I know, Papa!”
The little golden fur wolf picked up her pace as she was getting excited to run.
Both the girl and her father found after adapting to their wolf forms, that they got incredibly restless, especially in the mornings, and felt as if they needed to run several times a day.
And they did.
As much as they had time for anyway, until Evka called them for breakfast or for her and Antoine to head off somewhere.
Morning runs became Mari’s favourite past time; there was just something so oddly relaxing about sprinting at full speed through the trees.
Chasing nugs, parkouring the overgrown tree roots and large rocks, but most of all, spending quality time with her Papa.
“Alright, ready, mon petite fleur?”
“Born ready!”
The much larger wolf chuckled deeply as he began to sprint along with his daughter, the brown and gold wolf dove snouts first into the deep woods of Arlathan.
Their paws galloping on top of the grass and soil.
Antoine’s yellow eyes looked to his side, his little pup’s half-coloured eyes glance back at him as if to challenge the older wolf, to which he took the challenge.
The bigger Lycan sprinted faster, pushing past his daughter, following that Marigold pushed passed her father.
Both wolves engaged in a silent race through the forest.
“Try and keep up, Papa!” Marigold barked before hopping up onto a massive tree branch, grabbing a vine with her sharp teeth and swinging across the way and onto the dirt ground several feet in front of her father.
“CHEATER!!” the large brown wolf howled, “LOSER!!” the pup snapped back playfully, continuing on in front of Antoine.
“I’m coming for you, little flower!!”
Marigold’s ear twitched as she glanced back at Papa-wolf gaining on her.
As Antoine closed the space between him and his pup, the golden wolf’s eyes began glowing green.
“MERDE!”
In a flash of floral, a multitude of branches and vines creeped out of the ground and tripped up Antoine, making to big wolf-man tumble onto his side.
Not injured, physically, his pride was more hurt from his daughter ticking him like that, but gods, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t proud if not impressed of the girl.
“OH, WE’RE PLAYING DIRTY, ARE WE, MON FLEUR?!”
“DESOLE, PAPA, CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF ME WINNING!!”
“WAIT, MARI, NOT TO FAR!”
It was too late, the wolf pup’s winning high got to her head and she kept running, so fast that she vanished into the woods.
“Merde, I need to get her back... Evka is gonna kill me”
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Marigold pridefully bolted pasted the tall, bright, pastel-coloured trees.
Leaves falling passed her sensitive ears, the wisps and wooshes in her fluffy wolf ears was such a euphoric feeling.
The summer sun glared down on her through the branches and leaves for the woods, as she proceeded, the plants and trees began to part wider and wider, indicating that she was reaching an open area of Arlathan.
After a little while, Marigold halted.
Turning around to see if her father was still there.
He wasn’t.
“Damnit, I went too far...” the pup thought to herself, nervous at the lecture she’ll likely be getting for doing that.
However, as she started to return back toward where she sabotaged her Papa... a melodic humming caught her attention.
A soft, sweet humming of a little girl, about Marigold’s age, gently travelled through the pup’s ears.
It came from the open area of the forest, she debated on going towards it, if she went that far into the woods without her parents, or even their permission... maker, she’ll be grounded for at least two weeks.
But the singing... it was so beautiful, almost enticing, hypnotising.
Marigold followed the source of the music. As she got closer, the golden wolf could hear the strums of harp strings along with the humming, it was gorgeous.
Rushing water and chirping birds accompanied the relaxing music.
The wolf-girl looked passed a big gap in the trees, making sure to keep her head down just in case someone sees her.
Maker, the sight.
A small oasis area hid behind the tall trunks and trees, a long, wide waterfall flowed down a cliffside in front of a crystal-clear lake.
Not like the usual lake her and her family would go to, but smaller and shinier somehow.
And one big difference... was the girl that was there.
Facing away from Marigold’s direction was an Elven girl, likely Dalish, sitting on a big, flat rock at the edge of the lake.
Her hair was messy with curls and presented a beautiful, fiery red.
Though she could now fully see her properly, Marigold found the girl so... lovely, and gorgeous.
The musical notes emanating from her were sourced by a large, lap-harp that the young girl carefully, gently strummed with left hand.
Gods, the tunes were ever so relaxing to listen to, Marigold couldn’t help but feel slight guilt for creepily watching this girl without her knowledge.
As the pup tried to relax and turn back to her normal form, so that she could introduce herself, a boy’s amused yell caught her and the other Elf girl’s attention.
“Hey stubby!”
Mari’s ears perk up to the level of derogatory intent within that ‘greeting’.
Four others, seemingly Dalish Elf kids, sauntered over towards the red-curly-haired Elf girl.
If the way they greeted and looked at the girl wasn’t a dead giveaway, the reaction out of her said it all. The red-head Elf had a bothered and slightly fearful expression on her face as she clutched her lap-harp against her chest as she turned around to walk off.
Which is when Mari noticed what the name ‘stubby’ meant.
The girl only had one arm, which she was using to hold onto her instrument.
“Where ya going, stubby?!”
The distinct Dalish accent from one of the girls in the group rang through nearly the whole forest.
“Just leave me alone...” the curly-haired girl said softly, as if to yell.
“That harp looks heavy, what, you need a hand?!”
The group erupted in laughter at one of the boy’s jokes.
As the girl tried to walk away, the group started to run after her, “get her!!”
“One-armed freak!!”
Marigold watched the scene unfold as the rage built up inside her, running neck and neck with the fear of being seen in her Lycan form.
One of the girls caught up to her and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her red curls, making her drop to the ground, “go away, leave me alone!” the girl cried, holding her lap-harp close before it got forcefully yoinked from her.
“You actually think you’ll ever be good at harp with ONE ARM?! Pathetic!”
“I know where this can go!”
The other boy took the harp from his friend and through it into the lake, sinking it instantly as the red-head screamed and cried for her precious possession.
Marigold wanted to just jump out of the woods and tear those bullies to shreds with her fangs, but the thought of getting in trouble with both her parents and the Dalish held her back.
But what happened next.
No consequence would stop her.
“You want it back?!”
The supposed leader of the group gripped the girl by her shirt and pushed her far into the water. She flailed and struggled as she tried to swim, her lack of arms making it extremely difficult.
That boy probably knew she couldn’t swim either...
... that's it.
“HAH!! Look at her, she can’t even swim!”
“She shouldn’t have even been born!”
“How long do think it’ll be till she-”
A large woosh into the air caught the group completely off guard.
A series of long, thick tendril-like vines lifted the one-armed girl and her lap-harp out of the water, gently laying her on the dry ground as she coughed the water out of her lungs.
“What the-!?”
“Hey!”
All of the Dalish kids turned toward the voice, including the girl who nearly drowned.
Marigold stood there with her hand in the air, commanding magic and manipulating the vines coming out of the water, her eyes glowing a bright green.
“Who are you!?!”
“That’s the half-elf freak from the cabin” one of the girls whispered, “her siblings are Dwarves and a Qunari, what a bunch of weirdos-”, before the other Elf girl could finish, a big tree root burst out of the ground and coiled around the bully girl’s ankle, “what-”
Suddenly, the girl was flung against a large tree, “SHIT, GO-!”
A vine quicky sprung up and wrapped around the leader boy’s throat tightly, pulling him all the way over to a very pissed off Marigold.
The golden-haired girl used her magic, pointing her palm towards the ground allowing a particularly dark plant to grow instantly, the flower was speckled with dark, weirdly leathery looking berries.
Marigold picked several of them casually before forcing the boy’s mouth open and lifting her hand as if she was about to shove them all in his gob.
“You know want this is? This is Deadly Nightshade... it’s incredibly poisonous, and can kill you pretty fast... it only takes two to kill someone your age but... I would wanna make sure you really die for torturing an innocent girl”
The red-haired girl’s eyes widened, they were so beautiful, one hazel, and one green.
Sparkling like gemstones in Marigold’s sight.
“OKAY, OKAY, I WON’T BOTHER HER AGAIN, I’M SORRY, PLEASE!!!” the Dalish boy cried, tears streaming down his face as the plant mage released his jaw from her grasp.
“Now go home to your mommy... before I give her something to cry about”
In a burst of fearful tears all the bullies sprinted off, one being somehow brave enough to yell out, “monstrous freaks!!” before disappearing back into the woods towards the Dalish camp.
Marigold ignored the comment from the other boy, she couldn’t care less about what they had to say, only their horrific action bothered her enough to take action.
The golden-haired Elf turned her attention to the other Elf still knelt on the dirt ground, inspecting her harp’s condition.
“Hey-”
The curly-haired Elf flinched at Marigold’s greeting, her hazel and green eyes widening.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you... are you okay?”
The other Elf looked down sheepishly, holding her lap-harp up with her singular arm, the other side presenting a halved arm that ended at the elbow, creating a nub at her side.
“I’m.... okay... a little cold...” her adorable Dalish accent made Mari’s heart flutter.
“What’s your name?” the gold hair girl asked, crouching down in front of the other girl.
“.... Róisín”
“That’s a pretty name, I’m Marigold~”
Róisín looked up with surprise, clutching her skirt with nervousness.
“... thank you... for saving me”
Marigold smiled softly at the other Elf, “is your harp okay?”
“Yeah... I- I think so...”
“Your song was really pretty, by the way~”
The red-head girl looked at Mari with a heavy blush on her freckled cheeks, lake water travelling down her face in a way that could be mistaken for tears.
“I... you really think so?”
“Yeah! Your humming was beautiful too; you really have a gift...”
“I-”
“Marigold!!”
The Elven girls looked behind them to find an older Elf man stumble through the trees, Antoine rushed over to his daughter and her new friend with worry in his eyes.
“Mari, what did we say about running off so far, you had me so worried!”
“Sorry Papa....”
Marigold looked down with an ashamed face as her ears drooped.
“It’s fine, petite fleur, in future just- oh, who’s this?”
Róisín was caught off guard by the older Elven man acknowledging her, her green and hazel eyes shifted in panic.
“This is Róisín, Papa, she’s from the Dalish camp across the forest, I saved her!”
“Saved... from what?”
Marigold looked back at the other girl who was looking incredibly nervous, “she nearly drowned... some bullies pushed her into the lake”
“Oh dear, are you alright, cherie?”
“Yes sir...”
Antoine smiled the same as his daughter, kneeling in front of the sweet girl, “please, mon cher, call me Antoine, do you need help getting home?”
“... I’m okay... thank you though...”
Róisín stood up with her harp in her arm, “it was nice to meet you... Marigold and Antoine...”, the girl began to walk off before turning toward the two other Elves.
“I’ll... see you later...”
She then ran off.
Marigold could not take her eyes off her, the girl’s hair, eyes, voice.... so beautiful, why would anyone want to hurt such a breath-taking being.
“Let’s... maybe not tell your Mama about this”
The girl giggled, agreeing with her father, knowing full well that she’d be grounded for running off and Antoine would be on the couch for not paying attention.
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The next day
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*KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK*
“Who’s that at this hour?”
Evka got up from the breakfast table to answer the front door, her husband and children proceeding to finish off their food.
“Hello?”
The Dwarf opened the entrance to the cabin only to find nobody there, except a basket.
The small, whickered basket had jars of jam and caramelized mushrooms as well as fresh bread and a wrapped, singular rose flower, “well, this is pleasantly unexpected”
“What is it, mon amour?”
“A little gift basket, wonder who it’s- oh, there’s a note!”
Evka placed the basket on the table as the kids were about to put their dishes in the sink, “huh... it’s you Marigold”
“Me?”
The girl’s mother smiled as she gave her daughter the note, “you’re sure it is for Mari?”
“Her name is on the front”
“Open it, sis!” Claude said excitedly.
Marigold unfolded the parchment to find a short sentence written for her.
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“Ma serannas (thank you), Marigold
I am forever grateful to you for saving my life.
Until we meet again, Falon (friend)
Roisin O’Connor”