#fridayflash: Not the one (excerpt from Winds #2)

But even after the appointed time, Danis, Hana and the babe did not arrive at the castle nor did any news from the south come to the Castle. Restless, Mica paced the ramparts.

He grew melancholy as the days passed and neither his grandfather’s advice nor the Steward’s warnings made a difference. Instead, he spent his days in the Painted Hall, talking to the Yuki-musumi, for she appeared as young as him.

“Do you intend to kill me?” he asked her one day.

She raised her face from her inspection of...