Friday Snippets – Faith

This snippet continues from last week with Faith and Saffron at the village dance. Saffron has been asked to dance by a hansom stranger and now it’s Faith’s turn…

I hope you enjoy this snippet from the first draft of my short story. Comments are always welcome.

~*~

Faith looked up at the boy who stood before her. He was slim and developing the musculature of the adult he would soon grow into. His straw coloured hair stuck up in places where it refused to lie flat, and his nose had a kink along the bridge from an old break. The brightness of his green eyes and his strong features made him pleasant to behold.

The boy was staring at her, his mouth slightly open. Faith’s peacock coloured eyes sometimes had that effect; people never expected to see the dazzling colours. Faith clutched her hands together and smiled shyly.

‘Um…’ the boy stuttered, trying to draw himself back to his senses.

‘I’m Faith.’

The boy flashed a nervous smile, colour rising to his face.

‘I’m Draego Aerdin Evelenta , a new recruit from Wolfpack. I’m from Lesoura originally.’

Faith’s gaze flashed through the crowd of people, quickly settling on her father. He was busy dancing and hadn’t noticed the boy.

‘Have some wine, it will loosen you up.’ Faith passed him a cup. He took a sip as if to test the taste, then knocked back the whole cup and placed it back on the barrel.

Faith raised her eyebrows.

‘Could you… show me the steps to your dance? I’m not familiar with it,’ he said. That was a tired way of asking her to dance. She might have said no, that she should be looking after her younger siblings, but something about his demeanour set him apart from the other young men.

‘Come, I’ll show you,’ she said, placing her wine cup on the nearby barrel.

Faith showed him the basic steps of the line dance. Draego’s eyes stared intently at her feet as he jerkily tried to follow, nearly tripping on his own shoes. Faith pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing. He genuinely didn’t know the dance.

Faith caught a flash of long blond curls as the tall boy twirled Saffron around. He danced with as nimble elegance as one might fence with.

‘I’m sorry, I’m not very good at dancing,’ said Draego, noticing her distraction. As he scratched his head, more strands stuck up. Faith wondered, how many times had he been outshone by his more dynamic friend.

~*~

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the 3 part snippet