Round 27 bingo card - Candles
Mar. 25th, 2025 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hasebebe_2205Eleven candles. Eleven candles circling the top of a cake with flames flickering. Eleven candles to represent her eleven years alive. However, unlike other birthdays these candles represented something else.
This was her first birthday without her big brother.
How long ago was it that she had last seen Thandorin? Nine months? How long had it been since she'd watch her home burn down for the second time? Seven months? Eight?
The feeling of loneliness and empty she felt when staring at the candles was reminiscent of her first birthday without her parents… her sixth birthday. It was that day Thandorin promised to always celebrate their birthdays together.
Yet, here she was surrounded by people that cared for her, but not her brother. Not the one person she thought would always be there to protect her. The thought just made her want to cry.
But she couldn't. She mustn't. Everyone here had worked so hard to put together a party for her. With such short notice too… since she didn't want them to pity her because she had no family to celebrate with. There were no other kids here, but everyone who she had come to care for was.
Zeke, her now guardian, who had become like an uncle to her. Voltaire and Felix, the couple she had come to know as friends. Even Jacqueline, who she had terrorised with pranks since she first arrived, was here. As well as a dozen or so other guild members who cared enough to celebrate her birthday with her.
So no, she mustn't cry. Not yet anyways. Instead she put on a brave face and smiled. Blowing out her candles and giggling when someone remarked not to tell them her wish.
She watched the smoke dissipate from the candles as the cake was moved away to be cut. Marking the start of another year of her life and the possibility of not seeing her brother for another year.
This was her first birthday without her big brother.
How long ago was it that she had last seen Thandorin? Nine months? How long had it been since she'd watch her home burn down for the second time? Seven months? Eight?
The feeling of loneliness and empty she felt when staring at the candles was reminiscent of her first birthday without her parents… her sixth birthday. It was that day Thandorin promised to always celebrate their birthdays together.
Yet, here she was surrounded by people that cared for her, but not her brother. Not the one person she thought would always be there to protect her. The thought just made her want to cry.
But she couldn't. She mustn't. Everyone here had worked so hard to put together a party for her. With such short notice too… since she didn't want them to pity her because she had no family to celebrate with. There were no other kids here, but everyone who she had come to care for was.
Zeke, her now guardian, who had become like an uncle to her. Voltaire and Felix, the couple she had come to know as friends. Even Jacqueline, who she had terrorised with pranks since she first arrived, was here. As well as a dozen or so other guild members who cared enough to celebrate her birthday with her.
So no, she mustn't cry. Not yet anyways. Instead she put on a brave face and smiled. Blowing out her candles and giggling when someone remarked not to tell them her wish.
She watched the smoke dissipate from the candles as the cake was moved away to be cut. Marking the start of another year of her life and the possibility of not seeing her brother for another year.
