View source for Lady of Winter by Caledreth De'aere

She wears winter like a coat

A mantle of white worn in warding

Her withering gaze drawing whispers

But never challenged,

Never disobeyed.

Her spider-web inclusions spread over obsidian skin

Like blackened glass in a humid room

Cool, clean, untouchable

Every smile, a threat 

A thin line in the snow.

People see a frozen lake as just that:

A hollow thing wrought from ice alone

They do not hear the patience beneath permafrost

Watching, waiting, wondering when

The time for spring has come

But before a quiet hearth -

- Behind a shuttered door

When authority and responsibility are cast away

Like an overcoat after the rain

She thaws

Her cheeks turn rosy, frost-kissed lashes blinking slow

Eager to enjoy the warmth of another

A warmth so seldom shared

A tenderness falling softly 

Like snow in the night.

Hers is the warmth of one kindred to coldness

Who knows how easily it may be stolen

Every touch, deliberate

Every word, a promise

Each and all, a choice

A decision to trust when trust is anathema

To willingly thaw despite the cold

Not an absence of warmth, 

But a frozen feeling, waiting

For a name softly spoken

For a fire safely burning

Waiting for the right chance, the right time

To melt

        Day 9, Month 7 (Flamerule (Summertide)), 188 AR

        Caledreth De'aere
[[Category:Andunor]]
[[Category:180-189 AR]]
[[Category:Plays & Poems]]