Christmas Caring II

Kirsten paused at the edge of the wood. Her walking stick struck the frozen, bare ground. Rubbing her hands, she looked over the gnarled tree at the edge. The branches groaned in the frozen breeze. Wings fluttered, barely visible even in the bare branches. Raising her stick she wrapped it against the trunk. Dragonlings screeched taking to the sky.“Did you have to do that?” In his voice, Kirsten could hear the long years. Wearier this winter than even the last.

She snorted as the brown weathered form separated itself from the bark. Vines twisted around his feet sinking into the ground with each step he took, belying the cold and slowing his pace to a crawl. His face always was disconcerting with just twigs for a beard, instead of the summer foliage. “You should know better than to let dragonlings roost at the wood’s edge. Or have you forgotten company is arriving?”