*A little writing exercise I did to do some light experimenting on integrating description without disrupting the flow of the story.
I think some fox girl fans will like it. ;-)
*****
Tapi smiled as he looked across the green hill, the gentle summer wind turning the grass into a green sea with waves travelling across it. The air here was sweeter than in the city, with the many wild flowers and the blossoming trees growing here, and the birds celebrated it with their songs. The sun stood high in the clear sky and turned the small river at the foot of the hill into a stream covered with flickering silver stars.
He had missed all of this, but what he really missed was the one moving through the grass, holding her basket in one arm while searching the grass for the herbs she loved to use in her cooking. He smiled softly at the fox girl he had known since she had come to his village when she was little.
Hella was an orphan and one of the few non-humans living here. There were only a bear couple, a bull, and a feline male among the majority of humans but it was not like that caused any trouble. The trouble came when the two year older Lottro bullied her for being an orphan and, at the time, the only furry kid in the small school.
She wasn't used to her new home with the older couple that adopted her because they had been friends with her parents for a long time. She had no family to go to and it seemed no one in the village she grew up in wanted to adopt her. Something about her father and a scandal involving the man he worked for. Lottro made her cry. Tapi still remembered that moment. It still stirred his heart.
He became angry back then and stepped between her and Lottro. Lottro threatened to beat him up. He didn't give Lottro a chance. The scolding and spanking he received afterwards for hitting Lottro was still intense in his memory, but so was the smile she gave him. It was worth it.
Lottro started teasing him afterwards about being in love with a fox but he never dared to go any further than that though, fearing another beating. Tapi ignored him and the teasing stopped after a while.
Hella looked up from her search in the grass and stared at him. He wondered what she would think about seeing him after all these years while he learned his blacksmith skills with his uncle in the city. A nervous twitch shot through his chest.
She moved towards him, her gaze never leaving him, walked faster for a few moments, then ran when she came closer, her dress the colour of oaken leaves fluttering through the long grass and the white fur of her jaw revealing the big smile on her red-brown muzzle.
'Tapi!' she cried out, dropped her basket and jumped into his arms. 'Tapi! You're back!'
He hugged her tight, although not as tight as she hugged him. She rubbed her white furred cheek against his while she kept saying his name. The slight fear he had about a bad reception by her was gone.
He smiled and rubbed her back. 'You're not going to cry as much as you did when I left, are you?'
'And why not?' she said. 'I missed you so much!'
His heart beat faster. 'I missed you too, Hella.' he said and buried his face in her soft neck. He loved the gentle smell of her fur, reminding him of warm and comfortable places. It was a scent he had not forgotten.
She pulled back a little to look at his face and smiled. 'You haven't changed much while you became an adult. Still the grey-blue eyes like the colour of the river fish and the soot black hair.' She pulled with her black hand at the end of his hair in his neck. 'And just as long. Only you've grown taller than me.'
He smiled back at Hella who was now almost one head shorter than him, and looked into her eyes, still pale green like new grass. 'And you're still the pretty girl that you were when I left.' He ran his fingers through her long red-brown hair. 'Maybe even more pretty now that you're an adult as well.'
She smiled and looked away for a moment. 'Are you staying here now?'
He nodded. 'I'll be taking over the smithy from old man Jenssen.' he said. 'His widow is going to live with her sister and agreed to let me buy it all from her for a low price.'
Hella's dress swayed because of her wagging tail underneath. 'I'm glad you're back, Tapi.' she said and hugged him more.
He smiled and rubbed her cheek with his. 'I'm glad to be back.' After a while he looked up at the blue sky. 'It's like nothing has changed here.'
Hella pulled back and grinned. 'Nothing has.' she said, let go of him and took his hand. 'Come.'
He chuckled while he let himself get pulled down to the river to a couple of trees on the bank. The cooler air along the river and in the shadow of the trees reminded him of the hot summers they had played here. She pulled him next to one tree and turned with a bright smile at him. 'Remember this?'
He looked at the crude letters carved into the hard bark at chest height. 'So long ago.' he said, reaching out and tracing the T and the H.
'You said you would stay by my side after Lottro bullied me that day.' she said, placing her warm hand gently on top of his.
He remembered. He didn't want to see her ever cry again, and he carved their initials to seal his promise. He looked around. Insects buzzed lazily around while birds above him sang and the water of the river whispered along the bank and the rocks. He had made that promise but had to break it when his father sent him to his uncle. Yet nothing seemed to have changed in all the years here.
He looked into Hella's eyes. 'I'm sorry.'
She gave him a warm smile and cupped his cheek. 'It's okay.' she said. 'You had no choice.'
A breeze touched her hair and her right ear moved slightly. She blinked her eyes once. His heart beat faster again. He leaned closer and kissed her before he even realised it.
Hella closed her eyes, her mind dizzy as she returned his kiss, leaned into him and wrapped her hand around his against the tree. Her heart pounded in her chest while he pulled her against him with his free arm.
