Friday, September 28, 2007

   Yay
Hay everyone! What is up? Nothing much here just hanging out. I did not have school today!!!!! Yay! I got to sleep in so yeah. I am going to my friends house to spend the night so yeah. Well here is the rest of the story.

Abel watched with a raised eyebrow and a blank expression. The reaction had been much calmer than he’d expected. It left a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach… perhaps she really had written him off. He supposed he couldn’t have it both ways forever; in fact she’d been surprisingly patient to put up with his shenanigans so long to begin with. Perhaps she’d made some entirely new friends now that she was living at the Vatican, and had discovered that he wasn’t all that necessary…
The little nun bent over to pick up the candleholder, and he self-consciously averted his eyes as the overcoat clung to her derriere. He heard an odd scuffling noise, however, and turned back in concern –
POOF!!!
Briefly, Abel wondered where the whiteout had come from. Because certainly little Esther had not been able to smack him so hard in the face with a snowball that he would stagger backwards, blinded by frozen white powder. Spitting snow out of his mouth, he looked up to see the young nun standing next to the flickering candle in much the same pose as he’d adopted earlier, tossing another snowball negligently in her hand.
“Was there something?” she said with a little smirk. He narrowed his eyes and was gratified by seeing the expression fade slightly, as she took a step backwards. “Hey, now… you started it!” she protested faintly.
“Sister Esther,” he said piously, “let’s not cast blame…” And with a deft scoop and flip, another snowball sailed at her shoulder, missing only because she slipped when trying to get out of the way.
“Father Nightroad, you are impossible!” she yelled, chucking her snowball blindly in his direction and diving to pack another one. He held off from throwing the next until she’d turned to throw hers, and then timed it so that the snowballs collided in midair, showering them both in powder. “No fair!” the girl cried, skidding towards him with a double handful of snow, petticoats flying.
“Esther, be careful!” he laughed, skittering backward and leaping a tree-filled planter neatly to avoid her. He didn’t know where she planned to put that snow, but it was bound to be cold, if not downright embarrassing. She scowled at him, pressing on.
“Stop that running away, you!” Snow dusted him lightly as the handfuls were tossed in his direction, and she stumbled to a halt, panting. Her expression suddenly turned serious. “You know, I didn’t really mean that the way it sounded earlier. I’m sorry. I really do count on you – I actually thought you’d be rather tired of it.”
Abel blinked, stunned. He hadn’t expected that at all – he’d been feeling a little better just knowing that she would still return his antics in kind. Trying to keep a silly grin from spreading across his face, he neglected to realize that he hadn’t yet stopped backing up.
“Father Nightroad! Watch out!” Esther gasped, hands fluttering to her face in horror as he crashed into another tree, bouncing off and rebounding directly into her with a yelp of surprise. She tried to avoid him, but tripped on a root and fell backwards into the planter, arms splayed wide. To his credit, he did manage to catch himself on his hands before squashing her flat.
There was snow all over him from where the offended tree had dumped its branches, snow going down into his boots and gloves, snow partially obscuring his spectacle lenses, and definitely snow down his neck from Esther’s efforts earlier. By all rights he should be freezing. But as Esther’s eyes gazed up at him, solemn, glimmering pools of liquid sapphire, he felt nothing but warmth.
“Er… you were saying, Sister?” he ventured at last, breaking the deafening silence, drawing back from their nose-to-nose position. She hesitated briefly, then grinned, putting a wet, cold glove to his cheek.
“You’re blushing!”
Abel blushed harder. “Am not!”
“Liar!”
“Do you want more snow down your neck?” he grumbled, giving her a dire look as he got to his knees.
She shut her mouth with an audible click, but her eyes sparkled with mischief, even when she took his hand to get to her feet. He shook his head in despair, shaking snow out of his coat while walking over to pick up the lonely candlestick.
“Oh, so now you’re all right with picking it up for me?” she jibed gently, chuckling when he rolled his eyes.
“Well, it seems that you can’t be trusted with it,” he sniffed, elbowing her as she fell into step again next to him.
She elbowed him back; lower lip stuck out in a pout, and then skidded on the ice with another squeak.
Wordlessly, Abel grabbed her under the arm before she could fall. When she seemed to have her footing again, he left his arm draped across her shoulders, tucking her securely in against his side. After a moment, he felt her tiny arm loop around his waist. Together, they proceeded up the steps in silence, although he could feel Esther’s head tilting to glance up at him occasionally.
He let her go only after he closed the great wooden doors behind them. Gazing down at her thoughtfully while she stamped her boots free of snow, he finally handed her the candlestick with a wry smile. “You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by not coming to look for me, you know.”

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