BEYOND HERE LIES NOTHING
I felt honored to have his love, nearly unworthy of it. Perhaps that was the reason I tried so hard to not fail him and keep being that stronghold of protection his young mind looked up too. If it all boiled down to the truth, I wanted to follow the hoofprints of my mother and father; I wanted to not only be his daddy, but his hero. Unfortunately the eve would come when my efforts fell aside, and this proud warrior would let him down. My prayer was that such a day came later rather than sooner.
”I w-will trust you.”
His word finally gave tangible acceptance to an unwinnable battle. I nodded once in approval to his submission and hoped that it wouldn’t be left to waste. It was trust we gave each other now that his word given, it was my turn to believe that he would hold to it. Cera wasn’t a dishonest cherub, so this mind had very few doubts that his intetion would turn from a promise. Still, I sought to further seal this between us by giving him something useful to do, “I need you to keep Fina when we go to war--be it now or a little later.” Glancing up at the beautiful fiery bird I added reason behind the request, “She is yet a baby and still only a season old, I don’t want her to get hurt during the fray….will you please guard her for me?” Fina wouldn’t be pleased to hear she was getting left behind, and already I could sense her picking around in my skull to find out why her name was mentioned. She was deviously clever.