1. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    'You talking to me?' The mare gave a tolerant flick of her tail. Venla huffed softly through her nose, but the smile playing at her lips betrayed her amusement. “Mmh” The horse flicked an ear. "Aye, I've decided to become a highwaywoman instead of studying magic. Syr, stand and deliver!" she...
  2. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    Venla gave Hellion one last fond stroke, then stepped back with a small huff. Not one of frustration, but amusement. “If I fall,” she said, glancing at Willard with a smile “you’ll catch me, won’t you?” Her skirts, full and hemmed just low enough to trip over if she wasn’t paying attention. Her...
  3. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    Venla’s lips curved into a genuine smile as she watched the big horse nuzzle Willard’s shoulder like an old friend. The gentle way he spoke to the horse, the fondness in his voice. “You’ve a good hand with animals, you know.” she said, stepping forward. Bramble trusted Willard fast enough. That...
  4. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    “Whatever debt remains between us is mine to repay. You did save my life, after all.” Venla held to silence for a few paces. He was blushing. She caught it, of course. Her lips parted slightly, but not to tease him, she did not want to startle anything too delicate. “I meant what I said, you...
  5. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    Venla’s steps slowed just a little as she listened, her eyes on the road ahead. The thought struck her hard. That someone could be given away so young. He had been seven, and someone had made a choice on his behalf. A choice that shaped the rest of his life. She thought of him, not the man...
  6. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    The morning was still and heavy with a hush, the kind that comes after too much has been said, and not enough can be undone. The sky held the pale sheen of early spring, cold blue and silver-washed, with a promise of change without yet delivering it. Smoke curled from the chimney from the house...
  7. Venla Thiel

    Private Crule

    Venla caught the glint in his eye and the smile that passed like a shadow across his face. She smirked. "A grave shame it would be," she teased him "for a man such as you to be forgotten by a humble brewer’s daughter." Her tone carried a hint of jest, but it was tempered by respect. She dipped...
  8. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    When his fingers found hers, she didn’t look at him right away. She blinked once, then glanced down where his hand gently folded over hers. Her fingers curled slightly beneath his. At the soft creak of the floorboards, Willard’s hand withdrew, and Venla’s gaze followed her mother as she...
  9. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    And the lies did pay off. The tension that had once hung over the table like a stormcloud had thinned into laughter and the clink of mugs. Hours later they all sat gathered around the table, its oaken surface strewn with humble but hearty fare. Smoked sausage, bread, hard yellow cheese, and...
  10. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    Venla did not manage to hide the sigh that slipped past her lips as her brothers exchanged a look. Magnar let out a booming laugh when Willard nearly lost his soul to the bottom of the mug. Venla cast a look toward the rafters, as though asking the spiderwebs above for patience. Magnar leaned...
  11. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    “That is Ivy and Bramble.” Venla said, nodding at half-tamed beasts flanking Willard. Tails wagging. Snouts sniffing. Venla snorted softly at Willard’s whisper, as she stepped toward the open door where her mother stood. The older woman arms were folded over her chest, the old ladle indeed...
  12. Venla Thiel

    Private Crule

    Venla watched in stillness as the shell was placed into the hawk’s chest, its milky spiral vanishing beneath a layer of cold, crystalline feathers. The bird gave no dramatic cry. It merely lived, perhaps more steadily now. She exhaled, the breath misting in the salt-bitten air. When Vaaga made...
  13. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    “It’s never too late.” she said. There was no sermon in her tone, only something simple and warm. “Even if your mother wouldn’t know your face now, I wager she’d still weep to know you breathe.” There was no need for pretty words for that. Just his name at the bottom and enough truth to let some...
  14. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    A decade? Gods. Her throat tightened just thinking about it. He must been just a boy when he left! “That's…” She hesitated, searching for a word that didn’t sting too much. “...brave, cutting loose. Letting something bigger claim you.” "Do you ever miss it? The Highlands, your kin?" she...
  15. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    “Aye, he was,” she said softly, eyes drifting to the shadows dancing on the walls. Venla stretched her legs out, the weight of what lay ahead settled like a wet cloak. The fire’s glow cast a shaky light, revealing the dust motes drifting in the air. She hesitated, then asked, “What about your...
  16. Venla Thiel

    Open The Inn at the Crossroads

    Venla dabbed away the fresh blood with a cloth. "We don’t call him Big Jon as a jest," she said. "Broke a cart in two with his tusks last summer. Pushed right through the oxen like they were last year's grass." She drew the last loop of waxed thread through torn skin, her hands worked steadily...
  17. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    Venla glanced at the mug untouched on the table, like it was calling her back. She stepped toward the table and picked up her beer again. With a soft sigh, she crossed the room and lowered herself onto the edge of the bed opposite him. She took a sip, then let the mug rest in her hands. Her eyes...
  18. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    “Aye,” she said, gaze flicking toward the door, then back to Willard. Venla watched him sheath the blade, and only when it clicked into place did she let her shoulders settle. “I know.” Shroudweavers. Magi. She’d met one, once. A quiet man with a glass eye, black as like frozen river water and...
  19. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    Venla hesitated, the mug still in her hands, warmth from the fire brushing her ankles like a cat that didn’t quite trust her yet. The small fire crackled in the hearth, but everything else felt too still. He had drawn steel. Not with violence, not with threat, but it didn’t matter. The sound of...
  20. Venla Thiel

    Private Dust in the Wind

    I... I know I need to leave... Venla had known it for weeks now, felt it gnawing behind her ribs every time something wrong happened near her. The stone who refused to touch the ground. The tree bleeding upward. The way the shadows sometimes stretched the wrong way when she blinked. She wasn’t...
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