Faith in Humanity

On a crisp, pale morning atop a lone mountain peak, the knight found himself beside the ice casket once again.

The crystals had sealed in her beauty exactly. The golden waves lay perfectly around her face. Her freckled cheeks were tinted with a faint blush. The white wolf fur draped around her gently, ever still.

He did not know her name. He did not know where she was from or how she had come to be there.
The only thing he knew was that he needed to sit beside her.
From dawn to dusk, he sat by her side. Sometimes he sang to her, sometimes he read to her. But most of the time, he gazed at her in silent awe and stoicism.

When dusk arrived, he would brush any snow off, walk down to his horse, and ride back to the town below. Occasionally, duty would call and he would not visit her for a few days or weeks, but he always returned with an apology and a new story about his adventures.

On one such day, as he galloped back from his quest, he decided to make camp in the forest at the bottom of the mountain. In his search for suitable shelter, he stumbled upon the ruins of a sanctuary, long abandoned and shrouded in vines. As he entered, he marveled at its vastness. Save the ground and the mountain, it needed no support. At the center was a pedestal of what used to be white marble, but was now covered in layers of dirt and grime.

As he approached, the knight noticed a lump on the floor next to the pedestal. It was a small child.
Concerned, the knight crouched down to brush away the matted blonde hair.
Immediately the child shot up and darted away growling. When it looked back, the knight was surprised to stare into the piercing green eyes of a little girl.
And that's when he glanced downward and realized she was tied to the pedestal by a long rough rope.
Shocked, he moved toward the girl with the intent of untying her, but she flinched and growled once more.
The knight paused before turning around to untie the rope from the base of the pedestal.
But once it was done, the little girl started screaming and ran toward the pedestal, gathering the rope in her hands and desperately trying to retie it, but she clearly did not know how.
The knight, baffled, tried to calm her down. He reached out with his hand, saying everything was okay, but the moment his fingers brushed the rough cloth on her shoulder, she jerked away, green eyes flashing and a low growl forming in the back of her throat.

The knight sighed, wondering how he was ever going to get this frightened little girl to trust such a large stranger.
That's when it dawned on him.
He told the girl he would be back soon, while he stepped outside back to his supplies.
He returned quickly, eager to show her his treat.
He put out his hands to show her the water skin and a piece of rye bread.
She took a step back and eyed him suspiciously.
The knight set down the bread and offered the water skin again, this time showing her how to open it.
He watched the struggle play out across her face: longing, stress, distrust, but eventually he won her over. She tore it out of his hands and tilted it back, drinking ravenously as water streamed down her cheeks.
When she finished drinking, gasping for air, he offered her the bread again. This time she didn't hesitate. It disappeared so quickly, the knight could have sworn he had never grabbed it at all.
When she had finished, her eyes looked softer, almost content.
A moment of silence passed.
The knight waited for the girl to take the initiative.
She stared down at the floor blankly. Her little chest moved in and out slowly, calmly. He could tell this was a crucial moment.
She brushed her hair away from her eyes and finally looked up at him.
They locked eyes and the knight held his breath.
After what felt like forever, the girl slowly walked forward. The knight held still, not wanting to frighten her anymore.
She reached out, took his hand, and slowly led him outside the sanctuary, dragging the rope along behind her.

When they got to his horse, the knight shared a few more morsels out of his satchel. The girl ate them just as quickly as the rye bread.

“What’s your name?” the knight asked.

The girl looked up at him silently from underneath her matted hair.
“My name is Eric. What’s yours?” he asked.

The girl looked up at him blankly. The knight sighed again. Maybe she could not speak. Maybe she still did not trust him yet. The knight began walking back out into the forest and the girl stood up with a confused look on her face.

“I’ll be back just like last time, okay?”

The girl did not seem to acknowledge anything he said and proceeded to walk toward him, stepping dangerously close behind his horse.

“Stop! Move back!” the knight yelled.

The girl jumped back in fright just as his horse kicked backwards. The knight stepped up and steadied the horse. When he looked back at the girl, she was thirty feet away, a mix of fear and rage on her face. The knight thought he also detected tears in her eyes. He took a deep breath.

“Hey,” he said calmly, “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I just didn’t want you to get hurt. Horses can be pretty dangerous animals.”

The girl crossed her arms and looked down at the ground.

“Do you want to meet my horse?”

The girl slowly looked up at him.

“His name is Greywind on account of his color. He likes apples. Do you want to feed him one?”

The girl nodded. Finally, a sign that she at least understood something he said. She began walking forward. The knight grabbed an apple and sliced it into pieces. Then, holding the reins steadily, he led the horse toward her in the clearing. When he handed her the apple slice, she tried to eat it, but he deftly snatched it out of her hands.

The girl looked up at him grumpily, but he just gave the slice to the horse. Her eyes widened in amazement when she saw the great beast eat out of his hand without biting him. She grabbed a slice from his open palm and immediately shoved it in the horse’s face. The knight took her wrist gently and showed her how to bring it up to the horse’s mouth calmly, letting it choose to eat on its own. After the apple was gone, the knight tied up Greywind once more and began walking back into the forest. The girl began to follow him and though he briefly considered protesting, he relented. When he began collecting branches and stones for their fire, she immediately followed suit and they quietly returned to camp.

After a few hours of silent warmth, the knight decided it was time to sleep. He did not know how to tell the girl to sleep. As he turned to tell her, he found her already passed out, wrapped in her long rope. He grabbed a large tunic from his pack and as he gently laid it on her, he noticed her scars in the firelight. Not just any ordinary scars. They were numerous in various sizes and shapes. Gritting his teeth, he then laid back down only to drift off within minutes.

When he awoke the next morning, he was surprised to find the girl gone. He knew he could not tell her what to do, but he grew increasingly worried as he packed up the camp and thought of those awful scars.

Before he left, he decided to take one last trip back to the sanctuary to check on her. Sure enough, he found her huddled beneath the pedestal. He gently shook her awake, but she jumped away and growled as she did the day before. But then she recognized him and stepped toward him.

“I have to go now,” the knight said. “Someone’s waiting for me. Would you like to come with me?”

The girl looked down and the knight expected her to cry, and cry she did. But when she looked back up at him, she was smiling.

The knight knelt on the ground in front of her, peering into her face.

“What’s wrong?”

Still smiling, she reached out her hand and gently touched his cheek.

And she was gone.

The knight jerked upright. He did not know where she went. It was as if she was a dream. He ran all over the sanctuary and all around the area where they gathered firewood. She was nowhere to be found. He searched for hours, the only thing left of her was the rope she had been tied up with.

After a long while, he finally decided his search was pointless. He headed home, all the while thinking of the little girl. If only he had done more to gain her trust. But maybe it was all a dream. No one could just vanish the way she had.

His heart began to lift as he headed back up the mountain, eager to tell the ice woman about the disappearing girl.

As he came upon it, he stopped Greywind dead still. The ice was gone. The woman was sitting up, the white fur draped around her still.

He galloped the rest of the distance, hopped off his horse, and carefully walked toward her, his hand reached out in reassurance and awe.

The woman turned toward him, brought her legs around the edge, and stood, the white fur falling down around her ankles.

The knight gasped.

Etched on her body were the exact same scars as the child. The knight began shaking his head in disbelief.

Finally the woman looked up and the knight found himself staring into those same green eyes.

In silence they stared at each other, the only sound was the low hum of the wind that blew her hair back.

She walked toward him, stopping in front of him. Awe-stricken and humbled the knight knelt before her.

She took his arms and gently lifted him up on his feet. The knight, still in shock, walked around her. He took up the white fur and gently wrapped it around her shoulders. As he did so, she turned around in his arms and they locked eyes again.

And she lifted her hand and gently touched his cheek.

Author's Note

This is still an early draft. I want to keep it as simple as possible. It's meant to be a metaphor for how my first boyfriend helped me through some of my trust issues and honestly restored my faith in humanity a bit.
Let me know if anything is confusing. I'm happy to answer questions.