For the first time since coming to this world, Kalt shed his uniform in public for something so much more casual. He almost felt naked without his uniform, but the weapons he always kept concealed on his person gave him the comfort that he needed to not constantly be looking over his shoulder.
Theea rested her chin on his hair, as he walked through the gathering of people around the fire. He smirked, his eyes shifting carefully over the beautiful and ornate designs on the lanterns.
He lowered the toddler to the ground where there were a few people painting lanterns. One of the women smiled at him and offered a bare lantern, which he accepted with a smile. Kalt sat on the ground with Theea, putting a few different colors of paints around them. ”What’re we painting?” He asked her, tucking her raven hair behind her ear.
“Hands, papa,” she said simply.
He raised his brows and looked at her. ”Hands? Why-“ He was cut off by Theea dipping both of her hands in red and blue paints. Kalt couldn’t help the defeated laugh, as he pinched his eyes closed with a nod. ”Because you wanted to paint your hands. Alright.” He held the lantern still for her as she left her handprints on the lantern. With a small breath, he put the lantern on the ground, dipped his own hands in the paint, and placed his handprints outside of hers. The girl’s eyes lit up, and he poked her on the nose, leaving a small smudge of blue paint and earning an excited laugh from her.
Kalt smoothly got to his feet and lifted her to hang the lantern on a nearby post. Someone came over with a candle and lit the lantern, so it began to glow like all of the others. He kissed Theea’s cheek and put her on the ground, holding her hand so the still wet paint on their hands mixed slightly. He glanced around, his keen eyes suddenly catching sight of a large shadow hovering in the woods, and a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
Crouching next to the little girl, he pointed towards the shape of the black wolf. ”Look, it’s a wolf,” he said in a hushed voice.
“A wuff,” she said. Theea’s slight speech issues began when he had to paralyze her vocal chords, but he was working with her on developing it properly. He repeated the word with her until she got it right, then smiled at her. “I wanna pet the wu- the wolf.”
He nodded and released her hand. ”Go ahead, star. Only this wolf, though.” He knew he would eventually have to distinguish between wolves and dogs, but watching his daughter trotting towards Ashe brought a gentle smile. If she allowed it, Ashe would find the paint covered hands of a three-year-old in her black fur with bright blue eyes looking up at her with a smile. Kalt followed after, wiping his paint-stained hands on his pants, not caring about messing up the fabric, then tucking his hands in his pockets. ”She’s more slippery than you are,” he said with a smirk. ”Can you show your face, please?”
Ashetta
kalt
give into the night.
|
