To Warm Your Comely Face

 

Tegan, a newly-minted bard from the Circle of Oak, awoke with the burning desire, no, the need, to be in the forest. He was trained to pay attention to these random urges, so he rose and left with only a pocket of walnuts and a leather flask of small beer.

As he walked among the red oaks and pines, swaying with the distant sea breeze, he began to feel the Awen - the inspiration - come upon him. Shortly, he reached a bend in the trail where the light was just right and the wind fell still and the birds stopped to watch.

He closed his eyes, and these words came to him...

Wake, my dear! for the swaying trees,
Stirr'd by the wind from off the seas,
And Yunni songs so light and gay,
Do bring us 'round to face the day.

Wake, my dear! and you may see,
Once more the sun so fair and free,
And Yunni song floats high above,
To warm your comely face my love.

And that was it. The Awen departed like smoke, and the world went back to its own business.

He opened his eyes, and a Yunni maiden was watching him.

She was remarkable. Her piercing blue eyes, already large and colorful on most Yunni, were the color of a glacier-fed lake. She was small like her kind, about three feet high, but she was the most exquisite doll-like creature he had ever seen.

She blinked and gifted him with a shy smile. After she disappeared expertly into the forest, he never saw her again. Still, forever after she was the standard of beauty he applied to everyone.

Years later, he married a lass with blue eyes, and he was content enough. But he never forgot.

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