Lesson Number Five (Belgar, Chesh)

[Fari]

Timestamp: 62nd of Fall, 511 AV It had taken almost an hour of coaxing to get one of the human guards to walk with Bijou out to her hiding spot. It had been too long since the cub had buried her little treasure and to the guard’s great dismay Bijou had to dig several holes at the base of several different trees before she found her hiding spot. To further agitate her escort the ice was stuck, it had congealed with some of the surrounding snow greatly increasing its bulk. Dig jingle jingle dig dig dig jingle. Bijou was busy making a game out of the situation how few jingles could she make while she dug? It was good practice for being sneaky. Jingle dig scratch dig scrap jingle. Through the course of her game Bijou realized if she moved fast enough the bell would only get in one jingle. She’d have to remember that later it might be useful. To the on-looking guard although, it just looked like the bear had a fire lit under her fuzzy little rump and was working extra hard which suited his purposes just fine. Finally the cub got a good bite around the ice chunk and yanked. The ice chunk came flying out. Bijou had pulled too hard and it had sent her all the way onto her back. As the cub law sprawled belly up she had an excellent view of her precious ice go flying through the air and crash into the ground, shattering. A cry of distress ripped out of the small bear’s throat. That was her apology gift! Scrambling over onto her feet Bijou charged towards the ice wreckage as fast as her stubby cub legs would carry her. She searched through the ice shards looking for anything salvageable. The guard trudged after her with a constant air of aggravation for the cub’s antics. With as much care as the cub had patience for she picked up a large ice shard in her mouth, it would have to do. Without evening signaling her chaperon Bijou about-faced and bee lined for the barracks. She would still bring the Queen the sun; she had to make amends for the incident. The guard had completely left Bijou’s mind at this point so she didn’t even stop when she entered the barracks, instead she headed out towards the back of the barracks where she could carve her ice in peace. There was a match of combat training going on but it was only two bears and they wouldn’t bother the little cub and her ice. Bijou found a spot beneath and eave and plopped down and examined her prize. It was too rough so the cub licked it into shape. Now that it was rounded Bijou began carefully using one claw to carve out an underbelly and legs from the lump of ice. She got a few scratches in the wrong spot but she felt the work was satisfactory and moved on to the next components; the back side and the head. When even the shameful rear was carved Bijou added like marks for claws, eyes and ears. A few more licks to smooth out her work and it was done. A little polar bear ice statue to capture the sun for the Ice Queen. Bijou shifted with the characteristic dizzying swirl of lights and grabbed the statue. The cub ran inside quickly, barefoot and naked as the day she was born, Bijou streaked through the training yard and back inside to the warmth. Upon her reentry to the barracks Bijou went about sniffing around for her keeper. Upon locating the frazzled woman Bijou announced her plans for the small statue and demanded an escort. It was only a few chimes later that Bijou found herself by the front door securing a promise from the guard to carefully watch her statue that sat outside in the cold so it didn’t melt. She couldn’t very well have the statue melt while she waited for her escort to arrive.

[Belgar]

“I don’t know, some cub,” the woman answered, weighted by an exasperated shrug.

Belgar paused a moment. “Yes, fine.” The cold metal chair shrieked as he stood behind the mess table. A piece of wood, warmed by his palm and littered with unintelligible notches, rolled over some of its own shavings and into the old knife he had been using to carve it. He disregarded them both as he nodded at his fellow Kelvic’s mutter of thanks and departed the hall stiffly. He almost suggested to her that she should not have shirked her assigned duty, that she should try to accustom herself to the antics of cubs if she ever hoped to be honored with one of her own, but ultimately he did not. She knew it was impossibly easy to ask a favor of Belgar the Kind, and so did he.

Swathed in coats befitting the outdoor trek of a human, he exited the Barracks with his hands in his pockets and his head low. He lifted his chin only high enough so that he could inquire for the name he had been given. His face was straight as an pillar of icestone, but his low voice was soft on the edges. “Bijou?”

But he had already smelled her, was turning to regard her, when the guard at the door gestured to her gift: a small likeness of a bear, carved from ice, not unlike the old and aged wood figure that perpetually inhabited his pocket. Belgar caressed his version of it with his thumb, unseen between the woolen folds of his coat. His black eyes shone with astonishment; he did not glance back at Bijou before he bent to examine her work. He had struggled for nearly a decade to understand art and artists, to solve the mystery of creating something from nothing, and here, somehow, was a beautifully crude version of a that. It was art, a child’s art, a Kelvic’s art. His sigh billowed hot and white into the cold air. “Did you make that, little one?”

[Fari]

Bijou’s mouth shaped a perfect ‘O’ as she looked up at Belgar. He seemed awfully tall to the little girl, probably taller than when she stood on her back paws. But maybe he wasn’t much bigger than Jaiun Bear. It was difficult to say. Giving an enthusiastic nod and a ‘harumph’ affirmative, she was indeed Bijou. The question was who was this bear? “Are you taking me to the castle?” There was no doubt from his scent he was an Icewatch Bear as well but she had never met him personally, which wasn’t unusual; what reason would a cub in training have to meet a real guard? Watching the male bear regard her gift she nodded again. “I did. It’s what the Vantha do for gifts right? I think a seal tail would have been better but I don’t think She would like that very much. My keeper didn’t when I brought her one.” Shuffling in place Bijou was nervous and excited, she was going to go into the palace. But she wasn’t there for fun! She had to beg the Ice Queen not to turn her into an ice statue for the horrible thing that she did. “Can we go now?” Trotting out into the snow next to Belgar the little cub snatched up the statue. “Will you carry it? It will melt in my teeth.” Already the snow was getting too cold, but that didn’t stop the little bear from squishing it in between her little pink human toes.

[Belgar]

An absent nod rocked on Belgar’s chin. Yes, fine, it said, I will take you to the castle; yours is a Vantha gift; we can leave immediately; I will carry it. He liked this cub, for at least her enthusiasm was confined to questions that could be answered simply and with few words. A thread of golden amusement circled his pupils and dissipated an instant later, but his face looked down on her with unmoving courtesy.

Belgar removed his hands from his pockets and pulled off his gloves. Stretching his bare knuckles, he waited for his hands to cool before he took the delicate gift. He wanted to observe it further, but he knew as much would be unkind and inappropriate, if not harmful to the fragile shape of the frozen toy. He touched her work gingerly before he plucked it from where it sat.

“I’ve already dressed,” he mentioned, glancing away from the girl and towards the tall spires that marked the location of Morwen’s home. “I would walk on two legs, but if you prefer four then I will carry your clothes, as well.” A humble huff cleared his throat and temporarily masked him in the vapors of his exhale. When it cleared, he was looking back to her then. Then he cocked his head and swept it like a suggestion toward their destination: a bear’s gesture on a human’s body might have warranted a smile or a laugh, if he were any other men.

And with that, he turned and began to shuffle through the snow.