[In between: Sif and Hel] Who: Sif/Iris and Hel/Nel What: A dreamy meeting Where: Dreams / a place in between When: Nowish Warnings/Rating: None. Will update if needed.
The late summer leaves were thick on the branches of the trees that circle the clearing. They were just close enough to provide enough dappled shade to keep the air cooly humid and scented with the green of growing things. Beyond the trees, there was the ripening gold of wheat in a field, preparing itself for harvest. In the distance, a town with houses gathered close and water with boats calmly floating and ready for the next push-off.
But under the leaves, it was all very still and very quiet. A fire burned in the center of the clearing, sparks floating up and still visible even though the sunlight cast itself through in columns of clear glow. Near the fire were any number of things to eat - stewing and baking, staying warm along the surface of an ember-heated rock. And around it, places to sit. Welcoming. Waiting for hunters or farmers, fishers or warriors. It was a place of bounty and rest.
And among it all, a woman moved. Her hair was the same color as the distant field, and pulled back in the spill of a complicated braid that hung past her waist. She was dressed simply, as any woman from the distant town would be, but it was obvious, somehow, that she did not call that place home. There was somewhere different that she belonged, and this clearing was only a resting spot along the way from one place to the next. It did not stop her from tending the fire or seeing to the food. It did not stop her fingers from grazing along leaves or bark as she passed between trees. She was preparing the place to host the guests (plural or singular) that were to come.