#dusk in Provence

[huariqueje]

Saint Hippolyte at Dusk  -   John O'Grady

Irish , b.  1960 -

Acrylic on canvas ,    31.75  x 31.75  in.

[sicutpuella]

Desiderium [Tom Riddle x Original Character]

Chapter 1: nuit de février

In the outskirts of Provence, France, on a February evening in the year 1951, an air of enchantment permeated the countryside. Nestled amidst the rolling hills, a grand chateau stood as a beacon of refinement and grandeur. Adorned in exquisite finery, every detail meticulously attended to, the sprawling estate emanated an aura of timeless elegance. As dusk descended upon the land, casting a golden hue upon the snow-covered landscape, the chateau's lights shimmered with a radiance that rivaled the celestial stars above. Their warm glow cascaded through the windows, casting a spell of enchantment upon all who beheld the spectacle.

The atmosphere was filled with anticipation as carriages, resplendent in their regal splendor, made their stately procession towards the chateau's entrance. Each arrival added to the symphony of murmured conversations and tinkling laughter that echoed through the frosty air. The gardens, too, had not been spared from the touch of whimsical enchantment. The carefully manicured flora, bedecked with delicate frost and a dusting of snow, created a magical tableau. Twinkling lights were carefully woven amidst the branches of ancient trees, casting a soft, ethereal glow that danced in harmony with the falling snowflakes.

Within the chateau's walls, guests mingled amidst opulent salons adorned with gilded tapestries and magnificent chandeliers. Laughter, tinged with the echoes of clinking glasses, filled the air as conversations flowed like a melodic symphony of shared stories and whispered secrets.

In this grand setting, the evening unfolded with a grace befitting the majesty of the surroundings. The guests, their attire a tapestry of refined elegance, moved through the chateau's halls with an air of sophistication and charm. The soft notes of a grand piano accompanied their every step, lending an ethereal soundtrack to the festivities.

As the night wore on, the allure of the chateau's splendor captivated all who beheld it. The snowflakes continued their gentle descent, weaving a veil of enchantment over the landscape. The grandeur of the scene, the delicate interplay of light and snow, whispered of timeless beauty and the promise of unforgettable memories.

And so, in this idyllic setting on that fateful February evening, the grand chateau stood as a testament to the power of elegance and refinement. Its magnificence, embellished by the softly falling snow and the twinkle of a thousand lights, created an ethereal world where dreams and reality intertwined, casting a spell upon all who had the privilege to partake in its grandeur.

From the depths of a carriage emerged a vision of elegance and poise. As the door swung open, a woman alighted with grace, her every movement imbued with an innate sense of refinement. Cascading down her back, her crimson tresses were styled with meticulous care, their lustrous waves framing a countenance of ethereal beauty.

Clad in a gown of regal allure, she wore a shade of dark royal blue that enveloped her form with a beguiling charm. The neckline of her evening attire ascended gracefully, drawing attention to her slender, swan-like neck that held an air of elegance and grace. The absence of sleeves allowed her long and graceful arms to be exposed, captivating the onlookers with their sheer loveliness. A white-fur cover-up adorned her shoulders, adding a touch of luxurious warmth to the ensemble. Her attire, though modest, possessed a subtle sensuality that hinted at the allure lying just beneath the surface. The back of her gown, tastefully revealed, offered a glimpse of her radiant skin, evoking a sense of both mystery and desire. The delicate balance struck between modesty and allure painted her as a woman of refined taste and captivating beauty.

The woman's features were a testament to her natural loveliness. Her makeup, light and delicately applied, enhanced rather than masked her inherent grace. Her electric blue eyes, the very windows to her soul, shimmered with a blend of nervousness and charm, captivating all who had the privilege of meeting her gaze. Her every expression, every flutter of her lashes, conveyed a delicate vulnerability that only served to enhance her appeal.

Amidst the grandeur and opulence that surrounded her, she stood, radiating a captivating aura that drew admiring glances from all who beheld her presence. Though there lingered a hint of nervousness, a touch of awkwardness in her demeanor, it only served to accentuate her natural beauty, making her all the more endearing.

As the noble and revered Domitius Rosier caught sight of his daughter entering the grand halls, his eyes alight with unmistakable delight. His commanding presence, tall and dignified, matched her own in stature, for she stood only a few inches shorter than her esteemed father. A man of striking countenance, his features exuded an undeniable allure. His light-blonde hair, touched with traces of silver, framed a visage that had weathered the passing years with grace, further enhancing his handsomeness and charm. With an ethereal bone structure and an air of regality, he stood as a testament to the timeless appeal of his lineage.

"Ah, Claudia, my beloved daughter!" Domitius voice carried a note of sheer elation as he greeted her. His eyes, mirroring the mesmerizing electric blue hue of her own, twinkled with paternal pride and unbridled joy. Eagerly, he closed the distance between them, his arms outstretched in anticipation of their long-awaited reunion.

"Father! How I've longed for this moment!" Claudia's voice, filled with warmth and affection, rang out as she embraced him tenderly. The bond between them was undeniable, a testament to the profound love they shared as father and daughter. In that embrace, time seemed to stand still, and the grand chateau faded into the background, leaving only the cherished connection between them.

Their reunion was a symphony of love and joy, their voices intertwining in laughter and heartfelt conversation. As they moved gracefully through the opulent halls of the chateau, their shared happiness permeated the air, casting a radiant glow upon all who witnessed their familial bond. The grand chateau, with its resplendent décor and majestic ambiance, became the backdrop to a cherished moment between a father and his daughter. Amidst the flickering candlelight and the whispers of enchantment, their love and connection shone brightly, a beacon of warmth and tenderness in a world filled with fleeting moments.

“At least, you weren’t late!” Domitius gently teases his daughter.

"I am honored to be present for this joyous occasion, Father," Claudia replied, her voice filled with a mixture of excitement and anticipation. She glanced around the room, taking in the sight of the esteemed guests and the palpable aura of importance that surrounded them. Tonight was not just any ordinary wedding; it was a gathering of influential figures, where political allegiances were forged and strengthened.

Domitius chuckled softly, his voice tinged with amusement. "Ah, my dear Claudia, punctuality is indeed a virtue that runs deep in our bloodline. I am glad you have inherited that trait from me." His eyes sparkled with affection as he placed a hand on her arm, guiding her through the bustling crowd. "But it is not just punctuality that makes this evening special. It is the union of two great families, the intertwining of destinies, and the forging of alliances that will shape the course of our future."

As they strolled along the gilded corridors, their steps echoing softly against the marbled floor, Claudia listened intently to her father's words. His wisdom and guidance had always been a beacon in her life, grounding her amidst the tumultuous storms that came with their esteemed name.

"Father, I cannot help but feel a mixture of excitement and… dread," Claudia confessed, her voice tinged with vulnerability.

Domitius’ gaze softened, and he placed a hand on her cheek, a gesture filled with paternal reassurance. "My dear Claudia, you have always been a source of pride for me. Your strength and intelligence shine brightly, and I have no doubt that you will carry our family's legacy with honor. But remember, my child, that even in the face of great responsibilities, you must never lose sight of your own happiness and fulfillment. Your heart should guide you as much as your intellect."

Claudia nodded, absorbing her father's words of wisdom. She understood the delicate balance between duty and personal desires, and she vowed to find harmony within herself. The burden of their name may be weighty, but she refused to let it overshadow her own dreams and aspirations.

"Thank you, Father," she whispered, her voice filled with gratitude. "Your guidance and unwavering support mean the world to me."

Domitius smiled warmly, his eyes shimmering with love. "You are my greatest joy, Claudia. Remember that, always."

Among the sea of esteemed guests, Claudia Rosier stood tall and regal, her crimson gown accentuating her elegant stature. Her eyes shimmered with a mixture of excitement and curiosity as she observed the gathering. This was not merely a social affair; it was a convergence of power and influence, where alliances were forged and secrets exchanged beneath the guise of polite conversation.

As she made her way through the grand hall, Claudia's gaze alighted upon the familiar faces of Ministry members, seasoned politicians, and influential figures of pureblood society. The room seemed to come alive with the whispered conversations and laughter of those who held the keys to power. It was a world she had been born into, a world where connections and lineage held great sway.

Her eyes briefly met those of Armand Malfoy, a figure of great importance within the pureblood circles. The intensity in his gaze spoke volumes, a silent acknowledgment of their shared heritage and the intricate web of blood ties that bound their families together. Claudia couldn't help but wonder about the complexities that lay beneath the surface, the unspoken alliances and unbreakable loyalties that governed their world.

Amidst the sea of influential guests, Claudia's attention was caught by the presence of rich old purebloods. They exude an air of privilege and entitlement, their names etched into the annals of pureblood history. Their wrinkled faces and weathered hands spoke of a lifetime spent in pursuit of power and wealth, their very presence a testament to the enduring legacy of their bloodlines.

As she gracefully moved through the crowd, Claudia engaged in polite conversation with acquaintances and family friends. She spoke with eloquence and confidence, her intelligence and charm evident in every word she uttered. Yet, beneath her composed facade, there was a flicker of restlessness, a longing to make her mark on a world that often felt suffocating in its traditions and expectations.

She observed her father, conversing effortlessly with influential figures. His commanding presence and charisma commanded respect, his words holding weight and authority. Claudia couldn't help but feel a swell of pride, knowing that she was his daughter, a reflection of his legacy and the aspirations he had instilled within

As they moved through the grand hall, the whispered conversations and admiring glances followed in their wake. Claudia's crimson tresses, her regal bearing, and the air of sophistication that enveloped her drew the attention of many. Yet, beneath the surface, she was aware of the expectations placed upon her, the burden of her family's legacy. It was a world where appearances were everything, and Claudia knew she had to navigate the treacherous waters with finesse and tact.

As Domitius led her further into the heart of the festivities, Claudia steeled herself for the challenges that lay ahead. She knew that within this grand gathering, there were alliances to be forged, secrets to be discovered, and ambitions to be pursued. The evening promised more than just a celebration of love; it was an arena where power, influence, and destiny converged.

As they approached the heart of the gathering, Claudia's eyes alighted upon the bride and groom.

In the grand ballroom of the opulent estate, the wedding of Allectus Rosier and Lucretia Black was a spectacle that had been meticulously orchestrated. It was a union not solely born out of love, but a strategic alliance between two prominent pureblood families. The Rosiers and the Blacks, both esteemed and powerful, sought to strengthen their ties and preserve their ancient lineage.

In the opulent ballroom, Allectus Rosier stood amidst the gathering, his presence commanding attention. The flickering candlelight accentuated the chiseled features of his face, casting shadows that only heightened the allure of his masculine beauty. His deep-set, electric blue eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint, inviting those who dared to meet his gaze into a world of mystery and intrigue.

As he moved with a grace and confidence that bespoke his noble lineage, Allectus drew the attention of all in his path. His impeccable sense of style, showcased through his tailored attire, bespoke a man who understood the power of appearance and how it could captivate the minds and hearts of those around him. With every step he took, the whispers of admiration followed, like the gentle rustle of silk against marble.

Beside him, Lucretia, resplendent in her wedding gown, exuded an ethereal grace that complemented Allectus's commanding presence. Her long black hair cascaded down her back, cascading like a waterfall of obsidian, and her dark eyes held a hint of mystery. While her beauty was undeniable, it was the underlying knowledge that this union was forged for the preservation of bloodlines that cast a veil of complexity over her delicate features.

The guests marveled at the sight before them, marveling at the union of two individuals whose physical beauty seemed divinely ordained. But hidden beneath the façade of this arranged marriage, were the intricacies of their familial obligations and societal expectations. It was a delicate dance, where duty and desire intertwined, and the future of two great houses hung in the balance.

As the ceremony progressed, the solemn vows were exchanged, sealing the union of Allectus Rosier and Lucretia Black.

The grandeur of the reception hall was ablaze with the glittering chandeliers and the lively chatter of the esteemed guests. Claudia, beaming with pride for her brother's successful nuptials, made her way through the crowd to congratulate him. Her eyes sparkled mischievously as she playfully teased Allectus, her beloved sibling.

"Congratulations, dear brother! You managed to look decent tonight, finally," Claudia jested, her voice laced with affectionate banter. She held her brother's arm and leaned in closer, a conspiratorial glint in her eyes. "And Lucretia, my dear sister-in-law, you look absolutely splendid. I hope you have a stash of potions to counteract any potential headaches from dealing with him," she teased, a playful smile adorning her lips.

As Claudia exchanged pleasantries with her family, a familiar voice cut through the air. Turning her head swiftly, she beheld her cousin, Abraxas Malfoy, his presence commanded attention, his poise and demeanor oozing with aristocratic elegance.

The soft glow of the chandeliers played upon Abraxas' bright white-blond hair, each strand meticulously arranged to perfection. Not a strand dared to be out of place, for it knew its role in accentuating his otherworldly features. His sharp, piercing gaze, like the blade of a silver rapier, met Claudia's eyes with an unwavering intensity.

With a smile that danced upon her lips, Claudia stepped forward to greet her cousin. The warmth in her eyes was mirrored in her voice as she extended her hand in greeting. "Ah, Abraxas, it is a pleasure to see you again," she said, her words carrying a genuine warmth and affection.

Abraxas, ever the epitome of refinement, reciprocated her greeting with a nod, acknowledging her presence. His pale, icy-blue eyes met hers.

She extended her hand towards Abraxas, a gesture of kinship and shared heritage. The group of pureblood friends surrounding him, including Mulciber, Nott, Lestrange, and others, exuded an air of sophistication and privilege, much like Claudia and her brother.

However, as her gaze swept the room, Claudia's eyes locked onto a figure that sent a chill down her spine. Tom Riddle, a man of enigmatic allure, stood apart from the revelry, his presence both captivating and unnerving. The room seemed to darken ever so slightly as Claudia's gaze met his piercing eyes.

Claudia's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to him, as if he possessed an invisible pull that captivated her gaze. It wasn't just his striking appearance that caught her attention, but the way he carried himself with an air of confidence and intelligence. Tom Riddle seemed to possess an otherworldly charm, his features perfectly chiseled and his movements graceful.

His dark, curly hair framed his face in a way that accentuated his piercing, intelligent eyes. The slight curl at the ends of his locks added a touch of effortless elegance. His cheekbones were sculpted, giving his face a refined and aristocratic look. There was an enigmatic quality about him that left Claudia intrigued, as if there were depths of complexity hidden beneath his attractive exterior.

As Tom Riddle moved through the crowd, conversing with various guests, Claudia couldn't help but notice how effortlessly he commanded attention and respect. His words were articulate and thoughtful, drawing people in with his wit and charm. It seemed that even her brother, Allectus, and her cousin, Abraxas Malfoy, both known for their own good looks, paled in comparison to Tom Riddle's magnetic presence.

Claudia's curiosity grew, and she found herself longing to engage in conversation with this enigmatic figure. She observed the way he carried himself, the way he made others feel important and valued. It was as if he possessed a charisma that extended beyond mere physical appearance, captivating the hearts and minds of those around him.

“Cat got your tongue?” Abraxas noticed how his cousin Claudia seemed to stiffen up a bit upon seeing Tom.

“Ah! Lest we not forget your little show back when you were what… 11?” Allectus chimed in, a mischievous glint in his eyes. The mention of that particular memory elicited a brief flashback in Claudia's mind, transporting her back to her first year at Hogwarts.

She could vividly recall the scene in the Slytherin common room, bathed in the dim glow of the firelight, where Tom Marvolo Riddle, then a sixth-year prefect, had been surrounded by a crowd of admirers. The Slytherin Quidditch team, basking in the glory of their recent victory, had flocked around him like moths to a flame. Claudia, a wide-eyed first-year filled with youthful infatuation, had watched from a distance, her heart aflutter with anticipation.

Summoning her courage, she approached him, her delicate footsteps echoing softly against the stone floor. In her hand, she clutched a folded piece of parchment, its edges slightly creased from her anxious grip. In that moment, the world seemed to fade away, leaving only her and the enigmatic figure of Tom Riddle before her. Her heart raced, her palms grew clammy, but her determination propelled her forward.

"Hello, Tom Riddle!" she had exclaimed, her voice quivering yet filled with a resolute innocence that belied her tender age. The room fell silent, every eye fixed upon the brave young girl who dared to express her affections so openly.

"I am Claudia," she continued, her words tumbling out in a rush, like a cascade of pearls from a broken necklace. "I know that you and my brother, Allectus, are good friends, but I... I cannot help myself, Tom Riddle. My heart beats faster whenever you are near. I like you, Tom Riddle. I like you more than treacle tart, more than sugar, more than the finest chocolates from Honeydukes! I like you with every fiber of my being!"

The common room held its breath, the air pregnant with anticipation. Claudia's cheeks flushed with a rosy hue, her doe-like eyes shining with a mixture of vulnerability and hope. Her innocent declaration of love hung in the air, as fragile and delicate as a butterfly's wings.

Tom Riddle, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, regarded her with a mixture of surprise and gentleness. He placed a hand on her shoulder, his touch sending a jolt of electricity through her body, as if she had been touched by magic itself. His voice, like the soft whisper of the wind through the trees, was warm and reassuring. "Claudia, I must commend you for your sheer courage and honesty. Your feelings are not unappreciated, but I fear I cannot return them in the same manner. Please do not take this the wrong way. You possess incredible qualities that will undoubtedly captivate someone worthy of your love."

Though Claudia's heart sank at his words, she admired his response, understanding the truth in his gentle rejection. Tom had handled her confession with grace and compassion, preserving her dignity and shielding her from the potential ridicule of their peers.

"Thank you, Tom Riddle," she whispered, her voice filled with a bittersweet acceptance. "I appreciate your honesty and value our friendship above all else. Let us continue to support one another, as fellow Slytherins and as friends."

Tom's gaze softened, his eyes reflecting a fleeting glimpse of regret. "Claudia, you are a remarkable young witch. Never doubt your worth or the impact you can make in this world. Your bravery and resilience will take you far. Remember, love comes in many forms and at different times. The right person will appreciate the extraordinary person you are."

With those words, he gently released his hold on her shoulder, allowing her to retreat from the center of attention.

Claudia, now standing amidst the glamorous wedding celebration, smiled softly at the memory. How young and innocent she had been, captivated by Tom Riddle's allure even then. But time had passed, and Claudia understood that. She shook off the reverie, returning her attention to her teasing cousin and brother. "Oh, hush, you two!" Claudia replied with a playful pout. "That was ages ago, and we were but children. Let us focus on celebrating Allectus and Lucretia's joyous union tonight."

“Ah, Claudia, dear cousin, you never fail to provide us with delightful memories!” Abraxas chuckled, his bright blonde hair cascading around his face like a halo. He exchanged a knowing glance with Allectus, their eyes gleaming with mischief.

Allectus, a mischievous smile playing on his lips, added, "Indeed, Claudia, we must commend your courage. Confessing your undying affection for Tom Riddle in front of the entire Slytherin house! A moment that shall forever be etched in our memories."

Nott and Lestrange, who had been standing nearby, couldn't resist joining in on the teasing. Nott, his voice dripping with sarcasm, remarked, "Oh, Claudia, how fortunate we were to witness such a heartfelt declaration of love! I dare say it rivaled the most dramatic scenes in plays."

Lestrange, his eyes twinkling with amusement, interjected, "Indeed! I shall never forget the stunned silence that followed your confession. It was as if the very air held its breath in anticipation of Tom Riddle's response." Claudia, though initially taken aback by their teasing, soon found herself joining in the mirth. "Oh, do cease your mockery, my dear companions!" she playfully retorted.

As the bustling crowd began to simmer down, Claudia found herself seated beside her cousin, Abraxas. They exchanged warm smiles, their conversation a testament to the enduring bond shared between them.

"I've heard you're working with the Ministry of Wizarding Law Enforcement now!" Abraxas exclaimed, genuine pride gleaming in his eyes. He was delighted to see Claudia flourishing in her professional life, ascending the ranks of the magical world. Claudia's cheeks flushed with a rosy hue, her modesty shining through despite her accomplishments.

"And I've heard you and your wife have been blessed with a pregnancy!" Claudia's voice rang out, her eyes sparkling with genuine joy. The news of their impending parenthood had reached her ears through the whispered gossip of high society, and she could not contain her excitement.

Abraxas, ever the astute conversationalist, skillfully redirected the topic, a playful glint in his eyes. "Ah, don't change the subject, dear cousin," he quipped, a sly smile playing upon his lips. "But yes, we have indeed been blessed with the gift of a child.”

Claudia's attention returned to the matter at hand, a graceful smile gracing her features. "Oh, it's nothing extraordinary," she replied, her voice a melodious blend of humility and pride. "Recently, I have been entrusted with a significant role in the Ministry, tasked with the creation and refinement of laws concerning magical artifacts.”

Abraxas nodded approvingly, acknowledging her accomplishments. "Ah, the intricate world of legislation and governance," he remarked, his voice laced with admiration. "I have always known that your intellect and tenacity would lead you to great heights.”

Before she could delve deeper into her recent ventures, she was interrupted by the familiar voice that had once stirred her soul. It was Tom Riddle, the enigmatic figure whose presence had ignited a flame within her young heart. His entrance, marked by an aura of charm and confidence, drew the attention of all who were fortunate enough to witness it.

"My, my, my... Claudia Rosier," he spoke, his voice laced with a hint of amusement and genuine admiration. "It has been far too long since our paths last crossed, and yet, in that time, you have accomplished so much. I must offer my sincerest congratulations."

[dsknsk]

Operator names (trends)

(any operator will be mentioned only once, even if they fulfill multiple categories)

The 'Why do I need something fancy, lemme just use my name' operators (more are on this list actually)

Saria

Silence

RockRock (Rochelle Rockwell)

Jessica

Fiammetta

Nearl

SilverAsh

Dorothy

Angelina

Franka

Młynar

Morgan

Astgenne

Astesia

Heidi

Ceylon

Ethan

Ines

Jackie

The Warrior Cats operators

(noun/descriptive word + noun, usually nature-based)

Purestream

Cliffheart

Mudrock

Fartooth

Ashlock

Flametail (she has the name of an actual Warrior Cat. he drowned as he fell through the ice)

Wildmane (when spelled as one word)

Highmore

Firewhistle

Beanstalk

Frostleaf

Aciddrop

Blacknight

Windflit

Goldenglow

GreyThroat

Honeyberry

Heavyrain

Pinecone

Stormeye

Firewatch

Skyfire

The operators who let themselves rather be described

Flamebringer

Steward

Scavenger

Executor

Enforcer

Minimalist

Cutter

Perfumer

Passenger

Courier

The colorful operators

Akafuyu (aka = red)

Schwarz

Mint

Indigo

Projekt Red

Qiu Bai (bai = white)

ShiraYuki (shira = white)

Platinum

Luo Xiaohei (hei = black)

Blue Poison

The operators you can build on

Cement

Gravel

Asbestos

The operators with a famous name

Magallan

Saga

Nightingale

Kafka

Mayer

Beehunter (= Beowulf)

These operators think foreign languages are cool, actually

Ling

Chongyue

Leizi

Shaw (xiao)

Waai Fu

Aak

Hung

Ebenholz

Jieyun

Yato

Mizuki

Lee

Lin

La Pluma

Toddifons

Kazemaru

Sussurro

Gitano

Qanipalaat

Saileach

Pozyomka

Zima

Rosa

Istina

Pramanix

Sora

Exusiai

Gnosis

Yato

Noir Corne

The operators at home in the kitchen

Mousse

Vigna (vigna angularis)

Pudding

Paprika

Absinthe

Tequila

Vanilla

Croissant

The musically talented operators

Bagpipe

Horn

Wind Chimes

The operators who mash two words into one

Blemishine

Corroserum

Whisperain

Lunacub

Whislash

Shamare

The operators you can find on the map

Texas

Lappland

Aosta

Matterhorn

Provence

Eyjafjalla

The operators who refer to their origin species

Tuye (means 'camel')

Cardigan

Dobermann

Beagle

Podenco

Tomimi

Durin

Manticore

Bison

Ptilopsis

FEater (= iron-eating beast, aka panda)

Leonhardt

Glaucus

Weedy

The mythological operators

Ifrit

Surtr

Dusk

Nian

Vulcan

Dagda

Indra

Nightmare

Skadi

Sesa

Mostima

Ceobe (= cerberus)

Pallas

The nature-loving operators

Breeze

Chestnut

Lava

Orchid

Quartz

Humus

Bubble

Haze

Meteor

Meteorite

Quercus (= oak)

Reed

Beeswax

Carnelian

Plume

Folinic

Warfarin

Flint

Rosmontis (= rosemary)

Kal'tsit (= calcite)

Mountain

Aurora

Midnight

Hibiscus

Blaze

Mulberry

[xsavannahx987]

TS3 CONVERSION-PROVENCE

All CC on this pack are base game compatible.

chair al fresco - new mesh, 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 115$

country carved coffee table - new mesh. 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 110$

country carved dining chair - new mesh, 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 115$

country carved tableware cabinet - new mesh, 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 275$

foyer frills - new mesh. 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 180$

hillside dusk lamp - new mesh. 1 swatch, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 90$

moelleux living chair - new mesh. 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 760$

moelleux sofa with carved apron - new mesh. 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 530$

pails in comparison - new mesh. 1 swatch, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 60$

pastoral perfection stove - new mesh, 1 swatch, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 400$

pastoral practical kitchen shelf - new mesh. 1 swatch, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 160$

pastoral reflections - new mesh, 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 140$

pump-less waterwork sink - new mesh, 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 250$

rustic hanging basket - new mesh. 1 swatch, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 70$

rustic loaf box - new mesh. 6 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 50$

surface al fresco - new mesh. 10 swatches, all lods and shadow (low poly). Fully tested in game. Cost 435$

To find all objects in game, type [PROVENCE] in the search bar

DOWNLOAD

CCs are always free but consider to buy me a coffee <3

@moonglitchccfinds @dreamstatesimsfinds @emilyccfinds @sssvitlanz

[linksthoughtbrambles]

Crow's Feet

A short post-game TP Zelink story that's kind of sad, but also hopeful. ~5100 words. Also on Ao3.

---

The first time Zelda rode through Ordon, she’d been a child.

Her father and mother had ridden in front of her, speaking much of the way—soft smiles.  Her father’s crow’s-feet had not yet appeared, his face smooth and full of a rapt attention, hanging on her mother’s every word; her smiles, in return, full of a strength Zelda had tried to fill in her absence years later, a valiance and a dedication to her people outstripping all else.

She remembered children playing, stopping to watch their procession through their little village on their way to the far-off southern shores.  One boy had caught her eye among them as her parents stopped, briefly speaking to the elder townsfolk.  He’d seemed shy, barely able to meet her eyes, though she couldn’t take her own off him.

The next time she’d seen him, she’d already fallen: a shadow—less than vapor.

He’d restored her.  Her kingdom, too.

She’d offered it to him: her kingdom.  Herself.  Hoped to watch his crow’s feet appear, as her father’s had before the shadows came to engulf him.  He could look her in the eye, now, after their shared fate.

He chose not to.

She’d respected it—his  loyalty to the woman who already loved him.  He’d promised.

Zelda did understand.

She just couldn’t forget.

---

Years.  Years.

Her advisors avoided the subject of her marriage.  Her rapier never left her side.  Her new throne stood singular, three new Goddesses suspended behind her, the breath of life stagnant, gilded metal.

The governor of Faron Provence invited her to his son’s wedding, finally, in lieu of the marriage they’d hoped for to Zelda herself.  South.

She took many deep breaths in the coming weeks.

---

The second time Zelda rode through Ordon, she held her breath.

The Mayor, of course, came forward to meet them: Bo—a friendly man.  He spoke with her advisor, Minsh, of the wet year they’d had and its effect on their legume crops, Minsh commiserating as central Hyrule had suffered the same.  Zelda listened.

Then she saw him.

He carried a heavy sack on his back, two small children at his side.  They exclaimed at the decorated horses, at Hyrule’s golden banners.

He met her eyes.

He nodded with a small smile as the children began inundating the soldiers with questions.

His wife emerged from a small house, her hair longer, still pulled off to the side, now in a tie with its straw-colored strands draped over her shoulder to run down her chest.  She handed him an envelope, receiving a wide, friendly smile in return; then she saw Zelda’s eyes on her.  She gasped, eyes wide with something more than awe at the Queen of the realm in her village.

Link did not look Zelda’s way again.

---

Their return fell on a late evening, a dusk of lavender blue-fall embracing the dome of the sky.  Lights cheered windows and caressed the air as gentle fireflies.  The procession threaded the village, unhurried.  Not far to the north, a short path through stone glimmered with a multitude of those pulsing firefly lights, and Zelda held a gloved hand up, her voice soft as she called for a halt.  She’d meant to visit each Spring in her time—what better moment than when filled with the light of such life?

She ventured in alone at first.  She would invite her people to see this lovely sight, but she wished for a few moments alone: herself, the Spring, and the golden glow.  A glimmer of something shimmering, more compact for the span of a breath above the surface of the water drew her eye, and with it a silhouette.

She knew immediately, even before he turned at the sound of her steps.

He drew a soft, unbidden breath; he sank onto bended knee.

“Your Highness,” he said, his voice ever quiet, a light hint of rasp.

“Please,” she said in volume of the water’s rippling sounds.  “Rise, Link.”

He did obey, though hesitance split each bend of joints in two or three, the pulsing light behind him dividing each further so he seemed almost to exit one stance and enter the next as a statue reshaped, chiseled by time’s minutia, his face dark against its unconcerned ebbs and flows.

She moved toward the Spring, wishing to see him to the fullest in the dwindling dusk and swelling lifelight.  She kept her distance from him.

The light played as refracted through valley-wide water-waves on his solemn face, the gold as gentle strokes of a soft brush on canvas primed with the deep hues of twilight.

“Are you well?” she asked.

He nodded, shadows caressing his face above that small smile he’d saved yet again for her.  “And you, Princess?”

Her thumbs and forefingers met before her.

His smile sank with his eyes.  She thought, for a moment, he struggled to tear his eyes from her as they moved groundward—as though her dress were the object of his interest, her outline his threshold of restraint.

“I am well, Link.  Thank you,” she said.

The way he looked at her.

It’s not as though her life were secret.  Not from anyone in the kingdom.  No husband.  No heirs.

She wondered if the shifting glow would hide it—that the risen corners of her mouth reached that far only, her eyes as polished glass.  “Were those your children I saw on our way south?”

His teeth appeared this time: a true smile, a grin reaching where hers had aspired, firefly light flitting in and out of his clarified gaze.   “Yeah.  Two of them.”

“You have more?”

“A baby girl.”

Those corners of her mouth flickered up and down so many times.

“May I ask their names?” she breathed.

“Of course, Your Highness.  My boys are Matti and Sammel- um.  Sam.”  A laugh puffed out his nose as he hooked a hand around the back of his neck and rubbed, his face half-downturned.  The shadows overtook his face only for Zelda—the light still glimmered in his eyes, her reflection as illusion made reality within the man before her.  “My baby girl is Ayla.”

“So like your wife’s name,” she said.  She wished she hadn’t.  He turned his head to follow the fireflies coalescing in visual harmony, lazy circles over the Spring, his own harmony, the turn of his seasons, the mark of sun upon the dark.

“They’re different enough,” he whispered.

She didn’t ask why he’d done it.  She had, once—once was enough.

“May I call my people in?” she asked, voice absent in breath.  Others could bask in the beauty as she no longer could.

He nodded.  “Yes, Your Highness.  Of course.”

---

Minsh recommended marriage to the son of a wealthy landowner in southern Tabantha.  Zelda declined.

---

The Baron of Hebra province visited Central Hyrule.  He remained nearly two months.  He behaved with charming kindness, and none who had dealings with him in Hebra found him to be unfair—except those who behaved unfairly themselves.  He asked for Zelda’s hand in marriage.

She squeezed his upturned hand, smiling down at him, at his respect for her, his fervency as he knelt before her.

She declined.

---

Minsh presented a detailed account of all the eligible suitors of renown in Hyrule.  The painstaking nature of his work made itself evident in its smallest details, which Zelda appreciated.

She spent nearly two weeks reviewing it.

She sat on her balcony one night, sipping a delicate chamomile tea.  It would not help her sleep.

She resolved to invite three of them to visit her.

She did not write the letters.

---

Minsh presented news on Zelda’s three most favorable suitors.  One had married.

---

Zelda’s mirror revealed a woman no longer possessed of the beauty of early youth.  She stood regal, her face stately, the set of her jaw strong, her eyes glittering and keen, her skin with a dusting of freckles high on her cheeks despite her lady’s maid’s insistence on avoiding direct sunlight.  The thought-lines on her forehead appeared as she considered herself.

---

Zelda’s second most favorable suitor married.

---

Minsh began giving regular updates on the status of those men in the kingdom whose alliance would be favorable.  His voice waxed quiet.

---

The third time Zelda rode through Ordon, she vowed to move with swiftness.  They would be in a hurry.  There would be little time to stop and speak.  The unrest between the islands to the south and the seafarers at the mouth of the river had grown to need mediation.  Other attempts at reconciliation had failed.  Zelda’s reputation preceded her.  Few failed to wither beneath her penetrating gaze.  No one failed to notice the rapier at her side.  It tended to spur agreement forward.

She had avoided it in truth—allowed the situation to simmer.  She nearly wrote to him to request he take a family trip.  She should not see him.

She should not see him.

They rode at a brisk trot, yet cease they did once more, the procession too rare and obvious for the townsfolk to ignore.  This time, children stopped them first in their excitement.  Mayor Bo soon joined them, polite, yet adamant about showing off their new mill.

“Link put most of it together, bless him.  We’d never have managed this grinding stone without him.”

Zelda attempted to put the man out of mind as she inspected the water-powered mechanism, thankful the man himself was a goatherd and not a miller.

They remained an hour, and upon their release Zelda made for her horse with purposeful strides.

“There she is, dad!”

Her heart sank.

“Ayla- she’s the Queen.  We mustn’t-“

“But I want to meet her!  Please?”

A wistful smile threatened Zelda’s mouth.

She turned.

“Hello, Link,” she said, stately as ever, though with uncustomary softness.

His eyes.  They’d changed, somehow.  His skin sun-darkened.  It made the brightness of his eyes a shock, and perhaps that explained it—yet more clarified as his daughter pulled him toward her by the hand: very fine lines—a bare sign of wear.

“You must be Ayla,” Zelda said, turning her eyes on the girl upon her last word.

“You know my name?!”

“Ayla- remember-“

“Your Highness!  Yes.  I’m sorry about that, Your Highness.  I’m not used to talking to royal people.”  The girl’s face seemed a smooth facsimile of her father’s.

“That’s alright,” Zelda said.  “It is easy, is it not, to be overwhelmed by one’s emotions?”

“YES!” Ayla said with a little jump and tightly clenched fists.

Zelda watched the child’s face—not her father’s.  His stature waited, placid, at the edge of her sight.  “I am very pleased to meet you, child.”

“Me too, Your Highness!  I want to hear the story!”

“…Story?”

“Dad never wants to tell it.”  The girl tossed a purse-lipped glare her father’s way.  “He’s all shy about it, but mom said he saved the world with you!”

Zelda’s face fell without falling.  Her indulgent smile remained.  “I see.”  She sighed so lightly a child would mistake it for a mere breath.  “Very well.  If I am to tell it, however, I would ask for all the children to hear it.  What do you think?”

“But they’re not all here now!”

“We shall return here in five days’ time.  Can you see the path far to the south?”

“I can see it way far south if I hang on the weathervane!”

Zelda’s eyebrows shot up, Link’s feet shuffling in the telltale sign of his hand rising to grip the back of his neck.  “Indeed?  Very well.  The next time you see our banners off in the distance, I would ask that you gather all the children in the village to hear the story with you.  What do you think little one?  Is that fair?”

“Yes!!!” the child exclaimed!

Time.  It bought her time to think and prepare, and perhaps to be able to meet Link’s eyes.

---

She told the story beginning just after noon on the fifth day.  The entire village attended.  She spoke from a seat made of a high stump at her own insistence—a place where many could gather about her to sit in soft grass.  She needed no throne to speak truth.

She met his eyes at the right times.

He added to her story in his quiet manner, a few words, enough to bring soft laughter to her: moments of illusion.

She wished.

When her story ended, the children predictably asked question after question.  They ended up taking dinner in the village, sharing the fine wine and mead they’d brought with them.

Zelda returned to her echoing home.

---

Zelda’s third most preferred suitor married.

The first two had children.

---

Years.

Zelda’s mirror knew another, now.  One with softness about her eyes not borne of empathy: a permanent visitation.

Minsh made one final plea for her marriage, if only to continue the royal line.

She tried.

She asked Minsh to write in her stead.

Suitors came.

To say they all impressed her would be untrue.  The Baron of Hebra, now with grey in his beard, attended, his wife of six years having passed on.

Zelda nearly said yes.

She wept in his presence.

He didn’t have the heart to press her further.

He left with assurance.  He would wait should she change her mind.  Even should her courses cease, he would have her.

---

Her heart beat slow.  Calm, always.  Her kingdom thrived.  She would sink as the Sun turning sky to nigthshade and platinum-blond in a single stroke, though deep rose would emerge brief, a chaste kiss against the sky before dark.

Minsh had commissioned a thorough study of the royal family tree.  Should Zelda’s line fail, the next in line for the throne would be her elder cousin Riett, who had married the now-governor of Faron Zelda had visited so many years ago—she’d witnessed their wedding.  Their two children, both female, struck Zelda as a sign, for the royal heredity had always been female lest it break from the throne.  Perhaps Riett had never truly split from it.  Perhaps the Goddesses knew, had always known, Zelda’s heart would end this path, necessitating another.

She knew she must travel again.  Mere letters would not suffice.

She took so much air in deep, close-eyed breaths.

To circumvent Ordon made no sense.  Her heart must bear its own silent sentinel once more.

They would come to her eventually, of course, should time take Zelda’s continuance from her, but that hadn’t happened yet.

---

Zelda rode through Ordon on her stallion.  He’d calmed with the years ,though he’d always taken to her.

The town stood so quiet.

Mayor Bo’s face displayed sags and hollows, new and yet a signature of time.  He spoke with Minsh only briefly.  The smallest village children exclaimed at the horses.  None of them were Link’s.

They rode on.

Zelda had expected her face to fall upon seeing him.

It fell far further with her hope of doing so.

---

She spent six weeks in Faron.  She became reacquainted with her kind, fair-hearted cousin.  She would make a fine queen in the case of Zelda’s passing.  The children’s dispositions appeased her fears—her kingdom would not suffer for her heart’s immobility.  Hyrule would continue.  Their administration of Faron told their story for them.

Their ride back had taken on a bit more spring, and spring it was—babbling brooks and sweet twitterings of birds wooing mates.

Zelda watched beauty of sky and grass pass her by.

She both hoped and dreaded a glimpse of him as they rode through the village.

She would receive one wish regardless.

There he was.

He held a mallet, hammering new fenceposts into place—not about his own house.  Ever-kind.

His cheeks stood stark, every bit as hollow as the Mayor’s had been.  Greyed.  Zelda’s lips parted.

Minsh turned to her, expectant.

They’d nearly reached him, and he did not look.

Something stopped the procession ahead, the horses falling into stillnesss.  A child held something out expectantly to the captain far in front.  She heard his laughter.

Link did not look.

A brief hesitation, a motion and cessation, and then she dismounted.

He knew.  His eyes found hers.

He did not smile.

She approached, small steps, pinched brows.

“Link,” she said.

He nodded.  “Good afternoon, Your Highness.”

Too many breaths passed.

“Are you well?” she asked.

His chin moved as though to answer her.

No sound issued.

“…You are... not?” she asked, a depth skirted.

His eyelids sank, so slow, shutting with a flutter.  “Forgive me, Your Highness.  An- an illness passed through.  Ilia died.”

Zelda’s heart found her throat, blood at the apex of her senses, so overwhelmingly loud.

The village had seemed subdued already.  Time had passed.  “H- how long?”

“…Nearly two months.”

Just.  It had just happened before her last passage.

It took so long to find her voice.

“I am… so sorry for your loss, Link.”  Her voice wavered.

She meant it.

Tears threatened her.  It hurt.

She couldn’t imagine his.

“Thank you,” he said.  So soft.  Heavy.

She bowed her head.

After a time, Minsh appeared at her side.  He informed her of their readiness.

She said goodbye.

She mounted and left with tears freely falling.

More fell within the confines of her bedchamber.  They drenched her pillow night after night.

Cruel.

It would be cruel of her to ask him now.

---

Years.

Her heart hurt.

---

It became difficult to see herself in the face her mirror showed her.

Crow’s feet.

Her voice turned hard, though not unkind.  Final.  Finality.  Decisions as weights to be placed and not moved.

---

Minsh recommended marriage one more time.  He’d come to see her late in the evening—no longer uncustomary for him, for they could speak more frankly out of sight of the court.

“My courses shall pass soon,” Zelda reminded him, working a soothing cream into her hands’skin.

Minsh’s head tilted sideways, then the other way.  “Perhaps… or perhaps not, Your Majesty, but… this is not about producing an heir.”

Her hands stilled.

She turned in her seat, turned away from the mirror on her vanity.  “What do you mean?”

The look he turned on her—it fell so soft.  “You are unhappy, my queen.”

Her nostrils flared.  Tears already stung.  “It is of little import.”

His chin pressed upward, pressed his lips together.  “I respectfully disagree.”

“There is no suitor I wish to marry.”

“I did not mean to suggest you should choose a suitor,” he said.

She shut her eyes to turn forward again.  She would not see what the mirror had to show her.  “It would be selfish of me.  Presumptuous at best.”

“Then you know who I would say to ask.”

She remembered to continue treating her hands.

“… Please, Majesty.  Go to him.”

“I ought not.”

“I beg you.  I beg you on your own heart’s behalf.  Ask him.”

“He could not possibly say no should I ask.  I- I know my own heart.  I would be arrogant to assume I know his.  He refused once and has endured much.  I cannot ask him to endure a marriage he may not want.”

“…Go to him, then,” Minsh said, his voice a whispered plea.  “Please, my dear.  For my sake if not for your own.  I… cannot bear… do you know, Your Majesty, how long it has been since you smiled?”

“I smile every day,” she said with a scoff.

“You pretend to smile.  That is not the same thing.”

She lowered her moistened hands, fingertips on the many hair-thin lines upon them.

---

She rode alone but for her rapier and her ever-present bow, though none but her knew of it.

Should she fall, it would be of little import.  The kingdom rested in security, its heirs established should need be.

Need would likely be, she told herself.

She reached Ordon at sunset, osmotic reds, golds, and oranges on the horizon, an issuance from the Sun’s farewell, the sky blooming fall marigolds.

She dismounted near his house, its windows dark.  She did not knock.

She led her stallion around back, finding a willowy girl of perhaps twelve years filling troughs with water.

“Ayla?” Zelda asked.

The girl turned, nearly dropping her large bucket.  “Your Majesty,” she said, voice high and breathy.

Zelda tried to smile.  “I… was hoping to see your father.”  Not speak with him.  No.  He would do any speaking.

The girl looked down, holding her bucket in hands suddenly pressed together at her front.  “He… at this time of day, sometimes he goes to the Spring.  He…” she paused, then shrugged, eyes flicking back up to Zelda’s for a moment.  “He doesn’t want us to see him be sad.”

Zelda’s eyes stung.  “I understand.  Thank you.”

“I think he would like to see you, Your Majesty.”

A short puff of air left Zelda’s nose.  “Alright then, Ayla.  I… shall see if that is so.”

She found him there.

The firefly lights once more, though they’d gathered not only above the water, but above him, swirling in a whirlwind of impossible slowness, far nearer to his hair than she’d have thought, especially since he sat.

The large log hadn’t been there all those years go.

Perhaps he’d placed it.  Perhaps he’d sat there with his wife, arms about each other.  Or perhaps he’d moved it after her death.

Or perhaps it wasn’t him at all.

Yet there he sat upon it, his fingers threaded through each other, his mouth rested upon them, eyes shut in immobility.

She approached with as much quiet as she could manage, but the slight turn of his head said he heard her.

“I’m okay, Ayla,” he said, turning-

-then saw her.

His shoulders fell as he straightened, half-turned on the log to watch her move, so like all those years ago, she moving to stand where the fireflies would reveal his countenance.

Shock.

Shame flamed her face.  She clasped her hands loosely before her, her arms straight and head bowed, and closed her eyes.

She should not have come.  She had intruded upon him.

One does not spend more than twenty years with a dear friend and fail to come to love them every bit as earnestly as the sudden strike of unexpected passion.

He doesn’t want us to see him be sad, the girl had said.

He still grieved his wife.

Minsh had meant well, but she would not stay.  She turned from the spring to leave him in peace.

He rose at her first step.  “Wait,” he said.  She stilled as he approached her, stopping only a few feet to her side.  “Please…”

“Forgive me,” she whispered to the cool grass, its color the ever-blue of blanketing twilight.  “I traveled here at the request of my chief advisor.  I ought not have.”

“…Why?”  The subtle sounds of the shimmering spring nearly drowned his question, consequence all but lost in even so little noise.

Her feet shifted.  “I have intruded upon you.  It was most inconsiderate of me.”

A breath passed.  “I meant why did he ask you to come here.  Your majesty,” he added, with a softness entirely different from quiet—a tone she had not heard since they parted ways all those years ago.

It brought tears to her eyes.  The blanket of sky fell nearer to ground as she considered the dent her thumbs made in her skin.

She could not tell him.  She’d promised herself she would not.  She would ask nothing of him.  He owed her nothing—quite the reverse.  He had saved her from the grip of pure evil, and yes, she’d aided him in battle but she could just as easily have gifted him her magic, allowed him to wield the bow of light.  She had wished to redeem herself.   She had done that, at least.

And what if he did owe her?  Would she hold a debt over him, compel him to bed her without love?

No.  She would die first.

“Forgive me,” she said once more, her voice wavering with resumed steps, hurried, fervent, toward the gate, near black in absent sun despite the thrum of thousands of lights behind her.

“Princ- Your Highness, please, please wait!”  He jogged after her, coming to rest with bare feet shoulder-width apart in her direct path.

She hadn’t noticed at first, his shoeless feet, his trousers rolled up to the knee.  She supposed he’d waded into the sparkling spring with the last rays of sun.  With barely any light remaining, she couldn’t tell whether his skin glistened with moisture.  She found herself staring at the arch of one foot, waiting for a sharp glimmer of reflected light.

His hands met before his stomach.  “I’d hoped to see you again,” he said.

Why? she didn’t ask, hope a selfish thing.

His hands twitched toward her, then stretched outward, palms up.

She considered them.

She so wished to take them.

“Please,” he whispered.

She closed her eyes once more.  Any choice to be made here must be his.  She held her own hands out, palms down, and waited.

His warmth on them drove a sound from her as her chest curled in, constricting her lungs, her face tight and pinched as she refused to believe.  That would not be fair to her should she be mistaken.  She would cease to be capable of sight—need to trust to her horse entirely to carry her back north, toward home.

Her fingers rested in a gentle curve over his; his thumbs each settled on her knuckles.  He remained that way, still, as crickets played a few bars of their nightly music, then stroked her there softly.

She bit her lip.

“I thought of you,” Link said.  “A lot.”

She shook her head.

“It’s true.”

She opened her eyes just enough to see their joined hands.

“I… I loved my wife.  So much,” he said.

Zelda nodded.

“But my mind would drift toward you,” he whispered with the barest tremor.  “And… then… you didn’t marry.”

Her first tear fell.

He gathered both of her hands in one of his, then used the other to brush that drop from her skin.  His hand lingered there, curled against her cheek.  “Why didn’t you?”

She promised herself she would not say, but she couldn’t help but look at him.

Her eyes must have grown accustomed to the low light.  The look on his face—as though they were young again.  As though he’d just taken her hands, so like this, to explain—to tell her no.  He seemed every bit as anxious now as he had in that moment.

“Was it me?” he asked.

Her face could not be stopped.

Her upper lip lost slow ground against her lower, propelled by her weakening chin, her nostrils flaring and everywhere around her eyes threatening to pinch them shut.

It only took a few moments for liquid to flow freely on her cheeks, finding that hand of his and then his shoulder as he pressed her to him.

“I’m sorry,” he said—high and tremulous.

She felt his chest shudder, his own moisture striking her hair and shoulder.

He stroked her hair.  Many strokes—long, soft—lingering.

She couldn’t explain it.  Didn’t know why this felt more like coming home than returning to her castle ever had.

She barely knew him, in truth.

She could count the number of times they’d spoken on her fingers.

She didn’t understand.

They sniffled and breathed soft, fluttering puffs of air against each other—his chest, her hair.

“You had to hurt one of us,” Zelda said.

His arms tightened around her.

“It did have to be me.  We’d barely spoken.”

“That doesn’t mean it hurt any less,” he said.

She pressed her face harder to his shoulder.

He began walking them back toward the fireflies, the spring, their embrace unbroken, his feet nudging hers step by step.

She smiled against him.

He didn’t stop until they reached the very edge of the water, its nightly shivers.  He pulled back and turned her gently to the side, hands on her biceps, stepping so all those little lives lit their faces.  He smiled at her—it compelled her to touch his face, the corners of his eyes where they reached for his temples.

Crow’s feet.

He let her feel him, that smile growing sad as he watched her expression flicker.  “Not what you remember?” he asked.

“It’s not that,” she said.  “I simply recall… my father.  His eyes had lines like these.  They appeared not long before he passed.”

He caught her hands in his and kissed the backs of both sets of fingers.  Her breath caught then, too.

“There’s time,” Link said.

“Does that mean- does it mean you will-“ She wished to ask so badly.

“Will marry you?” he asked.

She just stared at him.

“I will if you still want me, Zelda.  I… come here to think.  About a lot of things.  But lately, I keep thinking, maybe I’ll ride into Castle Town.  Maybe I’ll ask for an audience with the queen.  Maybe… maybe I’ll see if she still wants me after all this time and after I hurt her so badly.”  The eyes he turned on her were full of something.  Not remorse, no—he’d already said he loved his wife—and not pity, either.  She wasn’t some helpless creature.  She could have had any of countless husbands.  She nearly took one.

She just hadn’t quite let go.

That was it—in his eyes.  He hadn’t quite let go, either.

“I still want you,” she said, some tone in her voice seeming to stimulate the hovering insects near her to fluoresce in echo of her words.

That hand of his which had stroked her cheek returned.  The other followed it.

His face drew nearer.

She had kissed a man.  One man.  A few times.

Never Link.

The muscles beneath her navel quivered.

His lips touched hers, so soft, so gentle, yet sweeping, a meeting of more than the outermost surface, and in a moment the tips of their tongues touched.  They met three times before Link deepened the kiss.  Zelda leaned into him, snaking her arms around his neck with a high sound riding on a sigh as her body relaxed into his, as his hands found her waist, then her hips, his fingers splaying to feel more of her.  When he pulled back, both their eyes lay more than half lidded, fixed on each other.

“I have them too,” Zelda said.

“What?”

“Crow’s feet.”

A puff left his nose as one side of his mouth turned up.  “I like them.”

She blinked, watching his deepen the more his smile did.

“So do I,” she said.

---

Follow this link for my masterlist.

[victoriasnails]

Why don't I have more white glitters? I'm going to be sad when I run out of this one

Used in this mani:

Orly - Provence At Dusk

Revlon - Damsel In A Dress

Essie - Stretch Your Wings

Sally Hansen - Eyelet

Glisten & Glow Topcoat

Stamping Plate: Kads Fashion 009 from @kasnailart

[eadingas]

Baroque skies over Avignon Bridge. . . . 🇫🇷 🚙 🏛️🌉 . . #travel #キャンプ #キャンパス #camping #motorhomelife #campinglife #camper #motorhoming #summer #frenchsummer #provence #フランス #夏 #アヴィニョン #川 #橋 #夜 #avignon #river #rhone #bridge #dusk #panorama #view #sky #medieval #medievalarchitecture #sunset #日没 (at Avignon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnTzZJCId8v/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[retour]

Character Icons  list under cut-

Honkai Impact: - Durandal, Rita, Benares, Cecilia, Siegfired, Shub-Niggurath, Einstein, Fuhua (Empyria, Phoenix, HoS), Yae Sakura, Raiden Mei, Kiana Kaslana, Bronya, Himeko (young), Shigure Kira, Kevin, Su, Joyce, Eden, Pardofelis, Delta.

Arknights: - Lappland, Texas, Exusiai, Fiammetta, Nearl, Blemishine, Silverash, Blue Poison, Crownslayer, Ines, W, Frostleaf, Frostnova, Talulah, Nian, Dusk, Mostima, Platinum, Zima, Swire, Meteor, Skadi, Ch’en, Cardigan, Surtr, Indra, Provence, Mayer, Siege, Projekt Red, Cliffheart, Schwarz

GFL: - SL8, ST-AR, AN94, SOPMOD, RO635, Vector, UMP40, UMP45, AK12, AK15, WA2000, AEK-999. 

[k8f3l9]

Adieu, Mon Amour

In the whispers of the Mistral wind, Dans les champs de lavande, je me perds, Memories fading like shadows at dusk, Adieu, mon amour, in this silent verse.

Tes yeux, étoiles dans mon ciel nocturne, Now distant, like dreams in morning's light, Our love, a melody once sweetly played, Se perd dans l'écho de la nuit.

In the vineyards of my heart, you roamed, Libre et sauvage, like a song unbound, But seasons change, and so do we, Adieu, mon amour, where peace is found.

Dans le souffle du vent, je trouve la paix, In the art of letting go, in the art of goodbye, Our story, a painting in the gallery of time, Adieu, mon amour, under Provence sky.

[francevisacouk]

Provence Lavender Sunset: Love's Purple

Discover the captivating sunset magic of Provence, a place where the radiant colors of love and lavender blend, creating a mesmerizing masterpiece in the sky. The tranquil beauty of the lavender fields at dusk, kissed by the warm glow of the setting sun, evokes a sense of serenity and romance that's truly unforgettable. As the sun dips below the horizon, the sky transforms into a canvas of purples, pinks, and oranges, casting a spell of tranquility and enchantment. Whether you're strolling hand in hand with a loved one or seeking a moment of solace, a Provence sunset promises an experience that lingers in your heart long after the day has turned to night.

[chrancecriber]

Radio SunLounge Romania (April 24, 2023)

23:59 James Vincent Mcmorrow - We Don't Eat (Dinka Bootleg) 23:55 Steve Osaka - Lazy Day 23:52 International Pony - Superyou 23:48 Pat The Cat - Hotel California (Feat. Rachel Moreau) 23:45 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 23:40 Frank Borell - Beauty Lights (Sentimental Mix) 23:38 Luigi Seviroli - Smoke & Mirrors 23:32 Worldwide Groove Corporation - Midnight In Venice (Feat. The Mystery Singer, Djlo) 23:29 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 23:24 Lafoliedamour - You 23:19 Lux - Indica 23:18 Bes & Meret - La Danse (Florito Mix) 23:14 Dadamnphreaknoizphunk Feat. Jen - Waiting 23:11 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 23:05 Kalmano - Awake From Your Dream 22:59 Monodeluxe - After Midnite 22:54 Minus Blue - In Your Arms 22:52 Puch - Still 22:46 Blue Stone - Come Alive (Feat. Sheyenne Rivers) 22:41 James Bright, Rachel Lloyd - Through The Night (Original Mix) 22:38 Friendly Breaks - Morning Lounge (Groovy Chillout Mix) 22:35 Sweatson Klank - Brilliant Blue 22:32 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 22:27 Xerxes & Phoenix - Silence Arise 22:22 Michael E - Clouds 22:16 Maritime (Caribic Flow Mix) - Cafe Americaine 22:14 Schwarz & Funk - Sheela & Luna 22:08 York - When Love Takes Over 22:03 Smooth Deluxe - Liquid Sunshine (Space Sunset Edit) 22:01 Smooth Genestar - Dusk Operator (D-echo Project Remix) 21:55 4 Tunes - In The Middle 21:51 Green Grid - Cursive 21:45 Marc Hartman - Tears Run For Love 21:41 Krystian Shek - Too Much Thinking (Katoey Cut Mix) 21:40 Lazy Hammock - Fly So High 21:36 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 21:33 Simon Le Grec - Touch Me 21:23 Levitation - More Than Ever People 21:18 Aromabar - Simple Life 21:14 Max Melvin - Whatever 21:07 Conjure One - Endless Rain (Terry Lys Light Remix) 21:04 Velvet Lounge Project - You Are My Life (Feat. Marga Sol) 21:01 Fudge X - Under Your Skin 20:57 Laleh - Live Tomorrow 20:54 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 20:53 Miss B.t - Right Now (Sweet Lovin-' Edit) 20:46 Lemongrass - Temptations 20:40 Cinnamon Chasers - Set The Sky On Fire 20:38 Weathertunes - Parfum De La Provence 20:31 Jens Buchert Feat. Hanane Laraki - Polaris (Angel Mix) 20:26 Messiah Project - Sadeness 20:25 Deniz Reno - Fly (Sub Orchestra Mix) 20:21 Karnaval Blues - Forget 20:18 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 20:12 Marie Therese - Dreaming Illusions 20:06 Afterlife - Show You Something 20:01 Thierry David - Song Of Freedom 19:58 Neve - Supernatural (Ambient Mix) 19:54 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 19:49 Hooverphonic - The World Is Mine 19:45 Vargo - Precious (Part Two) 19:42 From P60 - You Take Me 19:39 Ryan Kp & Anthony Hicks Feat. Melody - Chase The Sunshine (Chill-Out Remix) 19:35 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 19:33 Menik - El 19:31 Liquid Motion - Silent Running 19:25 Dzihan & Kamien - Homebase 19:21 Amour Fou - J-'aime Comme Tu Rit (Original Mix) 19:18 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 19:15 Bruno From Ibiza - Golden Love 19:08 Lemongrass - Something True 19:03 Velvet Dreamer - Footprints In The Sand 19:00 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 18:57 Sky Sergeant - Holograms (Electric Slide Mix) 18:50 Clinton Affair - Amber 18:47 Aiemo - Dreaming Eyes (Vocal Mix) 18:45 Duo Varial Feat. Enaïd - Fly Away 18:42 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 18:39 Dave Palmer - Venezia (Love In The City Mix) 18:37 Jane Maximova - Late In The Night 18:31 Gordon Geco - Ibiza Sunrise 18:28 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 18:25 Night Loungers - A Little Lazy Morning In Paris (French Kiss Vocal Mix) 18:19 Francis On My Mind - Never Be The Same 18:13 Opium Lounge - No Time 18:09 Lemongrass - All There (Skadi Vocal Edit) 18:08 Soundset City - Come With Me (Deep Lounge Cut) 18:01 Jeff Spooner - The Sun - Del Mar Mix 17:54 L-'esperanza - Smile (The Songs Of Innocence) 17:53 Chris Le Blanc - Now And Zen 17:50 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 17:46 Reunited - Sun Is Shining (Out Of Sight Remix) 17:42 Ladder & Rachel Rubinger - Your Mind 17:37 Amanaska - Sleep 17:33 Lemongrass - Forest Spirit 17:23 Bandorkestra 55 & Marco Castelli & Max Porcelli - Evolution 17:17 Yekuro Losho - Strong As Love 17:11 The Maxwell Implosion - The Upper Left Hand (Album Version) 17:08 Jurij Gianluca Ricotti - I Need You (Original Mix) 17:04 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 17:00 Nikonn - Inside 16:54 Purple Avenue - Color Of June 16:49 Lazy Hammock - Tomorrow Is A New Day (Original Mix) 16:46 Jane Maximova - Only 16:43 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 16:41 Billy Paul Williams - Desert Moon 16:34 Polymyth - Lost 16:31 Alice Shelton - Jumping Lounge 16:29 Schwarz & Funk - Endless Blue 16:26 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 16:21 Schwarz & Funk - -missing Rudi- 16:16 Philip Aniskin & Alexsey Krapotkin - Sexorica (Original Mix) 16:11 Living Room - World Traveller 16:09 Jane Maximova - Puppets 16:06 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 16:03 Florito - Konja Tokyo De (Feat Anna Y) 15:57 Weathertunes - After Dawn 15:53 Gaelle - Falling 15:50 Boom Jinx & Aruna - Light As A Feather 15:47 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 15:42 Mazelo Nostra - Angels Are Coming 15:37 Shivana Faction - Talking In Whispers 15:35 Clelia Felix - A Moment Of Silence 15:31 M.a.x. - Stranger (Instrumental) 15:28 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 15:23 Oscar Salguero - Let Me Be Close To You 15:18 Mystic Diversions - Wave A Little Light (Feat. Wendy Lewis) 15:16 Blank & Jones - Puerta Del Sol 15:13 Pat Appleton - Ageless 15:10 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 15:05 Blackfish - Move On 15:00 Alex Picciafuochi - Undersea 14:54 Blue Wave - Diving Delights (Original Mix) 14:52 Marga Sol - Free Your Mind 14:49 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 14:43 Ali Slaight - Hey You 14:40 Soundset City - Smooth Delight 14:30 Max Sedgley - Life-'s A Beach 14:27 Tycho - Systems 14:24 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 14:22 Gemini Rising, Tensnake, Fiora - Let It Go By 14:15 Mystic Diversions - Sensual Wanderer 14:13 Perfect Sin - Mamadi 14:10 Marcel - Backseat Blues 14:06 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 14:03 Max Melvin - Ease 14:00 Pnfa - Paper Boat 13:53 Raul Paz - Mulata 13:51 4 My Roots - Chillwalker 13:48 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 13:45 Café Du Midi & Rosa Catalina - Bailar 13:39 4 Tunes - Let The Rhythm Take Control 13:34 Ganga, Nikolaj Grandjean - Carry You Home 13:32 Playton Feat. Julia Blumental - So Many Ways (Downtempo Mix) 13:29 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 13:24 Andrea Cardillo - Desert Mirage 13:19 Pete Dingon - Dive Into The Blue (Original Trumpet Version) 13:14 Lake Shore Drive - Forever (Feat. Genius Jane) 13:11 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 13:03 Dimitris Manasidis - Love You For Life - Bobby Deep Sunset Mix 12:57 Vargo - Intuition (Touch My Hall Mix) 12:56 Conjure One - Only Sky (Lounge Edit) 12:52 Yonderboi - Riders On The Storm (Pink Solidism) 12:49 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 12:44 Pascal Dubois - Deep Into The Night (Long Island Mix) 12:38 Arrojas - Ardesia 12:33 Eddie Silverton - Coincidences 12:32 Marga Sol - Desedena (Instrumental Mix) 12:29 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 12:24 Blank & Jones - Takin' Off 12:21 Polished Chrome - 2night 12:14 Johannes Huppertz - At Frederun 12:12 Miraflores - Get The Sunshine 12:09 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 12:07 Brook Sapphire - My Name In The Sand (Original Mix) 12:00 Andrea Cardillo - A Night In Goa (Original Mix) 11:54 Green Lemon - Just A Man 11:53 Chilleando - Sunshine (Californication Mix) 11:49 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 11:44 Velvet Dreamer - Last Kiss Of Summer (Tim Gelo Night Groove Remix) 11:39 Cocogroove - Puerto Azul (Blue Waves Mix) 11:34 Dab - The Blues 11:32 Hotel Riviera - Wild Flowers 11:29 Division Kent - Lone Star 11:26 Goloka - Tobacco Slide 11:19 Dreamhunter - Hurricane Bay 11:17 Cane Garden Quartet - Chillaxin' 11:10 Don Carlos - Still Alone 11:03 Bliss - Positive Reaction 10:59 Turnmeister - Into The White 10:57 Bent - K.i.s.s.e.s 10:53 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 10:48 Naoki Kenji - Modern Unreal (With Pat Appleton) 10:45 Giants' Nest - Playa Del Colina 10:39 Random Rab - Rain On The World 10:37 Lisa Shaw - When I 10:33 Ihf Feat. Jenni Potts - Senseless (Original Mix) 10:30 Ecko Presents Bossardo - Everything Counts 10:23 Charly Mclion Feat. Julita Elmas & Susannah Mavis - Open Sky 10:22 Five Seasons - Endlessly 10:19 Al Rea - Island Breath 10:12 Jazzamor - Sometimes 10:08 Blank & Jones - Keep It Up 10:05 Mahoroba - Des Moments (Guitar Mix) 09:58 E - Motive - Street Waves 09:57 Arnold T - Not An Addict 09:50 Phontaine - Monochrome (Remix) 09:49 Pascal Dubois - Sunbeams (Pure Light Cut) 09:46 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 09:44 Wayra - Broken Wings (Feat. Umal) 09:37 Gelka - Open (Feat. Sam Brookes) 09:32 Zenyatta - Swimming Into Vibrations (Ibiza Downbeat Vocal Mix) 09:30 Emotional - So Free (Vocal Chill Mix) 09:26 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 09:21 Spooky - Strange Addiction 09:19 Marc Hartman - No Escape 09:12 Sevyn Streeter - Before I Do 09:11 Roberto Sol - Moment Of Quiet (Feat. Jo Kern) 09:04 Malia Feat. Erik Truffaz - Yellow Daffodils 09:01 Wen Feat. Misal - Call Me 08:55 Farida - Entao Eu Vou 08:53 Peter Pearson - Can Summer Last Forever 08:50 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 08:46 Solanos - Estranha 08:40 Eskadet - Paradise Reconquered 08:34 Beach Hoppers - Keep Dreaming (Eskadet Moonlight Version) 08:32 Jimpster - Closer To You (Ft. Samantha James) 08:28 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 08:27 Califonia Girl - Can See The Light (Beachside Mix) 08:20 Living Room - Aqua 08:15 Titiyo - Come Along With Me (L'amour Romantique Remix) 08:13 Donna De Lory - The Unchanging (Atom Smith Chill Yoga Flow Remix) 08:09 Duane Alpert - Cool Experience (Laurent Paradise Mix) 08:03 Melorman - Behaviour (Melorman Remix) 07:58 Max Melvin - Roots 07:54 Fobee - Broken Glass (Feat. Kate Walsh) 07:51 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 07:49 The Nightfly - Hope And Glory 07:43 Luis Hermandez - A Tu Lado 07:37 Merge Of Equals - Gravity 07:35 Faro - Our Balloon 07:31 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 07:26 Afterlife - Celluloid 07:21 2night - The Sura Quintet 07:18 Electus - Pandora 07:15 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 07:13 Latin League - La Princessa Del Marte 07:10 Marie Therese - Feei It 07:03 Waldeck - Addicted 07:01 Dj Maretimo - Cosmopolitan Cocktail (Feat. Cafe Americaine) (Mix La Nuit) 06:57 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 06:54 Blank & Jones - Relax (Vargo Vocal Mix) 06:47 Barclay Saylor - Keep Enjoying 06:45 Paul Hardcastle - Stay In The Moment 06:42 Stj - She Believes (Radio Version) (Feat. Liba) 06:39 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 06:36 Sunyata Project - Sudden Moments (Extended Mix) 06:29 Gail Summerset - Ultracruise 06:24 Di Polar - Vertraumt 06:23 Sky Sergeant - Music Connection (Dolphins Mix) 06:19 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 06:13 Chicane - Looking Down (Drax & Goodings Room With A View Remix) 06:08 Zzouro - Rescue Remedy 06:05 Spektrum - Gebeit - Genug (Original Mix) 06:02 Gushi & Raffunk - Sound Of You (Beat Ambasada Mix) 05:56 Clavvs - Fade 05:51 Five Seasons - Fleeting Moments Feat. Jane Maximova (Original Mix) 05:46 Mahoroba - The Lost Space (Zero G. Mix) 05:43 Jazzamor - Lullaby (Original Mix) 05:36 Brook Sapphire - My Name In The Sand (Original Mix) 05:32 Lagoon - Bare Your Heart 05:25 Ialaz - Waves (Original Mix) 05:23 Newton - New Beautiful Life 05:17 Delor - Lost Senses (Sunshine Reggae Mix) 05:10 Chris Le Blanc - Glass Reflections 05:07 Irene Love - Lounge Chair 05:05 Treepines Makdaf - Summer In Antiparos 05:02 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 04:57 Marga Sol - So Long 04:51 Blank & Jones - Unknown Treasure (With Claudia Brucken) 04:45 Dj Maretimo - Ocean Cruiser (Wavepatcher Cut) 04:42 Blue Wave - Closet 04:32 Nalin & Kane - Beachball (Andry Meets Schalli @ Monkey Island Remix) 04:31 Naoki Kenji - Samishi 04:27 Atb Feat. Jansoon - Be Like You 04:24 Twentyeight - Wake Up Call 04:21 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 04:15 Sunyata Project - I Know Him (Extended Mix) 04:10 Flashbaxx - Sand Bank 04:08 Zelonka And Darrin C Huss - Destination Moon 03:58 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 03:49 Leendder Feat. Chaz - Everytime You Cry (Satin Jackets Remix) 03:47 Dj Riquo & Dj Bertrum - Absolutely Captivating 03:40 Emancipator - Black Lake 03:36 Chillwalker - Balearic Angels (True Waves Mix) 03:31 Keep Shelly In Athens - Blue Rooms 03:26 Soundset City - Just Lovely (Lounge Groove Mix) 03:21 Fous De La Mer - Conmigo 03:20 V - Sta - Paradise Tonight 03:17 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 03:11 Kosta Rodrigez Feat. Amy - Gale In The Waterglass (My Love) (Long Beach Cut) 03:01 Euphonic Traveller - Pont Notre Dame 03:00 Mike D' Jais, U.r.a. - Moon Beam 02:56 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 02:53 Duane Alpert - Cool Experience (Laurent Paradise Mix) 02:52 Federico Aubele - Postales 02:49 Velvet Lounge Project - How Far, How Long 02:42 Noise Boyz - Blue Cabbage 02:35 Magica Fe - Words 02:29 Edapollo - Gold Light (Feat. Akacia) 02:21 Lazy Hammock - Starsoul 02:19 Enea - Slight 02:13 Mystique - Essences (Rico Van Basten Chill Mix) 02:07 Noise Boyz - Where Do You (Ambient Mix) 02:02 Blue Lagoona - Tears Will Dry (I Found Love Mix) 02:01 The Diventa Project - Still Raining (Rnb Remix) 01:57 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 01:52 Wayang - Beneath These Falling Leaves (Bali Mix) 01:47 Lounge Aura - Today - Smooth Bar Cafe Mix 01:44 Beacon - It Won't Be Long 01:41 Steen Thottrup, Denver Knoesen - Balearic Bliss 01:37 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 01:31 Guenter Haas - Cayo Coco 01:29 Lazy Hammock - Tomorrow Is A New Day (Original Mix) 01:22 Dj Maretimo - Mare Mystico (Flow Da Waves Cut) 01:19 Ihf Feat. Jenni Potts - Senseless (Original Mix) 01:12 Marga Sol - Breath 01:08 Medsound - Love In Your Attic 01:03 Climatic - L'horizzonte 01:00 Jens Buchert - Aquarel 00:57 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 00:51 Nightcruzer - Under Your Skin 00:47 Baghira - Streams Of Love 00:44 Style Project - Cloudy Eyes (Vocal Mix) 00:41 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 00:32 Deep-dive-corp. - Borderland 00:27 Cinematic - We Are Alone (After Sunset Mix) 00:24 D. Batistatos - What A Strange World 00:21 Greenfinch - Satin 00:17 Jingle - Radiosun.ro 00:13 Thunderball - Dub Science Feat. Zeebo 00:08 Kyau & Albert - Meteorite 00:07 Brandy Loungetta - Painted Red (Buddha Beach Bar Mix) 00:03 Marga Sol - Beautiful Morning (Deep Mix) 00:00 Jingle - Radiosun.ro

[dylans-textsandcontextsfordham]

Ash: A Queer and Political Parody Retelling of Cinderella

Long ago in the Kingdom of Provence, there once lived a young woman named Ashley, but who preferred to go by Ash. Ash was bullied by her two mean stepsisters, Mila and Mia, and her stepmother, Anna, who chastised her for her “un-ladylike” attitudes and behavior and for not using her full name Ashley. Every day, Ash was required to get up at 5 in the morning and perform various menial tasks such as sweeping the fireplace, cleaning the kitchen and wash closet, and fetching whatever her stepmother and stepsisters demanded at a moment’s notice. She wore tattered and dirty clothes, as her stepmother and stepsister had spent nearly all of her father’s estate. Ash had no friends except for the animals who lived on the estate, who took pity on her situation. She was particularly close with the two mice, Sébastien et Henri.

 A few miles away in the capital of Marseille, Roi Jean-Luc Côté was having a fit. “Why hasn’t my son Matthieu found son épouse? He galivants across the entirety of Europe and is never here in the Kingdom! This is an embarrassment for all of Provence and leaves me with no heir should he be taken captive and killed by the Normans for our dealings with England!” “Not to worry mon Roi” said Grand Duke François. “He is a young man and wants to enjoy himself!” “Enjoying himself at MY COST!” said Roi Jean-Luc. “He has spent over 100,000 Francs within the last year! I don’t even know what it’s on! Business and travel expenses he says.” “But you do know how hard it was for him to be locked away in the castle as a young boy,” said the duke. “He is only making up for the 10 years in which we were engaged in the special military operation with Monaco”. “AND THAT IS WHERE HE IS SPENDING MY MONEY! THE ENEMY’S CASINO AND THE GIRLS THAT LOITER THERE FOR UNE MÉNAGE À TROIS!” Roi Jean-Luc bellowed. Taking a sip of red wine, Le Roi composed himself. “We are going to bring him back and host the grandest ball that has ever been held in the history of Provence. All un-wedded females will be invited as well as the entire royal court. He will find his future wife there; we have thousands of beautiful women in this kingdom. No expense is to be spared! Go to the treasury and withdraw 1 million Francs! Let us begin the preparations!”

  Back at Le Château de la Belle-Famille Diabolique, Ash was busy scrubbing the fireplace. “I want EVERY piece of Ash out of that fireplace Ashley!” said Anna. “Please, Mon Dieu, do not call me that!” Ash said. “HAH, you want to be called the same name as that schmutz you’re scrubbing? Idiot! You deserve nothing more than to do this for the rest of your life!” replied Anna. Suddenly, a loud bell was ringing from the dirt road outside the Château. The stepmother rushed to the door and yelled to the stepsisters “HIDE L’ARGENT! WE ARE NOT PAYING TAXES!” Anna opened the door and to her surprise, it was not the tax collector, but a royal assistant, distinguished by a gold fleur-de-lis on his right shirt pocket. “Bonjour Madam, I come with a message from Le Roi Jean-Luc Côte.” Mila and Mia crept around the corner, having hidden the remainder of their inheritance under the mattress. “His royal majesty would like to see all un-married and widowed female residents of this dwelling at Palais des Trois Lions this Friday at dusk to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the de-militarization of Monaco. The prince will be there.” Mila and Mia ran to the door, overjoyed and shrieking with happiness. “Mother! We will get to meet Prince Matthieu! What will we wear? How will we get there?! Do you think he might fall in love with us?!?” “Quiet!” yelled Anna. The royal assistant continued, “Please ensure that your dresses have the letter Z, representing our victory, embroidered into them.” “Of course, we love to show our appreciation for the noble and benevolent king!” said Anna. The royal agent left and Anna along with the Mila and Mia instantly got to work on designing their great patriotic dresses. Afterward, they sent Ash to the basement, where she sewed all night.

It was now Friday and in just a few hours the ball to celebrate the de-militarization of Monaco would begin. Prince Matthieu was hurried back to Provence from Monaco after Le Roi sent a decree threatening full military mobilization to the ruling Grimaldi family, causing them to revoke Matthieu’s visa.

At the Le Château de la Belle-Famille Diabolique, Ash was busy putting the finishing touches on the dresses for her stepsisters and stepmother. “You messed up the Z!!” screamed Anna. “Are you trying to get us locked away?” She angrily swiped the needle from Ash’s hand and got to work fixing it. Ash went down to the small supply closet in which she resided and closed the doors. “Why are they even bothering so much with this ball? It’s not as if the prince is going to be interested in them. Their personalities wouldn’t even attract a plague burier” Ash said to herself. She waited until the chariot they had reserved arrived at the Château. Anna had spent the last 5,000 Francs they had to their name on ordering it, in her confidence that Mila or Mia would be courted by Prince Matthieu.

Ash waited until they left when she opened the closet door and walked back into the salon. Sébastien et Henri appeared from under a small hole next to the fireplace brickwork. “Why aren’t you going to the celebration?” they asked her. “Anna, Mila, and Mia wouldn’t ever let me do that. I need to stay here and get the Château ready, should Mila or Mia become royalty, Mon Dieu” she said as she rolled her eyes. Overcome with emotion, Ash began to cry. “I will never fall in love as long as I am confined to this evil household, let alone this Royaume répressif.” “Look!” Sébastien et Henri said, “Your tears are turning into diamonds!” Suddenly it became very dark outside and then a flash of bright light appeared. The door swung open and in walked a woman of ethereal beauty. “Bonsoir Ash, Enchanté. I am Juliette, your fairy Godmother.” Stunned and speechless, Ash responded. “Bonsoir Juliette. Why are you here.” “I am here to bring you to the celebration. You have suffered far too long, but with suffering comes strength. You are ready for greatness now.” Juliette snapped her fingers and in an instant, Ash was in a diamond-studded, black silk dress, noticeably absent of the required Z, complete with amethyst crystal slippers. Juliette provided Ash with a mirror in which to see herself. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Formerly a soot-covered maid, she was now the most beautiful woman in all of Provence. Sébastien et Henri cheered, overjoyed by the turn in fortune for their best friend. “Shall we go?” Juliette asked Ash. They walked out of the Château and climbed into a chariot ten times more elegant than that which Anna, Mila, and Mia took. “Allons-y!” shouted Juliette, and with that, they took off.

Ash arrived at the palace and ascended the stairs. The guard, stunned by a woman of such beauty, did not notice the missing Z on Ash’s dress, and with that, she entered the palace. Inside the main ballroom, she saw Anna, Mila, and Mia conversing with Matthieu, who appeared less than impressed by their vain nature. Looking over in her direction, Matthieu instantly locked eyes with Ash. His pupils dilated with passion, and he quickly walked over to greet her. Anna, Mila, and Mia were shocked and furious but retained their composure lest they be ejected from royal grounds. “Bonsoir, comment tu t’appelles?” asked Matthieu. “Ash” she quietly responded, blushing nervously. “Voulez vous danser avec moi?” Matthieu asked. Ash nodded her head in agreement, and they proceed to the center of the ballroom. Le Roi Jean-Luc Côte noticed that his son had taken a strong interest in a girl, but also noticed that she did not have a Z on her chest. Having suspected she may be one of Matthieu’s romances from Monaco, and paranoid that she may be a spy, Le Roi stood up and shouted for his guards to remove her from the palace. Terrified, Ash ran for the exit before the guards could get her. As she ran down the stairs, one of her amethyst crystal slippers fell off. Ash hastily takes off in the chariot, determined to never return to the Palais again. “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?” shouted Matthieu. “I thought she was from Monaco! She has no Z on her chest!” responded Le Roi. “She isn’t from Monaco. She’s lives in a Château less than two miles from here” sobbed Matthieu. “Go get her then!” responded Le Roi. Matthieu runs outside, but Ash has already left. He discovered one of her slippers and handed it off to a guard. “We must find her tomorrow,” he says.

Ash cried to Juliette on their way back to the Château while explaining what happened. “I am sure this is all just a misunderstanding, Prince Matthieu will find you and everything will be ok,” Juliette said. “It’s not even that” Ash responded, “I see this prince who will one day be king of Provence, he is very handsome, and yet I feel nothing.” “That is fine!” said Juliette, “Not everyone experiences love at first sight”. “I have” responded Ash. “With whom have you?” asked Juliette. Ash’s heart was beating harder than it ever had before. She took a deep breath before delicately saying “You.”. Juliette immediately directed the horses to pull the carriage to the side of the dirt road. “You’ve managed to surprise even I,” she said. They locked eyes before passionately kissing for a brief moment. “It’s not safe for us here, we must go elsewhere,” Juliette said. Ash nodded her head in agreement, her heart filled with love, happiness, and peace for the first time since she was a child, and both of her parents were alive.

The next morning, bewildered by the events which took place the prior night and unable to find Ash, Matthieu returned to Monaco after claiming political asylum. Anna, Mila, and Mia were bankrupted and wanted for tax evasion, and fled to Castile, never to be heard from again. Le Roi Jean-Luc Côte, late in his years and severely distressed by the loss of his son to an enemy state, died just days later. Upon his death, Matthieu returned to Provence to take the throne and declared peace with Monaco. Immediately following Matthieu’s accession to the throne, Normandy, where Ash and Juliette fled, united with Provence to create France. Ash and Juliette returned to Provence and built a cottage on the outskirts of Marseille. Their gratitude for Roi Matthieu leads Juliette to Monaco where she finds Matthieu’s old lover, Gabrielle, and leads her back to Provence. Matthieu and Gabrielle had three children together and they all lived happily ever after.

[benghini]

John O'Grady | Dusk at St Hippolyte, Provence | 2018

[jmlpyt]

Les Îles de Lérins - Cannes- Côte d'Azur France - IMG_20190908_130358 par Jean-Marc PAYET Via Flickr : Les îles de Lérins forment un archipel français situé en Méditerranée, dans le département des Alpes-Maritimes en région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, sur la Côte d'Azur. Elles sont administrées par la commune de Cannes dont elles constituent, associées au Suquet, l'un des dix quartiers administratifs The Lérins Islands form a French archipelago located in the Mediterranean, in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, on the Côte d'Azur. They are administered by the municipality of Cannes of which they constitute, associated with Suquet, one of the ten administrative districts

[travel-in-pictures]

Allos, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France 

by Vincent Favre from France 

Source | Google Maps

[ewastanislawowna]

#postapo #nuclear #atomic #atomicenergy #paysage #france #provence #francja #elektrowniaatomowa #ladne #wieczor #zmierzch #dusk #prowansja #fallout