Don't!

((Past described from the point of view of my character, Seaxwyrd might recall this differently.))

”Don’t!”, he yelled at her, his voice filled with nothing but alarm. It was too late, the girl’s small fingers had already gripped the burning handle of the pot, small face wrinkling in pain. ”Yeaaargh!”, she cried and he rushed to study her hand, ”You are not supposed to touch that Faerhild, has mother not told you this already?!” She was only four, and if their mother had told her, she had forgotten. She shook her head and stared up at him with a pair of tearful eyes and a quivering lip. Seaxwyrd sighed, smiling reassuringly, ”Do not look as if you are about to die. We will fix this.”

”Don’t!” he yelled at her his voice filled nothing but alarm. She turned her face to look at him. It was too late, the horse smashed it’s hoof into her cheek and she flew in the mud. When she opened her eyes it felt as if forever had passed. She was held sitting against the stables’ wall and her brother was turning her mud-caked face, ”Ah, there you are” She blinked slowly, attempting to focus her gaze on his blurry features, ”…What…happened?” She was not two anymore, but seven and her head felt as if a giant had sat on it. ”What were you thinking nearing the horse from behind like that?”, he gripped her chin harder. She pressed her mud smeared hand against his face to push him away, ”I was playing.” His hand snapped to pull her wrist down, ”Do not touch my face like that.” She smiled, although soon learnt not to. It made the pain in her face worse, ”…Can I touch it like this then?” The girl pushed her finger against her brother’s nose. He stared at her deadpan while his nose was pressed, ”…Well, I suppose it is progress, Faerhild.”

”Don’t!” he yelled at her his voice filled nothing but alarm. She stepped quickly backward and watched as the rotten floor boards crumbled downstairs. He looked at her sister, ”Could you not smell the rot?” She breathed heavily for the near death experience, smiling lightly before pressing her finger against his nose, ”My nose is not as big as yours.” He curled his hand around her finger, removing it from his face, ”But you have eyes? The roof is leaking.” He gestured upwards. She was sixteen and she certainly had eyes, yet she refused to look upward, smiling still, ”I do not need my eyes nor my nose when I have yours, Seaxwyrd.” She chuckled before running downstairs to study the wreck her steps had created.

”Don’t.”, he said to her, his gaze nothing but pleading. She offered him a coldly piercing stare along with stern words, ”I am the master of my own fate and you have no saying left on the matter, Seaxwyrd. If you have forgotten, father decided in my favour.” He let out a snort of irritation, ”So, you will bring shame to your family just to follow a foolish daydream?” She stepped to stand very close to him, leaning forth until her face was but a few inches away from his, ”Yes.” She was nineteen and like so many times before, she pressed her finger against the tip of his nose in an attempt to lighten the mood. He stared at her darkly, grinding his teeth together for a moment. With sharp motion he swatted her hand away, ”Then you will walk to your death alone. I will not save you anymore.” She straightened her posture, raising her chin slightly with pride of a young woman, “Perhaps it is my turn to save you.” A flicker of sadness visited her eyes, before she sought to leave him there. He snapped at her back, “Save me?! You will fall from your horse, hungry! You will wither away far from anyone, rotting dry in the grass! Or worse! You will be spotted by the enemy! Is it truly your dream to bleed to death, alone and violated?!” She turned at the door to look at her brother once more with a gaze filled with pain, yet the suffering was soon washed away with ice, her words spoken in a tone that lacked any emotion, “If that will be my fate, then be it.”

“Don’t.”, he said silently, but she was not there to hear it.