#chronai

Once he’d realized that it was just Squirrel and not anyone else, he relaxed and showed off what he had been messing with. “It’s just a pretty bit of glass I picked up during my last job. Forgot I had it til I searched my pockets.” 

She held out a hand and Chronai gently placed the piece in her palm. It was the size of a couple of almonds, though its shape was hardly symmetrical. It was pockmarked unevenly throughout, but the surface of the glass was smooth to the touch. What really made it special, Squirrel discovered, was what happened when the light touched it. Each side of the piece of glass produced a new color or funny shape to the sunlight from around them. Holding it with just the tips of her fingers, she illuminated different leaves and small creatures with the miniature prism. “It is very pretty! I can see why you picked it up! I would have too, if we had glass here and not just flint. Or water. Oh, or ice sometimes!”

Chronai had been watching her as she happy-chattered on. She could tell from her own peripheral vision. It was just one of those things that he did when he thought she wasn’t noticing. He had one of those rare, small smiles on his face. Before Squirrel could wonder what it was he had been smiling about, he suddenly said, “Well then, you keep it.”

Her teeth made a clicking sound from how fast she shut her mouth. Did he really mean it…? She turned her head to face him directly. “But…Crow, this is yours. I can’t just take it…” 

“You’re having way more fun with the glass than I ever will. Plus, I don’t need to have extra stuff in my pockets so…” He gave a dismissive wave. “Go ahead, keep it.”

For a moment it was like the world around her had frozen. Over the years of their friendship, Chronai had been very gracious in finding things in his travels that Squirrel asked for. She even had the bits and bobs of the world outside of the forest safely secured in her home. This was the first time he’d given her something unprompted. A gesture that would, in other circumstances, would have a very specific meaning. One of wanting to be a mated pair.

Except, there was no way that he was aware of such a meaning. Absolutely none. He was human, for one. He probably meant to let her have it purely because she liked it, that’s all. They were friends and didn’t Crow say that friends gave each other gifts, before? There was no other reason. None.

Squirrel ignored the strange, fluttery feeling in her chest as the world unfroze and she smiled at him. “Well...alright then! Thank you!”

If he noticed that her voice had pitched itself higher than usual, Chronai didn’t say anything.

She kept the bit of glass in a much more hidden space than just with her knicknacks. 

---

Crow’s visits continued to happen about once every couple of months. The amount of unprompted gifts, however, had steadily increased since that first instance.

He called them souvenirs. When asked, he explained that in human culture it was common to purchase or pick up bits of places one travels to. The purpose was to bring them back and admire them as reminders of where you had been. 

She hadn’t really understood (“Is such a ritual part of how humans cast magic? Or are most humans’ memories so unreliable that reminders are a must?” Chronai’s answers only helped her curiosity so much) but Squirrel continued to store the gifts as she received them. It was only when a previously undiscovered rip spilled out the contents of the bag onto the floor that a kernel of understanding bloomed inside her. Each item was a piece of him. A physical representation of a time that he’d thought about her and decided to take that reminder with him.

Even if Chronai was ignorant of Elven customs...in his own way, he was still following them. For her. No one else. Just her.

That realization unleashed a flood of a new feeling through Squirrel’s whole body. Her face grew warm and her chest and stomach fluttered almost unpleasantly. It was almost as if she’d suddenly caught a disease, but as a Scout she was very familiar with certain symptoms and this was not indicative of any that she was aware of. On top of that, there was a desperate desire to see Chronai and…

Well, first find out if it all wasn’t just in her head. There was no way to know for sure if he actually wanted to be with her as a mate or stay as friends or some other odd human thing.

That particular thought cut a sharp sadness through the warm feeling, which helped her focus on the present. Squirrel gathered the little odds and ends together and tightly wrapped the whole of them in a cloth. One piece still managed to squeeze itself out, despite her work. 

It was the little bit of glass. Chronai’s first unprompted gift to her. She bent down and gently cradled it in the palm of her hand. A warm smile started to grow as she allowed that feeling to fill her up again as she thought about how he thought of her. Even if he, somehow, wasn’t aware of the why, he went out of his way to bring them here.