#fatebirch

Birch sighed as he looked around the room checking to see if she was still fixing them some drinks. After one last nervous moment he set the trinket on one of her side tables by her couch, turning the panda to face her if she took a seat next to it after he left. "She'll love you, don't you worry." He whispered to his work as a bit of a gift-blessing before going back to his seat.

Mother: Willow. Father always said he knew they were meant to marry because of her name. Her family just thought it was a cute and wispy name for her to have. Which she grew into well! Mom was always quiet, yet always ready to shield us from harm.

Father: Rowan. His father always spoke with great pride when it came to Dad growing into his name as well as he did. Talk about a long shadow.

Oldest Brother: Hawthorn. As savy as can be, sometimes I wonder if he should have been the one running the shop. He wonders the same thing, but actually voices it. Makes for a long dinner.

Oldest Sister: Ash. Now talk about a wise woman! She gets it from Grandmother, just like her name! She can be sweet if she needs to be, but usually keeps things to the point now.

Me: Birch. I was named after the tree of regneration, a symbol of creativity and fertility! So, my family was never surprised about my passion for carving, but they were when Tani and I never had a child. Little do they knew we had the layout of a nursery planned for the last year of our marriage, but it just wasn't in the cards. Might tell that story later though.

Birch gave a sigh as he let his head drop over his sketchbook for the hundredth time. “I can’t believe he wants, a slave table?? How am I supposed to come up with this?” Another sigh escaped his lips, “Ok, basics then. Pose: sitting on ankles, palms upwards to hold the glass, chin up to show servitude? No, chin down to show submission. No, chin up, pleading expression. No, chin down, soft smile of content. No, chin up, no wait.” With a burst of frustration Birch lifted his weight from the wooden stool, “Aaah, what am I supposed to do with this design? I don’t have a reference point.” 

Birch gave up temporarily as he paced across his work space, letting the blood flow back into his stiff joints. He didn’t stay away from his project for long though. 

He spun a pencil in between his fingers for a few moments before putting it back to the page, “C’mon, just the body then.”

Birch started running the images from his mind down to the paper. ‘Average height should work, it’ll give the table a nice height, maybe a bit taller for convenience. A toned body, since a sub of Will’s would be very active. Let’s give her a bit more at the hips, it’ll add to the base of the table and give her a bit more of a womanly figure. Let’s keep her figure slim, to keep the elegant flow of the room, smaller breasts as well. Hm, maybe not this small, let’s give her something for Will to look at.’ 

He paused a moment and admired his new sketch, “Now this is perfect! Just to decide on a face. Hmmm.” Birch tapped the end of the pencil against the parchment before giving one last sigh, “I’ll just draw both and see what he likes more.” The craftsman sketched out a heart-shaped face, framed by shoulder-length black hair. It’ll play off of the darker-undertones in his home, but she’ll need something that’ll pop too. “Eyes! What color, something striking! Oh! Blue, that goes perfectly with black hair.” 

At the end he smiled down at the paper, beaming at his designs. Then something clicked, what did this remind him of? Wait. Not what, who.

There were several moments of silence as his brain put all the pieces together.

Oh.

Oh no.

The blood rushed to his face along with a scorching heat, Birch covered his mouth first then buried his face into his palms. He couldn’t believe himself. The large man sprung off his seat again, this time out of ever-growing embarrassment. 

He sketched HER like this. Of course the woman who came to mind when he thought of beauty personified was her, but she would never be like that; a chain around her neck, a servant to someone. She’s so independent, strong, and confident!

He admired so much about her and he never pictured her like this before. He always thought about her smile, or about her laughter, or the way her cheeks tinted pink when he complimented her when he pictured her. Never nude like this.

Birch looked up from his callused hands, eyeing the pages on his desk a moment before hiding away again, still pacing frantically around the room. “Its ok, you just like the way she looks in general so you just think that looks like her. It doesn’t actually look like her.” His head bounced in a nod as he wandered back over the book, forcing his hands away to look at the book. “See, nothing like,” Birch’s once deep and booming voice trailed off softly, “fuck.” He closed the book and tossed it in the pile of other sketch books. “I can’t believe myself.” He shook his head side to side to clear the images in his mind as he moved to work on a different piece for Will’s collection. 

The redness and fire in his cheeks remained for several hours till he broke off from work to go out to town for dinner.