Challenge: Happiest Moment

[The Ark]

The Challenge for this thread is....

HAPPIEST MOMENT

• Details: By Happiest Moment, we mean a single moment in time where the character you are writing for was extremely happy. It could be them falling in love, getting married, having a baby, etc! It is open to your own preference and creativity.
• Post Limit: You can do more than one post in this thread, including more as the same character, or a different post for a different character you have. There is no limit to how many you can do, or for how many characters.
• Narrative/POV: You can either write in First Person (I, me, my, etc) or Third Person (he, she, they, etc).
• Length: There is no maximum length for your post, however it must be a minimum of one paragraph.

If you have any questions or require any clarification, feel free to PM the admin. Happy Writing Everyone!

[Seren]

(This perhaps isn't her happiest moment, but it is a moment that she remembers well and is considered a happy memory.)

Sprinting through the forest Seren had one thing on her mind. Escape. Her legs ached from running the long distance from the village of Tondc which now lay far behind her. Her breath came out in ragged gasps and grunts and eventually she slowed to a halt, her deep brown eyes scanning her surroundings, cautiously, ever vigilant. Suddenly she heard the familiar sound of a twig snapping underfoot and in the complete silence of the forest is sounded like a thunderclap. Like a startled deer, Seren forced herself to keep moving, darting between the trees, leaping over logs, she no longer ran with the perfected skill of stealth that had been drilled into her ever since she could remember. Now her movements were clumsy and tired, she could hear her feet hitting the ground, far too loud, she would be heard, she was certain of that. Finally Seren could run no more, slowing to a halt she allowed herself to catch her breath, her throat and lungs burned, never before had she been made to run for such a distance, never allowing herself to stop for long.

 An alarm cry came from a bush nearby and several moments later a startled bird erupted from within, flying into the sky, free from the dangers that lurked on the ground. Seren reached for her sword, whatever, whoever had started the animal would be nearby, of course the warrior could not be certain that she had not startled the bird herself, but her gut told her that she was being watched, the hairs stood up on her arms and every instinct told her to trust her gut. It was one of the first things she’d been taught as a child, trust your gut, it will never lead you wrong. Several seconds went by and nothing happened, Seren did not hear another sound and perhaps foolishly she allowed herself to relax. Almost at the age of seventeen the girl was a warrior, she’d finished her training recently and was eager to prove herself; she’d already made many kills during her brief life.

 Suddenly, something erupted from the foliage, taken by surprise Seren had no time to reach for her sword and just as her hand touched the hilt of her knife that was attached securely to her belt, she was knocked to the ground, the air wrenched from her lungs causing her to gasp for air like a fish out of water. Bell like laughter reached her ears and despite the girls discomfort the sound brought a smile to her face. Squinting up at the warrior who had pinned her to the ground she took in her features, every little detail of her face. It was a girl, she wasn’t much older than Seren and she was dressed similarly, streaks of black face paint masking her features. Her name was Sae, the person whom owned a piece of Seren’s heart. She was beautiful, or at least that was how Seren saw her, a gem to be treasured and protected, but she was also a deadly weapon, a battled hardened warrior even at such a young age and if anybody ever crossed her, they’d be dead before they could even blink. Seren knew that, it was the way of their clan to begin training their warriors as children.

 “You’re getting better” Sae chuckled, climbing off of Seren and offering a hand to help her to her feet. Taking it gratefully, the smile upon Seren’s face broadened. “You travelled twice the distance that you managed last time and didn’t stop nearly as much” these training sessions were harsh, but necessary, a warrior had to be able to travel long distances, sometimes at an impossible pace and could not be allowed to slow if they had any chance of survival. They had to have perfect stamina to withstand the strain a battle would have on their body, they had to be strong, fast… There was no room for error.

 “I only got this far because you allowed me to, if you wanted to you could’ve stopped me miles back there” Seren grunted meeting her lovers gaze as the smile vanished from her face, disappointed with herself despite her achievement.

 “True, but if I had taken you out back there then we would have no idea of your capabilities, I wanted to see when you would give up, when you would reach your limits” Sae muttered, closing the distance between them. As Seren lowered her gaze, Sae took a hand and using her forefinger and thumb, lifted the girls face to meet her gaze once again “do not doubt yourself Seren” she breathed, her eyes sparkling with humour “you’re a talented warrior, you are capable of much more than you believe” she kept her hand beneath the girls chin until she was certain that she would not look away again.

Seren smiled at Sae, she couldn’t believe how easily the warrior could manipulate her mood as she did, so quickly she could change from being angry to happy, annoyed to delighted, just from Sae’s presence. Whenever Sae was around Seren felt like she could let down her barriers, stop being a warrior and just be herself, she could stop being Seren of the Woods Clan and just be Seren.

“I love you, you know that?” Seren breathed slipping her hand into that of her lover and searched her gaze for anything hinting that she returned her feelings. A smile seemed to light up Sae’s whole face as she leant in towards Seren, closing the distance between them. Their lips locked and Seren seemed to lose herself in the moment of unforeseen affection. But the moment was over just as quickly as it had begun as Sae pulled away.

 “We should get back to Tondc, Arwen will want to be informed of your progress” she told Seren, much to the girls disappointment, but nonetheless she began to follow her girlfriend back through the forest, thankfully at a much slower pace than they’d been travelling before.