hold (arden)

For the first time in what felt like lifetime, Sindri Trickett really, truly, without a doubt, believed he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

As he shuffled the dried mud from between his toes in soft tufts of grass, Sindri's gaze explored the uninhabited slice of heaven that had been stumbled upon. He reached his free hand, which was also covered in it's share of mud, to his furrowed brow in an attempt to shield the rays of morning sun that threatened to obstruct his view. Hazel eyes took in everything. First, the quietly flowing river which he imagined would still feel nice, despite the cold, to the never ending hilly plain just beyond it. It was like the entire forrest had opened up to a new planet.

The brisk air reminded the man that it was certainly still January, but Cornwall was a far cry from London. Sindri had been visiting his father for the week to help him around the old house. Really, he needed any excuse to get away from the hustle of the city life that he had wedged himself uncomfortably into. Out here he could think. Breathe.

Something in the way that the air traveled around his skin only had Sindri craving it more. Thoughtlessly, he stripped off the thick flannel from his torso and threw it to the ground. Not enjoying the water would be considered sin in the Trickett family so without another breath, the man waded into the crystal clear stream. He watched for a moment as the mud from his feet drifted and dissipated down stream and then, all at once, catapulted himself in after it.

The shock of the cold, although at first uncomfortable, was refreshing. Sindri's head popped out of the water with a splash, sending a wave of water in a circle around him and disrupting the calm. He took a moment to get acclimated to the temperature change, furiously moving his limbs to generate some heat. Once his body had likely just gone numb, he made powerful strokes around the body of water, exploring. There were a few fish he could see, most just passing by, and very little seaweed. The river floor, he noticed, was almost completely covered in slippery rocks. Careful of those, the outdoorsman in him was quick to command.

Sindri submerged himself again, this time staying under water long enough to get a look around. The childlike state of the man who looked anything but that reveled in the nostalgic bubbles that emerged from his nose and mouth. Just as Sindri had almost completely lost himself to a memory, a paralyzing pain shot up and down his leg. Not only figuratively, but literally.

Panic was quick to set in as the lack of ability to move his limbs disintegrated and his world turned into a slow motion movie. From there, just brief images. A slideshow of water, rocks, sun peeking down through the rippling surface. One of his attacker stood out in particular. A poisonous little animal he had learned about in Care of Magical Creatures. What was that little one called again? Sindri sank into a state of calm despite the little voice in the back of his head reminding him that was drowning.

Then the next image popped into the screen of the inescapable dance of the slideshow, melodically and infinitely more beautiful than all the others. It was a familiar figure. A face that he couldn't forget even if he tried. Arden Dasher.

She’d been dreaming about him a lot lately. It wasn’t helping.

Dash’s eyes sprung open. She struggled, coughing up a mouthful of imaginary water before she realised that she was just spitting out puffs of air. It took several deep breaths and a lot of willpower to convince herself she wasn’t underwater. She’d dozed off on the couch, and was now trapped in a prison of brightly coloured cushions. Her skin was freezing. That wasn’t right though, because it was warm in the house. Just another confusing by-product of her vision. Her mind was racing. In moments, she was up and had grabbed her coat and wand.

These past few months had been going well for Arden Dasher. Most of the time, she was sure she’d moved on. She was independent, working five days a week and saving hard for… something. Her Gringotts vault was sitting gathering interest, while she poured a little more money into it every fortnight. It was nice to know that it was there, secure. Things were going well for the Hufflepuff alumni, and Sindri didn’t feature in her mind much at all. Not until recently. Whether they were regular dreams reflecting vague memories or true dreams, where she just felt him, he was popping up more and more. This was even more intense.

The brunette had dreamed about him drowning.

Apparating was second nature to most magical folk over the age of seventeen, and Dash was no exception. The difficulty on this particular occasion, however, stemmed from the fact that her hands were shaking as she gripped her wand. Her thoughts were scattered and impossible to collect. Last time she’d tried to use magic directly after a vision, Dash had smashed a window and blown all the lights in the house. Right now, she felt dazed and a little nauseous. This time she almost fainted trying.

The brunette knew exactly where to go – she’d seen the place before. A part of her mind, separate from the rest, reminded her that this vision could take place at any time, and that there was no guarantee that it was about to happen. For the most part, however, Dash’s emotional spectrum was completely awash with an impenetrable sense of certainty. She’d never really been able to explain the feeling to others. How could she convey how fate felt? Every time she had a vision, the girl was sure that it would come true. She couldn’t explain that feeling in words.

In moments, she was there. Dizzy and frantic, but there. From a distance, she saw him go under. There was a moment of hesitation before she acted… What would he think? Perhaps he was here for a leisurely swim. Perhaps he was totally safe. Maybe it was a coincidence. The girl knew that that couldn’t be true, though. She knew it. He didn’t come back up.

Her coat and shoes were on the ground immediately before she moved to him. The water was freezing. Dash was shivering before she was even waist deep, but the fact barely registered. Her mind was racing as her fingers scrambled to clutch onto something – his shirt, arms, anything. Her wand was cumbersome and her fingers were already numb. What spell could she use to help? Accio Sindri? The brunette was sure that she wasn’t calm enough to be performing any spells right now. She was lucky she’d managed to apparate here without hurting herself.

She reached through the water, working hard to keep her balance on the slippery rocks. The girl got a good grip on his shirt and tugged. She’d forgotten how heavy he was. Her hands were still shaking, but the cold had numbed them to a point where she wasn’t sure how tightly she was gripping his arm. It took a few solid heaves, kicking against the water and pushing against the rocks where she could, but the willowy brunette managed to pull his top half out of the stream, dropping him on the damp, muddy ground with a wet thud. She almost collapsed from the effort. His legs still dangled in the flow of the cold water, but the girl’s main focus right now was making sure that he was breathing. She scrambled to his side, leaning over his beautiful face, listening for breath.

It was faint, but there.

Then why was he so still?

The girl’s eyes assessed him quickly, her gaze snapping to a puncture wound on his leg. A small barb poked out of his skin. She recognised that immediately, too. Working for almost a year solely with magical water creatures had given her a great deal of knowledge on treating such things. No, she thought. How could he be so careless? There was repellent for the kind of water imps that left marks like that. Frantic, she tried to apparate them both to St. Mungos, but her magic wasn’t working for her at all. Instead of a pressing sensation, indicating that she was apparating, the girl felt a swell of nausea. Dash uttered incantations under her breath. Drying spells, warming spells… Nothing was working. Tears of frustration appeared in her eyes.

Calm down. Dash tried to pull herself together as she got to her feet. She had to get him out of the water. It took some effort to drag him further, but after some work she managed to get him out. Going against what she knew she should be doing – getting him somewhere sterile, where he could be treated – the girl moved to his leg and squeezed around his knee. The barb was just below his knee, in the more fleshy calf area. Dash bit her lower lip and pulled the barb out, imagining the kind of pain that he must be feeling, even if he couldn’t express it. Her pretty eyes flicked to his face and back as she applied pressure to the now bleeding wound. “Come on,” she whispered urgently through chattering teeth, fighting the stressful tears that had already appeared on her cheeks.

Removing the barb was good for helping with the paralyzing effect of the poison. Her hands were now covered in blood, but she was sure he’d just said something. She watched his face carefully – he was blinking. “Merlin, you’re such an idiot!” she exclaimed, relief obvious in her voice.

The serenity that came with a nearly drowning was astounding, even to Sindri. In his barely-there-stupor, the man could only think about how odd it was to feel so at peace with the the entire situation. How much of that could be credited to his first, and truthfully only, love, remained to be seen. All the water logged twenty three year old could comprehend were the single tear stains running down Arden's cheeks. He had seen the woman cry many times before, but these were most certainly a different kind of chemical. She was scared, of course. But she was also happy. Relieved. Sindri felt a pang of pride in his chest that was still filled with water.

As he coughed up the residual element that had been trapped in his lungs, Sindri couldn't help but crack a mischievous smile. His demeanor all but agreed with the pain that was still shooting up and down his body from the source of his wound. "I didn't know water imps were native to Cornwall..." He spat out with some difficultly, grasping Dash's forearm for support.

"Shit job you've done miss magical water creature specialist," Again, the man's sentence was ten times longer than a normal speaking individual. It seemed that the poison had affected all of his muscles. Any longer under and he would have been a goner. Suddenly, it dawned on him just how dire his situation was. If it wasn't for Arden he surely wouldn't alive. If it wasn't for Arden. How had she gotten there anyway? "You knew" Sindri coughed, his voice weak. "Oh of course," He muttered to himself after finally catching on to the fact that she had a speciality with that sort of thing.

"I think this needs a potion still?" Sindri's hazel eyes accosted the wound on his calf and the blood that had been shed. "You tell me, doc..." He trailed off, his gaze meeting her's for a moment before another shot of pain sent him reeling. Sindri heaved on the ground, grasping to get a hold of the grass to steady himself. This was absolutely not how he planned to see her again - so helpless, so desperate. Despite his inner pleas, though, there was a part of the man that enjoyed it. The part of him that needed to be cared for.