He looked at me.
“Why me?”
Sy smiled at me. “Why does the sun set and rise each day? It is what it is.”
“So does that mean you will one day leave me?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“I don’t know. Because what if you are required elsewhere.”
“You are my ward, little one. I could no less fly into the sun than leave you alone.”
“A ward? What does that mean?”
Sy was silent, watching the water. “What do you know of eternity?” he asked finally.
I laughed. “Very little I am afraid. I’m only 19. Nearly 20 though.” I added that last bit, feeling defensive.
He chuckled. “I have known this world for longer than you can ever imagine, little Seph.”
“How old are you?” I asked, feeling the ancient power in him like the air.
Sy laughed out loud. “You do amuse me, little one.”
“I’m not that little.” I grumbled at his lack of answer.
“No?” Sy’s voice was amused.
I looked down at myself, then back up at him. “Ok, well I know I’m not massive…”
“One does not have to be large to be great, Seph.”
I looked at my gloved hands fidgeting with the material. “Do you know my power? Is that why you have come?”
“I am a guardian, darling girl. I sensed what you were the moment you awoke and knew it was my time to wake also.”
I lowered my head, disappointed. “Oh. So are you supposed to be like my new parental figure or something?” the thought put me out more than I liked.
He was so very beautiful.
And I didn’t exactly want another parent.
He smiled and nudged me slightly. “A guardian can be many things, Seph. A father, a brother, a friend – “
“A lover?” I asked, before I could stop myself. My cheeks flushed red. “Sorry.”
Sy paused. He studied me — not my body, not my power, butme.
“Perhaps,” he said slowly. “But that is not a role taken lightly.”
He inclined his head, voice steady.
“I am your sentinel, little one.”
I looked up at him. He was watching me closely, like he was trying to understand me.
I turned to him, the true reason I came out here today. He turned towards me, waiting.
