((roger that, incoming text wall of adjectives and feels))
Forest of Nightmares
This was... No... It couldn't... Helzebeth trembled. It couldn't be.
But it unmistakably was. The man sat in her father's favorite seat by the fireplace. Although everything else so far was a blur, this figure she saw before her was painfully undeniable, the details clear as day: the husky build till down to the long legs that gave him his height; ruffled, rowdy grey-brown hair that had white, silvery strands in a few places, the hair covering his wrinkled forehead without the restrain of the bandanna he typically used while hunting or gathering herbs; a full beard that had been shaved, but was already growing back, complimented by exactly two cuts both on his left jaw; lines of brought by much stress and toil on his face, especially under his eyes, which were a smokey grey-blue; he wore a torn once-longsleeved white shirt underneath a fading brown vest with scratches and patches along with trousers; but most important of all was the tenderness she felt coming from him, despite how weary he looked all the time.
It was the warm, fatherly love she missed dearly-- no, she missed everything. Morning hikes to the waterfall for breakfast consisting of any meat, usually rabbits or hares with herb or fruit, after which would follow a refreshing dip in the river. Hearing daring tales of adventures past or stories about her mother told to her in vivid detail. Practicing, even sparring in the afternoons, after a trip around the forests and mountains.
Maybe most of all, good night kisses and hugs, at the end of a long night's worth of learning to read the sky, or stargazing, or just before the sun was about to rise when they would come home from a long trek.
"Ad... ther?" She choked on the endearment she made up a lifetime ago when she combined what she knew of Elvish with Common to make a unique way of calling her father. Only he knew it and he would always smile, looking younger, even happy, and call her his "little Kestrel", or "dearest Helze". It was always one of the two. Almost fearfully, she waited for his answer.