Happy (early) Father's Day

[elisha2kings.livejournal.com]

Title: Calligraphy

Character(s): Kuina

Genre: Fic

Rating: G
Prompt: Ink

Word count: 139

Summary: Early father’s day present

 

 

Calligraphy

 

She remembered the first time he handed her the brush and, calloused hand gently wrapped around her smaller, trembling fingers, guided the clenched fist through the ritual.

 

Every swordsman knows true strength lies in skill.

 

Swirl it briefly in the dark pool of ink.

 

When a swordsman writes, he demonstrates this.

 

Brush it against the dark stone to wipe off excess.

 

Every mark distinguishes his style. The lightest flourish, his spirit.

 

The blank sheet of paper, intimidating only in its expectant potential.

 

Her tongue poked between her teeth as she concentrated.  The brush was her sword; the paper, her challenger.

 

Kuina waited nervously as her father studied the character.  No superfluous flourishes, the lines were steady and bold, the character stark yet intricate.

 

What caused him to raise his brows was the character in its entirety:

 

愛 ai: love.

So I'm taking Chinese... It's one of the trickiest languages I've ever taken but calligraphy is frankly so darn rewarding!  Anyways, I'm not sure I'll be able to do anything next week, but here's an early Father's Day fic just in case!