Can you keep a secret?

Peals of laughter rang in the air as Málmr lifted the little girl, happily returning the man’s kisses tenfold. She recognized his mother tongue now, the flavor of it, the special names he had given her and her mother. Lucie collected names all her loved ones had given her – moondrop, auðœfi, little light. Names that were a part of her now, names that sounded like home.

“Oh, Mom is gone today, I’m sorry…” she said, as her feet met the ground, gaze drifting from her friend. She couldn’t help but be sad - Málmr barely ever visited anymore, and her mother wasn’t even there to greet him. He probably needed something, what if he couldn’t make the trip again soon? “-She’s on a business trip. New project I don’t know much about.” She added, almost as a rectification – as an apology. “But I’ll try to help you the best I can!” she gazes up at him, faking a stainless smile.
Many words were begging to get past her lips – tightly trapped behind her teeth, coiling inside of her in a gnawing feeling. She wondered about his mask – and wondered if she should tell him all the strange things she had seen recently. She trusted him, and she knew he would listen. But she knew mentioning this was the first step on a very rocky road, one she could never return from.

“I’ve missed you, have you got any new stories to tell?” Her little hand slid inside the man’s, quietly leading him towards a wooden bench under the farm’s porch. She gathered the folds of her skirt as she sat, tapping lightly next to her, inviting him to join her.