Ideas and Rejects

Pre-chapter to SOB- Wishes and Envy

A/N: I'm not sure why I wrote this but felt a little angsty. A short prequel chapter of Kendrick longing for his "good life"

Kendrick was around one hundred fifty years old when he first began asking his father Alec about females. Predominantly if there were any girls of their kind nearby. Alec's answers were always vague to that particular question but he did speak of how he should treat a mate should he ever find one.

"Be confident, but not forceful." His father had said, "A female likes a male who is sure of himself but you're asking for trouble if you try to rule her. Treat her gently, speak gently and truthfully, always treasure her."

Words of that nature.

However, the simple, very prominent fact remained: there weren't any girls of his kind around. There wasn't anyone of his kind around except for his father.

How was he supposed to put any of those words into practice if there wasn't a soul to use them on?

And then one day he got an idea from the old story his father told of the first giant Storvalak. When the father of all giants became lonely for a mate, he called out to the heavens and his bride Heymela descended to be with him and rid him of his loneliness.

What if he made a wish on a falling star? Falling stars granted wishes in all the stories he'd heard. Why couldn't he do as Storvalak did and ask the stars for a mate?

Armed with a simple plan, young Kendrick searched the forest for a clear spot where the sky was clearest. He found one atop a mountain several miles from home. There he would watch the sky for the unmistakable flash of a falling star. Most nights he never saw one. Finally, the night arrived when a star streaked white across the black depths of space and disappeared. Kendrick closed his eyes and put a hand over each of his hearts.

"I wish I had a girl to be my mate." He wished quietly.

For a long while he kept his eyes closed until he thought the wish had been heard sufficiently. Though he truly didn't expect a girl to appear right away he still glanced around for one, scented, then realized he was probably expecting it too quickly.

Perhaps in the morning?

Wish made; Kendrick trekked back home for a restless night of sleep.

...

When morning came Kendrick hurriedly ate his breakfast and rushed out to the mountain field where he'd made the wish. Though it took a few hours he made it there and began scenting the area, expecting to find the mate he'd wished for last night. However, he didn't smell anything besides the usual scents. He wandered all over the mountainside searching.

No one was there.

Disappointment dug its barbs into him harshly.

"Maybe...I didn't do it right? Maybe I didn't say the right thing?" Kendrick pondered as he sat before the sunset.

He waited for the stars to come out again but no shooting stars appeared that night. He'd try again until he got it right.

However, no matter how many times he wished, no matter the phrasing or the hand poses, a mate of his species never appeared.

...

Decades later near the outer edges of the North Woods...

Kendrick was presently two-hundred years old and was living on his own. One day he was hunting on the fringes of his forest into the late afternoon. The hunt was bountiful. He carried a net laden with deer, boars, and even a couple bears he'd caught. The sun began dropping and he was about to make his way back when he noticed a little log cottage in a clearing about one hundred yards from the forest edge. Thin white smoke flowed slowly from the chimney. It was occupied.