Boon

”D-dè? Ciamar…?”*

Alexis gasped in shock, staring at her completely unaffected hand.

She struggled to wrap her head around what just happened.
Was this… the same boon that Tar had demonstrated to her that night, back on the steading?

She had to know. Drawing a shaky breath, she slowly, reluctantly reached out towards the campfire.
As she neared the crackling flames, the heat… just wasn’t there. There was only the absence of cold, the chill of the night that she could feel on the rest of her body. Telling her that, no, it wasn’t like she couldn’t feel at all. Just not the heat.

Alexis gritted her teeth and had her hand close the distance, holding it right into the flames, despite her instincts screaming at her to pull it back, and her whole body tensing in expectation of searing pain.
…
Nothing.

No pain. No blackening skin. No smell of burned flesh.

She slowly withdrew her hand and stared at it. It wasn’t even red. Completely unharmed, perfectly capable to feel the cool nightly breeze. And shaking quite noticeably.

Alexis cradled it with her other hand and pressed it to her chest, over her thumping heart.

~Breath. Slowly. In. And out.~

She needed to calm down and closed her eyes to focus on her breathing. Somehow, she had never considered that she could be affected the same way Tar had been. A boon was supposed to reward the faithful, was it not? Not a term she would describe herself with. Then again, Tar had also called himself cursed…

*“W-what? How…?“