{"id":1292,"date":"2024-10-24T19:31:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T19:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2024-10-24T19:32:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T19:32:16","slug":"gragnar-by-kevin-sellon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/2024\/10\/24\/gragnar-by-kevin-sellon\/","title":{"rendered":"Gragnar by Kevin Sellon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Gragnar, the raging orc, sat awkwardly hunched over a sheet of rough parchment, his thick fingers<br>gripping the quill with surprising care. His heart, usually fueled by the fury of battle, now pounded with a<br>different kind of tension\u2014one he wasn\u2019t used to. He was writing a love letter, but not to any noble<br>healer or human. No, this was far more delicate. His affection was aimed at Zylia, the most enchanting<br>dragonfly he had ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Zylia wasn\u2019t like any other insect in the meadow by the river where Gragnar sometimes wandered to<br>escape the clamor of his life. She was mesmerizing, with shimmering wings that caught the sunlight in a<br>thousand brilliant shades. Her iridescent body glowed in hews of blue and green that made Gragnar<br>think of the deep forests he fought to protect. And her movements\u2014oh, how graceful she was as she<br>flitted above the water\u2019s surface! How she darted, dipped, and danced through the air left him in envy<br>and awe. But what captured his heart was her resilience, refusal to be caught by any predator, and<br>endless energy, always just out of reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Gragnar scratched his chin, thinking hard about what to write. He had to get this right. Zylia was no<br>ordinary insect\u2014she deserved words that reflected her unique beauty and strength. \u201cI\u2019ve never met a<br>creature so fearless,\u201d he muttered, imagining her delicate wings cutting through the air with precision<br>and purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Careful not to mention anything that might upset her\u2014he knew she feared the birds that lurked near<br>the riverbanks\u2014he focused instead on her courage and grace. \u201cShall I compare thee to a fleeting<br>breeze?\u201d he wondered aloud, trying to summon the poetry of his heart. \u201cNo, no,\u201d he grumbled, \u201cyou are<br>more\u2026 a force of nature, untouchable and wild.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Gragnar wanted to include something personal that would make Zylia understand that she had done the<br>impossible\u2014captured the heart, once made of stone, of an orc who had once been indifferent to the<br>buzzing world of insects. His mind wandered to the fireflies that blinked across the meadow at dusk.<br>\u201cOnce, I thought them bothersome,\u201d he scribbled, \u201cbut now they remind me of your glowing wings, of<br>how you bring light to my once glorious nights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Satisfied yet nervous, he looked down at his letter. It was short, simple, and, he hoped, enough to<br>express his feelings to Zylia. Feelings that were so alien to him. He admired her strength, beauty, and<br>free spirit, all things he couldn\u2019t resist. He only hoped that she might feel even the tiniest flicker of the<br>same affection when she received his message.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gragnar, the raging orc, sat awkwardly hunched over a sheet of rough parchment, his thick fingersgripping the quill with surprising care. His heart, usually fueled by the fury of battle, now pounded with adifferent kind of tension\u2014one he wasn\u2019t used to. He was writing a love letter, but not to any noblehealer or human. No, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1294,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions\/1294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/writingcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}