1

She took one half step closer, one half step more into the pool of light that threw her into high relief. Black hair dripped from her crown like so much spilt ink, dribbling into the collar of her coat. Shorter pieces framed her face, accenting the shadows that the light gathered at her eyes. Her head tilted ever so slightly to one side, putting me in mind of my dog when she wanted to be pet, revealing a sliver of colorful scarf hiding under her chin.
Most of her figure was hidden by her coat, aided by the arms that she clutched so tightly around her. But, she was almost certainly thin and petite, if the short legs that extended from the bottom of her skirt’s hem—seeming almost too slight to support her—were any indication. She ended with tiny feet, in delicate shoes.

“I’m Samantha,” she introduced in a trilling voice, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She clacked her knees together, presumably to keep off the chill, though it may have been from nervousness. Although perhaps the nerves were all mine; I was, after all, the one who’d called out to a complete stranger, and couldn’t scoff and turn away. Her skirt fluttered slightly in the breeze, and she shivered ever so slightly.
“Emerson,” I muttered back in turn, sounding impossible gruff in comparison. She bobbed her head once, in acknowledgment, and her small mouth turned up at the corners.
She moved forward once more, revealing for the first time her wide, dark eyes. “Enchanted.”