ic May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

[Electra]

December 5, 2014

2:00 pm

Village of Mayberry, Sanctuary

 

 

There was a light dusting of snow on the ground of Sanctuary as the visitors popped out of the hickory tree-shaped dimensional portal their host had conjured up for them, but the weather this afternoon was clear and cold. The place where they'd arrived looked like the edge of a large garden, with rows of berry bushes still fruiting nearby, and nut trees clearly ready for harvest all around them.

 

 Stesha was waiting for them as they stepped out, her cheeks pink despite the puffy brown fleece jacket with matching knit hat and mittens she was wearing. It looked a little like a cold weather version of her costume, if one squinted just right. "Hi guys!" she greeted them cheerfully. "It's so good to see you, feels like it's been forever! Ammy, come say hello!" 

 

There was a rustling behind a nearby tree, whose branches parted to allow Amaryllis to come rushing through them without so much as slowing down. She was bundled up like her mother, except all in pinks and purples, and her hat was askew on her green curls. "Hi!" she chirped, finally slowing down just before she plowed into Erik. "Merry Christmas!"

[Gizmo]

"Hey, thanks for having us, Sprouts," Erik greeted with a wave and a smile, reflexively softening his normally well planted stance as the energetic girl nearly collided with his kneecap. "Woah, say! You traded in Ammy for a bigger model?" he asked with exaggerated surprise as he dropped into a crouch, his plain brown jacket shifting as he moved to reveal its wool lining. "That's cool, I guess. Ammy always ate all the applesauce before I could get any. This one looks like she takes up a lot more space, though!"

He glanced over his shoulder toward his wife and daughter with a grin and as much as he was waiting for the reaction to his natural disposition towards 'dad humour' his secondary reason for searching Min's face was transparent. Winter was always a challenging time of year for the dryad and the hope had been that Sanctuary's abundant life would be a welcome relief.

[April]

To Erik's eyes it looked as though Min left a heavy burden on the other side of the portal and for the first time since winter set in he saw her smile in that radiant way he was intimately familiar with. Min regarded Erik with her warm amber eyes, once again silently counting her blessing at having met him that one rainy evening.

"Indeed, thank you for having us Stesha," Min said, greeting her friend. "I.. needed to be here. We all did. Winter is difficult for me and for those around me." She glanced at Erik for a moment, the look in her eyes one of apology, but he knew her well enough to know that her mood was tied so heavily to Earth's seasons.

As she spoke Min set Eden down, the two and a half year old immediately beelining to Amaryllis.

[Electra]

"No, I'm Ammy!" Amaryllis insisted to Erik, delighted to have fooled him. "I'm big now! I can eat even more applesauce!" She grinned at Erik, then noticed Min setting Eden on the ground. Releasing a squeal of joy that hit a frequency audible only to dogs and bees, she abandoned the grown-ups in favor of a new playmate. "Edenedeneden! Mama told me you were coming to play! You hafta see my Christmas tree!" Grabbing the toddler by the hand, she headed off around the edge of the garden and towards the village. 

 

"They'll be fine," Stesha assured the others with an indulgent grin. "I can feel them anywhere on Sanctuary, and there's not much trouble to get into between here and the tree. But I'm so glad you could come. You know you're always welcome here." She threw her arms around Erik in a hug, then moved in and hugged Min as well, after a moment's pause to be sure that the sometimes-diffident woman was all right with it. "I've even put another guest room on my cottage. It's kind of not a cottage at all anymore." 

 

Pulling away, she glanced down at Min's abdomen and raised an amused, inquiring eyebrow. 

[Gizmo]

"'Course, I'm difficult all year long so I'm still the big winner on that one," Erik noted airily as he rose from his crouch to return the shorter woman's hug before moving to place an arm around his wife's waist as they walked. He'd come to terms with the knowledge that he was probably never going to be able to convince Min to stop apologizing for the way her moods were affected by the changing of the seasons but he equally doubted that he'd ever stop trying. Seeing her able to take a metaphorical breath of relief as they stepped between worlds did his heart good.

"Ammy really is getting big," he remarked, craning his neck in the direction in which the girls had run off. He didn't consider himself an overprotective father but any time the topic came up there seemed to be a lot of snorts and chuckles from those who knew him. "If you've got any clothes she's outgrown you need to get rid of, hint hint..." He stuck his tongue out slightly between his teeth and waggled his eyebrows.

[April]

Min chuckled briefly and turned to give her husband a quick kiss before resting her head against Erik's shoulder. She had caught Stesha's look and smiled at the woman who had become her best friend, confidante, surrogate sister (and aunt for Eden) and officially unofficial extended member of the Espadas family.

The dryad's amber eyes sparkled and she rested a hand on her abdomen, nodded once at Stesha and confirming the woman's suspicions.

"We talked it out this time," she said in slightly amused tone of voice, referring back to her missteps from her first pregnancy. "I'm not entirely sure who brought it up first, but we were both thinking it and it felt right."

[Electra]

Stesha's delighted squeal sounded a lot like her daughter's as she clapped her hands and raced forward to hug both her friends at once. "Congratulations!" she bubbled. "I'm so happy for you both! That's such great news! You have to tell me all about it, in the village where there's a warm place to sit and talk."

 

She released the hug only to beckon them along in the same direction the girls had gone. "So when are you due? Do you know what you're having yet? Oh, have you told Eden? She'll be a great big sister. It must be such a pain for you to be pregnant in the wintertime, ugh! But you'll have the baby in the warm months, and that'll be so much nicer!" 

[Gizmo]

Erik laughed at the jubilant reaction, clapping Stesha on the back with his free hand as she overcame her relatively diminutive reach to wrap them both in a hug. "See, this is why we need to get together more often, Sprouts," he told her with a broad grin, still chuckling. "When we told mi hermanita she said, and I quote, 'What, like, again?' Not joking!" He squeezed Min a little bit with the arm around her waist as they followed their hostess. Observant and empathic as always, Stesha had been exactly right about the combination of pregnancy and winter being trying but it didn't seem worth dwelling on just then. "I think we're looking at second half of March?" he added, looking to his wife for confirmation.

[April]

Min nodded.

"Granted this is only my second, and I don't recall hearing about one of my sisters mating, but if Eden is any indicator then yes, toward the later half of the month of March." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "Around the equinox unless I miss my guess."

Min snuggled up against her husband as they walked.

"It's another girl," she said after a moment, answering Stesha's other question, her copper-toned skin darkening at the cheeks. "It's how I was, um, built," Min explained. "We could have a son but owing to my unique biology it'd take a lot of work." Her blushing cheeks dimpled slightly and she added, a lot quieter, "So maybe next time."

[Electra]

"Well, you already know you make very sweet little girls, so that's not too much of a liability," Stesha pointed out encouragingly. "And you know Ellie's going to be falling all over herself to help once the baby is actually here. So many built-in babysitters, you'll probably be lucky to hold her before she's a month old." For a moment there was wistfulness in Stesha's face and voice, but it vanished as they rounded the edge of the garden and entered the village proper.

 

Mayberry was the oldest and smallest of Sanctuary's settlements, closest to Stesha's home and populated by the refugees native to this Earth. The buildings were a hodgepodge of native materials and prefab delivered from Prime, log cabins and doublewide trailers existing comfortably side-by-side under a light blanket of snow. The central square had a new twenty-foot evergreen tree growing in it, lavishly decorated with lights and ornaments, and a gilttery giant bee gracing the top. Ammy and Eden had already found some of Ammy's friends from the creche, and she was busy making introductions at the foot of the tree. Grass was coming up in a ring where the two girls were standing, and little dandelions were beginning to open despite the cold. 

 

"Oh look," Stesha said indulgently. "They're so talented." 

[Gizmo]

Erik coughed lightly and studiously declined to comment of his wife's allusion to a 'next time' one way or another and instead took in Mayberry with the vaguely semi-competent eye of someone who'd accrued a variety of handyman skills through trial and error. "Well sure, though I dunno how siblings stack up against being god-queen empress of a whole planet, Sprouts. Ammy's pretty literally a cartoon princess."

The swordsman took a break from admiring the massive Christmas tree to exchange a look with Min and glance over at Stesha's expression before clearing his throat a little more obviously than before. "So, ah... Any word from Twinkle Twinkle, lately?" Keeping his tone light and casual, Erik wasn't entirely sure if it was something the Leaguer had any desire to talk about but the Espadases had shared their concerns with each other privately over the apparently long, long absence of Amaryllis' father and he knew he'd be kicking himself for the rest of the visit if he didn't at least ask.

[Electra]

Stesha pursed her lips and looked down for a moment, her face tightening as the plants in the garden behind them rustled in an imaginary wind. She glanced back at them and they stilled, the brief gesture allowing her time to compose herself. "Nothing lately," she admitted, keeping her eyes on the little girls and their friends. "Last we heard there was some big kerfuffle near Rigel, or maybe it was Regulus. I can't keep them straight." She chuckled, but it was a weak effort. "Lots of danger, lots of people who need saving. It's a big galaxy, and it seems like there's always something. It must be easy to lose track of time, so far away from Earth. To lose track of a lot of things." 

 

She was quiet for a moment, then seemed to bear down and come up with a genuine smile for her visitors. "I shouldn't be keeping you guys out in the cold like this! You should come on in to the commissary, we got crates of hot cocoa mix in the last shipment from Prime, and it's really popular." She gestured the way to one large metal-sided building with a wave of her mittened hand. 

[Gizmo]

Erik's face clouded over in way he usually reserved for his on-duty hours, the muscles in his tapered jawline visible tightening. Stesha had spend enough time around all three generations of Espadases to make some educated guesses about how the self defense instructor felt about absentee fathers. For a moment it looked like his sharp tongue was going to win out over his better discretion but he bit down on whatever he wanted to say and rolled his shoulders until his expression had softened some of the way back to a convincing smile. He'd certainly grown since the first time they'd met. "Dios, what an ass."

Well, perhaps he hadn't grown that much.

"Sorry, Sprouts, I get that the guy has commitments and you're too nice by half to say anything yourself but we're your friends and that's just... fft." Erik made an annoyed sound through his teeth as he followed their hostess toward the commissary, maintaining enough presence of mind to keep his voice down where anyone else might hear. "Y'know I kicked his evil clone's ass once," he added airily, glossing over the details of that encounter the way tarmac glossed over bare dirt. "Just saying. Could do it again. On the table."

[Electra]

"Thanks for that," Stesha's grin was rueful but at least it was there as she opened the door and let them into the much warmer room. "But if it needs done, I can handle it myself. I'm not the girl I was back then." 

 

Leaning out the door, she called "Ammy! Eden! Come get some cocoa!," then turned back to her friends. "I just... the work he's doing is important, and I know that," she admitted quietly. "But I didn't think it was going to be like this. And I don't know how much longer I can live this way. Amaryllis deserves more. I deserve more. But it makes me feel like a fool, like I should've known better when he disappeared for so long before the wedding." She folded her mittened hands and looked down at them. "And if I do anything at this point, it's like I've failed because I'm not hero enough to wait for him." 

[April]

"Nonsense."

The white haired woman's rebuke was gentle, so was the hand she rested upon Stesha's shoulder.

"Stesha, you are as a sister to me, and I do not like seeing you hurt," Min said. "However, you are a fool if you continue to think this way. Derrick is not the man you thought you married; there is no excuse, no excuse, for his behavior."

Now the dryad appeared like her usual wintry self, outwardly she was calm but there was steel hidden in her lyrical contralto. Willow, in the winter, has no use for useless things and Derrick had evidently landed himself firmly on naughty (or, rather, useless) list. Useless things get culled. "You did not fail Derrick, he failed you."

[Gizmo]

"What she said," Erik agreed, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist and giving a small nod of solidarity. There was something he found distinctly attractive about Min's commanding, no-nonsense attitude come the winter months but to be fair he found the other three seasons to have their own unique charms, too. There was definitely something to be said for variety but he suspected it wasn't the most appropriate time to continue along that train of thought. "Whatever you end up doing, just let us know what you need and we've got your back, yeah?"
 
He gave the girls a grin as they raced over at the prospect of hot chocolate. "Say, you two don't really want any cocoa, right? Because I was planning on just drinking all of it myself 'til there's none left!"

[Electra]

The squeals of displeasure at this possibility were enough to shut down any more conversation, but Stesha gave Min and Erik both a grateful smile as she went to pour cocoa from the large carafe keeping hot in the kitchen. "He was just teasing, sweetheart, there's enough for everyone! You know how Uncle Erik likes to tease you." In short order the girls had lukewarm cocoa mixed with milk and marshmallows, while the adults had mugs of the hot liquid, made from powder but still palatable.

 

"You know, Min," Stesha began, leaning against one counter and idly stirring her cocoa, "you're welcome to come and stay here for longer if you like. You too, Erik, and your family as well, you're always welcome, but I was thinking that it might make things easier for you, or more pleasant, maybe?" She waved a hand to indicate everything surrounding them. "The earth never truly goes dormant here because we need the crops all year long. I don't know, does it feel different to you?"