- Open up, Tristegnon, the choo-choo is coming... - Evangelyne cooed to her youngest son, bringing the spoon filled with mushy cawwots closer and closer to his mouth. She smiled, staring into his surprised face, hoping that this time...
SPLAT!
In a blink of an eye, Tristegnon smacked the spoon from his mother's hand, which smashed in the same spot on the wall as five previous ones, deepening the orange splash against the dark wood. His cries broke the seeming tranquillity in Percedal household kitchen, forcing Evangelyne to slump onto her chair, defeated once more.
- What do I do with you? - she groaned - You're crying because you're hungry, and then you won't even take a single bite, so you cry more!
- Mom, let me do it.
Up until now, Elely, chopping cawwots at the other side of the table, patiently watched her mother's attempts at handling another Iop baby. She stood up, walked around the table, quite unceremoniously yanked the bowl from her hands and half-sat on the table to meet her brother eye-to-eye.
- That's how you should do it. - she instructed, taking the spoon - Hey there, Tristegnon! Look at that, it's a huge beam of cawwot energy that will kill all of your loved ones, and you're the only one who can save them by taking it! There goes a destructive beam of energy, there goes a destr...
CHOMP!
The small Iop eagerly clamped his mouth over the spoon, slurping the pulp, licking his lips afterwards.
- There, that should do it. - she jumped from the table, ignoring her mother's dumbfounded face.
- Honestly, you and your brother sometimes give me nightmares! - she fumed, though slightly content that her littlest won't be hungry anymore - My sister warned me about having a Iop as a husband, and I can see why. I sometimes wish I didn't...
Suddenly, the steady, monotonous sound of knife hitting the cutting board stopped, and the two met their eyes.
- Mom...? - Elely's voice quivered - What... What did you want to say?
At once, Evangelyne understood her mistake, and ran to her daughter, almost terrified that she might run away as she approached her. The avalanche of guilt swept over her as she hugged her, feeling tiny droplets of tears on her shoulder.
- Mommy, you-you still love us, right? And D-daddy, right?
- Oh course I do, honey, of course I do. - Evangelyne whispered through her own tears, hugging Elely tighter
She let her go, hoping to find a smile on Elely's face, and to her relief, she received much more, when her daughter placed a kiss, though not exactly non-teary one, on her cheek.
- I'm sorry, honey. - she wiped her eyes. - It's just... Sometimes love is difficult, that's it. And your brother, well, he's not exactly helping it.
- How come? - Elely looked at her, curious - Love isn't hard at all.
Evangelyne smiled and ruffled Elely's hair.
- Well, maybe to you, but once you grow up, you will learn it's a bit nuanced. That means "difficult".
- No it's not! Love is easy. - she snorted, counting - You two spend equal time kissing, arguing...
- That is one way of looking at it... - Evangelyne chuckled.
- ...and doing the naked wrestling thingy.
Not just the utensils, but Elely herself rose into the air when Evangelyne smashed her hand on the table.
- Elely! Have you been spying on me and your father when I specifically told you not to?
- What's the big deal? - she asked back, gathering the scattered cawwots - If you like to play that way, it's your choice, you don't have to shout at us.
- That's not the way to talk to your mother, young lady. - Evangelyne hissed - If your father were here...
She looked towards the window, but through the steamed glass not much could be seen, and even without the obstruction, the snow outside wouldn't let Evangelyne locate her husband and her other son. She was about to say that once he gets back he will give them "the talk", but once she thought about it, she came to the conclusion that their father is not the ideal teacher for more delicate issues.
Trying to avoid any more arguing with her daughter, she slumped back onto her chair, and continued feeding Tristegnon.
- Grown-ups make all things complicated! - Elely grumbled under her breath, flowing her Iopish pent-up anger into her hand, utterly pulverising the cawwots in the process - Not just you and dad, even uncle Yugo and auntie Amalia act all stupid sometimes!
- Elely, you mustn't call them that!
- But they are! - Elely roared - They obviously love each other, but they act as if they didn't know about it!
- I had the impression that you thought that kissing was gross and "icky".
- Well, it kinda is... - Elely admitted - But it's makes me more angry to watch these two dumb-dumbs not doing it, even though they should!
Looking back at her daughter, Evangelyne's lips curled into a smirk.
- Well, as I said, love can sometime be tricky...
- But in this case it's not! It's easy as chopping those cawwots! He loves her, she loves him, what's more to that? - she groaned, pointing to two bits of cawwots, one large and one small, using them as dolls - But oh, no, they have to pretend, and always use big words to talk to each other, as if they couldn't just explain this to themselves. You'd think that after they kissed it would be easy-peasy, but it got even more covno... conovo...difficult.
- Again, Elely, I told yo-THEY DID WHAT?
One more time the bowl of freshly chopped cawwots rose and fell onto the table, this time properly scaring Elely, lost in her own thoughts.
- Uh, what's that, mommy?
- Did... did you say that Amalia...
- Uh-uh. - Elely nodded.
- And Yugo? - she inquired more, still utterly bewildered by her daughter's revelations.
- Mhm.
- Back in the Oropo's tower? - she added after a while, once she thought about it.
Elely nodded again.
- That little... - Evangelyne grumbled under her breath - You'd think she would tell her best friend...
Elely giggled under her breath.
- Maybe uncle Yugo wasn't good at it? Auntie Amalia didn't look very pleased afterwards... - Elely pondered.
- And I assume you found out about it in the usual way? - Evangelyne smirked, raising her brow.
- Yup. They didn't even see me, they thought I was in the glowing elevator thingy. Mom, I have an idea! - she suddenly rose to her feet - Why don't we invite them over and put them under a mistletoe? Then they will have to make up with each other and kiss!
- Well, that is a plan. - Evangelyne sighed, taking fed Tristegnon into her arms to make him burp - I've been meaning to do that anyway, after we've rebuilt the house...
She looked around the kitchen walls, patched with wooden planks that just a year ago were half-destroyed by Oropo's Pandawa henchman.
- We have spare bedroom! We can invite them for Kwismas! - Elely shouted, waving her hands eagerly.
- Well, maybe not Kwismas, I think they would like to spend that time with their families... And so will we... But New Year sounds more doable, doesn't it?
Elely cheered, but at the same time the rush of cold air invaded the warm interior, when Tristepin and Flopin opened the door, dragging something huge behind them.
- Look honey what our son caught!
Tristepin, or rather Rubilax, lifted the bag into the air and emptied its contents onto the floor, which turned out to be a carcass of an enormous boar, shot, seemingly with just one arrow sticking through his head.
- Oh, brilliant, more meat to prepare, as if the pantry wasn't full already. - Evangelyne sighed and rolled her eyes - If you want more jerky, then you will have to skin it and deal with it yourselves. - she pointed to her meat-loving daughter and husband.
- Don't worry, dad, I will show you how. - Flopin nudged his father's healthy arm.
- What were you two laughing about when we came back? Auch!
- We've been talking about inviting Amalia and Yugo for the New Year's... - Evangelyne explained calmly, smacking Tristepin's hand with a ladle when he tried to taste the steaming soup from the cauldron. - Although Elely was a bit more... conniving about their stay.
- Awesome! - Tristepin cheered, though his face frowned almost instantly - But what do you mean about that, uh, that other word?
Evangelyne and Elely giggled, bringing more consternation to the men listening to the conversation.
- I will explain that later, honey. - she kissed him on the cheek - For now, why don't you make the table while I put Tristegnon to bed, hm?
Throughout Kwismas, the plan of inviting Yugo and Amalia, discussed primarily between Elely, Evangelyne and Flopin matured well enough to be put into action, and just two days after the kids sent their invitations, they got two affirmative replies.
One unexpected side effect of Elely's plan was how much more time the three spent with each other, trying to come with interesting ways of bringing their guests closer, though Evangelyne had to intervene whenever her twins' imagination went too far. Much to Elely's disappointment, her seemingly amazing idea of putting both Amalia and Yugo into one bedroom, was thwarted before Elely could even finish saying it. She grumbled about 'grown-ups' and 'spoilsport' for a good while afterwards. It was settled that Yugo will sleep in the twins' room for one night.
But a few better ideas were proposed: the amount of mistletoe doubled in the house, especially above the doorways and any vertical places one could sit on, to maximise the chances of the two finding themselves underneath it. Evangelyne would not dare to disappoint her children that the supposed rule is nothing more than just a tradition, seeing how eagerly the two decorated the house.
Whenever the three of them were not playing match-makers, under Evangelyne's supervision, she and Flopin prepared special arrows equipped with small sacks of exploding powder to be fired at the midnight, once the new year arrives.
A day before the New Year's Eve, the preparations to welcome the two guests seemed finished and that nothing could spoil it.
But the dawn of the new day rectified that, since from the moment Yugo's and Amalia's eyes met each other, as they stepped from the two Zaap portals over the hills, the two couldn't look more outraged at the other one's presence, though whenever Evangelyne turned her head to Yugo, she could see a longing frown as he marched behind the princess.
- Did you guys write that they won't be arriving alone? - Evangelyne whispered conspiratorially to Elely and Flopin, once their guests stepped into the house.
- Of course not, mommy! - Elely eagerly answered - That was the whole point, otherwise they couldn't come.
Evangelyne sighed. If she had any hopes that the two would somehow make themselves comfortable in each other's presence, then the dinner time shattered it. Sure, Amalia was more than happy to talk with Eva, and Yugo was delighted to meet his best buddy and his wild children, but whenever the two met each other's eyes, it felt as if a cold wind swept through the room they were currently in.
The twins made sure to offer Yugo and Amalia matching seats across the long table, but to their disappointment, instead they chose the ones as far away from each other as possible, and only because the others chose their chairs quickly, Yugo and Amalia had to endure looking into each other's eyes throughout the feast. The monumental roasted boar made it a bit easier for Yugo to avoid Amalia's stare, but with Tristepin and Elely's hunger, the meat very quickly turned into bones, slowly revealing the disgusted face of Amalia, taking another portion of salad.
Not a word was spoken, and for once, Evangelyne thought it was for the better. Judging from Amalia's grimace, even the tiniest spark could set the emotional princess on fire, and she silently prayed that none such occasion would occur.
- So, what the two of you've been up to? I thought you guys would be so happy together, but you are dead silent, like there's something wrong! - Tristepin blurted out, swallowing a large chunk of meat - Eva, why are scratching your neck so funny?
Amalia turned her head to spot Evangelyne moving her hand across her neck, failing spectacularly to cut her husband off. She faked a smile, and nearly stuck her face underneath the table, when Amalia gripped its edge, darted her head upwards and spoke, calmly at first.
- For your information, Tristepin, I didn't know that your friend would be here, and judging from his twisted face neither was he - she sneered, watching as Yugo's visage twisted into the very same scowl Amalia just talked about. - And if you could have made a worse faux-pas to invite a man that has broken, nay, shattered my heart, then...
- And what about mine?
Yugo stood up, grasping the corners of his side of the table, mirroring Amalia's behaviour.
- You don't think how horrible I felt when I had to leave you?
- You didn't have to leave anyone, you spoiled egocentric immortal king, you! - Amalia leaned over the table, as if she wished she could get closer to shout at her sudden adversary.
- Says you, who can live equally long life - Yugo roared back - Or maybe you don't, I-I don't even know how our relationship would look like, ever thought about that?
- Well, if you think that we shouldn't be together, then we shouldn't be sitting at the same table.
- You know, I think for once you are right.
With his arms spread, Yugo suddenly moved them, forming a circle mid-air, and a flash of blue portal light hid him from the rest for a moment. Once the light disappeared, however, the part of the table with his seat was pushed as far back into the room as possible, and only the faint glimmer of light around its edge told the others that the furniture wasn't broken, but magically moved. In turn, Amalia fumed, grasped her end of the wooden table, who to Percedal's family surprise, rumbled, glowed green, and the wood grew under her magic, extending it and pushing her in the opposite direction, all the way through the long corridor.
Evangelyne, Tristepin and their kids turned their heads back and forth, trying to see if they can even spot their guests from their position, though to an onlooker it might have looked like they were watching an invisible game of ping-pong on a very uneven surface.
Just when Evangelyne thought the space between the two was an issue, Amalia and Yugo stood from their chairs, snorted, and walked in the opposite direction, joining at the stairs, towards their rooms upstairs, without even a word spoken. Two loud slams indicated that the two shut themselves off in their corresponding rooms.
Without their magic, both ends of the table broke, sending most of the plates to the ground in cacophony of shattered china, with only a few full plates surviving, thanks to the agility (and hunger) of Tristepin, Elely and Flopin.
Evangelyne let out a long, wailing sigh, that soon turned into a cry. Understanding her intentions at once, and foreseeing another storm coming from a mile away, the kids and their father rushed to the kitchen for brooms, cloths, and buckets of water.
Cleaning the living room took the three a better part of the evening, and while Tristepin visited the kitchen every once in a while to see how Evangelyne was holding up, after the nerve-wrecking argument, Elely and Flopin formed a new plan. It certainly helped that the twins understood each other's intentions almost wordlessly, and once they were done with gathering bits of broken wood, they grabbed the two plates of cake from the kitchen, under their parent's absence, and rushed upstairs, until they met the doors to the guest room and their own, turned into a temporary second one.
Elely pointed Flopin to the one on the right, while she gently knocked on the one on the left.
- WHAT DO YOU WANT?
The floor rumbled under Amalia's roar, though that didn't scare Elely in the slightest. She turned the knob and peered through the door, hoping that if Amalia decides to attack her, she will at least be able to save the cheesecake.
- Auntie Amalia? - Elely asked, putting quite an effort to pull off a sing-song voice - I brought you dessert, I thought you might want it...
But instead of rampaging, angry, heart-broken princess, Elely found Amalia curled onto the guest bed, sitting in the unlit room, staring at the snow, falling outside the window. Unless Elely was very much mistaken, the same orange light from the lamp outside reflected in the tears in her eyes.
- Oh... - Amalia said softly, taking the plate from her - Thank you.
She absent-mindedly put it on the table next to the bed. As if approaching a sleeping sabre-tooth tiger, Elely crept to the chair, and sat on it, clearing her throat. She found herself in quite unsettling situation, as her usual temperamental approach to solving problems simply wouldn't work, but fortunately help came from the very person she was going to persuade.
- I'm sorry, Elely, that I lost my control over the dinner. I should be there, helping you clean the room.
- It's okay, we did it already. - Elely waved her legs mid-air - So... you and uncle Yugo... You're not exactly... uh...
- It's complicated, I think is the safest to say - Amalia sighed longingly - It is plainly obvious he was in love with me for years now... But then again, he... As an Eliatrope... Well, he might have different plans for the rest of his life. And as you can see, it is difficult for me to... reciprocate the feeling.
She took the plate, and ate a rather large bit of the cake. Elely had the impression that the empty calories might be just what the needy princess wanted right now.
- Okay, so here's the thing, auntie... - Elely cleared her throat again. - And don't get mad about it... But you're dense as a brick.
- What did you say?!
- And that comes from a Iophead, so listen, now. - Elely jumped from her chair to the bed, almost pinning Amalia to the wall behind her - Uncle Yugo is crazy in love with you, and so are you about him. And I don't care about any silly grown-up rules, or manners...
- That is obvious!
- ...but I know that you two should have been married like mom and dad for years now. Both of you said some horrible stuff about each other, and you should apologise. A kid tells you that. And I'm sure Yugo wants to apologise to you as well.
Amalia blinked a few times, staring at the surprisingly authoritative-looking figure of the little Iopess, and swallowed loudly.
- Well, perhaps you are right.
To Elely's surprise, Amalia stood up, walked to the door, and froze in place as she opened it. Elely didn't have to peek in order to know what happened in Yugo's room, but from the look on Yugo's face, her brother succeeded into making him apologise as well. The twins gave each other a nod, and scooted from the rooms towards the stairs, though neither Yugo nor Amalia, linked by a sorrowful, silent stare, wouldn't have noticed either of them walking past them anyway.
Neither of them shouted or argued, the two simply walked slowly towards each other. The twins moved another step back, peeking, while they leaned on the stairs, seeing only half of a scene that was taking place before their eyes, though in the silence that fell, they could hear every word.
- Ami... Amalia...
- Yugo...
Elely rolled her eyes, watching the two slowly stepping closer to each other, saying only the other one's name. Flopin nudged his sister, pointing to the mistletoe hanging just above these two. Suppressing her happiness, Elely nodded back to her brother, hoping that the long, mopy act they had to endure might actually end exactly like they planned, and the two eagerly watched Yugo and Amalia staring at each other in a silent trance.
But once the initial moment of enchantment was gone, the two knew something was wrong.
- Well? - Amalia asked suddenly, crossing her arms.
- Well what? - Yugo asked back, raising his brow.
- The apology, Yugo. You were going to apologise for your outrageous behaviour!
- Me!? - he stumbled - I thought you were going to do that!
- You are out of your mind!
Elely and Flopin sighed. Yugo and Amalia's voices dissolved into a quarrelling mess, as the two tried to outshout each other. Defeated and despondent, the twins walked down to the room without exchanging ever so much a word, until Flopin stopped on the landing.
- Look at the clock, it's nearly midnight!
- The fireworks!
Two two took one last look at the still arguing couple, shrugged, and ran downstairs. As they suspected, their mom was already on the porch, holding what looked like a small sack of fur in her arms, though they knew it was their brother, coated in several layers of warm clothes.
- There you are, Flopin. I've been wondering what took you so long. Wait, where is Amalia? And Yugo?
Evangelyne looked inside the house, as if expecting to see the two, though from the frowns on her children's faces, she already knew what was the reason of her friends' absence. She kneeled, and still holding her newest member of family, patted the twins heads, sliding woolen hats on them.
- I'm sorry, kids, that your plan didn't work in the end. I wish Yugo and Amalia could find a common ground more than anyone else, believe me.
- I think we made everything worse... I think. - Flopin mumbled, snorting.
- Don't say that - Eva cheered him - You did everything you could to bring these two together. But sometimes... - she sighed - Now, who wants to see some fireworks? - she stood up, happy to see at least a slightly faint smiles forming on their faces - I know who definitely wants to see them for the first time, don't I?
Tristegnon laughed at her mother's smile, wiggling his arms, though with the amount of protective clothing, the range of his arms was minimal. His father burst through the door, holding the long explosive arrows, a task Evangelyne wasn't sure he was up to, at least initially.
It was barely snowing anymore, and the night sky, glowing with Winter stars, seemed like a perfect canvas waiting for a bit of colour. Eva and Flopin took their bows, waited a couple of minutes, and when the first bells of a distant Xelor church rang, they shot the flaming arrows high in the sky, which exploded with a loud "bang", illuminating the snowy fields with orange that slowly turned into crimson red. From his father's arms, little Tristegnon marvelled at the miracles unfurling in front of his eyes, babbling ecstatically every time a new colour appeared seemingly out of nowhere: yellow, red, green, blue...
Just like the bells announced the beginning of new year's celebration outside, the first sneeze of Flopin sounded like a good time to end them, after already impressive tenth round of firework arrows. Elely called Flopin a "runny nose", and rushed to the door, knowing well he still had one explosive arrow in his quiver, and he won't be afraid to use it. But when she arrived at the door, she froze, turned around and waved eagerly at parents and brother to stop running and creep towards her.
Only when the rest of the Percedal family got closer to the window, they understood Elely's sudden giggling.
Next to the warm, inviting fire, two people sat on the cozy sofa, embraced in a tight, passionate kiss. While Amalia's loose hair blended with the green drubbing, Yugo's yellow Kwismas sweater and blue hat contrasted with it, and provided a clear indication where she begun, and he ended, as with the tangled mess of limbs it wasn't as easy as one might think.
- Well, what do you know... - Evangelyne whispered, trying to suppress equally girly giggle.
- Yeah... - Tristepin added somewhat nervously
- What? Aren't you happy about your best friend?
- I am, but the weather is frightful, and that fire looks so delightful... - he spoke through his chattering teeth.
Another sneeze, this time from her youngest, mortified Evangelyne, lost in mushy thoughts about her friend that has been through so much recently, and without any guilt, she opened the door, causing the couple, entwined in each other's arms to jump in place, when the sudden rush of cold air that made the hair on heir skin stand in an instance.
- So, who wants some cocoa before hitting the bed? - Evangelyne asked, getting a loud simultaneous cheer from the rest of her family.
Almost nonchalantly, she looked at the still flustered princess and her admirer, caught red-handed, and from the looks, red-lipped, and returned the well-earned smile that slowly moved the corners of Amalia's mouth up.
The next morning things seemed much different than a day before. Evangelyne, Flopin, Tristepin and Elely kept exchanging knowing, happy looks, while Yugo and Amalia were too absorbed, staring into each other's faces, sitting across the table at the first breakfast of the new year. Their plates were intact, and the two love-stricken had their faces so close to each-other, that their noses almost touched each other.
Only Evangelyne's less-than-subtle cough brought the two lovebirds back to reality, painting their faces crimson, preventing them from pulling each other into a fierce kiss. Amalia fixed her hair, and looked around, as if she didn't spent last few minutes gaping at her boyfriend.
- I'm going to forgive you, Eva, for the, uhm, scheme you put us through. - Amalia asserted, passing a bowl of salad, trying to evade her eyes - Though I can't say I'm too disappointed with the outcome, of course.
- Oh, then you should be forgiving our kids - Evangelyne smiled, putting her arm around Elely's shoulder, pulling her closer to her - They were right saying that you guys were taking about half a decade too long to realise what's between you two.
Flopin and Elely exchanged a loud high-five across the table.
- And I've got to admit to you, children, perhaps you were right. - Eva said - Sometimes love can be easy.
- It sure is! - Elely shouted - You did all the things to do: you argued a bit...
- ...then you kissed...
- ...and then...
Evangelyne understood her children's intentions a bit too late to stop them, and she nearly lunged herself across the table, eyes-widened to silence them before they could finish, in unison, resulting in her almost falling onto the plate of meats.
- ...and then you did the naked wrestling!
Out of all the other listeners, only Tristegnon, sitting in his high chair couldn't understand the consequences of his siblings' action and only his cooing could be heard in the dead silence that fell in the kitchen, and stayed for quite some time, until Evangelyne and Amalia roared.
- I told you, mom, Elely saw some fireworks on the horizon, she dragged me out, so we can watch them, and the we heard them... Auch!
- Snitch!
- Children, I can't hear the dishes being cleaned.
From her comfy chair, Evangelyne didn't bother to argue with her hyperactive children. She hoped that a few weeks of household chores should teach them a lesson, though perhaps the more informative one on the subject of biology was a proper torture already for their too eager minds.
- You could have told us it's about making babies! - Elely groaned from the sink - It sounds so gross we won't sneak and watch you, it even if you'd ask us...
- You know what, I change my mind, love is difficult as heck. - Flopin lamented, putting another cleaned plate on his side, with vague hope that this might end his bit earlier.
Elely and Flopin weren't the only ones to receive a punishment. Smiling, Evangelyne read Amalia's lengthy letter, describing not just the kiss she didn't mention to her, but also as the events of the New Year's Eve, and the first week of Yugo's stay at her castle. One of two things were obvious: either Amalia developed imagination and a literary talent that could very well swipe other cheap romance novels for lone housewives from the shelves, or Yugo's skills really were as fabulous as she wrote, and their future was looking rather bright.
Somewhere above the kitchen, Tristepin was desperately trying to put Tristegnon to bed, though from the sounds of it, his attempts at making his son sleep turned into another pretend sword-fight. Evangelyne stretched her arms, and got comfortable in the chair. She will need to save the two later, of course, but for now, the brave Cra enjoyed well-earned bit of peace and quiet. Until another quarrel, that is.