So part two!
A Gift for my Crumpet
Te'ijal joined the humans during lunch, contending herself with a bottle of blood that she kept on hand. The young adults chattered about some different holiday traditions, even her usually quiet husband joining in. Although she would never admit it to anyone, she did enjoy seeing Galahad relax and enjoy himself again. It felt like it had been so long since she had seen him smile.
She thought for a moment, trying to remember the last time she had seen his face light up with his smile. Since he talked to that magic elf girl many, many years ago before the Nymphs vanished from Aia, he had smiled when the male elf had said something sweet to the girl as she had blushed, clearly flattered that the boy she appeared to be sweet on would say something kind. That was the last time she remembered seeing him smile.
"Well, I'm not quite finished shopping yet. I'll leave you guys and go finish up." Mel suddenly announced, pushing her now empty plate aside and standing before she strode out of the tavern they had chosen to eat at.
Te'ijal stood as well.
"I believe I shall finish up my own shopping as well."
Then once again she was out walking through the streets as the winter breeze nipped at her face. She found herself more appreciative then normal that she was immune to the cold, for the wind had quite a bit of a bite that it carried.
She wandered aimlessly from booth to booth as she walked through the square, glancing back at the tavern to see Galahad, Edward and Stella finally leave the square. Then the walked across the square to the woodworking shop. As she pushed open the door the scent of fresh wood washed over her and allowed the door to close behind her as she looked around.
"Welcome to my shop!" A jovial voice called to her.
Te'ijal glanced over at the well built man who approached her.
"What can I do for you on this fine day?"
Te'ijal glanced around once more before turning back to the man.
"Yes, do you have carving tools?"
The man laughed and gestured around him.
"I run a woodworking shop ma'am, it'd be in bad form if I didn't sell those."
Te'ijal waved a impatient hand.
"Yes. Now, where are they? I wish to buy some for a gift."
He grinned at her and gestured for her to follow him as he walked deeper into his shop, leaving Te'ijal to follow impatiently after him.
They came to a stop in front of a large wall filled with containers that held various tools where he left her before returning to a table a few feet away. She stared at the tools for several moments, picking up different ones and examining them cluelessly before returning them to their boxes and moving onto the next row. They all looked pretty much the same to her, she saw nothing special or different about it.
Te'ijal hissed out a breath of unusual frustration. She had no idea what to get Galahad in this place. She knew that he loved to work with his hands and that he preferred to do woodworking, and she knew that the couple of tools he did have were old and worn, but she had no idea what she would get to replace them.
"You have a idea of what you want?" The man asked, coming over to her after some time had passed of her going through the tools and yet remaining standing there in front of the rack.
"I don't know. I am not a woodworker, my husband is. I do not know what tools he would want. He only has a couple and they are worn, that is all I know."
The man nodded, glancing through the shelves before turning to her.
"I have a idea of what you may be looking for then. You say he only has a couple of tools?"
Te'ijal nodded in affirmative.
"I see. Well, then this may be a good gift. I sell individual tools, but during the holidays I also sell tool sets that come in a durable leather carrier. I have a relatively inexpensive one that has several different kinds and sizes of chisel and knife, along with something for sharpening. Would you like to see it?"
"Yes."
He vanished into a back room several feet away, the sounds of rummaging heard before he emerged with a leather satchel of sorts in his hands. He undid and opened the top flap and undid ties on each side before laying the entire thing open in front of her. Tucked into secure holders were tools on both sides of the carrier. One of the sides was a large pocket.
"For thinner wood creations or any drawings he might have of projects." The man explained.
Te'ijal nodded in distraction as she examined the tools and the holder they were in.
"I believe that this is exactly what I am looking for. How much is it?"
"Two hundred and eighty."
Te'ijal went still. She could not spend that amount of the groups money on a present. They needed that for food and equipment. But...she did have a emergency fund that she kept on herself, money she had possessed before she had joined the group. It would clean her out...
"That is far to expensive in my opinion. I will not spend that amount of gold."
"You will not find this quality of craftmanship anywhere else! My tools are of the finest quality, you would be paying a good price here compared to some places. You said yourself that you don't understand this trade, so you would not understand how in demand such a high quality of craftsmanship like this is."
Te'ijal shook her head.
"I do not need to understand the quality level. I will not spend that amount of money on a gift. There are other places I can go to buy such sets, this is far too much."
The man held it up closer to her almost as if to tempt her.
"This is the best kind of set you can find anywhere. You will find nothing of this quality anywhere else. I am selling you the best of the best."
Te'ijal smirked.
"Ah, but you just said it was a more inexpensive set. Were you falsely advertising your product to me."
The man blinked before a slight grin came over his face.
"Not at all kind lady, this set is more inexpensive...for this quality of work. Surely you would not expect me to sell this for nothing."
"I would not. However, I know that you are selling it for top price that is unreasonable to expect. I know you can go lower."
"How much lower would you be willing to pay?"
Te'ijal fired off the first number that came to mind, going purposely much lower to allow him to bring the price up, while still going much lower himself.
"Two hundred gold."
"Two hundred?! For this! No, two hundred and seventy five. I'd sooner sell my first born for such a price!"
"Two hundred." Te'ijal repeated, saying nothing else but "accidentally" bumping her money bag in her cloak to allow him to hear the jingle of coin.
He shook his head.
"Two seventy."
"Two five."
"Two sixty."
"Two ten."
He made a slightly exasperated noise.
"Come now, work with me here!"
Te'ijal pretended to ponder.
"Alright, two fifteen."
He groaned.
"Your killing me here. Two fifty."
"Two seventeen."
"Two forty five."
"Two twenty." Te'ijal said blandly.
The man rubbed his head in frustration, clearly aggravated that she was not giving into his price range, though clearly his pride and his desperation to bring home such a prize to his wife and children drove him on.
"Two thirty five."
"Two twenty five."
"Two thirty and that is my final offer." The man said with finality.
Te'ijal smirked. That was exactly where she wanted the price.
"So will you be buying this?"
She pretended to hesitate before nodding.
"Yes."
"Wonderful! I will wrap it now."
Once it was wrapped and payed for Te'ijal tucked it into her cloak and started back towards the inn, her pace slow. She could already picture Galahad's face when he saw her gift.
Perhaps this Aislday would be more enjoyable then she had originally anticipated.
The next day was a whirlwind of chaos around the inn that was utterly empty other then them. The humans and Galahad got up early and went shopping as a group to pick out food for the feast that they had spoke about being a tradition for Aislday before returning to the inn to utilize the kitchen that the innkeeper had given permission for them to use in order to cook for the feast.
Te'ijal chose to wrap her gifts while they were gone, taking twine and a dark blue ribbon that she had bought the day before and wrapping the pen and journal in the parchment paper the journal had been given to her in, then tying it up with the twine to keep it from being opened and looping the ribbon around it into a bow to make it more appealing.
Once she had finished that she pulled out the second gift. The one for Galahad. Te'ijel stared at it for a long while, her hand running absently along the paper that wrapped it. She did nothing for a moment, before taking the pen out of her pack and writing Galahad's name on it in calligraphy.
"Hey Te'ijal! Come help us!" Mel's voice echoed up the staircase as a door downstairs closed with a bang and voices filtered up to her.
Te'ijal let out a long breath before hiding the gifts away again and rising, heading down the stairs.
"Coming."
She was promptly set to work chopping things in prep, which she did not mind for once. It kept her mind off the fact that in a rare feeling of emotion she was both dreading and anticipating the giving her gifts tomorrow.
Morning came and Te'ijal could be found sitting at the window on the far end of the room, enjoying the peace. Galahad was sitting near the three young adults and as the sunrise came up she glanced over to see him perfectly relaxed, eyes closed as he rested against the wall.
"Today is Aislday." She said quietly.
"It is." He agreed without opening his eyes.
Te'ijal survayed the three humans before smirking slightly.
"Do you wish to participate in a little wager?"
"What?" Galahad asked in confusion, his eyes opening as he looked over at her.
"A wager. That Edward will be the first one to wake up and he'll wake up the girls by being needlessly loud and obnoxious."
There was the faintest hint of a twitch at the corners of his mouth and he shook his head.
"That's not a wager I will take. I know that he will do that, I need not lose money betting for anything different."
Te'ijal's smirk grew and she glanced over at the beds as true to her prediction Edward began to stir. It took several minutes of shifting as Edward began to come out of sleep before he bolted upright, his hair sticking up in every which direction.
"IT'S AISLDAY!"
Te'ijal watched in amusement as his loud shout scared Mel awake, causing the thief to bolt upright with her dagger poised and Stella to sit up, a disoriented expression on her face.
"What's happening?! Who's attacking?!" Mel snapped.
Edward appeared oblivious to her reaction as he began to dance around the room like a idiot, a goofy grin on his face.
"It's Aislday! Get up already!"
"That's what you scared me awake for?! I aughta-"
"Oh don't be such a grump! It's Aislday! No one is allowed to be grumpy!" Edward interrupted, going over to Stella and pulling her to her feet.
"Come on you guys! Let's eat so we can exchange gifts!"
Everyone followed Edward down the stairs, some going at a slower pace such as Mel and Te'ijal. Breakfast was a quick affair, bread and jam and cheese. However even just the short time that was taken to eat was enough to allow Mel and Stella to wake up fully and soon they looked almost as excited as Edward to return upstairs to exchange gifts.
Soon they were back upstairs, Edward and Galahad shifting several of the beds to that they could all sit in a circle for the gift exchange. Once everyone was seated Edward looked around the circle, his eyes shining with excitement.
"Alright, who's going first?"
"Can I?" Stella asked, her face brighter then usual as she hesitantly raised a hand.
"Yeah! Then we'll go clockwise from you." Edward exclaimed and Stella stood, walking over to her bed and pulling the large package she had been carrying when Te'ijal had seen her in the square in her arms.
"My name that I pulled was Te'ijal's. So this is for you."
She placed the package gently down on the floor in front of Te'ijal who stared at the package with interest for a moment before reaching over and untying the twine, pulling it loose and then unwrapping the paper.
"I know it might be kind of a odd gift but I though that you would really like it since you've talked about how you like experimenting with different kinds of arrows for your bows and I thought that this was a experimental as it could get." Stella babbled.
Te'ijal nodded and looked up at Stella, her eyes crinkling in the corners in leu of a smile.
"I appreciate these. This is a great gift, I quite enjoy playing around with the damage properties of different kinds of arrows and this will allow me to do so whenever."
Te'ijal then looked back down at her gift. Sitting on the paper was a set of ten new arrows, and in a protective case was twelve different jars. Each jar held a different kind of poison, ones that ate through flesh or ones that attacked different internal systems. One even froze the enemy quite literally upon the poisoned arrow getting the strange poison into the bloodstream.
"You like it?" Stella asked hopefully.
"I do. Thank you."
Stella relaxed, a shy smile flickering to life. Te'ijal set her gift aside before watching Mel who retrieved her gift, a thicker rectangular gift which she handed to Galahad on Te'ijal's left before taking her seat to Te'ijal's right between Te'ijal and Stella.
"I got you."
Galahad nodded and slowly opened it before blinking.
"A book talking about the different kinds of birds and exotic plantlife all over Aia."
Mel gave a uncomfortable shrug.
"Yeah. I know that you like watching the different birdlife as we are traveling but you told me when I asked that you don't know very many of the different kinds of birds so I thought that you might like this. It'll let you identify different kinds."
Galahad looked up from the book and gave a small smile.
"I appreciate that. I believe I will get good use out of this."
Mel relaxed and gave a nod to him before leaning back and looking over at Te'ijal.
"So who did you get?" Edward asked eagerly.
"I got Mel." Te'ijal informed the eager prince before standing and retrieving her gift, handing it to Mel before seating herself and watching closely as Mel accepted the gift with sparkling eyes.
"You used a ribbon to tie it shut?"
"No, that was merely a addition that I believed you would appreciate. You might find use for it with your gift inside, for use as a marking ribbon or somesuch."
Mel nodded and withdrew her dagger after she had undone and put aside the blue ribbon and slit the twine. She sheathed her dagger and then carefully unwrapped the gift, her eyes widening as the paper was pushed fully aside.
"It's a new journal." She murmured, reaching down to carefully lift the book out, studying the cover before flipping through the pages.
"This is beautiful." She finally said, looking up at Te'ijal who merely pointed at the smaller wrapped object that had been left behind.
"That is part of the gift as well."
Mel quickly unwrapped the object and smiled when she withdrew the rosewood pen.
"I like this. I'll have to buy some ink soon."
"No need." Te'ijal said calmly, a hint of a smile flickering to life.
"What?"
"That is a magicked pen, it will never run out of ink and the ink will never smear if you touch it."
Mel gaped at the pen before turning to Te'ijal, a grin on her face.
"Are you serious?"
"Now you will be able to journal without having to watch the ink levels and hold off on sharing thoughts to preserve ink until our next stop."
Mel's grin brightened and she wrapped the gifts to place them carefully in her lap.
"Thanks Te'ijal. This is perfect."
"You are very welcome." The vampiress answered, turning to her husband with a slight smile. She was truly enjoying herself on this human holiday.
"Who's name did you pick husband?"
Galahad reached under the bed behind him and pulled out a package, sliding it across the floor to Edward.
"I received the young prince."
Edward's face lit up and eagerly took the present, unwrapping hastily only to exclaim in delight upon seeing new leather bracers inside. On the top of the bracers there was a intricate carving of a rune and Edward looked over at Galahad in curiosity.
"Those runes mean king and brave, depending on which dialect you are speaking from these parts. I felt that either way they fitted you well."
Edward grinned widely as he tried them on, the bracers fitting perfectly.
"This is amazing! I love them! Thank you Galahad!"
The final giftee was obviously Stella and she watched cheerfully as Edward pulled out his wrapped gift with a flourish, presenting it to her. Stella took the present and began to carefully unwrap it, leaving Edward to wiggle around in impatience.
"Open it faster!" He urged, making Stella giggle and slow down for a few second to tease the impatient brunette.
"Let's see..."
"Stella!"
Stella giggled again before having mercy on her friend and fully unwrapping it, gasping softly as shimmering purple fabric came into view. The gentle young woman reached down and carefully withdrew the fabric to reveal a warm shawl that shimmered and shined with different shades of purple.
"Oh Edward..." She whispered as she stared at the shawl in her hand.
"Do-do you like it?" Edward asked, hopeful and nervous all at once.
Stella sniffed and placed it aside, reaching over and hugging him tightly.
"I love it Edward. The shawl is beautiful." She told him, her voice muffled by his shoulder.
Te'ijal smiled as Edward's expression, a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment as he hugged the smaller girl back before releasing her as she pulled back to pick up the shawl once more and wrap it around her shoulders.
Eventually they all fell into easy conversation, enjoying the quiet of the morning and relishing in the relaxation afforded to them though being blocked into the town by the snow. The day passed quickly as they talked and laughed, Edward surprising everyone by pulling out a pack of Aislday chocolates he had bought for everyone as a surprise treat.
The humans split most of them, and Galahad convinced Te'ijal to split one with him to see if they could taste the chocolate. Much to Te'ijal's surprise she could taste a faint hint of the chocolate, a flavour she hadn't tasted in so long that she had all but forgotten it.
Eventually Mel, Edward and Stella decided to have their Aislday feast, leaving Te'ijal and Galahad behind upstairs, the room darkening as the winter sun began to set.
Te'ijal and Galahad moved the beds back to their usual places without a word, a awkward atmosphere filling the room.
"Wife."
She glanced over at Galahad to see him crouch down next to his armour which he had forgone for Aislday and withdraw a thinner package before standing and approaching her.
"This is for you."
Te'ijal blinked in surprise before reaching over and taking the package.
"You bought me something? But my name was not the one you picked."
"You are my wife, and Edward reminded me that on Aislday gifts are exchanged between spouses. It's only right for me to buy you something."
Te'ijal glanced at him before focusing on her package and unwrapping it carefully, only to stare down at her package, her eyes widening ever so slightly.
"So far that I've noticed we've gone into no less then five different shops that traded with the Dream-weavers that can enter the Dream realm and sold this enchanted bow string, and each time you call it a frivolous purchase and never get it for yourself, but I know you well enough now to know that you want this." Her husband said in explanation.
"You found a memory string." Te'ijal murmured, reaching in and gently lifting out the shimmering black string.
"These can only be made out of the memory roses that used to grow at the foot of the memory caves. Now they only grow in the Dream realm. It'll never break and it moments of desperation for salvation it can even infuse the arrows with the power to bring up the worst memories of the victim..." She said quietly, uncoiling the string and running her fingers along it before a rare smile sprung to life and she looked up at Galahad.
"Thank you husband."
He nodded and she let out a soft chuckle.
"You know, you aren't the only one Edward meddled with. I have a present for you as well, he told me the same as he told you, that spouses should give to one another to show affection. I'll go retrieve it now."
Te'ijal moved to where her things were and slipped her wrapped bowstring into one of the pockets on her quiver of arrows before grabbing the larger package with Galahad's name on it and carrying it over to Galahad, handing it to her husband wordlessly.
"Open it."
He accepted the package, looking momentarily at his name on the front before carefully opening the package to reveal the soft leather carrying case. He looked up at Te'ijal with slightly furrowed brows before reaching down and opening the bag, his jaw dropping as he gaped at the contents.
"You-...you got me carving tools." He whispered, his eyes wide as he reached into the case and slowly withdrew one of the tools to examine slowly before he looked back up at her.
"Your current tools barely work anymore, you said as much yourself." Te'ijal said, her tone slightly gruff.
"Wife...I don't-...thank you."
"You're welcome. I'm sure you'll get good use out of it. The man said that there is a pocket/pouch on one side where you can store thinner projects or drawings of future projects. Whatever you wish."
He nodded before looking up at her, the corners of his mouth twitching before curving up into a smile, the first smile that Te'ijal had ever caused.
"I love this. I will work on a small carving tonight."
Te'ijal returned his smile and they stood together in a companionable silence before Edward and Mel started calling for them to come down and sit with them from the bottom of the staircase.
Galahad put away his gift and as Te'ijal descended the staircase she glanced out the window at the Twilight sky.
Although she would probably never admit it aloud, she had been quite pleased with the gift exchange and the reactions to her gifts for Mel and especially Galahad. It was a welcome reprieve from the stress and tension as they tried to evade Gyendal and find the Orbs before him.
A year later- Sedona, Arishta Isles:
Te'ijal hurried through the streets with her coat hood up to block out the chilly wind, her skin pink from the cold. Oh how she loathed the winter now that she was human. A package was clutched in her hands and she tucked it further into her warm sleeves.
She reached her and Galahad's home and fumbled to get the key out of her cloak but managed to withdraw it, her frozen fingers clumsily unlocking the door and allowing her to push it open with a clang as she grumbled under her breath, slamming the door behind her and hanging up her cloak as she hid the package away and made her way into the kitchen.
"I'm home."
"Welcome back love." Galahad greeted her, smiling at her briefly as he stood at the counter carving their roast duck.
"Did you get what you need?"
Te'ijal nodded and cleared off the small two person table in their kitchen as he finished carving the last of the duck and placed several slices on both their already full plates.
He carried them to the table where they both sat and poured the gravy overtop of the mashed potatoes and the duck before they dug in, Te'ijal finding herself savouring the flavour of stuffing and the potatoes and the gravy along with the duck quite against her will. She really hated food, yet her traitorous mouth and stomach loved it.
She and Galahad engaged in light conversation as they enjoyed their meal, finishing at a leisurely pace before clearing their dishes and wrapping up the food to store. Once almost everything was put away Te'ijal slipped out of the room to where her coat was hanging and withdrew the package before hurrying to the living room, beating her husband there by mere minutes.
When he entered the room and saw her sitting on the couch with the wrapped package sitting in her lap he chuckled softly, coming over to sit next to her when she beckoned for him to do so.
"What is it?"
"Happy Aislday." Te'ijal said with a hint of a smile, handing him the wrapped package.
He accepted and eagerly opened the package to reveal a thick book. Upon scanning the title of this large novel he burst into peals of laughter, a wide grin springing to life and the corners of his eyes crinkling.
"A collection of myths and records of vampires over history." He said with amusement before looking up at her. "You remembered that I wanted this. I was interested in doing some research on humans views of vampires over the years now that I am free of the curse."
Te'ijal's mouth twisted in distaste at the reminder of her mortality, before giving herself a brisk shake and turning her full attention to Galahad opening the front cover. She saw him glance over the page before stopping on her inscription and reading it.
"Look at what the humans think of us! Aren't their foolish myths utterly ridiculous? I'm sure you'll get as much amusement out of this as I did."
He laughed again, closing the book and placing it on the table in front of the couch with a grin.
"I plan to start reading this as soon as I can. I have no doubt I will enjoy it."
Te'ijal smirked and he stood, excitement glittering in his azure blue eyes.
"I'll go retrieve your gift now then." He said with a slightly nervous smile as he walked out of the room, leaving Te'ijal to sit waiting in anticipation until he returned holding a object covered in cloth.
He set it on the table directly in front of Te'ijal, moving back around to sit directly next to her as he gently gripped the cloth in preparation to reveal the gift.
"Ready?"
Te'ijal nodded and he pulled the cloth free to reveal a intricately carved wooden building replica. Her eyes widened as she realized what the building was and she felt a lump rise in her throat.
"It's the cathedral. The Ged'here cathedral." She whispered.
Galahad nodded and Te'ijal reached out a slightly trembling hand to touch the roof of the house, her fingers sliding down over the shingles that he had stained black to the wooded walls that had been painted to look like stone. There was real glass that he hand painted to look like stained glass and the door was painted to look like the solid oak doors that led to the cathedral inside.
"You got everything perfect. Right down to the odd shape of the front of the cathedral with the two alcove-like areas on either side of the door."
"Do you like it?"
Te'ijal opened her mouth to respond but closed it again when she realized that she would not be able to speak. She missed her home so, so much. But this...now she would have a piece of home with her as she lived out her pathetically tiny mortal lifespan.
"Love?"
She looked over at him and he examined her face before blinking in surprise.
"Are you...teary? Because of this?"
"No, I'm simply holding back a sneeze." Te'ijal snapped, looking back towards the house and blinking firmly to get rid of the hazy mist she absolutely refused to call tears.
Galahad gave a huff of amusement before wrapping a arm around her, pulling her close and pressing a kiss to her temple.
"You are teary, you cannot fool me after how long we have been together. Does that mean you like it?"
Te'ijal contemplated continuing to argue that she was not teary, but when she looked back at the flawlessly and lovingly done miniature of the Ged'here Cathedral she decided that tonight would not be a night she would waste with pointless arguing.
"Yes Galahad, I love it."
His bright smile was worth abaninding the argument for Te'ijal, and when he tilted her head to give her a soft kiss she did not resist, nor did she fight him when he tugged her to his chest and reclined back on the couch with her in his arms as he reached over to grab his book and start reading.
Te'ijal rested against her husband, content for the most part aside from the dull ache in her chest. She missed being a vampire, oh how she missed it, but she was finding as the days went by that having Galahad with her helped lessen the ache in her chest. The clock chimed on the mantle and Galahad's arms tightened around her slightly.
"Happy Aislday my love."
Te'jal tilted her head so her forehead rested against his neck and she let out a soft sigh.
"Happy Aislday."
So what did you think? Reviews are welcome! Flames shall be laughed at, posted for others to laugh at, and ignored as I continue the story.