Hello everyone! No, I have not been hit by a bus. I've been inordinately busy with final projects, work, and NaNoWriMo. (But I did it! –Well, not the work part ;) )
Hopefully I will be able to focus more on Teaching Discipline now, and my other fanfiction A Twist of Fate. I'm so unbelievably sorry about the delay. This is a thank you for those who've waited so patiently for me to update, a little holiday cheer!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Circle of Magic Books. (Well, I own copies of them). I don't own the rights, though it's on my letter to Santa!
Good Midwinter to all, (And to all a Longnight!)
In which Sandry wrestles Discipline into holiday spirit, …, and Briar plays Father Green Man. Sort of.
Timeline: Between Daja's Book and Briar's Book
"Green Man sneaks into the house and leaves presents?" Briar repeated. At Sandry's nod he folded his arms, "That's not how it works at all. Don't he know you take stuff when you burgle a house?"
"He's not trying to nick anything," laughed Sandry, "He leaves presents for the children. It's in the spirit of Midwinter."
"It's a child's tale," sniffed Tris from behind her book. The nights were cool now, a testament to the approaching winter, and the four children were sprawled before the hearth. The redhead was hiding in a book, pretending she wasn't listening. "No one our age believes in that stuff."
"Besides," drawled Rosethorn from the table on the other side of the room, "He only leaves gifts for good children. Briar needn't concern himself at all." He made a face at her.
"Midwinter's my favorite holiday," Sandry raptured.
Tris sniffed again, "The only thing good about winter is the snowstorms. And since we're in Summersea we won't even get that."
"But Midwinter's a time for celebration!" protested the young noble. "There are carolers and games and f-"
She sputtered to a stop. Tris, crimson behind her spectacles, jammed her nose closer to the pages.
Daja had been sketching a design to show Frostpine. She glanced at Sandry and shook her head slightly, but Sandry was staring at Tris as if she'd never seen her before.
Don't push anymore, Daja spoke in her mind alone, We've spent all fall trying to gentle her.
I didn't think. Sandry's mind voice was clearly upset. The reasons why were laid bare for Daja to see. At least they had had families who had loved them, celebrated holidays with them. Tris and Briar hadn't had that.
She'll just get worse if you try to apologize, pointed out Daja, Drop it for now.
Lark put aside her spinning. She nudged Rosethorn and nodded at Sandry. The girl's eyes had a glint in them that by now the dedicates knew meant trouble. Rosethorn groaned softly, and Lark began to snicker.
x
They'd never celebrated Midwinter before? Well, that simply wouldn't do. It was one thing with Daja; Traders had all sorts of holidays. But Briar and Tris needed this, Sandry could tell, even if they couldn't. She was determined that this solstice make up for all the ones they'd missed.
x
"They're expecting presents?" Tris, for all her book-learning, was actually blank for a moment. "Why would they expect presents from me?"
Niko carefully didn't look at her. Teaching the girl to control her emotions was a struggle enough. This kind of talk made it worse, particularly if she thought he was watching her for a reaction. And Niko was always watching. "That is what siblings do, isn't it?"
He didn't need to look to feel the hot blush roll off her.
Tris cleared her throat. "I don't have enough money for presents anyway." She was trying to push it away. The breaking down of barriers was difficult, when the girl kept throwing up new walls.
She wouldn't get the chance this time. Niko smiled in a way he knew irked his student.
"I'd be happy to give you some astrels, in exchange for chores and such."
x
Rosethorn looked at his desperate, half-harried expression. "What is it now? Does Sandry want to use you as a dress model again, because I'm not helping you this time-"
"They expect me to buy Midwinter presents!" From his expression, this was nothing short of asking him for a human sacrifice, "What do I do?"
"Buy them Midwinter presents."
Briar didn't even stop to glare at her. "I don't know what skirts like! What if I get them the wrong thing?"
"I'm sure they'll tell you. Certainly Tris has never had a problem telling you when you've mucked something up."
He gave her a withering look.
Rosethorn sighed. There would be no getting back to her notes now, not with him so riled. Why was it that Crane never had to deal with these problems?
"Fine. Tris likes practicality; give her something she can use. Or a book. And Lark would be able to tell you what Traders do at this sort of time. In fact, she's the one you should be bothering about all of this. Not me. Go find out what to give everyone."
"Everyone?" he said, a wicked look in his eye.
"Everyone. And don't steal anything. Now scat."
Student thus shooed from the room, Rosethorn was left to her carefully tended winter plants. She ran a hand over them, wishing for the warmth of the sun on her skin again-
"Is it true there are cakes?"
Briar, who'd stuck his head back in for the question, took one look at his teacher's face and bolted back around the corner.
x
Weeks of practice were finally paying off. Tris's hair did not spark, no winds disturbed her petticoats.
Niko covered a smile with his hand. His magic was for sight; and so Tris's stress, carefully controlled as she surveyed the merchant's wares for a gift, was perfectly clear to him.
"If I could make a suggestion-"
Her glare could be used to melt stone. The shopkeeper flinched as it passed over him to rest on the greatest sight mage in history.
"I can do it myself!"
x
Rosethorn had said to get something for everyone, after all. Niko got a set of lockpicks, as a joke between them. To emphasize their usefulness, Briar broke them in sneaking into the man's room in Moonstream's quarters.
x
Daja sidled up to Frostpine as they turned down the fires for the night. "Lark said you could teach me about what kaqs do for Midwinter?"
"Don't look at me. We don't have any sort of winter in Mbau."
"But you've been part of Winding Circle for ages!"
"It's too cold here for my tastes. Winter nights see me huddled around my feeble hearth."
"Winter nights see him huddled in his hearth," Kirel was leaning on the table, bucket of coal in hand. His eyes were amused as he took them both in. "Looks like coming from snow-lands isn't such a bad thing now, huh Frostpine?" he gestured at Daja, "I can tell you what to do."
x
Gorse sensed his kitchens being disturbed and went to investigate. Everything was accounted for, but one small potted basil on the table, with carefully written instructions for care (and several gingerbread cookies).
x
Sandry was a whirl of excitement about the coming Midwinter. She had never had anyone her own age to share presents with. She kept on an endless stream of chatter, wondering aloud what she should get this person and that, until Briar threw up his hands at skirt-like prattle, Tris ran for the library, and Daja found a convenient refuge in the forge. She talked until everyone was convinced that Midwinter was her favorite time.
Lark waited against Sandry's door a short while later, listening to soft sobbing. She would give her student time to mourn the family she had lost before pulling the new one around her again like a homebound cloak. Sandry shone brightest when she hurt the most.
x
"There's just nothing to it," Briar whispered defeatedly. Their heads were crammed together in the library. They didn't dare talk in their minds, lest a madly cheerful noble hear them, "She's got her heart set on this holiday."
"So it's agreed," Daja said for them all, "We'll pretend like we like this Midwinter stuff."
"We'll even get presents," Tris said, "For each other. Even if it's kid stuff."
"Or kaq stuff," Daja was quick to add.
"Or skirt-sniffer stuff." Briar's disdain was the loudest of all, though there was a subtle curiosity about it.
The three looked at each other. It was hard to lie to each other when they could feel each other's eagerness, but form had to be maintained.
x
Briar had promised Rosethorn a mischief-free holiday. So, as a peace offering, and with the help of Little Bear, he even got Sourpuss Crane a Midwinter's gift. What kind of gardener, he reasoned, wouldn't be thrilled with the gift of good, strong fertilizer on his doorstep?
Briar had promised Rosethorn. His fingers had been crossed.
x
The gifts were put away, a half-dozen disasters had been averted, and the teachers were thoroughly sick of festive spirit when footsteps thundered down the stairs.
Rosethorn actually growled, despite her promise to Lark to be good. She was cool, half her plants had gone into hibernation, and another Longnight was just on the horizon, "If this is about caroling or anything else, I swear-"
"Don't hang us in the well," Briar said plaintively, "It's too cold out there."
The children were lingering around the door, gifts wrapped in colorful paper in their hands. Only Sandry met their eyes; she was the midwinter veteran after all.
"We got you all presents too," she explained cheerfully, traipsing over to her teacher with a roll of embroidery. "Merry Midwinter, Lark!"
The others took this as a signal to file in. Daja went straight for Frostpine, handing over a sheaf of parchment. It was full of different sketches, each workable with the coppery metal that encased Daja's hand.
"I was thinking we could try to make some of them," she told him as she and Kirel exchanged gifts.
"You're just trying to get out of making nails," teased Frostpine.
Daja grinned, "Maybe."
Briar handed his plant over cheerfully. "It ain't even nicked!" he told Rosethorn, who inspected the heather carefully.
"I would have preferred you'd given me better grammar," she informed him, but, upon much cajoling, went to go fetch his gift from her room.
Scarlet, lightning crackling around her ears, Tris shoved a rectangle at Niko and wheeled around for her escape. Her blush only deepened when he grabbed her shoulder and turned her back around.
"It was Sandry's idea-" she began; then stopped. Niko was holding out another package for her. From the way it was wrapped, she could tell it was a book. Wordlessly, she took it.
"You'll have to tell me what you think about it." He told her gently. She nodded.
x
"That wasn't so bad," Daja murmured to Briar some time later, as the children made their way to their rooms. Tris's nose was firmly buried in her new book.
Sandry's gonna be awful about it, isn't she?
The girl turned in her doorframe to give them a smug grin.
"See?" Lark whispered in Rosethorn's ear, "Almost entirely painless."
"Maybe for you," she retorted, but her fingers brushed the heather traitorously.
"Do you think Green Man will leave anything by their beds?"
"Not a chance."
Lark's lips were dangerously close to hers, "He would have to wait until they're asleep, at any rate."
Briar, under Sandry's command, had strung mistletoe all across the house. There was some in the rafters above them. As soon as Rosethorn's attention was elsewhere, it began to put out shoots at an alarming rate. "We'll find some way to pass the time."
Happy Winter Everyone!