November creeps, the leaves on the ash turning dry and falling, evenings turning from chilly to cold. Loki and Alexi meet every few days for games, supper, and walks, but always they end under the ash before retreating to the row house to escape the chill. While he cannot feel Yggdrasil, he can still enjoy her descendent in Midgard, one of the few in this place, he has learned, to not fall to the Emerald Ash Borer. It horrifies him that these trees, so majestic and ancient, are dying thanks to the persistence of an insect. A pest. An infestation. It is as though he has learned something could destroy the World Tree itself. So he spends as much time as he can with the one ash that he has close, the only one he has ever seen in this realm.
Mid November, Magda begins planning for a feast. She makes lists, invites everyone she knows to come sit at her table, and starts cooking broths and sauces so she can freeze them and have them ready for her guests. Wanda explains that this is Thanksgiving and there will be people from every corner of their lives attending a dinner. He is told to invite whomever he pleases. He reads more history, talks to Alexi, and asks so many questions that Alexi takes to kissing him to shut him up when he asks one too many. This usually leads to Loki laughing, trying to sneak questions in when he breaks for breaths. It becomes a challenge, a game. A way to tease one another.
When Thanksgiving arrives, so do the guests. Early in the morning, Wanda opens the door to greet Erie. She heads for the kitchen where Magda and Loki are already hard at work. Wanda returns to her job- finding enough tableware for all the people who might show up. With supper early afternoon, there are a few people who drift in early and they are immediately put to work. It is not a serious environment, though. The air is filled with conversation, jokes, and the music from Magda's records. Old friends share stories with the people they see only once a year. Steve and Thor arrive together. Ralph comes alone, but he brings wine, hard cider, and a rare book of Sokovian children's stories for his hostess. Magda nearly cries when he presents it to her and she hugs him as though he has brought her the most precious gift in the entire world. No one, no matter if they are new to this Thanksgiving or have been attending for many years, is treated like a stranger.
Loki and Alexi are curled together on the couch listening to Erie's youthful adventures growing up in the city when they hear a shriek of delight from the front door. They turn to see Wanda leap into someone's arms.
"PIETRO!" She is laughing, crying, kissing his cheeks, and hugging him while Natasha and Bruce urge them into the house. Pietro laughs and kisses her back, tickling her lightly. They are giddy children together, their greetings in the language of their native Sokovia. Then she hugs both Natasha and Bruce, thanking them profusely for bringing him. He is not ready to live in the real world all the time, but they will try one day.
Wanda bounds over to the couch and Loki rises, "Loki, you must meet my brother, Pietro. Pietro, this is Loki. I have told you much about him. He is one of our family."
Pietro shakes his hand and nods, "She speaks well of you."
"And very much of you. It is my great pleasure to finally meet her beloved brother."
"My sister has, no doubt, exaggerated my virtues."
"If she has, it has been only out of her great love for you. She is a wonderful woman."
"That she is." He kisses her temple.
She lightly shoves him, "Come, we'll be back, but I want you to meet my Magda."
"Ah, yes. Excuse me. We shall return." Loki slightly bows his head toward Pietro and, once he has been dragged off by his sister, drops back onto the couch.
Erie has take to telling her stories to Steve and Thor. Loki slips his attention back to her and snuggles against Alexi.
In the kitchen, Magda embraces Pietro and kisses both his cheeks, "Welcome, welcome, my dear! Wanda has told us so much of you, I feel as though I know you already. Make yourself at home here, for we are all one family."
"I see this. You have not lost the hospitality of our motherland."
"Of course not. I am proudly Sokovian. You hear our music, do you not? And there are dishes from our home here amongst the more American delights. In this house, you will never be asked to leave her behind."
"That is good. I seem to have lost memories that I otherwise should have. While I have been told much of what should be in my head, I cannot yet bring it back. Perhaps being reminded of my roots I will find myself again."
"While you may be known for your speed, do not rush yourself, dear Pietro. The mind, like the heart, is not something you can hurry along."
"Thank you. You are very kind."
"I am to some day perhaps marry your sister. I embrace her family as my own. Though, as these people will tell you, I am eager to open my arms and my doors to many. This life is beautiful, is it not?"
He smiles, looking around him at the people he does not know laughing together, "Yes, it is. Do they know one another?"
"Some. Many do not. I do not know the man sitting in the living room next to the older woman- Erie. I believe he knows Loki. And I have never met the man who brought you."
"How do they then look as though they have known one another for years?"
Magda smiles and hands him a basket of rolls, "It is my magic, dear Pietro. Now, will you help me get this table ready for all our guests? It is nearly time to feast!"
Pietro agrees. Working close to her, he wonders how much he has missed and if it will be hard to become a part of this family every day. But how easily she adapts to him and how effortlessly she treats him as though they have known one another for years assures him that there will be no struggle, at least with her, to simply become a part of the family. He gets the impression that whomever decides to stay in her life would be simply folded into her household. It is something he has missed for many years and even with his memories fragmented, he feels at home here, in a little sliver of the Sokovia he misses.