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Adaine came out of her trance early, as always, blearily opening her eyes as she took in the sky through her window. From her bedroom in the tower, there wasn’t much to obscure the view, the tops of some of the taller Elmville buildings lit in pinks and golds. There was a little dusting of white on some of the buildings from where it had snowed overnight, though it looked like it was going to be a beautiful, clear day.
The Manor was quiet. It usually was, this early, especially since they were on their holiday break and her room especially so with Aelwyn away in Fallinel until next week. Adaine let out a long breath, trying to ignore the squirming in the pit of her stomach. It was a rarer feeling these days, but still sometimes, when the Manor was as quiet as the Abernant home had been, she couldn’t help remember what it had been like, especially on the morning of a special day, like the first day of school, or her sister’s birthday, or today. Her mother had always hosted a dinner party on Christmas Eve. Perhaps, wherever she was, she was hosting one now, directing the unseen servants of wherever she had hidden herself away to begin decorating and cooking, ushering any curious child out of the way.
Adaine took another breath in and let it out slowly, closing her eyes. If she concentrated, she could just make out a faint clattering sound coming from the kitchen downstairs, the sound of Jawbone getting breakfast started. Adaine focused on it, pushing out her cold memories for the warmth of her imagination - Jawbone pulling down plates and pots and pans, setting something going on the stove top, nodding his head in time to some song on the radio.
There was a thud against her wall, and then a second one. Adaine sat up, smiling as she put on her glasses. That was another thing about her life now - she got visitors.
“You can come in,” said Adaine.
Zayn floated through the door. “Hey. Jawbone said to tell you breakfast in like, twenty minutes. The guy’s kind of going all out.”
“I think he’s just excited that we’re all here for Christmas,” said Adaine. “He and Tracker seem like they have a lot of family traditions.”
Zayn shrugged. “I guess. My family didn’t really go in for that kind of stuff.”
“Mine did, but I don’t think it was… The traditions they created were more about showing off than about enjoying Christmas,” said Adaine.
Zayn nodded, and Adaine felt her stomach settle a little.
“Are you coming tonight?” said Adaine. “To the Christmas Eve dinner, I mean.”
“I guess,” said Zayn. “I haven’t really, uh. Jawbone’s mentioned it a couple times but he hasn’t, y’know, actually invited me.”
“Well, then I’ll invite you,” said Adaine. “If you- Only if you want to come, obviously.”
“Yeah, sure!” Zayn cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair. “I mean, yeah, sure, cool. I mean, I don’t eat, so it’s not like I’m going to throw off the dude’s catering numbers or whatever.”
“Exactly,” said Adaine. “Anyway, I’m sure if he told you about it, he’d want you to come. This is your home too.”
Zayn swallowed. “Uh. Yeah, I guess, I- I gotta go do, uh. I’m gonna go hang out in the graveyard for a bit, get my ghost on or whatever, but I’ll- I’ll see you at dinner?”
“See you at dinner,” said Adaine.
Zayn began to float through the wall before he leant back. “And, uh. Happy Christmas Eve Adaine. Or whatever you’re supposed to say.”
Adaine laughed. “Happy Christmas Eve to you too Zayn.”
Zayn grinned, floating the rest of the way through the wall.
Adaine pulled on her dressing gown and thick socks, padding downstairs. The music, and the sound of Jawbone clattering around in the kitchen, got louder the closer she got to the room. Jawbone was alternating between flipping pancakes and cutting up fruit, the oven against the wall radiating heat. Sandra Lynn, leaning against the counter out of Jawbone’s way and slowly sipping on coffee, nodded to Adaine as she entered.
“You’re always the first one of them to be up,” said Sandra Lynn.
Jawbone turned, grinning at Adaine. “Hey there kiddo, good morning! Happy Christmas Eve!”
“Good morning,” said Adaine. “Do you need any help?”
“No, no,” said Jawbone, waving a hand. “I got it all sorted.”
Sandra Lynn smiled at her. “He won’t let me help either.”
“You’re working today,” said Jawbone. “Wouldn't be fair of me to expect you to do the cooking.”
“I’m only working a half day,” said Sandra Lynn.
“And you’re helping me with the cooking tonight, and that’s the other half of your day,” said Jawbone.
“I’m not working today,” said Adaine.
“Good,” said Jawbone. “You kids worked yourselves very hard this year, and you deserve the break.”
“One day I’m going to make you follow your own advice,” said Sandra Lynn. She glanced up at the clock and sighed. “I should go get myself ready for work.”
She put her coffee cup down in the sink, kissing Jawbone on the cheek as she passed. Jawbone turned into her touch and Adaine quickly looked away. Her parents hadn’t exactly been ones for casual affection with each other, and she was never sure what the appropriate reaction to it happening in the same room as her should be.
Sandra Lynn touched Adaine’s shoulder as she went past, squeezing it. Adaine looked up at her, but Sandra Lynn was already heading out the door. If she expected any kind of reaction from Adaine, she didn’t show it.
“Now, what can I get you for breakfast?” said Jawbone. “Big day today!”
“I thought we were just having people over for dinner?” said Adaine.
“We are,” said Jawbone. “That’s what I mean. And then Christmas Day tomorrow, another big day.”
Adaine nodded, even though she wasn’t quite sure what he meant. As far as she could tell, they weren’t going anywhere or doing anything besides gathering together to eat. It wasn’t going to be anything as extensively planned as her mother’s Christmas Eve party, with it’s four course meal and extremely expensive entertainment.
She was jolted out of her thoughts as Tracker and Kristen thumped their way towards the kitchen. Jawbone turned and Tracker threw herself into a hug.
“Happy Christmas Eve morning!” said Tracker.
Jawbone laughed, ruffling her hair. “Happy Christmas Eve morning!”
Kristen took a seat next to Adaine. “Hey.” She lowered her voice. “So, it’s just like a dinner thing today right?”
Adaine nodded.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” said Kristen, “I guess my- I mean, my family, we used to do big stuff for Helio’s rising day and stuff, like a big bonfire, and so I wasn’t… I didn’t know if you did stuff like that for Christmas.”
“I don’t know,” said Adaine. “My family didn’t really get that much into Christmas.”
Kristen gave her a sympathetic look, but Adaine was saved from having to talk about her feelings by Tracker sliding on the seat opposite Kristen. She pushed two plates towards Adaine and Kristen, both with fruit and pancakes, steam rising from them.
“Thanks babe,” said Kristen. “Oh, hey, do we still have any of that jam we got at the farmer’s market?”
“You got it kiddo!” said Jawbone, leaving the pancakes to rummage around in the cupboard.
Tracker got up, taking over at the stove while he searched, tearing off bits of one of the pancakes he’d cooked and eating it with one hand.
“Morning,” said Fig.
Adaine looked up, letting out a laugh - Fig was still wrapped in her blanket like it was an enormous cloak. She pulled it around herself as she sat down, almost completely covering her.
“It’s cold,” said Fig.
“It’s winter,” said Tracker. “Also it’s not really cold in here.”
“Here,” said Jawbone, putting down a jar of jam in front of Kristen, “and here,” he added, putting down a plate of pancakes in front of Fig. ”That should warm you up a little.”
“Coffee?” said Fig.
“I think there’s some left over from when your mom made some, let me check,” said Jawbone.
“Zayn wanted to know if he could come to the dinner tonight,” said Adaine. She braced herself slightly, some of her earlier nerves coming back to her. “I said he could, is that okay?”
“Of course!” said Jawbone. “The more the merrier, and I mean, I guess he does kind of live here, or- reside here? Anyway, he’s more than welcome.”
“Thank you,” said Adaine.
Jawbone smiled. “No problem kiddo. You want someone to come to the dinner, then I want them to be there too. Now! Let’s find that jam.”
Tracker flipped over the pancake she was cooking, and Kristen clapped. Fig pulled herself more inside the blankets, her face lit from underneath by her crystal screen.
“If you’re that cold I think I have another pair of house socks you can borrow,” said Adaine.
“Maybe,” said Fig.
Jawbone put a mug in front of Fig. “Eat something too though, okay?”
“I will,” said Fig.
She dipped the pancake in her coffee.
“Ew,” said Adaine.
“It’s good!” said Fig. “Here, try it.”
“No thank you,’ said Adaine.
“I’ll try it,” said Kristen.
She dipped part of her pancake, making a face as she bit into it, spluttering.
“Okay, well, maybe it’s like an acquired taste,” said Fig.
“Blech,” said Kristen. “Bleg, I need something to- ah, perfect-”
She scooped out a heap of jam, tearing off the smallest amount possible of pancake to eat it with.
“Now that’s gross,” said Fig.
“It’s not,” said Kristen, through her mouthful of jam, “it’s good.”
“There’s no way- Hi mom,” said Fig.
“Good morning sweetie,” said Sandra Lynn. “I was hoping you’d be up before I left.”
Fig’s face flickered through several extremely vulnerable emotions. “Cool.”
“I have to head out, but I’ll be back this afternoon, definitely in time for the dinner, okay?”’ said Sandra Lynn.
“Yeah, I know, half day,” said Fig.
Sandra Lynn nodded, pressing a kiss to the top of Fig’s head as she went past. “Half day. Remember, no opening any presents until we’re all together.”
“Yes mom,” said Fig.
“I mean it Figueroth,” said Sandra Lynn. “You remember-”
“I was like five, jeez, do you ever let anything go?”
Sandra Lynn raised her hand. “It’s let go, it’s let go, I just don’t want you to disappoint yourself by opening everything before Christmas Day.”
“Again, I was five ,” said Fig, pulling the blankets tighter around herself the emphasise the last word.
Sandra Lynn sighed, pulling the blankets back from Fig’s head. “I know you were.” She brushed some of the hair away from Fig’s face. “See you tonight honey.”
“Okay mom.”
Kristen waited until Sandra Lynn had left before she turned to Fig. “So when you were five-”
“I opened my gifts a couple days early but then my parents wouldn’t get me any new gifts to open Christmas Day because, duh, I’d already opened all my shit, but I didn’t get that because I was five , and I guess I got kind of upset about it,” said Fig. “It was just dumb kid shit, it’s not like I’d do that now .”
Adaine tried to picture having done something like that when she’d been five. It was hard to imagine when her parents would have even seen her to get upset at her about it. Her mother was either directing the unseen servants in preparation for the dinner party or getting some last minute work done at the Hudol, and her father locked himself in his office so he could work undisturbed. Her sister usually bailed part of the way through breakfast, giving some half-baked excuse about studying with friends and leaving Adaine essentially alone in the house. Even if she had built up the courage to open her presents early, she doubted anyone would have noticed.
Kristen nudged her with her elbow. “Hey. You okay?”
Adaine shook herself. “Yeah, I’m- I guess I’m still not used to Christmas tradition stuff.”
Kristen nodded, and then slid the jam towards her.
Despite her words to Sandra Lynn, the first thing Fig did after breakfast was head to the lounge room, where their gifts were piled under the tree. She picked through them until she found one of her’s, shaking it first fast and then slower.
“What are you doing?” said Adaine.
“Shh,” said Fig, closing her eyes and then shaking it again. “I’m figuring out what it is.”
“You’ve been doing this all week,” said Kristen. “If you haven’t figured it out by now-”
“I’m close though,” said Fig, “I think I’ve figured out what, like, genre of gift it is.”
“What genre ?” said Adaine.
“Yeah, you know, like, hard or soft, what it’s made out of, that kind of thing,” said Fig.
Adaine frowned, picking up one of her presents and shaking it. “It sounds like… stuff in a box moving around.”
“That’s because you don’t have my trained ears,” said Fig.
“You don’t have trained ears,” said Kristen.
“I do so,” said Fig. “They’re musically trained, I’m like a Riz-level detective but for sound.”
“What,” said Riz, from the doorway. He was peering around a large cardboard box in his arms.
“It’s a compliment,” said Fig. “Also, hey! You guys are here early!”
“I promised Jawbone I’d help with the cooking,” said Sklonda. She took the box from Riz. “You go hang out with your friends honey, I can take this to the kitchen.”
“Okay mom,” said Riz. “So what are we investigating?”
“The mystery of what I’m getting for Christmas,” said Fig.
“Why don’t you just unwrap them now?” said Riz.
Adaine laughed.
“I’ve tried that before, my mom will know I did it,” said Fig.
“You didn’t tell us that part!” said Adaine.
“That was a different time,” said Fig. She handed Riz her gift. “Here, use your detective ears on this, see if you can figure it out.”
Adaine watched Fig and Riz puzzle over her gifts. She could see Riz’s expression flicker sometimes, a sure sign that he had figured it out, but he didn’t tell Fig. She seemed to be having a good time anyway, making guesses based on size and shape and wrapping paper choice. It would have been a hard game to play in the Abernant home. Each gift was always in it’s own stiff cardboard box and wrapped in the same smooth wrapping paper, so that it matched the decorations her mother had chosen for the tree that year.
Gorgug arrived just as Fig was tiring of her game along with both sets of his parents, the group of them dragging Gorgug’s drum kit after them.
“Hell yeah, jam sesh!” said Fig.
Riz shot Adaine a look.
“Hey,” said Adaine, “You want to go hang out on the roof?”
“Absolutely,” said Riz.
They could still hear the music from the roof, but it was quieter, easier to enjoy at its lower volume as Fig ran through some of her and Gorgug’s songs and some others Adaine didn’t recognise but that sounded like the kind of music Jawbone listened to on the radio.
“Didn’t you have some family thing to go to?” said Adaine.
“We’re going next week,” said Riz. “It’s more of a new year thing. We don’t really do much for Christmas, usually.” He paused. “My, uh. My dad was more into Christmas so I guess we just kind of… don’t bother about it since me and my mom aren’t really… We’re not as into it as he was. We just sort of leave it and then do the new years thing with my mom’s family up in the mountains.”
“That sounds nice,” said Adaine. “The family part, I mean. We didn’t really- my family isn’t big into Christmas either.”
Riz nodded, picking at some of the wildflowers that grew through the cracks in the roof. Adaine looked out to see a van pulling up, and Riz waved to Ragh and he got out. Ragh waved back, turning away to give his full attention to operating the wheelchair lift for his mom. There was a pause in the music after he went inside and then it started up again, louder, as though it had been recharged by the addition of Ragh.
Jawbone called them down for lunch, even convincing Fig to take a break, and they ate on the Manor’s back deck. Adaine sat back in her chair as she sipped on her soup, letting the conversations wash over her - Fig and Gorbag talking about tour logistics, Riz and Tracker talking about some detective movie they’d both seen while Kristen nodded along, Sklonda, Roz and Wilma discussing some item that had been on the morning news, Digby bustling from outside to the kitchen, letting burst of his and Jawbone’s conversation out each time he opened the door. Sandra Lynn arrived in time to grab a bowl too, chatting with Sklonda as they ate. This was the kind of noise Adaine didn’t mind so much, the sound wrapping around her like a blanket, comforting and warm. The soup helped too.
Normally she didn’t have much of an appetite on Christmas Eve, her stomach already beginning to twist at the thought of sitting through one of her mother’s dinner parties. She’d pick at whatever her mother had instructed the unseen servant to put together for her before giving up and going up to her room, feeling both hungry and nauseous all at once, waiting for Aelwyn to get home but dreading it too. This Christmas Eve, she ate her whole bowl of soup, and the little bread roll she’d been handed to go with it. She was even beginning to look forward to dinner, just a little.
They headed back inside after their lunch, in time for Fabian to arrive, Cathilda, Hallariel, and Gilear following in after him. Cathilda headed to the kitchen, leaving Gilear and Hallariel to stand in the hallway until Fig prompted them towards the room where the other parents had gathered.
“Thank you, daughter,” said Gilear.
Hallariel nodded. She seemed oddly quiet, her arm around Gilear’s not possessively but more as though she was-. Adaine frowned. She almost looked nervous . Adaine glanced at Fabian. If he’d noticed he gave no sign of it, already joining Fig and Riz in poking around some of the Manor’s old hallway closets.
“Perhaps a cup of tea first?” said Gilear quietly.
Hallariel nodded, and Gilear patted her arm, leading her towards the kitchen. Well. At least he seemed to be handling her nerves better than he was able to handle his own.
“Ha!” said Fig, drawing Adaine’s attention towards her. “Check this out, this game rule - oh, wait. Never mind, it’s like, missing half the action cards.”
“What about this one?” said Kristen, holding up another box. “This has all the pieces, I think.” She opened it, peering inside. “Uh. Maybe we can- I mean, we can find stuff to use as tokens and stuff, right? Or we could write down what they are and just, like, remember where they are on the board?”
“This is ridiculous,” said Fabian, pulling down another box and wrinkling his nose at the cloud of dust.
Gorgug leaned over him, pulling out another box and handing it to Riz.
“To be fair to Jawbone, I think these were in here when he moved in,” said Kristen.
“This one appears to have a rule book that’s been torn in half, chess pieces, and some kind of game board that is most certainly not a chessboard,” said Fabian.
“We could use the chess pieces for the other game,” said Adaine.
“I don’t think it would match the rules in this one,” said Kristen. “I don’t think there’s enough pieces.”
“So we’ll change the rules,” said Fig.
“I don’t know if that would work,” said Kristen.
“Well, not for that game,” said Fig, “but we could… uh…”
“We could make up a game,” said Adaine.
The others turned towards her.
“I mean, we have three rule books,” said Adaine. “Well. Two and a half. We could pick which rules we like best for the game.”
Fabian grinned. “Adaine, you’re a genius. I’m sure we can think of a much better game than whatever’s in these boxes.”
They spread out the contents of each of the boxes. Adaine and Riz read through the rule books as Gorgug and Kristen tried to find a good layout for the three game boards, with Fig and Fabian calling out suggestions for new rules. Riz scribbled down their ideas in his notebook, his hand moving at top speed to capture everybody’s yelled suggestions as they talked over one another.
This was a comforting noise too, the kind of warm chaos that settled in Adaine’s chest and chased out lingering memories of wandering through the pristine and silent Abernant home. Even when Aelwyn had arrived home, there had been no comfort in it as she’d sneered at Adaine’s choice of dinner clothes.
“Children,” said Gilear from the doorway, “I have been asked to inform you that we will be eating in fifteen minutes.”
“Okay,” said Fig, not looking up from where she and Fabian were trying to balance the chess pieces on top of each other to make a tower.
“Perhaps you should wash your hands?” said Gilear.
“We’re fine,” said Fig.
Fabian looked at his hand, making a face. “Ugh.”
Kristen wiped her hands on her jeans. “I mean, this stuff is kind of dusty. We probably should.”
Fig sighed. “ Fine , if you guys are that worried about a couple little dust germs...”
By the time they’d washed their hands (and had a mini water fight in the bathroom, flicking water at each other as they elbowed each other out of the way to get to the sink) dinner was already on the table. Adaine caught sight of Zayn through the window and she waved to him. He floated through the wall, looking a little startled by the number of people crowded around the table.
“Hey bud!” said Jawbone. “You need a chair or something?”
“No, I, uh. I think I’d float through it so I can just, uh. I’ll hover,” said Zayn.
“No problem, find a space, hover wherever you want,” said Jawbone.
Adaine shifted her seat to the side as much as she could and Zayn shot her a grateful look, floating next to her.
Fig’s crystal beeped. “Gorthalax said he’s outside but his hands are too full to open the door.”
“I’ll get it,” said Gorbag. “He probably needs a hand helping carry whatever it is and you’ve got your hands full carving that turkey.”
“What’s Gorthalax bringing?” said Sandra Lynn.
“Dessert,” said Riz.
“Got the biggest trifle I could find!” said Gorthalax. “I hope there’s room in the fridge for this one!”
Dinner was just as chaotic as the rest of the day had been, several conversations happening across and over one another as they passed plates of food back and forth. It couldn’t have been more different than her mother’s dinner party, which was always adults only besides herself and Aelwyn, and barely any adults who remembered her name. Here, people drew her into conversations, swapping seats so they could be closer to hear her as they ate.
Gorthalax eventually brought out the trifle, which was definitely the largest one Adaine had ever seen, but which also turned out to be the perfect size for the amount of people they had. Jawbone recruited a couple of the adults into helping him make everyone a round of hot drinks, waving the rest of them towards the lounge.
Fig bounced on the balls of her feet, looking at Sandra Lynn.
“You can open one ,” said Sandra Lynn.
“ Yes ,” said Fig, excitedly heading towards the presents.
“Oh, is that allowed?” said Kristen.
“You don’t have to,” said Tracker, “But we always open one on Christmas Eve.”
“No, yeah, that sounds like fun,” said Kristen.
Fig had chosen one of the smaller boxes, tearing off the paper. “Cool! New nail polish, Thanks- Oh! Thanks Gilear.”
“I am glad you like it.” Gilear paused. “Fabian helped me to choose the colours.”
Fig turned to Fabian, grinning widely. “You went Christmas shopping with Gilear ?”
“I was just trying to make sure that you had a Christmas gift from him that was actually decent ,” said Fabian, snatching up one of his own gifts and ripping the paper. He slowed down as the box underneath revealed itself. “New sneakers, how wonderful! These were just the ones I was looking at the other day, thank you mama.”
“You’re welcome darling,” said Hallariel.
Fabian looked away from her towards Cathilda. Cathilda smiled, nodding. Fabian pressed his lips together, turning his face a little more so that Hallariel couldn’t see as he mouthed thank you to Cathilda. She waved her hand, taking a sip of her cup of tea.
“Huh, cool! These are- for the van?” said Gorgug, unrolling the long cloth belt of tools.
“Yep!” said Digby. “They’re traveling tools, for the artificer on the go!”
Riz, who had been carefully unpeeling the tape from one of his gifts for the past five minutes, finally managed to unwrap his gift.
“It’s a business card holder,” said Fabian. “Since, you know, you have such nice business cards now, I thought you should have something suitable to put them in.”
Riz smiled. “Thanks Fabian.”
“It’s nothing,” said Fabian. He paused. “I engraved it to match your briefcase too.”
“I did see that,” said Riz. “T B still isn’t my initials though.”
“Of course they are The Ball.”
“Oh, wow!” said Kristen, over the top of them. “Wow, who got me- oh my god, Fig!”
Fig shrugged, her cheeks flushed. “I mean, you were saying how you missed doing tie dye as like, a group activity, so I thought maybe we could all do it as like a group, if you wanted.”
“I am absolutely not doing that,” said Fabian.
Kristen didn’t seem to hear him. “Ohmygod, I would love that, thank you so much Fig-”
She pulled Fig into a hug.
“Oh, babe, was this from you?” said Tracker.
Tracker held up a sew-on patch of the moon.
“Yeah!” said Kristen. “I saw it and thought of you like, right away.”
“Aw!” said Tracker.
“Hey, Adaine, are you going to open one?” said Gorgug quietly.
“I- yes,” said Adaine, “I-”
There was the sound of a gust of wind from the entry hall.
“Sounds like we have one more visitor!” said Jawbone cheerfully. “Adaine, before you get to your present, could you go see who it is?”
“Okay,” said Adaine slowly.
She peered out into the darkened entry hall, blinking first as her eyes adjusted to the dim light and then in surprise.
“ Aelwyn ? I thought- You said you wouldn’t be able to get back from Fallinel until next week.”
“Well, I thought about it, and it seemed to me that being home for our first proper Christmas was worth using a few spell slots,” said Aelwyn, brushing down her skirt where the fabric has rumpled during teleportation.
“We have spent Christmas together before,” said Adaine.
“Yes but they were all rubbish,” said Aelwyn, “and that dreadful dinner mother would make us go to with all those boring people on Christmas Ever, just dreadful .”
“Oh, I thought you- I thought you liked them,” said Adaine.
“I hated them,” said Aelwyn, gleefully, as though she was getting away with something just by sharing her own opinion.
Adaine grinned back at her. It did feel that way - everything from bunk beds to studying together felt like a weird little victory.
“Oh, and I got you something,” said Aelwyn, rummaging around in her bag. “Here.”
She held out a slightly lumpy-looking package, wrapped in silvery paper.
“You’re just in time,” said Adaine. “Jawbone said we’re allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve, but I haven’t done one yet.”
“Oh, good I was hoping- I mean, Jawbone did tell me that it was the family tradition,” said Aelwyn, “but I wasn’t sure if I’d gotten my timing right.”
“You got it exactly right,” said Adaine, smiling at her as she took the gift.
She opened it carefully, frowning at it for a moment before she pulled it free of the wrapping. It was a backpack with a large window on the back of it. Inside the backpack looked like a little terrarium. She could feel the charms radiating off it, holding the water in and keeping the internal temperature steady.
“Oh!” said Adaine. “For Boggy!”
She felt the frog materialise beside her, ribbiting excitedly and hopping into the backpack as soon as she opened it. She could feel how happy Boggy was in there, the sensation settling in her own chest.
“Now you really can come everywhere with me,” said Adaine. She looked back up at Aelwyn.
Aelwyn shifted her feet. “I know it's not quite as fancy as the gifts we're used to but-"
“Everything we’re used to is terrible,” said Adaine. “ This is perfect. I- Thank you Aelwyn.”
On impulse, she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around her sister. She felt Aelwyn’s arms come up around her shoulders, a little tentatively at first before she returned the hug.
“You’re welcome Adaine,” said Aelwyn. “Merry Christmas.”