Twas the night before Christmas...
Yule was upon them and the treehouse that had sat empty since this summer was aglow with lights of all colors. Along the roof twinkled blue and white icicles, cheesy little things that made Jade happy in strange ways. A warm white light filtered from the windows and spilled out over the freshly fallen snow that covered the walkways between the treehouses. Jade and Max?s was the tallest with a view that was unrivaled though no one within was taking advantage of it. Jazzy Christmas music floated through the living room, of which Jade sat right in the middle. Surrounded by boxes and paper and tape and gifts waiting to be wrapped, she was practically lost beneath it all.
?Stupid thing. Ugh. Max! Can you grab me more tape for the dispenser? I ran out halfway through this and if I move, my creases are gonna be ruined.? She whined, wiggling a bit as she kept her hands in place. He chuckled and rummaged through a bag to find her what she needed, winding through the labyrinth of gifts to slip the tape refill into the dispenser around her wrist. Jade grinned up at him and finished the latest gift she had wrapped. Gently stacking it with the others, she systematically worked through the rest that needed to be packaged up. A whole stack of gifts that she would never see opened. It may have been bittersweet but she wasn?t going to dwell on it. Instead, she filled her heart with Christmas cheer and pondered how many cookies she could make and eat before she threw up.
The CD in the player had repeated itself four times by the time she finished and Max had fallen asleep on the couch, a glass of spiked eggnog half drank, still sitting on the table and a fleece blanket draped over his body and pulled up to his chin. Not one to let anything go to waste, she took up his glass once she extracted herself from the neatly arranged presents around the nine foot tree in the center of the room. Pulling herself up into an armchair, she shifted until she got comfortable and sat back, attempting to ward off the blues with little sips of noggy goodness until a pleasant warmth had settled in her stomach.
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Large boxes, small boxes, everything in between. Red and white and green and gold, topped with bows and tagged with little tags tied on with ribbon, her neat penmanship scrawled in emerald ink.
Arthurius
Raena
Larcius
Aquillia
Lucretia
Elianna
Tiberius
For the youngest, the fair haired Tiberius, a long and flat box was wrapped in red ribbon and topped with a bow of the same cheerful crimson shade. Within was a neatly folded leather jacket, plush but fitted and accented by various zippered pockets. The lining of the jacket was a soft silken material and underneath that, a subtly woven web of unnoticable spellwork offered protection to whoever wore it. At the bottom of the box, wrapped in a thin sheath were a set of throwing knives. Made of lightweight steel and near perfectly balanced, they could provide pinpoint accuracy with enough practice.
Beside Tiberius?s gift sat a similarly wrapped white box topped with a red bow. The tag contained a elegant scrawl of emerald green ink, neat calligraphy spelling out another of Max?s family member?s names. This one for a sister that Jade had never even seen in passing let alone met. Elianna. Within the box there were two simple items, a soft knitted scarf in a light shade of pink, feminine and pleasant to the tactile senses, and a leather quiver for one described as an archer by her brother. Hand crafted and well reinforced, Jade knew not what use the young woman might find for it but hoped it may come in handy.
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From there, a group of white spotted red boxes were wrapped in green ribbon and bows, forming a small pile stacked large to small. On top was a carefully wrapped box, small in size but not lacking in thought. The tag read Lucretia in intricately scrawled emerald green ink. In the little box were two parcels, a bracelet made of what looked like delicate beads. They were sturdily made though, Chaos in glass form, the element swirling about and shifting from shades of purple and blue all the way to a deep black. With it were a set of pear shaped drop earrings, diamonds set in silver. They paired nicely with the gift beneath it tagged for Lucretia?s twin sister. Within the box marked Aquillia was a similar set of earrings only the pear shaped gems dangling from a setting of diamonds were a pale shade of yellow. Alternately, they were set in the medium box with what looked to be a fairly utilitarian hairbrush. With a closer look, it would be found that the brush part of the contraption actually played sheath to a three and a half inch long stiletto dagger.
The large box at the bottom of the stack was rather heavy. In the same neat script as the others, the tag spelled out Larcius. Pre-assembled within was a blade sharpening cabinet made out of a sturdy wood. Topped with a platform for holding abrasive paper and a sharpening stone while working, the sliding door underneath gave way to two cubby like shelves and a larger storage area at the bottom. Tucked in one cubby were a set of four diamond surfaced sharpening stones, each of a different grit. In the other cubby, a Swiss Army multi-tool. Who needed that many bits and baubles? Jade wasn?t sure but it was neat.
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At last a set a gold bow topped red boxes rounded out the pile and it was upon those that Jade?s gaze settled. An antsy shift in her positioning had her pushing herself up to her feet to go refill her newly empty mug, a mixture of eggnog and rum poured and stirred before she went back to curl up in the armchair. Setting an elbow to the arm, her cheek came to rest against her palm as she once more eyed the last of the gifts. A rectangular box marked neatly for Raena was declared fragile by an even smaller tag. With good reason too, inside were two items of glass. One, a black bottle emblazoned with a single gold star. Beneath read Uha Cdyn Jehaoyntc, Nosgoth 393. An opulent wine could be found within, rich, smooth, and bold on the palate. A smaller bottle wrapped in tissue paper was also in the box, the glass oil bottle intricately wound with thin tendrils of gold and accented by an amethyst gemstone. There were no labels or distinguishing marks but a smaller card within was neatly written upon; jojoba, lavender, aloe.
A much heavier box was labeled for Arthurius. Set atop whatever was held in its depths, was a carefully wrapped bottle of 34 year old Dalmore Scotch whisky. Rich mahogany in color, aromas of ginger spice and spicy coffee were followed by hints of oranges, tangerines, and lemongrass. On the tongue it gave faint notes of ripened bananas, marzipan, spicy coffee, with a tang of orange rind, pulp of pear, coupled with layers of ginger spice, crushed almonds, and toffee apple. Beneath the Scotch was a well worn leatherbound tome. The cover and spine had been faded by the years and it appeared the text within was exclusively in Latin. But as odd as it was, little purple sticky notes were stuck at varying intervals, the same neat handwriting that was upon the gift tags also on the notes, highlighting points of interest in the book. Common themes included the perils of inter-realm travel, the arithmancy of such a thing, and precautionary measures that could be taken. Of course, it was all in Latin, but it was annotated from start to finish.
And finally, the last box contained a simple gift to the Shimmer-Scale family as a whole. A ruby decanter set with matching glasses, enough for the family, even those not present, and two Waterford crystal ornaments. One for each year they had been in Rhy?Din. Such an odd mix, all of it, but every present had been painstakingly debated over by the petite half-dragon, needing only minimal consultation by her Knight. Jade?s fortitude wavered though and she contemplated tucking the entire menagerie of gifts into the closet and forgetting about them completely. It was but a passing thought though, gone with a sweep of her gaze over the sleeping blonde man on the couch beside her. He looked so serious as he slept but at least he was peaceful. She could try her best to give him any bit of solace that she could, it was the least she could do for him.
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