Post by indifferentred on Dec 23, 2012 9:48:05 GMT 10
To: Tamari
Message: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
From: indifferentred
Title: The Darkest Evening of the Year
Rating: G
Word Count: 859
Prompt: 4. Conte or Trebond family fic
Summary: It’s the night before the winter solstice, and Elenna of Trebond waits for her family to come home… Partly inspired by (and title derived from) Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” I hope you enjoy it…
They had promised. They had all of them promised her faithfully before they left that they would be home in time. Elenna of Trebond stared gloomily out of the tower window for the fifteenth time that day. Thick snowflakes drifted by, obscuring the mountain view. In a few hours, she judged, the passes would all be blocked and no one would be able to get through. The thought made her heart sink to the bottoms of her well-worn leather boots. She hadn’t been able to think of much else for the past week; the book she had been trying to read lay abandoned on her lap as she sat, wedged into the narrow window seat, swathed in an old blanket. Her room had been merrily decorated in all the trimmings of the season, and a crackling fire was burning in the grate, but Elenna was certainly not feeling the holiday spirit.
Tomorrow would be the winter solstice, the most important day of Midwinter, and none of them were home. They would miss the feasting and the games and the dancing and the music and the opening of the gifts on the morning of the solstice. They had already missed decorating the castle; somehow, hanging the holly branches and choosing the huge log to be burnt in the fire on solstice-night hadn’t been half so much fun as it was when there were twelve of them, and not just three. She had tried to pretend to be happy and bright and normal, but it was so tiring and in any case, it hadn’t worked. Da had sensed her loneliness, she knew he had. Watching Ma place the candles and ribbons on the Midwinter tree in the great hall, looking so alone without graceful, birdlike Rose to help her, tears had pricked her eyes and Da had laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed. The simple gesture of kindness had only made her desire to weep even stronger, however.
Unhappiness was not a usual emotion for young Elenna. She had always had the happy ability to make the best of everything, and it was rare that her small, pointed face was lacking a wide smile. But today was different. Fourteen years old, and the only one left behind at home. Even Buran, three years her junior, was absent - his first year as a page almost complete. The disadvantage of being the almost-youngest in a large family of extremely active people was that one was often left behind. Usually, it didn’t matter to her. In the other seasons, Trebond’s lands provided her with a multitude of tasks and activities, and during the war she had spent her days helping Ma in the infirmary, or checking supply lists with Da. But the war had ended, and the soldiers had gone - or almost all of them had gone - and it was nearly Midwinter, and none of them were back and they had broken their promises!
Her lower lip quivered. She loved her parents, of course she did, but Midwinter at Trebond would just not be the same without Jonthair and Thomsen singing rude ale-songs that would have their mother shrieking, or Alinna playing old, soulful melodies on the harp late into the winter nights, or Mylec’s awful jokes, or Buran’s quiet thoughtfulness, or Daran’s big hugs, or games of chess with Liam, or rides in the mountains with Thayine, or having her hair brushed by Rose before bed. The old castle would be empty without them all, and she just a ghost wandering its wide, draughty halls.
She sniffed and brushed at suddenly wet eyes, pushing her red curls away from her damp cheeks. If her siblings were here now, she tried to reason, they would all be squabbling like dogs over a leg of mutton. It wasn’t a particularly convincing, or comforting, thought. She ought to brave and grateful, she knew that. At least their family had escaped decimation by death and injury, unlike many across Tortall. Her brothers and sisters would come home one day, even if they weren’t there right now. But it was so difficult to be brave when it was the first Midwinter after the war - the first Midwinter for four years when no beastly Scanran warbands would appear to keep them apart. It was easier to bear separations during wartime, when every other family was doing the same. She sighed wistfully… and then stopped.
There was a sound in the courtyard. Horses’ hooves. She looked out of the window, saw the familiar mounts - and clattered from the room.
By the time she has arrived downstairs, she is too out of breath to care that only four of them have managed to get home. Daran sweeps her up in a hug, tight as a vice; over her head, Alinna is babbling about letters she has brought from Mylec and Liam; Jonthair - tall, wonderful Jonthair - is struggling to unload neatly-wrapped parcels from Thayine and Rose; and then Buran’s warm hand claps her joyfully on the back and the smile that has been tugging at her lips widens, grows and becomes a delighted laugh.
Message: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
From: indifferentred
Title: The Darkest Evening of the Year
Rating: G
Word Count: 859
Prompt: 4. Conte or Trebond family fic
Summary: It’s the night before the winter solstice, and Elenna of Trebond waits for her family to come home… Partly inspired by (and title derived from) Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” I hope you enjoy it…
They had promised. They had all of them promised her faithfully before they left that they would be home in time. Elenna of Trebond stared gloomily out of the tower window for the fifteenth time that day. Thick snowflakes drifted by, obscuring the mountain view. In a few hours, she judged, the passes would all be blocked and no one would be able to get through. The thought made her heart sink to the bottoms of her well-worn leather boots. She hadn’t been able to think of much else for the past week; the book she had been trying to read lay abandoned on her lap as she sat, wedged into the narrow window seat, swathed in an old blanket. Her room had been merrily decorated in all the trimmings of the season, and a crackling fire was burning in the grate, but Elenna was certainly not feeling the holiday spirit.
Tomorrow would be the winter solstice, the most important day of Midwinter, and none of them were home. They would miss the feasting and the games and the dancing and the music and the opening of the gifts on the morning of the solstice. They had already missed decorating the castle; somehow, hanging the holly branches and choosing the huge log to be burnt in the fire on solstice-night hadn’t been half so much fun as it was when there were twelve of them, and not just three. She had tried to pretend to be happy and bright and normal, but it was so tiring and in any case, it hadn’t worked. Da had sensed her loneliness, she knew he had. Watching Ma place the candles and ribbons on the Midwinter tree in the great hall, looking so alone without graceful, birdlike Rose to help her, tears had pricked her eyes and Da had laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed. The simple gesture of kindness had only made her desire to weep even stronger, however.
Unhappiness was not a usual emotion for young Elenna. She had always had the happy ability to make the best of everything, and it was rare that her small, pointed face was lacking a wide smile. But today was different. Fourteen years old, and the only one left behind at home. Even Buran, three years her junior, was absent - his first year as a page almost complete. The disadvantage of being the almost-youngest in a large family of extremely active people was that one was often left behind. Usually, it didn’t matter to her. In the other seasons, Trebond’s lands provided her with a multitude of tasks and activities, and during the war she had spent her days helping Ma in the infirmary, or checking supply lists with Da. But the war had ended, and the soldiers had gone - or almost all of them had gone - and it was nearly Midwinter, and none of them were back and they had broken their promises!
Her lower lip quivered. She loved her parents, of course she did, but Midwinter at Trebond would just not be the same without Jonthair and Thomsen singing rude ale-songs that would have their mother shrieking, or Alinna playing old, soulful melodies on the harp late into the winter nights, or Mylec’s awful jokes, or Buran’s quiet thoughtfulness, or Daran’s big hugs, or games of chess with Liam, or rides in the mountains with Thayine, or having her hair brushed by Rose before bed. The old castle would be empty without them all, and she just a ghost wandering its wide, draughty halls.
She sniffed and brushed at suddenly wet eyes, pushing her red curls away from her damp cheeks. If her siblings were here now, she tried to reason, they would all be squabbling like dogs over a leg of mutton. It wasn’t a particularly convincing, or comforting, thought. She ought to brave and grateful, she knew that. At least their family had escaped decimation by death and injury, unlike many across Tortall. Her brothers and sisters would come home one day, even if they weren’t there right now. But it was so difficult to be brave when it was the first Midwinter after the war - the first Midwinter for four years when no beastly Scanran warbands would appear to keep them apart. It was easier to bear separations during wartime, when every other family was doing the same. She sighed wistfully… and then stopped.
There was a sound in the courtyard. Horses’ hooves. She looked out of the window, saw the familiar mounts - and clattered from the room.
By the time she has arrived downstairs, she is too out of breath to care that only four of them have managed to get home. Daran sweeps her up in a hug, tight as a vice; over her head, Alinna is babbling about letters she has brought from Mylec and Liam; Jonthair - tall, wonderful Jonthair - is struggling to unload neatly-wrapped parcels from Thayine and Rose; and then Buran’s warm hand claps her joyfully on the back and the smile that has been tugging at her lips widens, grows and becomes a delighted laugh.