Angondra Holiday Special

by Ruth Anne Scott

  She couldn’t move if she tried. Nothing could surprise her as much as this.

  He waited. “Aren’t you going to open it?”

  “What are you giving me this for?” she asked.

  “Stop stalling and open it,” he ordered.

  That snapped her out of her shock. She slid back the lid and peered into the box. The light from the ceiling glinted on a flash of gold nestled against the wood grain. She tipped the box sideways, and the gold rippled to the container’s opposite corner. She opened her mouth to ask again what it was, but she couldn’t make her voice work.

  She tipped the watery gold into her hand. Several links of gold, hinged at the corners with perfect craftsmanship, played across her amber skin. Light danced through the facets of precious stones embedded in the gold. Ornate carvings of flowers and vines decorated the flat links. The whole piece lay cool and alive against her skin. It spoke to her through her skin, of the distant past, of the years she’d spent here with the Ursidreans, of the roots she’d laid down with her family and her friends and her life’s work.

  She gazed down at the bracelet. The soft light refracted through multicolored prisms penetrated her mind and softened the anxiety and pain she never let herself acknowledge was there. “What’s this for?”

  Donen leaned back. “I couldn’t exactly fail to overhear you and Anna and Emily talking about this holiday. It’s true, isn’t it, that back on Earth, this holiday is a time of exchanging gifts?”

  Aria shrugged. “It is for most people, but it isn’t for me.”

  “That’s what you said,” he countered. “Then I was walking back from the transport dock when Marissa came up to me and told me how your family used to give gifts before your father died. She explained that you stopped exchanging them when your mother couldn’t support the family.”

  “Did she tell you to give me this?” she asked.

  “She didn’t tell me to do anything,” he replied. “She just told me the story, so I would understand why you didn’t want everybody giving gifts.”

  “Do the others know?” She couldn’t speak above a whisper.

  “No one knows,” he replied.

  “Where did you get this?” she asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it on Angondra since the day I arrived. I didn’t know they made things like this here.”

  “They don’t,” he replied. “I programmed the store chamber to make it.”

  She lifted her eyes to his face. “How could you program it when you’d never seen anything like it before?”

  He shrugged. “I made it up.”

  She blinked. “You.....”

  He held her gaze, but she couldn’t continue. She let her hand rest on her lap. She couldn’t take her eyes off the bracelet. “I can’t accept this. The others will know, and I would look ridiculous for insisting no one exchange gifts. You’d better take it back.” She held it out to him, but her heart bled at the thought of parting with it. She wanted nothing in the world but to clutch it to her chest and cherish it for the rest of her life.

  Donen ignored the bracelet. It lay in her extended hand unnoticed. He cupped her chin in his hand and raised her face to look into his eyes. “This has nothing to do with the others, and it has nothing to do with this holiday. This is a gift from me to you, to show you how I feel about you. None of the others know about this, and none of them has to know I gave it to you. Put it in a drawer and hide it forever if you want to, but it’s yours.”

  Without waiting for her reply, he lifted the bracelet out of her hand and looped it around her wrist. She didn’t see how he clasped it, but the next instant, it circled her wrist with its brilliant liquid fire. It sang in her heart even more clearly now, through her skin. The years made sense—at least, they made more sense than they had before. The terrifying journey here, the battle to escape the Romarie, the uncertainty of coming to Harbeiz to mate with a man she’d never met, the years adapting and struggling to find her place in Ursidrean society—it all made sense now.

  What the others did and said no longer mattered. She relinquished responsibility for whatever they experienced. If Penelope Ann wanted to go home, Aria would give her a hug and a kiss and love her just the same. The others could come or go as they pleased. Aria could accept it all now.

  She studied the stones set in the bracelet’s links. The technology of the store chamber made them as real as anything dug up out of the ground back on Earth. The gold was real gold, as real as anything she could buy from a Second Avenue jeweler’s shop, but this piece was worth so much more than money could buy. It came out of Donen’s heart, that loved her enough to give it to her, and out of his mind, that conceived a gift like this from nothing and created it without a template to copy. He was the real gift, the years of his faith and love, his undying support for her and the boys through trials no one could know or understand.

  The bracelet released its hold on her. It served as a conduit for Donen’s love. That song she heard came from him, not from gold and gems. Whatever the bracelet meant to her came from him. She lifted her eyes to his face, and the spark of recognition brightened his eyes. He smiled. He understood.

  She threw herself at him and planted her lips on his. She flung her arms around him so hard she knocked him over backwards on the bed.

  Chapter 10

  Aria re-entered the room with a beatific smile on her face. Donen followed with the circle of gold touching their joined hands. He closed the door behind him and Aria turned to the counter to take over the dinner preparations she left unfinished. That’s when she noticed the tree. Her hand flew to her heart and she gasped out loud. “What....?”

  Anna smiled at her. “Do you like it?”

  Aria stared at the tree. The decorations hadn’t changed, but under its lowest boughs, dozens of packages wrapped in shining paper tumbled over the floor. They rested on top of each other in heaps right up to the tree’s branches. Not an inch of space remained under the tree. Presents spilled out onto the floor and dazzled the eye. Curls of ribbon and bows festooned their tops, and a tiny paper card hung from every bow. From her place at the counter, Aria could just make out a name written on each card.

  How her heart longed to rush over to that tree, to fall on her knees in front of it, and inspect every card. How she longed to share the excitement of handing out each gift to the person to whom it belonged, to feel her heart flutter with pleasure at seeing those exquisite packages opened and the joy they would bring their owners.

  She hardly dared look around at the faces of her friends, but when she did, she found them all looking back at her with shining eyes and glowing red cheeks. The same excitement and joy burned in each of their hearts. They would join her in handing out the gifts and opening them the way they should be opened. Not one person noticed her bracelet. These gifts came from some other source. In a flash, her heart burst open, and she understood. They came from her friends’ love for her and for one another.

  She no longer needed to hold onto the pain and shame of her father’s death. Whatever damage it did to her, whatever joy it robbed her of in her youth, she could let it all go now and be truly happy.

  She looked around again and found Penelope Ann standing next to the long seat. Aquilla stood at her side with his arms around her waist. Penelope Ann smiled at Aria. “Now that’s what I call a Christmas tree!”

  Aria swallowed hard. Her heart couldn’t contain all the love and joy bursting to come out. She extended her hand to Penelope Ann, and Penelope Ann took it. She squeezed it. Aria would have hugged her, but Penelope Ann gave her hand a shake. “Now, come on. We’ve got work to do to put Christmas dinner on the table. You girls, stop standing around like kids in a candy store. Clear the table. We don’t have much time left before it’s time to eat.”

  “Chris and Emily still aren’t back,” Turk told her.

  Penelope Ann stopped in mid-stride. Anna asked, “Should we wait for them?”

  At that moment, the door f
lew open. Chris backed into the room, followed by Emily. They carried a heavy iron box between them.

  Aimee strode toward them. “Where have you two been all day? We were starting to get worried, and now it’s time to get Christmas dinner on the table.”

  Chris flashed a triumphant smile over her shoulder. Her face glowed with sweat, but she didn’t stop until she and Emily set the box down in the middle of the room “Just wait until you see what we found. We’ve been searching all day, and we just made it back in time.” She swept the room with her eyes until she met Aria’s startled gaze. “Just wait until you find out what we found. You’re gonna be so happy.”

  Aria raised her eyebrows. “I’m already happy.”

  Chris burst out laughing. “This tops everything. Just you wait!”

  Caleb frowned down at the box. “What is this thing you found?”

  Donen laughed, too, and shook his head. He threw himself into a chair and flung his arms over the back. The others frowned.

  Chris grabbed Aria’s hands. “Don’t you see? It’s a thermal combustion accelerator. We found it down in the old army storage hangar. That’s where they keep all the old disused military equipment from the war. They haven’t used it in years, so the sergeant said we could have it.”

  Aria made a face. “Thermal combustion accelerator? Speak English for a change.”

  “Besides,” Penelope Ann added, “it’s taking up the other half of the living room. Now we really won’t be able to walk from one side of the room to the other.”

  Chris flew to her and clasped both her hands. “Don’t you see, Penelope Ann? We’re going to have an open fire after all. This thing makes fire, and it does it safely so it won’t put the whole city in danger.”

  Renier frowned at the thing, too. They all frowned. “How does it work?”

  Chris stepped back. “I don’t really understand it myself. Emily explained it all to me, but I still couldn’t put it together. I’m trusting her.”

  Emily brushed the dust off her hands. “It works on the same technology as the transmogrifiers. It creates the fuel at the bottom the same way the transmogrifiers create our food. Then it ignites the fuel and burns it. The fumes and smoke and heat rise into an intake manifold at the top, where it recycles all the byproducts into the base material to make more fuel at the bottom.”

  The frowns surrounding her deepened. No one said a word.

  Emily waved her hands. “You don’t have to understand how it works. You can take my word that it does work—or that sergeant is in big trouble. If you don’t believe me, ask Donen. He’ll tell you.”

  Everybody rounded on Donen. He leaned back in his chair with an enormous grin on his face.

  “Well?” Renier asked. “Does this thing really work?”

  “Oh, it works,” Donen replied. “If it’s fire you want, this thing will give it to you. It’s a stroke of pure genius. I’d forgotten all about it.”

  That satisfied the doubters. They turned back to the inert hunk of metal in the middle of the floor. “Well, let’s see it work.”

  Chris and Emily exchanged glances. “We forgot to ask the sergeant that.”

  Emily chopped the air with her hand. “Never mind. I’ll get it working. Here. Help me move it over to the side of the room, out of the way.”

  The two women started to lug the accelerator to the side of the room, but Renier, Turk and Caleb leapt to their assistance. In a moment, it sat against the far wall, well out of the way of anyone walking across the room.

  Emily bent over it. “Now, unless I’m mistaken, this panel should work to activate it the same way we activate the transmogrifier.” She started punching buttons on the control console.

  The box hummed to life. A blurry light glowed in the front opening, and an excited sigh went around the room. Then a loud pop, followed by a plume of choking smoke, belched into Emily’s face and diffused through the room. Carmen waved the smoke out of her face. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

  Donen launched himself out of his chair. “Move aside. You’re doing it all wrong. You do it like this.”

  With a few masterful stabs at the console, the device buzzed to life. The fuel in the lower pan smoldered and glowed. Then with a spark it burst into flame. The flames danced and leapt against the back of the opening. Everyone gasped. Then they broke into spontaneous applause. They clapped Emily on the back, and Chris hugged Penelope Ann. “Now we can all sit around in front of the fire and have a real Christmas.”

  The fire crackled, and the Lycaon started to relax. A wave of relief swept through the room. Even the Avitras and the Ursidreans, who lived without fire, softened in the fire’s warming glow. They sat down in front of it and gazed into the flames, the evening meal forgotten.

  How long they sat there and stared at those elusive orange and yellow flames, no one knew. No one spoke. No one moved. The silence filled everyone present with peace and tranquility. Every trace of hostility and conflict went up in that smoke.

  Marissa sighed. “This is perfect.”

  Aria jumped up. “There’s only one thing missing.”

  “Sit down, Aria,” Anna told her. “There’s nothing missing. You don’t have to work all the time to make it perfect.”

  Aria hurried over to her kitchen counter. “This won’t take a minute, and it will be the icing on the cake.”

  “What could be so important?” Emily asked. “Just enjoy the moment while it lasts.”

  Aria didn’t answer. She squatted down behind the counter, and the transmogrifier’s control panel beeped. A moment later, she stood up with a tray balanced between her hands. She steadied it with wide eyes and brought it over in front of the fire.

  “What is it?” Carmen asked.

  Aria grinned and handed cups around the circle. “Eggnog!”

  Penelope Ann gasped. “You shouldn’t have.”

  Aria shook her head and settled back on the floor in front of Donen. She cradled her cup between two hands. “Nothing is too good for you guys. Here we are, relaxing in front of our fireplace with our Christmas tree all decorated. It’s the one thing missing. Now nothing is missing.”

  Anna stood up. “There is one thing missing.”

  A collective cry went around the circle. “What could be missing now?”

  Anna suppressed a mischievous smile. “Just wait until you see.” She bent over the accelerator. “I came in here last night when no one was around. Unless I missed something, none of you even noticed the change I made.”

  The friends exchanged glances. “What did you change?”

  “I hope it’s nothing disastrous,” Aimee murmured.

  “Don’t worry,” Anna replied. “It’s something good. You’re going to love it.”

  As she spoke, she finished messing with whatever she was messing with behind the accelerator, and a million tiny lights burst to life all over the Christmas tree. Tiny stars of glowing fire shone from its many branches. The women gasped out loud. “Oh, it’s so beautiful!”

  “Where did you get them?” Aria asked. “How did you do it?”

  Anna resumed her seat. “You’d be surprised what you can find squirreled away in this city. After we decorated the tree, I had a sense something was missing, and it wasn’t the open fireplace. I found these in an old storage lock-up downstairs from the Labor Pool. No one wanted them anymore, so they gave them to me. I had to get one of the army engineers to modify the power supply to be compatible with the rest of the city. That’s how out of date they are, but it worked.”

  The women gazed at the tree in wonder. “It’s perfect.”

  Aquilla peered into his cup. “What is this stuff?”

  “It’s eggnog,” Penelope Ann replied. “It’s milk mixed with egg and spices. Try it. It’s delicious.”

  Aquilla sniffed his cup. Then he set the cup down on the table at his elbow. “Thanks, just the same.”

  Penelope Ann grabbed the cup. “All the more fo
r me.”

  Chapter 11

  Dishes still partially loaded with the remains of Christmas dinner cluttered the table. Stacks of bowls and platters covered the kitchen counter, but no one moved to clean up. The friends reclined in their chairs. Renier stretched out in front of the fire with a contented growl. “I couldn’t eat another bite. I think I’ll sleep here tonight.”

  Caleb leaned back against the seat between Marissa’s knees, and she rubbed his shoulders. “I won’t need to eat for a week. That was the best meal ever.”

  “You’re not really planing to leave tomorrow morning, are you?” Anna asked.

  Caleb cocked his head to one side. “It does seem a little hasty, when you put it like that.”

  “We’ve only been here two days,” Marissa pointed out.

  “We could stay a little longer,” Caleb replied. “Nothing’s stopping us.”

  “Don’t forget the handover,” Aria reminded him. “Didn’t you say you’re handing over power to Taig at a ceremony on the evening of the full moon?”

  Caleb and Marissa glanced at each other. Then they exchanged another knowing glance with Chris and Turk. “We aren’t going back.”

  Aria’s head shot up. “What? What do you mean, you aren’t going back?”

  “I mean we’re going back,” Caleb explained. “We just aren’t going back to the village. We aren’t going to attend the handover ceremony, so there won’t be one.”

  “What?” Aria cried. “Why?”

  Caleb stared into the fire and shrugged. “Going back to the village now would only undermine the authority Taig has spent months building. He’s ready to take over the faction. He’s been running things while I’ve been away. If I don’t go back, he’ll just keep running them. If I do go back, he’ll have to step aside and let me run things again until the handover. It muddles things up. Better to just disappear quietly into the woods and let him keep on doing what he’s already doing.”

  “But where will you go?” Aria asked. “What will you do?”