In The Shadow of Our Choices

Chapter 26 - Toxic

First, let me retcon a bit - thinking of gifts is hard, okay? Lol

Per request, here are the 'important' gifts that I left out:

Ominis gave Elizabeth a lovely green cloak. As she unwrapped it, she ran her hands over the fabric.

"It's also got an impervius -" He choked on his words, remembering Mary. "An, er, impermeable-ness to water?"

Elizabeth had to stifle a laugh at his fumbling. Ominis grinned and shrugged. Next, she passed Sebastian her gift for him. He looked rather bemused when he pulled out what appeared to be a magnifying glass.

"I can read this just fine, you know," Sebastian said.

"Try it on the piece of paper in there," Elizabeth said.

Sebastian fished out the page Elizabeth had included in the wrapping. He held up the magnifying glass, looking through it at the paper. He did a double take, looking at the paper without the glass again. Then he looked up at her, grinning. The apparent magnifying glass actually translated several common languages into the viewer's native tongue when text was viewed through its lens. Mary looked perplexed, but Sebastian tucked both paper and glass away without further explanation.

Elizabeth opened the gift that Andrew had sent by owl, pulling out a note and a delicate golden pocket watch.

For all the time you spend exploring

Okay, onto today's story then!

The rest of Christmas day went smoothly. Anne did seem to enjoy Mary's company, even if she was still a bit stiff with the rest of them. She was interested in Mary's experience growing up in the orphanage. Elizabeth sat nearby, listening and chiming in here and there on stories she had been involved in. After dinner, Elizabeth took Mary on a walk down to the shore under the pretext of letting Sebastian and his sister have a private goodbye, though in truth, they simply had to avoid the nurse from St. Mungo's. By the time they returned, Anne had gone, and Sebastian was bent over his book of riddles while Ominis fiddled with the puzzle box Anne had given him.

"How was the beach?" Sebastian asked, looking up as they entered.

"Rather frigid," Elizabeth replied as she swung her new cloak off her shoulders and hung it up.

Mary, who was hanging her own cloak up, ran her hand over Elizabeth's.

"Wow, it's hardly wet at all," she said, "What a lovely cloak."

Ominis grinned, seemingly to himself.

"Ah," Elizabeth said, "Yes, that would be the, er, water-proofing Ominis mentioned. Very handy."

"Hey, you don't mind if I write a letter, do you?" Mary asked. "If you have an owl I could use..."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you writing to?" he asked.

Mary flushed ever so slightly, and Elizabeth glared at him.

"That's a rather rude question Sebastian," Elizabeth said, "And Mary, you're welcome to borrow my owl. Let me get you a piece of paper."

Sebastian leaned back in his chair.

"I'm a rude person, what can I say," he said, smirking.

Elizabeth, still glaring at him, drew her wand to summon a roll of parchment, then froze. Mary looked at her quizzically. Elizabeth hastily stowed the wand, hurrying over to find the parchment herself.

"What is that anyways?" Mary asked. "You had it at the orphanage too."

Elizabeth hesitated. She glanced at Sebastian, who shrugged helplessly.