Nightshade

Shavronne - Yuletide do-over

Shavronne got together his things, taking a deep breath as he got ready for their little excursion. Last year, the coven had started a little tradition of gathering at the cottage for yule, the pagan equivalent of Christmas. They each brought presents for each other, some bought, some made. It was harder for Shavronne and Luka now that they didn't get to spend much time at the mansion, Shavronne and his wife practically living at the hq of the agency. He hummed jingle bells softly as they drove, Astrid looking out the window. Finally, he couldn't take the silence "...astrid?" She looked at him "yes love?" He chewed his cheek, staring out the windshield "when... is your dad scheduled to get out exactly?" She looked away again, tapping a finger on the car door "January 11th." He frowned. "What are we going to-" she suddenly interrupted him "please, can we talk about this another time? I'm not ready right now." He nodded and changed the subject "so, i haven't seen uriel in a while, how is he?" She took a second before answering, still getting over the earlier topic "he's... um... he is good. Really good. He took over my band recently and tours." Shavronne nodded, he'd heard something about that. "Are they going to change the name? Or are you going to be rejoining it soon" Astrid chewed her lip "I want to rejoin but... i don't know,  I don't want to be away from you for so long on the tours and all that" he gently took her hand, still focusing on the road "I know but we're both strong,  we can look after ourselves... and I don't want you to drown in all this... political nonsense." They looked at each other briefly, Astrid and himself both sharing a look of the deep love they felt "I'm not going anywhere Shavronne.  Not yet.  Maybe... when things start to get better.  But we're stronger together." He smiled despite himself,  he knew it may be selfish,  but he loved the compassionate companionship of his wife. They pulled up to the cabin,  where Richie and hera were having a snowball fight,  laughing. Shavronne chuckled and got out of the car,  barely dodging a snowball aimed at his face.  He scooped up a snowball of his own and threw it,  nailing Richie in the chest. They all laughed and they came over,  giving hugs and exchanging warm greetings. Shavronne began to get gifts out of the back of his car with the help of the other three. "Where are the others?" He asked,  carefully balancing meticulously wrapped gifts,  Astrid holding her own massive pile of them as they headed in "you'll see em in a sec, Shavronne.  They're playing a drinking game inside" sure enough,  as Shavronne walked in, everest,  Cody,  eri, jophiel, and uriel sat with Benji, apparently their drinking game having devolved into a drinking contest,  which everest was unsurprisingly winning, Cody and Benji both looking about ready to keel over.  They got up woosily and came over,  giving Shavronne and Astrid more hugs.  He felt the stress sliding off of him as his family was reunited. Shavronne set the gifts under the huge Christmas tree the coven had cut down for the event,  the ceiling magically heightened just so the lovely tree would fit inside,  it was liberally plastered with colorful lights,  and many many ornaments,  some handmade,  others artisanal bulbs bought along various vacations and trips. There was a truly massive pile of gifts underneath the tree,  many of which had his or Astrid's name on them.  He chuckled at the extravagance and openness, so different from his own childhood,  hells, different from any of theirs.  They'd all taken time to figure out what yule meant to each of them,  then worked hard to give a lovely celebration together.  In a more somber note,  he noticed as he looked around,  the small shrine for all those they had lost,  various little pictures and letters amongst candles of differing heights and colors.  He went to it, gently setting a letter he'd written to Kelli, intending to give it to him when they got out of the caverns.  He'd never got to tell Kelli how he had misjudged him,  how sorry he was,  and how grateful he was to him for worrying so deeply about Astrid.  He was a true friend,  taken far too soon.  Hera came up behind him,  putting a hand on his broad shoulder "I know it's hard.  The guilt that comes with things left unsaid.  I deal with it too shav... but he knew. Deep down.  He saw a lot more than most people wanted him to." Shavronne nodded and quietly thanked hera before heading back to Astrid,  who was leading a Christmas Carol, even as she chugged a large tankard of some sweet smelling drink between lines.  He laughed a bit and joined in with his family.

Christmas morning finally came,  and Astrid rolled over,  placing a hand on his chest, kissing him softly as they watched the snow silently fall outside through the window. They watched a while,  silent,  till they were both startled by a small package hitting astrids face "own! What the shit urie?" She looked over at her friend,  who had begun to laugh and cover his face in embarrasment "I didn't mean for that to smack yer face Astrid! But anyway,  open it!" She did as he asked,  grumbling as Shavronne watched.  She smiled brightly and stopped her complaining as she saw the gift.  It was the Bands first album on a cd, the first copy made. She looked at the back,  running her fingers over the song list,  a mixture of songs by herself and uriel, all of which were special to them. She hopped out of bed and hugged uriel tightly,  who laughed and hugged back "glad ya like it!" She nodded "duh! But you should've saved this for when we're all out there!" "We already are! C'mon!" She pushed him out of the room "we gotta get more presentable! See you in... 10 minutes!"