One That Got Away

Chapter 25

"TURKEY TURKEY TURKEY TURKEY!" Ben cheered, running through the house with a chief's headdress on his head.

"BENEDICT CHARLES RYMTEC YOU STOP IT THIS INSTANT!" Pythia shouted after him as Tom raced after him with a colonists hat on his own head. "THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO THOMAS DAVID!"

"And they're nineteen next month," Mara sighed, mixing potatoes in a bowl.

"I keep forgetting that, they're so young," Thorin shook his head. "Are the cranberries supposed to look so...stiff?" he asked and Mara peered into the pan.

"Yes," she said and scooped a small amount into her mouth. Her mother smacked her head with a spoon. "MOM!"

"Save it," snapped Pythia, stirring the stuffing and shoveling it into the turkey. Mara glared at her back and rolled her eyes with a smile for Thorin's enjoyment. He leaned in closer to try and steal a kiss but she launched suddenly into speech.

"You know one of my contacts got back to me on a way back to Arda? Yeah, she said that we could try real magic, magic from this world to get there, but I think she may have been a tad crazy. Like, she doesn't even really believe me." She went on like that and Thorin stared at her attentively, her words buzzing through his head as he stirred the cranberries lethargically.

"SANTA!" came a shout from the living room.

"Scoot," Pythia said and shoved Mara and Thorin from the kitchen. Almost everything was boxed up leaving beanbags and a few footstools for chairs around the TV, which had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on. A man with a white beard in a large sled was waving at the masses before a large store, snow drifting down on him. Live reindeer bucked and tossed their heads at the noise as 'Santa Clause', who sounded and looked a lot like Balin, smiled benignly and wiggled his fingers at babies.

"CHRISTMAS TIME!" Ben howled in joy.

"Not till sundown," Andy said firmly.

"As if! As soon as Santa reaches the Macy storefront it's christmas," Tom retorted.

"HARK THE HERALD ANGEL SINGS!" Ben started to warble.

"GLORY TO THE NEWBORN KING!" Tom replied and led Kili and FIli, who were thoroughly enjoying the festivities, in a march and caroling through the house, Pythia shouting at them all the while. Mara laughed, beaming at the wild children. Any other time she would have her head resting on Thorin's shoulder. She wasn't. She was leaning on her hand swirling a finger lazily in her cup of lukewarm tea. Thorin tried once more to press a kiss to her cheek but she stood abruptly to go check on the cranberry sauce. Thorin flopped back on his beanbag and groaned slightly.

"The impossible girl," Andy said, shaking her head.

"You better believe it," David said pressing a swift kiss to her cheek. Thorin glared. Dinner was a wild affair. After two almost food fights and one huge splatter of mashed potatoes on the wall, the Twins were separated on either side of David and Andy and the Boys were separated between Pythia, Thorin and Mara. After that things went fairly peaceably. David carved the turkey, food was passed around and eaten with plastic utensils on paper plates. Then there was exhausted people lazing about as trash was dumped into the cans and Thorin braided a sleepy, and thus finally immobile, Mara's hair.

"Alright. Let's go, everyone up," Pythia said, walking in and waving at a wall. She realigned herself and gestured again, this time at the door. "You know the drill, come on." Mara sighed and stumbled up along with her siblings.

"What's happening?" Kili asked dreamily rising up.

"We always take food to the homeless. Every holiday without fail," Tom said.