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Hey Readers!
Because my posting day falls on Christmas Eve, I figured I'd write a chapter about the gang celebrating Christmas. Note that this has nothing to do with the storyline, but takes someplace after the mission. Also, I decided to write this chapter in the third person just to change things up. I hope you enjoy!
Happy Holidays!
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The Scarlet Assassin couldn't mistake the sender of the letter she held in her hands as anyone other than the king. Arrogant ass.
She turned it over carefully and saw the deep gold wax imprinted with King Orson's seal--a white-crowned sparrow sitting on an oak branch with a jeweled crown floating over its head--securing the parchment shut. But she didn't want to deal with his shenanigans now.
Vera shoved the letter into the inner pocket of her coat, as far down as she could in an attempt to make it not exist anymore. It was a feeble attempt but an attempt altogether. She had a sinking feeling of the contents of the letter, and she wasn't in the mood to prove herself right. It was the day before Solstice after all, and she had plans.
Vera thanked the man who had handed her the letter--one of her runners--and turned from the harbor, making her way home.
The streets, covered with layers of snow, carried smiling people, busy with both work and shopping. More children ran through the streets at this time too, holding small cups of hot chocolate in their gloved hands and gathering snow into balls, throwing them at their friends and family. The markets were crowded, more and more merchants docked daily, and the "Solstice spirit" seemed present on everyone as if it had been sprinkled on everyone by the last rainstorm. This was one of two times of the year that laughing echoed down the street.
But this also meant the bars and casinos were filled to the max which made business for Vera good, and money always put her in a good mood. That was, of course, until the infuriating King Orson decided to put a wrench in it.
Vera walked into the Viper's Den to find Vera's casino running per usual, her men stationed on different parts, watching over the players. She noticed Fallon was playing today at the blackjack table. Vera watched her flirt with a man in a crisp suit. She touched his wrist and let her eyes fill with lust, but Vera left before watching what happened next (before the man realized he had been tricked and that his 24 karat watch was missing). She began climbing the stairs that led to her office, and when she unlocked and opened the door, she heard someone order,
"No! That doesn't go there, idiot!"
Vera's mouth parted in both surprise and annoyance.
Sophie was hanging a garland over the fireplace; Sorin, whom Sophie yelled at, was hanging up ornaments on a large tree; Ace, in red and white pajamas, was drinking wine on the couch; Carter was cutting out paper snowflakes on the floor, and Rafe was stacking wood into the hearth.
"It's a metal sphere, Sophie!" Sorin shot back exasperatedly. "It doesn't matter."
"You can't put two red ornaments together!"
"Does this snowflake look good?" Carter asked, holding the cut-up paper high so Ace could see from the couch.
"Mmm it could be worse," she said. Carter examined his artwork, chewing on his lip.
"If you want the ornaments patterned in a certain way, you could've done it yourself," Sorin said.
Sophie scoffed. "I would have if you wouldn't have hung up the garland wrong!"
"You're putting it up the same way as me!"
"Are you fuc-" Vera shut the door. The noise made everyone freeze.
And slowly, as calmly as she could possibly be, Vera asked, "What the hell is going on?" There was a short silence. Rafe stood from his crouched position by the hearth.
"Vera..." Rafe said, laughing awkwardly and standing. "We, uh, thought you'd, uh, like your office to look a little more, um... festive."
Sophie joined him by his side. "Yeah, you let us decorate the casino-"
"I let you put up one tree to shut you all up. I never agreed to," she flicked at a half-hung garland strand hanging beside her, "this."
"Oh come on, little assassin," Sorin said. "Let us have our fun."
"I'll let you have fun taking it down. Whose great idea was this anyway?" Sophie pursed her lips.
"It was my idea," Carter said. He was still holding paper and scissors, fidgeting with them. "I just... We all have traditions that we normally spend with our families, but none of us can go home to celebrate with them. So I figured we could celebrate them together as our own little family." He stopped and averted his eyes to the ground. Vera inhaled and exhaled deeply.
The last time Vera had celebrated Solstice had been in the castle. Ryn had loved all of it, every single thing about it. He fashioned presents for his family and decorated every inch of his small living space. He would convince the cooks to make cookies and leave a few for each servant, and he'd sing songs as he walked down the halls.
But for Vera, it was just a big fat reminder--the annoying kind that you try but just can't shake away--of her parents, of everything she'd lost. She tried every year to not make it a big deal, partaking in hanging garlands and wrapping gifts, but Ryn could tell. Ryn always could. So, he included her in everything he did as an attempt, Vera always thought, to tell her she wasn't alone. But on the morning of December 21st, Ryn went to celebrate with his family, and Vera sat alone in the library, trying to make herself feel less lonely by losing herself in the pages of a book.
And after the war, even after meeting and recruiting Rafe, Vera never could shake the memories that had haunted her. Winter Solstice was always a trigger of emotions. And she was still always alone. Rafe visited the orphanage he grew up in every year, taking small gifts with him for the children, and leaving the assassin to--as she had every Solstice before--curl up and read, trying to not let her loneliness swallow her whole.
And though she absolutely despised the mess in her office that she called home, she didn't want anyone of her friends to feel the same way as she had.
So, the assassin responded to Carter with, "Okay. Keep decorating, keep drinking." She began walking to her desk. "I have to leave in a little bit anyway." Sophie's eyes followed Vera questionably.
"But why? Where? Solstice is tomorow!" Vera pulled out the letter addressed to her and held it up so Sophie could see the seal. She stiffened.
"Duty calls."
"Oh, who does that miserable oaf want you to kill this time?" Rafe asked, immediately catching himself and mumbling to Sophie, "No offense." Vera slumped into her chair.
"I don't know. I haven't read it yet."
"I'm sure whatever the king wants, it couldn't wait," Sorin said. Leave it to him to defend the brute.
Vera rolled her eyes. "Yes. I'm sure Orson has a dire need that couldn't wait two days, and this has nothing to do with the fact that he hates me."
"Well, we won't know until you open it." Vera stared at him for a second longer and kept eye contact with him as she opened the letter. Only when she had to read it did she look down.
"Dear my most loved and adorned assassin," she read, then mumbled, "Flattery. Off to a good start." Vera cleared her throat and continued. "As you know, Solstice is tomorrow and celebrations will commence all-around Vadon. There will be a parade in the morning that ends at the palace, and like every year, a tree, larger than life itself will be lit. I've heard the tree lot by the Ash river has the best and most lavish trees. I expect one delivered to the palace gates by dawn. Yours truly, King Orson of Ravaryn. PS, I dearly hope I don't ruin any drinking or gambling plans you may have had in that delightful gang of yours with my traitorous daughter and lieutenant." Vera stopped and tossed the letter onto her desk.
"That's it?" Rafe asked. "He wants you to get him a tree?"
Vera shrugged. "Seems that way."
"Did he give you money?" Carter asked. Vera shook her head. "So he wants you to pay for it?"
"No," Vera said. "He wants me to steal it."
"Operation stealing solstice," Sorin said, laughing.
"The sap thief," Rafe said.
"You two are pathetic," Ace mumbled into her wine glass.
"So how are we going to pull this off?" Sophie asked.
"We?"
Sorin scoffed. "You can't possibly believe you can cut down and carry a tree by yourself."
"Yeah, come on. It'll be fun," Rafe said, shrugging.
Sighing, Ace said, "I guess drinking can wait."
"So," Sophie repeated, "how are we going to pull this off?"
Vera looked around, taking time on each face. Then she said, "Okay. Here's what we're going to do."
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The best assassin in the country, stealing a damn tree.
The thought couldn't shake from Vera's mind. It was infuriating, offending--like hiring a baker to cook only to make him weed your garden. She knew the king was just trying to get under her skin. He enjoyed playing these little games with her, enjoyed having power over her. It just made her want to stick a knife in his gut even more.
"What are you thinking?" Rafe asked. Vera and Rafe laid on their stomachs on a hill covered with snow, overlooking an area of land with large trees trimmed and maintained just for solstice.
"I'm thinking... the tree on the third row, five down from the left." Rafe's eyes scanned the lot until he found it.
"Let's do it." Then they waited.
A minute or so later, Vera saw something in the distance. Smoke. "That's Sorin's signal. Let's go." They descended down the hill carefully and silently. The smoke meant Sorin and Ace had cleared the area of any people and that the owner was gone, but they didn't want to take any chances.
"So, what do you want for solstice?" Rafe asked as they neared the tree.
"A nice new set of friends," Vera whispered back.
"Haha very funny."
"Oh, were we joking?" He rolled his eyes and she laughed. "Did Sorin put you up to this?" They reached the tree. Vera kelt down in the snow, pulling out a vile.
"I have no clue what you're talking about." She shot him a look. "Okay, yes, he did. But it's only because you are extremely difficult when it comes to gift-giving." Vera chuckled.
Unscrewing the cap to the bottle, Vera carefully held the dropper to the bark. Only three drops or the entire tree will desinagrate. Ace's warning played through Vera's head.
Carefully, Vera squeezed the syringe. One drop fell. There was a sizzling sound. The bark began eating away.
Vera continued the process on two other sections of the thick stump. "I don't understand why we couldn't have just brought an ax," Rafe mumbled.
"You try hacking away at this thing," Vera said, not taking her eyes off the tree. "It takes too long, and it's too loud." Once the three drops were done, Vera stepped away and let the liquid burn through the bark. It only took twenty seconds before the tree began tilting, and a full thirty-five seconds for the tree to fall.
It crashed onto the Earth but barely made a sound.
"Damn." Rafe let out a breath. "Well, that was anticlimactic." Vera scoffed and laughed.
"What did you expect lighting to strike the stump or a god to descend down and preach about the sins of defiling nature?"
"Or something like that." Vera shook her head, still smiling.
"Get the rope."
Vera and Rafe dragged the tied tree through the slick snow toward the second cloud of smoke that had popped up where Sophie and Carter sat, a horse-pulled sled next to them. Sorin and Ace were walking up at the same time.
"Well that was fun," Sorin said sarcastically. "Talking to the owner about horses and whiskey while everyone else got to do the action."
"Well next time we have to haul a stupid thirty-foot tree across a tree lot and you're stuck talking to people, I'll gladly trade with you," Rafe said.
"Deal."
"Great," Vera said, dropping the stump of the tree with a groan, "now that we've gotten that all sorted out, mind giving me a hand with this tree?"
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The rest of the night flew by quickly and morning rose. The solstice parade marched through town, beginning at nine in the morning, and at eleven sharp, an explosion shook the earth. From their spots in Vera's office, Sorin, Ace, Sophie, Rafe, and even Vera began cackling. They had implanted a harmless but extremely annoying smoke bomb into the tree, so when it was lit, dense, red powder would shoot out and cover at least a twenty feet peremiter, including the tree itself.
Vera expected a letter from the king to be delivered, but she would deal with him later. Now, she tried to plaster on a smile as the group gathered Solstice morning.
They opened presents together by the crackling fire, sharing laughs and stories.
Vera didn't know how to act--when to smile or laugh or when it was her turn to open the green-wrapped gift. What does she do with her hands? Her legs? How is she supposed to sit? How do you suddenly just know how to celebrate something you've spent the last 15 years of your life resenting? She was young the last time she'd sat by a tree on solstice, opening presents earnestly while surrounded by magnificent scents and people she loves--so young she had forgotten the feeling.
But she was quick to ignore how direly uncomfortable she was because the amount of love and happiness coming from the five people around her was immense. Everyone, even Ace who was usually bitter and irritated, smiled and joked. They all ate food Sophie and Rafe had cooked and drank a lot. They played games well into the afternoon. And after drinking some more, night slowly crept upon them.
Vera was sitting on the couch, her legs tucked up to her chest, her eyes focused so intensely on the fire in front of her that she didn't notice Sorin sit down next to her until he said,
"I know you miss them, little assassin." He brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Talk to me, darling." Vera heaved a large sigh.
"It's just... a lot of emotions. They sort of flood you just when you begin to think you made it through. I don't remember much of my parents, but I remember these days." She let herself smile at the memories and sighed again. "And when the triggers hit--the certain smells, the activities, the tastes--I remember everything so quickly, it feels like a tidal wave crashing over me. And I can't stop it. And I feel like I'm going to drown. And sometimes... Sometimes, I let myself." Sorin stared at her for a few heartbeats. He then reached out and pulled her lightly toward him. She let him. And soon, his arms engulfed her.
She found comfort in his warmth, in his steady heartbeat. "I'll always be there to pull you out of the water if you'll let me," he mumbled onto her hair.
"I'd like that," she whispered, nuzzling her head into his chest.
"Happy solstice, Vera."
"Happy solstice, Sorin."
And their lips found each other.