She looked at the bare tree. Sis and several other friends had mentioned coming around for the Christmas dinner and time together, but she didn’t feel like doing anything other than being snuggled by the cats and the other animals she considered her family.
Standing up, she moved towards the boxes scattered about. All day yesterday, she’d cleaned the cave: washed dishes, dusted corners and tops of cupboards, swept floors, and cleaned all the litter boxes, barns, what have you. Today, she had put up a tree. It was just a head taller than she was, but still, she was able to get it in and set it up where the tree went EVERY year.
She went to the first box and opened it, taking out several strands of lights. She selected blue and white sparkly lights. She smiled a little and began to twine the lights around the tree. After filling all the empty spots and making sure there was a continuing blue and white twinkling of lights all over the tree, she moved to the boxes of garlands, which held almost all the colors of the rainbow. She had popped popcorn earlier, but it didn't last, as she had munched on it when she’d settled down to think. So, strings of popcorn weren’t going to happen, nor were cranberries or dried oranges, either, so she’d gone to the shiny kind of decor. Mist had humored her absolute adoration for picking up new Christmas ornaments and color schemes and such, so they had a vast selection: from red and green to blue and white and even some pinks and peacock schemes.
She selected different shades of blue, white and silver ribbons with different patterns. Moving to start weaving the ribbons into and around the tree, Amaris had mixed feelings. Her playlist while she decorated reflected her mood. It was going to be a blue Christmas, but now and then a smile would appear on her face as memories of Mist and her decorating came to mind. Next came snowflakes of similar colors as the ribbons. She started to scatter them around, placing them here and there. She opened more boxes as she went on to decorate. Thankfully, she’d become more and more organized as she grew, and many of the blues, whites, and silvers, greens, reds, golds, etc. were in individual boxes, grouped together and labeled. Styrofoam balls on sticks were placed into the tree here and there, then came the ornaments. She decided to forgo the star and made a headdress for the top of the tree, with different ribbons and balls bundled together.
Dinner had come by the time she had finished, so she moved to plug in the tree and let it twinkle as she went to make something. Several minutes passed before she came back to the tree, setting her food on the table. She kept a sharp eye on it to keep the feline and canine populations of the cave from getting into it as she gathered a few packages and wrapping paper to herself and sat on the couch. She turned on a Christmas movie and started to eat and wrap, now and then stopping and swearing when she lost her tape or scissors. Eventually, the food was gone, the gifts were wrapped and Amaris lay out on the couch sleeping soundly, a few sheets of wrapping paper covering her and crinkling whenever she would move. The cave settled into silence as the TV shut off. Not a creature stirred. It was going to be a still Christmas eve.
Sometime during the night, a creature did stir, but no one paid attention. Red and white fur rustled. The mirror that had made Mist disappear from Amaris’ life was lifted out of the apothecary and vanished along with the furred man.
Close to dawn, but not quite dawn, the TV came back on and “The Year Without a Santa Claus” came on. The volume was soft.
“Amaris.”
Amaris sniffed in her sleep, but nothing more happened
“Amaris? Are you there?”
Amaris groaned.
“I don’t have school. Let me sleep.”
A soft chuckle… that familiar chuckle… MIST’S chuckle filled the living room, and Amaris started awake, looking around. Waking fully, she remembered he wasn’t there. She had been dreaming. She wished she could have stayed in that dream.
“Not a dream, my girl. I'm here. Well, sort of.”
Amaris’ eyes went wide, and she scrambled to her feet, glancing around, trying to find him. He cleared his throat.
“On the tree, Amaris.”
Amaris rubbed her eyes again as she rushed to the tree, finding a small black compact hanging from the tree on a blue ribbon. Amaris knelt before it and closed her eyes, remembering a spell she’d learned after Mist’s death, one that dispelled dark magic and identified dangerous magic. Passing her hands around the compact, her hands glowing a soft white light, she found nothing dangerous. Gingerly, she took the compact down from the tree, turning it this way and that, looking at the silver-looking lining. No burning happened when she touched it, so it seemed it was not true silver, just silver toned. On the black part in the center of the moons, a few runes glowed blue, like how the runes on Mists’ skin had glowed. She shook a delicate finger and traced over the rune before she opened it.
Ornament outside
Inside the compact, the image of Mist waited patiently in that manner he always had used with her. Patience and love. Amaris’ eyes filled with tears that streamed down her face, but she was silent as she drank in his image. She was used to magic but wasn’t quite prepared for his words and movements.
“Amaris, it’s going to be alright. Now, take a deep breath”
She swiped away tears, fighting to breathe and calm down.
“Daddy? Are you a ghost? Do I need to save you? I’ll be there just like when I was on the ship and pull you back. You know I can!”
Mist’s smile played on his lips and he shook his head.
“I’m not dead, dear girl. The mirror was a portal. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get back, but I don’t think there is a way to do it.”
“OH! Pharlen and Des and the family are out looking for you. They said they’d bring you back. I don’t think they’ll fail!”
Mist didn’t falter. “Then I’m sure I’ll come back someday, but it may be a long time. Until then, I missed you, and as a Christmas wish, I asked Santa to fashion this to speak to you. I’m safe and happy, even though I have to be apart from you. I see you picked a tree and brought it home and decorated it. It looks beautiful.”
Amaris sniffled, finally calming down, and nodded
“I was missing you, too, and thanks, I thought it was pretty.”
She was holding back, but Mist lifted an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. He knew she had held back some of what she was going to say.
Sighing, Amaris continued: “I was thinking ‘Blue Christmas without you’ so I went with a blue Christmas tree. I feel like I’m alone even around EVERYONE.”
Mist sighed and nodded. “I’m sorry you are feeling down, but I like that you created something beautiful out of your sadness. I don’t have too much longer… the magic I carved into this compact is of this world, and our worlds only blend for an hour, once a month, for a few days before the full moon or at the full moon. It's very unstable magic, and my magic has changed and weakened here. I’m learning how to work with the ley lines here and strengthen my magic to attune to this world's magic. Santa exists here, thankfully, and after much research I learned that I could create a communication device.
“I was worried you’d thought I’d died. I was hurt pretty bad, but there were healers here. I appeared in the middle of a festival, so I was treated right away. It took a while to heal, but as soon as I was able, I started to research and try to find a way to get back to you, or at least let you know I was okay. I’m sorry it took so long and made you sad.”
Amaris hung off of every word he said, and when he had finished, she let out her breath.
“So many think you’re dead, except for Pharlen and family. There was a memorial and everything. Wait ‘til I tell them you’re alright!”
Mist watched her and sighed. “If you tell ‘everyone,’ they may think you have lost your senses and take you to the healers. I know you want to share the news, but since the magic is so infrequent, proving yourself might be complicated. I would advise that you tell only family and those, of course, that you trust.”
Amaris sighed. “You’re right it’s probably for the best.”
Amaris and Mist caught up for another two hours with the extended magic from Santa. Finally, Mist noticed sleep returning to Amaris, and they gave their goodbyes, this time only temporarily. Amaris cleaned up and put things away before going to her bedroom, finding a nice chain from her jewelry box and stringing the compact so it laid over her heart. Then, she slipped into her first good night's sleep in months.
A soft “Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas” echoed as she slept.
Ornament inside
