Gifts for New Family

There's strong winds and strong, slushy snowfall that falls onto Cor'lana as she and the dark-haired man who accompanies her make their way up to Verna and Auranar's house. The small half-sil woman has to pause every now and then, holding tightly onto Grandfather's arm with a particularly strong gale that blows by, but her violet eyes are full of determination... whereas the violet eyes on Grandfather are full of concern, even as he holds tightly onto the parasol that covers them both. "Are you quite alright, little one?" he asks. "I would suggest we turn back, but I know better."

"No, we aren't," Cor'lana says with a huff as she begins to walk again. "Auranar's one of us now, and you have something important to ask her. I didn't get this far in life by giving up."

Grandfather's smile becomes just the touch more amused as he walks with her, but he stays quiet. Eventually they do arrive at Auranar's front door, and it is Cor'lana who knocks. She holds a picnic basket in hand, but it's probably just for transporting something since this is decidedly /not/ picnic weather.

The weather outside might be frightful, but the fire inside is indeed delightful. Auranar is, at the moment of the knock on the door, enjoying some tea and a rare break from everything to simply enjoy the warmth of said fire with Hunter in her lap. The knock pulls her from her contemplations however, and she regretfully puts Hunter on Verna's chair to rise to her feet.

Tea is set aside, and with Hunter purring loudly in Verna's chair, Auranar makes her way to the door, opening it curiously and cautiously only to pull the door open immediately upon viewing who's outside. "Cor'lana! Grandfather! Come in, come in!" The wild elf is clearly glad to see the pair, and she hastens to make room for them to enter. "Can I take your cloaks? Offer some tea perhaps? I just made some gray tea cookies yesterday if you'd like some of those."

Cor'lana looks relieved when Auranar opens the door. "Phew," she says. "I just realized that Grandfather and I could have gone all this way, only for you to be out of the house. That would have been awful. Hello, Auranar! Tea sounds delightful. Cookies, too." She steps inside and doffs her cloak, although she doesn't seem to want to trouble Auranar with finding a place to hang it.

Once Grandfather steps inside, he shifts from his more genteel form to that of the Feathered One that Auranar had met in the prior encounter. That being said, his feathered cloak does look a little damp, the feathers taking on a glossy sheen. "I'll keep my cloak, but Cor'lana, could you dry it for me? I do not wish to get water all over Auranar's fine home and furniture."

"Of course, Grandfather," Cor'lana replies, and she warms up the cloak with a few applications of a common cantrip, returning the feathers to their more glossy sheen. Grandfather nods gently and turns to Auranar. "I would be more than delighted to try your cookies, Auranar. Where would you like for us to sit?"

"That would have been awful! The weather has been terrible lately, though I have no idea why... Here let me take your cloak Cor'lana." Auranar smiles at the other woman and puts the cloak on a hook that sits beside the door. "The couch is very comfortable if you'd like to sit there, there's also a few chairs by the fireplace. Just don't sit on Hunter, he'll be very offended if you do."

She chuckles at this and makes her way around the house. "Give me just a moment to get the cookies." They are in the kitchen so she steps out for a moment to gather them and returns with a plate of cookies that she offers to each of them before setting the rest down on the table in the center of the space. Then she pours out some tea, which is gray tea this morning. "Gray tea and grey tea cookies, they go hand in hand don't you think?"

Aurnar grins at her own words and finally settles down in 'her' chair. Hunter obliviously purring away in the chair that is usually Verna's. "How are you both doing?"

"Hunter?" Cor'lana asks--but then she spots the kitten snoozing away as she goes to settle on the couch, and she gasps. "I didn't know you had a cat, Auranar!"

Grandfather takes the other open seat on the couch, although it also happens to be the furthest away from Hunter between where Cor'lana's sitting and where he's sitting. He offers the cat a polite smile. "I don't mind cats," he says. "They just tend to be a little... overzealous, about playing with my feathers. And playing with my hands. They're rather fond of the talons for whatever reason." In other words, Grandfather is inadvertently a kitten-funhouse, because he provides the best scritches and feathers dangle from him.

Both granddaughter and grandfather (albeit many generations removed) take up teacups and cookies. Cor'lana has a sip of hers first, which leads Grandfather to reply, "I am well. Although I must admit this is a visit with a purpose. As you are a part of the family, I must tell you that it was--and is again--a custom of mine to knit shawls for all members of the family who are wedded. I understand your wedding is coming up quickly, but I can start one for you if you would like one to wear."

"Oh Hunter? Yes, he's a stray we took in. Bit of a story there..." Auranar trails off and smiles in understanding when Grandfather explains that cats can take a bit _too much_ of a liking to him. Thankfully Hunter is tuckered out at the moment, so he just lays curled up on the chair and Auranar does nothing that might awaken him. Just in case. She blinks in surprise at Grandfather's offer and half-opens her mouth only for nothing really to come out initially. "I'd... That would be so kind of you! Are you sure you want to? The wedding is so close and..."

She looks down at the tea in her hands, struggling to find the words to convey what the offer means to her. "You've already been so kind to me. I don't know what to say."

Grandfather simply smiles. He reaches into the picnic basket that Cor'lana had put down by their feet and draws out two knitting needles and one rather large ball of undyed yarn, which he rests in his lap and draws out a strand of yarn from the center. "Nonsense," he says as he weaves the yarn around his pinky-talon and index-talon in his left hand, pulling one part of the yarn over itself to create a slipknot. "I have been doing this for centuries. What sort of Grandfather would I be if I couldn't adorn my grandchildren with the things I knitted for them?" The slipknot is placed carefully onto a knitting needle, and off he goes, knitting at top speed.

Cor'lana puts her teacup down, grinning. "Just say yes. It gives him a break from knitting more clothes and toys for the children that Telamon and I will have in a decade or two. But really, I understand. I went from having no family to having Grandfather, and... It was wonderful. It still /is/ wonderful."

Auranar chuckles, looking up and he's already at work. She flushes, but the color hardly shows on her cheeks at all. "Yes, please." She smiles at Cor'lana. "I know how Grandfather feels, now that you're part of the family I can't help but wonder what you'll add to the curuchuil when they're born."

She laughs again and takes a sip of her tea. "Now that I'll be the guardian of our curuchuil I find that it's terribly exciting. Wondering what shape it will take, and it'll be wonderful to have something to tend to." Auranar glances toward Grandfather knitting away and back to Cor'lana. "It's hard not to get ahead of myself. But... it's nice to finally have something good to look forward to."

"We'll see," Cor'lana replies with a blush of her own as she's clearly thinking about the prospect of children again. "I have recurring dreams, from time to time, about three little girls. Telamon and I have names for them if they really do ever come to pass, but I don't believe the future is set in stone. And it's important that I continue what I'm doing now as an adventurer. Having a family can wait--especially when I have relatives now in the meantime." Her violet eyes sparkle as she grins at Auranar.

Grandfather looks a little too pleased even as he continues to knit. "I am happy that you are happy," he tells Auranar. "My descendants have never kept a conventional curuchuil--the closest we have is my garden, I suppose, but I am its sole caretaker. I care for the flowers, the plants, and the graves of those who have passed."

"You'll make a great mother when you're ready." Auranar doesn't ask after the names, as she knows it's bad luck to do so. Instead she sips her tea and smiles back at Cor'lana. "It's so strange isn't it though? To realize that you're surrounded by people that you love, and that they love you. That they're thinking of you."

Here she looks at Grandfather fondly. "Our family deserves a beautiful curuchuil. If I could set it to stone, I would. But I have little talent in stone-working, or painting. But the plants will grow on their own; all I need do is tend them and love them and they will be there."

"It's true," Cor'lana agrees with a smile, finally putting a gray tea cookie up to her mouth. "I went from being... not all alone, because I had Pothy, but I /felt/ alone--to feeling loved. That family didn't have to be a hollow word that was tinged with longing and the pain that comes with it. It could be warm, and wonderful." Finally, she eats the cookie.

Grandfather's smile only grows with Auranar's remarks. "I only ask to be remembered," he says. "Not forgotten and then portrayed as a monster. Had Cor'lana's mother known the full truth of what her lover had entered into, a lot of pain would have been spared on all sides. It matters not to me the form of the memory, only that the love is present--only that the care is there. I dare not ask for statues from a gardener."

Auranar joins Cor'lana in the picking up of a cookie and trying it. They are quite good, subtle in flavor, but with a bite of lemon icing on top. "I know exactly what you mean Cor'lana." She seems thoughtful for a long moment, clearly thinking over things in the past, but after that moment she shakes the thoughts away and continues. "I can't make promises for future generations Grandfather, but I know that we will do our best to make sure that you are remembered with the fondness that is deserved. That your family forgot you at all is a terrible travesty. But one that I am sadly not surprised happened."

"As long as /I/ live, at least, no one in the Lupecyll-Atlon family will forget Grandfather," Cor'lana declares after she finishes the cookie. "These cookies are wonderful, Auranar, by the way. Absolutely delicious."

Grandfather actually pauses in his knitting for a moment as something Auranar says seems to strike a chord with him. "Cor'lana, could you reach into my basket?"

Cor'lana reaches in and she pulls out a hand-bound book. It's rustic and certainly handmade-looking, but the pages inside are lovingly illustrated and written in fine handwriting. "This was the other reason Grandfather wanted to come over today," she explains as she holds it out to Auranar.

"That is a collection of my recipes, translated into the mortal tongue and adjusted for mortal sensibilities, based on Cor'lana's adjustments and notes to my own," Grandfather says with a smile as he resumes knitting. Indeed, the front page has a dedication in that same handwriting that the rest of the book is written in: "Made for Auranar Lupecyll-Atlon."

"I'm glad you like them!" Auranar smiles at Cor'lana warmly, then is confused for a moment when Grandfather asks Cor'lana to get into his basket. Out comes a book and Auranar quickly finishes her cookie, brushes off her fingers, and sets aside her tea to accept it. "For me?"

It's a needless, reverent question. It's clearly meant for her and with a dedication and everything. She finds herself tearing up at the sight of it. "Oh Grandfather..." She is again rendered speechless, and she flips the book open just to see the writing inside and then clasps it to her chest. "You two really are too kind to me. This is... I will _treasure_ it."

Grandfather's smile is warm and clearly full of joy at how Auranar's tearing up over the book. "I consider it another way I will be remembered," he says. "If you cook someone's recipes after they are gone, then they are remembered. And while I am alive and will be for years to come--it is very difficult to think of someone as a monster if you enjoy their food. Or that's the hope, at least."

Cor'lana smiles just as broadly. "This is what family /should/ be about, Auranar," she says. "No empty homes, no struggles for places to belong. You're part of the family. Which means you get bits and pieces to keep of family, too. Like a cookbook. Or a wedding shawl--"

She looks at Grandfather's knitting and blinks a few times, as she really hadn't been paying active attention to it. It's already a few inches long even though a rather short span of time has passed. "I knew you were fast with that, but--"

"Lace knitting is rather quick and easy at the beginning. You start with only a few stitches and increase with the same techniques that you use to create all of the decorative holes," Grandfather explains. Of course, he /is/ still knitting quite quickly despite those talons of his. "I do confess to having centuries of experience and speed, and you know full and well I'd do /anything/ for my grandchildren. Now, Auranar, what color would you like for this to be dyed? I chose a yarn I hadn't dyed yet as I wasn't sure what you'd like it to be."

"I'll be sure to make sure that everyone enjoys your cooking then!" Auranar states firmly and with warm conviction. She also blinks at the shawl which is coming along quite quickly. Cor'lana having brought attention to it. "Amazing. You are so good at that! C-color? Oh! We've decided on white and shades of gray for the wedding."

Auranar flashes a smile at the thought of her wedding and a more secretive one to Cor'lana. "We didn't want to have too much color, that way what color there is will stand out all the more!" Which of course means things like the color of her hair. "The same is true in opposite of course, since me and Verna will be wearing mostly white, we should stand out amid the guests too."

Grandfather nods, continuing to stitch along the knitting needles. "I will keep it undyed, then," he says. "The yarn is already white, and the weight is delicate enough that it will not overshadow your dress if you choose to wear it. I've had descendants who chose to decorate their wedding table with it instead--not because it clashed with their clothes, but because they didn't want to ruin it by snagging it on something."

Cor'lana grins. "I love the color scheme idea," she says. "I wish Telamon and I had thought of something like that--he asked for some elaborate blue robes, and I had a lavender dress, because, well... I like the color purple. I don't know where I got /that/ from." She's obviously teasing Grandfather.

That gets a little chuckle from Grandfather, that sound that's like the ringing of bells. "No, I haven't the faintest clue, either, little bird. I daresay your wedding will be splendid, Auranar." "I want to wear it." Auranar says, sounding excited at the prospect. "I want everyone to see your hard work Grandfather, and I want very much to wear something that you made." Even if it clashed horribly with the dress she'd wear it. To wear her mother's wedding dress and her new grandfather's shawl would be a true blending of their families.

"I have every hope that it'll be splendid, Seldan has already come by to give his regrets that he can not attend, but I'm very hopeful that everyone else will be able to." There's a flash of regret in Auranar's eyes. "Save for Dolan. As much as there's a part of me that wants to find any way to help him attend... I just can't force him to something that might slow his recovery even more."

Cor'lana nods soberly at the mention of Dolan. "I need to visit him again, I think," she says. "I tried but I was... so wound up from everything I experienced the night before in the dream with Telamon, that I just confused him."

Grandfather leans over and--yes, he does not miss a beat in his knitting--plants a kiss into Cor'lana's hair, in that affectionate way only a grandparent can do. "You are feytouched, little bird," he says. "You are easily consumed by your emotions. Excitement, concern, fear--those all live in the same area. It can be a lot for someone who is only beginning to recover."

That makes Cor'lana sigh a little. "I know," she says, looking more sober. "I wish Dolan could go to the wedding. He deserves something happy. I know... far too much, about being stuck inside one space and one place. That does things to you."

Auranar nods. "He could use the visit, of that I am sure. I mean to visit him again myself though I just saw him in the dream last night." Inexplicably she flushes again and looks down studiously at the cup of tea in her lap. "I think he's doing much better than he was. He... That is, he seemed quite... lively."

She clears her throat and drinks the last of her tea. "Anyone want more tea?"

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls 1d20+18: (19)+18: 37

Cor'lana blinks a couple of times. "What do you mean? Is everything okay with Dolan?"

Grandfather makes a noise that's somewhere between a snort and a chuckle, and he puts down his knitting. He pats Cor'lana's hand. "No, little bird, it sounds to me like your friend Dolan is quite well. /Vigorous/, even. Take heart in that." He turns his head and offers Auranar a winning grin. "This is why I had to be the one to set up Cor'lana and Telamon together. Yes, I'd love a cup of tea."

Cor'lana seems to think on it a little more--and there's a bloom of realization on her eyes. "Oh. Oh!" she says. "I think I get it now. Yeah, I'd love some tea." There's a flush on her cheeks now, too.

Auranar is happy to busy pouring everyone some new tea. First Grandfather, then Cor'lana, and finally herself. She settles back in her chair with her cheeks slightly rosy-colored. "I can't begrudge him, and it's nice that he loves his fiancée so much." She coughs again and changes the subject. "So, there's one other favor I'd like to ask you and Telamon, Cor'lana. I know I've been asking you so much lately but... Would you mind coming to Llyranost with Verna and I?"

Both violet-eyed members of the Lupecyll-Atlon family take their refreshed cups of tea. Grandfather pauses for a moment in his knitting to have a sip, and Cor'lana does, too. The tranquil (yet awkward) moment is transformed when Auranar asks the question, and Cor'lana nods with no hesitation. "Absolutely," she says. "Where in Llyranost? I'm assuming we'd be going to speak with your grandmother?"

"It's fairly close to the city itself. Just a half-day's travel to the north, and shorter by carriage. But yes. The intent is to talk to my grandmother. There's a few things that I need to say to her directly. Face-to-face. And I... I want to see my parents trees again. I haven't seen them since I visited last and that was some time ago." Auranar's eyes firm, and she struggles with herself not to fall to sadness. She intends after all to effectively say goodbye.

Cor'lana gets up from her spot on the couch, putting the teacup she was holding aside for a moment. She walks over to Auranar and holds out her hand with a small smile. "Well," she says, "/we/ are family now, and if having Telamon and I around would make dealing with your grandmother easier, then we'll gladly help. I know Telamon has stood by my side plenty of times to help me confront my own father. He'd never say no to helping you."

She smiles a little wider. "You are not alone in this. Quite frankly, I'd ask Grandfather to come along, but, ah..."

"I have a shawl to knit, and if I meet your grandmother, I imagine that encounter will go very poorly for her." Grandfather seems to be inspecting his talons? ... No, surely that was just the knitting.

Auranar gratefully takes the hand. "Well thankfully this is planned for _after_ the wedding. I wouldn't ask you to leave on such short notice! But soon." She glances toward Grandfather and giggles lightly at the thought of him meeting her grandmother. "Much as it would be interesting to see the two of you meet, I don't wish any harm on her."

Yes she didn't miss the way that he'd been looking at his claws. "Thank you Cor'lana. I appreciate everything you're doing for me so much."

Cor'lana sort of looks over her shoulder at Grandfather with a deadpan expression. "Stop being all menacing and Unseelie over there," she rebukes him. "Besides, you're going to cut your yarn if you think too many violent thoughts."

Grandfather mockingly sighs. "Oh no, a person who measures up to the honored title of 'grandparent' disapproving of another who wears it but hasn't earned it, how horrible," he says, rolling his eyes before he looks at Auranar with a grin. "No, I'll leave the terror to Cor'lana. She is protective of her flock, too, even if she doesn't show it."

That gets a shake of her head and a smile as Cor'lana looks back at Auranar. "What are sisters for?" she asks brightly, that touch of feytouched whim and joy coming to play in her violet eyes.

Auranar laughs, both at Grandfather and Cor'lana. She feels so relaxed around them. It makes her wonder if _this_ is what family is supposed to feel like. Easy. She stands up and pulls Cor'lana into a surprise hug. "I'm new at this whole sister thing, so you'll have to forgive me any hiccups along the way." She releases the other woman and looks at her fondly. "We should probably talk the details about the trip."

Their chatting after that is a light thing, and filled with the sound of knitting as they talk. Eventually Hunter wakes up and much laughter ensues with the way the kitten immediately becomes obsessed with Grandfather. It's a warm day, weather be damned.

-End