Silent Night

by Aria a.k.a. Jakavious

Maeva has moved to a nice, quiet new town to get some distance from family and set up her new life. The town itself is unremarkable, the landlord is survivable as far as they go, and she has no friends to spend the holidays with, up until a brief visit to the library gives her an opportunity to make a connection.

 

CW: Fantasy specism, referenced transphobia

 

---

 

I walked down past the rows of books, scanning up and down for something interesting. It was the fourth or fifth time I’d gone through the fiction section, looking for anything that would keep my attention. Despite my desperate search, nothing sounded good, and I wasn’t about to read Steamed for the umpteenth time. I moved to leave the library, but before I could even make it a few steps I heard muffled sobbing coming from the kids section. 

I quickly about-faced and looked over to see a tiny goblinoid girl crouched and cowering from the two other kids on either side of her. At the very least, I hoped they were both kids. One of them was an anadi and presenting as a spider rather than a humanoid just then, so I wasn’t sure. 

I walked up to the scene, making sure my footsteps were heard so I wouldn’t spook anybody. The two flanking the little girl turned to me and tried their best to look innocent on the spot. Didn’t really know that spiders could pull off puppy dog eyes, but damn this kid was really trying their best to do so. “What’s the issue here, kids?”

The other kid looked up at me, puffing smoke from his nose. Outwardly, he appeared gnomish, but evidently there was some elemental or dragon blood in there somewhere. “None of your business,” he replied snarkily.  

I frowned at that. “Well, someone is crying, and I don’t want people feeling sad at a library during such a fun time of year.” I crouched down to get on her level (as much as I could), and spoke. “Are you doing okay, hun? What’s wrong?”

She looked up at me and rubbed her eyes. “They took my book,” she spoke in about as quiet a voice as it got. Sure enough, I suddenly realized the gnomish kid was holding his hands behind his back. 

I gave him my best ‘disappointed adult’ look. “Is this true?” The boy emphatically shook his head, so I cast my gaze accusingly over to the spiderkin. They joined their friend in shaking their head almost cartoonishly. Taking advantage of them both being busy trying to act as innocent as possible, I quickly did the gestures for mage hand behind my back and grabbed the book out from behind the boy. “Lying isn’t a very nice thing to do, is it?”  

A flash fired off as the anadi kid went humanoid, pointing over to their friend. “It was his idea! He kept talking about how she was being weird for ‘pretending to be able to read’ and saying we ‘need to stop her from eating all the books’.” If there was a list of every possible sentence I thought the kid would say, that would’ve probably been somewhere in the bottom 1%. Who was even still teaching their kids these things?

“It’s unfair to judge any one person on their looks, where they came from, or what they are. We all have different backgrounds, and the only way to learn about someone truly is to interact with them.” I turned to look back to the book, letting my mage hand drop it into my real hands. “‘The Journeys and Life of Bella the Spellblade’. Good pick, this was my favorite when I was your age.” I handed the book over to the girl, who was giving me about as big a smile as she could. Payment collected for a job well done, I stood, waited for the other two to go off, then plodded off towards the exit. 

“Ah, just a moment, miss?” The lady at the front desk called out as I walked past. Walking up to the desk, I made a small motion to indicate she could continue. “I saw you helping that kid out over there and wanted to thank you as well. I hadn’t even noticed something was up, and you basically did my job for me.” I began to open my mouth and wave my hand to say it wasn’t a big deal, but she interrupted. “And don’t you say that it was nothing, you helped and I wanna show my thanks somehow. You don’t seem to have any books on you, did you need help finding something? I could maybe needle the owner to add something specific to the stock too if you’d like.”

I gave out a small laugh. “Are you reading my mind? Either way, I didn’t have anything in mind. Was just looking for something that’d keep my attention for the coming couple weeks.” I left out that I was, rather bitterly, trying to find something to keep my attention specifically off the holidays. Having been estranged from my family after coming out, I was spending the season alone for the first time in my life. 

At my response, she paused, biting her lower lip. I took the moment to reorient myself and actually look at her, now that I had a moment to put my brain towards something other than talking or listening. She was a dryad, her hair a cascading mixture of fine brown roots and mossy highlights, in a pattern I found near-mesmerizing. She also looked like a gym buff, which rapidly raised a number of questions in my head about how muscles worked for plant-based life. I’d have to ask one of the leshies back at the apartment. 

Before I could get too lost on the logistics of plant-woman muscles, she spoke. “Well, I’d feel silly if I didn’t get to repay you somehow. If I’m not gonna be able to help you get something to read, maybe I could treat you to a nice dinner instead?”

Despite the intense internal screaming that fired up in response to the question, I managed to look outwardly unfazed. “Didn’t know that librarians also did catering.” It had barely left my mouth before I realized how absolutely nothing that was. 

Still, it seemed to have amused the librarian in question, as she flashed a smirk my way. “I’m a great cook, I’ll have you know, but I was just thinking of going out and getting something decent at Ahab’s?” I simply nodded, trying to save face. I enjoyed playing the confident gal, but it was nice having somebody initiate with me for once. Wait, was this actually a date? I pushed that thought aside, resolving myself to just apologizing and moving on if I were wrong.

We each whipped out our phones, gave them a tap together to share contact info, and I politely waved and stepped out of the building. I then promptly realized that I had completely failed to get something to occupy my time. That is, up until I was struck with the idea to get something nice for the evening with… the librarian… we hadn’t even exchanged names. I pulled out my phone once more and pulled up the contact. The icon had a glowing smile from the dryad with a beach background, labeled “Desdemona Thikes”. Name resolved, I walked off to find something for the evening with Desdemona. 

 

---

 

Somehow, I laid out on my couch, lazily blowing out smoke puffs, then sniping them with smaller puffs. No games had come out to catch my interest, no friends were in the area, anybody I knew outside of that wasn’t online, I had read all my books top to bottom, and the kitchen I volunteered at was all set on people for the time being as the ‘giving mood’ associated with the coming days spread out. The clothes I had picked up for the hopefully-date hung nicely set out for this evening, and I was doing my best not to start getting in my head about it. I puffed out a small ring, which suddenly dispersed as a vine whipped through it and affixed itself to one of the lights on the ceiling. “Greetings, Jotunn-Slayer.” 

I frowned and stared up at the ancient leshy now inside my room. “I don’t leave the windows open for you, Dew. That’s for fresh air. Also, don’t call me by my last name for the love of the gods.” My parents may have been proud, traditional orcish hunters, but I didn’t really find myself keen on being known for the things my family had killed, regardless of the circumstances behind it. 

“You say that, and yet here I am and open your windows are. What’re you doing here, Maeva?”

“Dew I pay for this place. Why do I need an excuse to be where I live?”

“You don’t, but you’ve got smoke streaming out your nose and the filters are going to think something’s on fire if you keep it up, so I’m trying to prevent that by figuring out what’s eating you.” I grimaced. I didn’t even think about the fact that the small gemstones scattered about the apartment had begun to dim, but looking at them now it was clear I had been sapping their energy in order to keep the smoke from pooling up in the room. I made a mental note to practice keeping that in check, and to see a doctor about my dragonblood starting to express itself more strongly, apparently.

“Ach, sorry Dew. I don’t want to make you spend a bunch of money on filterstones. Just… trying to keep myself occupied. I don’t like being idle, but there’s not a lot for me to do right now.” I didn’t exactly know my landlord all that well, but figured there was no harm in opening up to him. 

The mess of vines sprouted blooms, then dropped in a pile in front of me. “Let’s play a board game then. I have nothing to do either, and it’ll literally be saving me money to fool around. Do me a favor, Maeva?” 

I snorted at the shameless penny-pinching, but it was technically motivated by wanting to help me, so I stood up and grabbed a small box off a nearby shelf. “I don’t have board games, but I do have a deck of cards if you wanna do something with that.”

“Pah! You kids and your uncultured ways. Fine. Let’s play solitaire.”

Was he serious? I stared at him, but no laughs or rustles came from the pile of plant matter, so I figured I had to explain it. “Solitaire is solitary. It’s basically the name, Dew. Here, I’ll teach you to play Car’tul instead.” I sat down and began shuffling. Seeing no protest from Dew, I began explaining the rules. “It’s real simple. Kind of a mix of Liar’s Dice and War. We each have a three card hand, choosing one card to play each round. Highest value wins, with aces beating kings, and everything else beating aces. Ties are discarded to the side, the winner is whoever wins the most rounds. I keep track by having the winner keep the cards from the round they won and counting them out. Counting cards is encouraged.”

The leshy drew his cards once I finished shuffling, and we began to play. “So, I’d guess that the nice outfit hanging over there isn’t a display piece. Waiting for something? Or someone?” 

I snorted again, as we took each round going about equal, not unusual for the start of the game. “I have a date tonight, but I fail to see how that’s your business since you’ve got me distracted now.” 

“Ahh, I make it my business to know my tenants’ business. Makes my job easy.”

“Sounds invasive.”

“Hey, you invited me in. Be nice to your guests. Aren’t you afraid I’ll raise rent on you?”

“If you raised rent on me for being honest, I’d leave. Not paying someone who blackmails their tenants into liking them and getting hospitality. I’d rather be raked over hot coals.”
“I like you. Also, I believe I win.” I looked down to see a notable stack, nodded, and reshuffled. “C’mon, Maeva. I know I’m not your friend, but throw this old plant a bone. It helps us grow.”

“Morbid. Alright, I’ve been stressed because I’ve got nobody to do anything in person with this year for the first time.”

“I’d offer, were I not returning to my grove for the solstice. Guess you’re hoping this date does that for you?” 

“Hah. I don’t think somebody is gonna spend the holidays with me after a single date. Still, I want to make sure it’s a good time for both of us.”

“You need to get your head in the game, sounds like. Also literally.” I looked down to see that I didn’t have a single pair of cards on my side. “I’ve been cheating every round and you haven’t even noticed.”

“Not a good way to build a rapport, Dew.” I tried to make venom drip from those words, but ended up chuckling towards the end of the sentence. “Smooth. Okay, fine,” I said, setting down the cards, “I am very much hoping that this somehow ends in a holiday plan for me, but I mean it when I say that feels like an impossibility.” 

“I cannot claim in the slightest to understand how the whole dating thing works, but count me in your corner, eh, Maeva? You can trust me, I’ve got the financial incentive to help.” The leshy had swirled into a blanket across a seat.

 I began to form a snide comment about how nature spirits are supposed to be communalistic, but thought better of it. “I don’t need dating advice from an asexual avatar of the forest, but I do have some questions about how you exercise if you’re up for sating my curiosity.”

 

---

 

The day of the date had come, and I had dolled myself up and set out to meet up with Desdemona. I was honestly cutting it a bit close as I walked to Ahab’s, and was trying to maintain something closer to “casual powerwalk” instead of “running extremely late”. I took the moment to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the town as it went past, with kids playing in the streets and people greeting each other as they set up decorations or went about their own obligations. It was a kind of neighborhood ambiance I thought had died long ago, and yet here it was. 

I was almost too lost in the holiday reverie to notice a kid scrunched up in an alley between two buildings. Almost. My path redirected down the alleyway and slowed as I approached the child. There was a small yelp that came from her, and she tried to get up and back away. The key word being tried, as she fell back down almost as soon as she got her footing. I put up my arms. “Hey, hun. Didn’t mean to scare you, I promise I want to help you.”

The kid was a small drow, gaunt even for a species as lithe as that. She seemed to be thinking in her head, deciding whether it was safe to trust the large orc that had just approached her small haven. “If you’re gonna blame me for spiders, I don’t control them.”

I grimaced, but quickly pressed my lips together again to keep from menacing the poor kid. Residents of the lower layers of the planet had been stigmatized for many reasons, but the drow got it extremely bad for their association and worship of spiders. “I’m not here to blame you for anything young lady. I-”

“Don’t call me that. I don’t like it.” I blinked in surprise, then saw the big picture of the kid’s story start to come together. Hit a bit close to home.

“I’m sorry, I’ll avoid that in the future. Pronouns?” They gave me a look that indicated they had no idea what I meant, so I set that aside for later. With sympathy burning in my heart, now more than ever I needed to find the poor thing a safe place to be. Gaining their trust was going to be the hard part. Best to try going straight for it. “There’s a place where you can get some better clothes and some food in your belly, would you be willing to follow me?”

“You’re just gonna trick me. Like everybody else.” It was worth a shot. 

Before I could aim for a different angle, my phone interrupted my thoughts with a ring. I pulled it out real quick, seeing Desdemona’s smiling beach photo looking back at me. Shit. I hit hang up, and refocused. It sucked that I appeared to be standing her up, but this was more important now, and taking a call with a date is not gonna persuade this kid that I care about them. 

“Who was that?” 

I sighed. Everyone seemed invested in my personal life nowadays, even street kids. “I was on my way to a date, but this is more important.”

The small drow stared at me for a moment, then looked down. “...if you trick me, I’m gonna… I don’t know. You’ll be sorry!” I smiled, though I wasn’t entirely sure what exactly changed their mind. Looking them up and down a bit more closely, I saw why they had fallen over. Their foot was twisted at an awkward angle, and I quietly glowed with anger over how that could have come to pass. 

“I don’t want to make you walk on that, do you mind if I carry you?” The question gave the kid pause for a moment, but eventually they gave a small nod. Carefully, I kneeled in front of the kid, gently lifting them up and against my chest. Thanking whatever gods had helped me earn the little one’s trust, I paced off to the kitchen I volunteered at.

Thankfully, when I dropped them off there the kid eagerly ate up what we had on offer while I conferred with some people about how to care for them moving forward. I made sure to pass on that the kid seemed at odds with being identified as a girl, then sat down off to the side of the kitchen’s small workspace. I swept my dress off, having gotten wet and stained with mud. It was unpleasant already, then my face shifted to outright horror as I remembered what I was wearing and why. Frantically, I pulled my phone out and called Desdemona. Thankfully she picked up near-immediately. 

“Oh my god Desdemona I am so sorry. I swear I wasn’t standing you up, there was this homeless kid I passed by on the way to Ahab’s and I just couldn’t ignore her and then you called but while I was talking to them and I didn’t want to shift focus and I-”

“Hey, slow down. I’m… honestly just glad it was for a good reason.” Hearing that made me sigh in relief. I hadn’t completely shot my chances. “That said, it still sucked waiting at a restaurant for nobody to come.”

“I am more than open to changing plans, let me make it up to you?”

The question was followed by an excruciating pause. Then, she finally spoke with a sigh, “Alright. My place tomorrow for lunch, try not to get sidetracked by any cats stuck in trees or beholders with their stalks all in a knot. Sound good?”

“Your place? Are you certain? I wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable or unsafe or anything.” 

“Certain, so long as you’re comfortable with my boyfriend being here. I was gonna tell you at Ahab’s that I’m poly, but I guess you’re learning before the date.” 

I rapidly understood why she felt safe having me over, surprising though it may have been. “Oh, no, that's completely fine with me. Shoot me your address when you have the chance. Thank you for the second chance, Desdemona. I’ll do my best not to get sidetracked.” 

We said our goodbyes, and I took stock of myself. I needed a new outfit.

 

---

 

The following day came both too quickly and too slowly. I couldn’t get the dress cleaned in time (and it wasn’t really the type of outfit you wear when going to somebody’s place), so I had to fall back on the next best thing: Flannel and jeans. 

I made it to the apartment without distractions, fifteen minutes early and doing my best not to be anxious. After knocking I rocked on my heels, hearing some soft thumps coming from the apartment. The door opened to reveal an incredibly tall human, head nearly touching the ceiling. I craned my head up to meet his eyes, noticing a snout poking over his shoulder. 

“Um, hi. I’m Maeva.”

“You must be the ghost I’ve heard so much about.” The man stared down at me as if he was trying to figure out if he could toss me out the nearest window from where he stood. “Maeva Jotunn-Slayer?”

“Oh, jeez I don’t actually hunt sapients, it’s a family name, and I am so sorry-” I was interrupted by a booming laugh. Looking up from my panicked apologies, I saw him smiling down at me.

“Sorry, maybe yanked the chain a bit too much there. You’re good, though maybe a bit gullible. Only ever gonna get so many shots at the whole ‘overprotective boyfriend’ routine, ya know?” 

I gulped and nodded, still coming down from the anxiety that had spiked through that single interaction. While the man chuckled to himself a bit more, I took the opportunity to evaluate him a bit more. Some sort of half-giant at least, he stood hunched a little bit both to accommodate the size of the room and the creature latched onto his back. He had the “friendly bard you shouldn’t leave alone for longer than five seconds” energy, with an outfit to match. An extremely stark contrast to his partner, who was still nowhere to be seen.

“Anyway, I’m Gavin. This lil snoot here is Bubba.” He gestured to the creature, which looked like some kind of anteater. “He’s a tamandua, and technically my familiar. Just technically enough for him to stay with us, which is all I need.” Gavin extended his arm out, causing Bubba to slowly climb down it to investigate me. An extremely long tongue came out and gave me a small lick, which seemed to satisfy Bubba enough to turn around and trek back onto Gavin’s back. “You’ve passed test number two, it seems.”

“Glad to know the pet approval badge is out of the way. Am I a bit early?”

“Oh, no, not at all. Mona’s distracted doing something out on the balcony, go down the hallway and you should see her to your left.”

Sure enough, I went further into the apartment and saw a small door leading to a balcony covered in greenery, Desdemona moving about it. You’d think she’d blend in, but somehow Desdemona popped even more in the small balcony garden. She wore a simple sweater and jeans, strands of her mossy hair draped down her side. She moved slowly and weaved small motions into enchantments to protect her plants, each movement a delicate message to the world and its spirits. Even her noticing me felt like a beautiful motion in that moment, which kept me from registering she was now looking at me gawking at her. 

“Hey Maeva, I’m guessing that the neighborhood is safe and Lil Timmy didn’t fall down the well? No evil plots to foil, no villainous schemes to unravel?”

“I, um. Yes. The walk here was nice and uneventful. You look gorgeous.” She giggled at that, though I couldn’t tell if it was due to my sheer eloquence or the assurance that I wasn’t some sort of aspiring vigilante. 

“Well, alright. You hungry? Gavin made some lasagna for us and you owe me a story about your heroic escapade.” 

“The snark is getting a bit much, but okay, fair.” I shot a smile, and we returned inside to the aroma of marinara. We sat down, and after some general conversation I proceeded to outline my meeting with the young drow from the day prior.

 

---

“...and that’s the general gist. I got the vibe that the kid was kicked from their family for chafing at the expectations drow culture has for women, and it doesn’t take a mind reader to guess at how a stray drow child has been treated aboveground.” I grimaced a bit. “Sorry, not exactly a fun story.”

Desdemona immediately waved her hand at me, saying “No no no! I asked, and all other things equal I think that’s quite possibly the most kind thing I’ve heard somebody do in a while now. Most people I know would’ve been upset by the situation but kept walking.”

“I would’ve stopped for her!” Gavin called out cheerily, only to be shot down by a small smile from his partner.

“Gavin, there aren’t enough words in the common lexicon to express how much I love you, but I’ve watched you pretend not to have spilled chips from the bag before and let Bubba clean them up. This seems a couple rungs above that.” Gavin slunk down in his chair and dramatically pouted in response, not seeming to have a retort in mind for that.

“I felt for the kid. Plus, I was probably projecting a bit.”

“Projecting?” Gavin and Desdemona chimed in unison.

“Oh. Er, yea. I’m trans, and uh. Kinda on my own for the first time for similar reasons? So I can empathize with finding yourself out in the world without a plan, different though the details may be.”

As I tried to reign in the strain in my voice, the sound of chairs scraping across the floor filled the room. Before I could fully register what was going on, I was wrapped in arms and receiving multiple licks from Bubba as the two embraced me. All at once, the floodgates opened and I began to cry. Trying to keep it from coming fully out and ruining what was basically an apology date, I quipped “Heh, one grim topic to another. My bad.”

“None of that. I know we just met but you deserve so much more than that,” Gavin stated, still lifting me and Desdemona off the ground. Desdemona nodded as best she could while still squeezing.

Eventually, the embrace came to an end and my feet finally returned to the floor. I wiped at my face with my sleeve, not really concerned about appearances at this point. There was a stain on my shirt from some lasagna I had dropped anyway. “I didn’t really realize how much that had built up in my head. Thank you both, really.”

The two exchanged a meaningful glance while I resumed eating. After a short pause, Desdemona broke the silence. “Tell me if I’m overstepping at all – I’m still honestly feeling kind of bad after I relocated the date to here – but I have an offer if you’re interested?” I motioned for her to continue. “Do you want to join me and my friends for our holiday get-together?”

I stopped to swallow my food and stared for a moment. There weren’t any tears left, but if there were they’d be flowing again as I stood up and wrapped her in the biggest hug I could manage.