Page 7 of Dreaming of an Omega Christmas
We worked a bit on our respective projects and watched a bit of TV. After a small dinner of leftovers, we headed up to bed.
Chapter Three
Falkanar
I was surprised when I woke up an hour later than I normally did. Then again, I had gone east a couple of time zones recently. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was still stuck on west coast time. All the rich Thanksgiving food probably hadn’t helped.
For a few minutes I stayed put, snuggled into the bed. It was nice to be in a real bed for once. Hotel beds were fine, but they were always too hard, with too soft pillows, and scratchy sheets. The genie, assuming Travis hadn’t bought any of it himself, hadn’t skimped on quality. The mattress felt like one of those fancy memory foam ones, the pillow was heavenly, and the sheets were so silky I didn’t want to get up at all, especially since I knew the air and floor waiting for me would be chilly. At last, I was too wide awake to be still, and I got up.
I headed into the bathroom and was shocked to find a change of clothes set out for me. It was obvious I didn't have much, but it never bothered me. I was used to it. For a moment I wondered if I was just crazy and Travis had set them out for himself, but the clothes hadn't been there last night. And it was the guest bathroom. I pulled them on, and was pleased to see that they actually fit quite well. The pants were a little loose in the waist and came up a little bit high. But I had traded in my summer shoes for some boots that would go high enough to hide their legs. Like the pants, the long sleeve shirt was a little too loose on me and the sleeves just barely reached my wrists, but it was a nice soft material and a welcome change from the same few outfits that I cycled through. I typically wore my clothes until the season changed, then traded them at a thrift store.
Downstairs, Travis was making eggs and it smelled delicious. I didn't get home cooked meals very often.
“Good morning,” he said brightly. “Oh, I'm glad those fit.”
“Thank you so much,” I said. “It's nice to have an unexpected change of clothes.”
“I’m glad. I noticed you travel a bit light.”
I sat down at the breakfast table, just as he was getting a plate ready.
“Thank you,” I said again.
“Any plans for the day?”
~~~***~~~
“Any plans for the day?”
I smiled at the question which had become the morning routine. It was sweet, I thought, that Travis wanted to take my plans into account. As always, my answer was no. I wasn’t planning on doing any blogging about Vale Valley. Other than doing some blog maintenance and editing some drafted posts, I had nothing I needed to do. My main priority was to not be in the way. It was odd to have someone else to worry about.
“Just doing my thing, I suppose,” I told him. “What about you?”
Travis cleared his throat. “I was thinking about buying a Christmas tree.”
“Do people buy them this early?” It seemed like quite soon after Thanksgiving, to me. Would a live tree survive all month?
He shrugged. “Some people I, I think. They’re being sold anyway. I…” Travis hesitated and his eyes narrowed as he studied me. “I love the... the idea of decorating for Christmas. But I've never really had a chance to do it. I've always either had roommates with shared spaces. Not that I ever had much of a budget for Christmas decorations anyway.” His gaze moved beyond me and toward the living room. “I've always wanted to be able to have a whole place where I can do whatever I want. This is my first Christmas with my own place. In fact…” He smiled slightly. “I think I might just get more than a tree...”
“Well, you'll probably need lights and decorations for it,” I offered.
“True. I was actually thinking more… I don't know. A wreath for the front door, maybe a couple of candles in the windows. A stocking.”
I smiled sadly, wishing I had a home of my own to decorate. Or even the ability to stay somewhere long enough to make decorating worth it. “That sounds nice. I… I like the idea of decorating too.”
“Hey…” Travis said. He paused for a moment. “I don't really know how much fun it will be decorating by myself… I know you won't be here for that long, but it would be kind of nice to share the experience with someone...”
“I’d love that!” I blurted. He smiled and I laughed in embarrassment “I’ve never done any sort of Christmas decorating either,” I admitted. I didn’t add that I really didn’t do much to celebrate either, not that I didn't want to. I usually tried to go to a restaurant that was serving some sort of special Christmas dinner, and I took in the music when I could. I’d watch whatever holiday movies were on the hotel TVs. If I could, I tried to stay in a bed and breakfast for the holidays. Lots of them had Christmas trees in the guest rooms, and I could pretend, just for a little while, that it was my own. But I never actually had one.
That was all assuming of course, that I could control where I stayed. The curse had a funny way of directing where we went. We certainly had free will. But we were often heavily guided, it seemed. I used to think that it was the hand of fate, pushing me where I needed to go to find my soulmate and break the curse, but after one too many inconvenient travel changes, I decided that it was just one more way the curse screwed with us. That was one of the reasons Vale Valley held so much appeal to me, even though I doubted I could ever get to it on purpose. I didn't think I would ever be able to just say ‘I'm going to go to Vale Valley and get myself a bus and go there. I honestly was stunned that the ride from the bus stop successfully made it here. But the fact that I found my way here so often, when I so rarely went anywhere else more than a couple of times, made me feel like therehadto be something more about this place. Maybe it was just because the Fae King hung out here sometimes, and the curse was leading me back to him. Or maybe, although I didn't know for sure, this was where the curse was originally cast. Maybe most wandering elves ended up here at one time or another. Not that I really spoke with many to be sure. I had never thought to ask.
Almost as if reading my mind, Travis asked hesitantly, “I don't suppose you could leave and then come back in time for Christmas, could you?”
I considered it, then shook my head. “I'm not sure,” I answered honestly. “I've never tried to leave a place and then go right back. I probably wouldn’t make it.”
“What do you mean? Don't you have control of where you go?”
“Yes and no,” I said. Travis raised an eyebrow. “I mean, if I'm presented with two destinations, I could certainly pick one. Although I don't know if I'd actually get there. I couldtryto get to one, but the curse has a mind of its own. It’s easier to just… go. Without a destination in mind.”
