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the darkest nights

Winsol has always been Jaenelle's favorite time of year and while she does not always spend as much time in the hotel as some, she usually tries to get back in time to celebrate part of the holiday with those she's come to be friends with here. It's a strange little place, a go-between not unlike Ebon Askavi or other places in her own world but strangely, none of her friends from home have ever been able to come through.

She guesses this is one of those things that are hers and hers alone. It wouldn't be the first and Jaenelle would be shocked if it were the last. To be what she is means to be singular and alone for the entirety of her life, for the good of others instead of herself. None of that mattered during Winsol, though, and Jaenelle intends to enjoy it.

Another holiday coincides with it here in the hotel, something called Christmas, and it seems to be a younger and tamer festival than she's used to. Still, some of the trappings are the same and unlike last year, Jaenelle has gotten a handle on the delicate touch needed to make the fairy lights twinkle and the boughs appear to drop snow of their own accord.

She's currently bewitching mistletoe to hop from door to door simply because it amuses her to see people try and avoid it but she can't quite get the spell right. It isn't exploding, which is progress, but it's hardly doing what she wants it to.

"Come on," she cajoles. "Please work?"

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"Whatcha doing?" Chiana asks, on the other side of the doorframe, and looking at the mistletoe with an amused little frown. Whatever it is, she wants to believe it would be something fun.

"Hi Chiana," Jaenelle says, laughing a little and ceasing her fiddling for the time being. "I'm trying to get the mistletoe to jump from door to door. It's hard to bewitch things that are technically living. They have a mind of their own, unlike inanimate objects."

"And plants can be so stubborn," Chiana added knowingly. She'd met a few Delvians in her time; mule-headed old dredgenauts, the lot of them.

"They can be. I'm usually good with them," Jaenelle points out. "But these aren't something I'm used to from home. Do they have mistletoe in your world?"

"Maybe?" Chiana answers with a small shrug. There were so many plants in the universe, and she didn't even know all of the ones on Nebari Prime. Plants had never been her thing. "Lots of plants out there."

"Lots here, too, including this troublesome one," Jaenelle says, frowning a bit in concentration and managing to get the mistletoe to blink in and out. "This is exactly what I wanted! See, now it tricks you. It's here, then it isn't, and people aren't sure where it's going to show up. It's nice, though, on the trick scale."

"It's the one you kiss under, isn't it?" Chiana asked, looking up at the doorway, where it might appear any second.

Jaenelle nods. "Oh yes, it's the one you kiss under. That's why I thought it might be funny if it went in and out and tricked people," she says, watching as the mistletoe blinks back in.

"See? I have to kiss you now. It's required."

"Not if I kiss you first," Chiana retorted with a sharp grin, and stepped closer, a hand on Jaenelle's waist and the other one on her cheek, drawing her into a kiss.

It's a nice kiss, though, really, the last kiss she had from Chiana had been nice too. Jaenelle steps away for a moment and looks above them, giggling when the mistletoe fades out again.

"I really think it's going to work for me. It's nice to create a little mischief around Winsol and I think Papa would be proud I managed to do something and not blow it up."

"What's Winsol?" Chiana asks curiously, walking through the doorway now. "I thought the big deal around here was Christmas."

"Winsol is the celebration of the longest nights of the year," Jaenelle explains. She knows that this place doesn't celebrate the same as she does back in Kaeleer and she is happy to explain it to someone new.

"Christmas appears to be similar," she concedes, "But not exactly the same. We do have trees and mistletoe, though."

"What else do you have?" Chiana asks, always curious about other worlds.

"Winsol is the only real holiday," Jaenelle admits. "I cannot think of anything else that's as important in Kaeleer or Hell as Winsol. It's the only thing we truly celebrate."

She doesn't know about Terreille. It's been so long since she's allowed herself to return there that she doesn't know what they do and do not celebrate.

"I'm sure there's some smaller festivals here and there, though."

"I meant what else do you have for Winsol," Chiana explains, although she's let Jaenelle talk because she certainly didn't mind learning all that. "How's it different from Christmas?" Not that she knew Christmas all that well. She didn't understand most of it, and still wasn't sure whether it was about that baby deity or that fat old fellow.

Jaenelle blushes a little. "Oh, I'm completely embarrassed. I thought you meant...anyway. Well, typically there are balls and parties and there's the traditional exchange of presents on the last night. It's the celebration of all witches everywhere - anyone who can do magic."

"So it's a celebration of you," Chiana summed up with an amused, appreciative smile.

"Well, yes, but I didn't want it to put it exactly that way," Jaenelle admits. Sometimes, in this place, it's nice not to be Witch or Queen of Ebon Askavi or to wear the Black and all that entails. Sometimes it's nice to simply be anonymous and just be herself, for better or worse. This little taste of it in the hotel isn't nearly enough and she wonders if she'll be able to go back home and do the things she needs to do or if she'll just wither away.

"But yes, a celebration of me and everyone like me."

"I don't know anyone like you," Chiana pointed out with a sharper smile, flirtation rather than a remark on her regal station.

Jaenelle laughs again. "I could say the same, Chiana. You are entirely unique, you know, and I am glad to know you."

"Winsol is a celebration of things like that."

"I like to think every day's a celebration of me," Chiana retorted with a smirk, her upper body shifting the way it often did, alien body language.

"That's very confident of you." Some might think it's a little cocky and unbecoming but Jaenelle never really thinks ill of people if she can help it. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and Chiana has been a friend to her since her arrival at the Nexus.

"Do you know any magic, Chiana? Is that something that even exists in your world?"

"There's all kinds of creatures where I'm from," Chiana answers, chuckling. "They can do all kinds of things." She glances back at the mistletoe. "Plants - you want the Delvians for that. Don't think even they're as good as you are, but..."

"But they're the best in your world, aren't they?"

Jaenelle has a sense that she's very, very good at what she does even among those from other places who also excel in their arenas. Still, she knows that modesty is a virtue and she tries to keep that in mind no matter how extraordinary she can be sometimes. There are advantages and disadvantages to everyone, even her.

"That I know," Chiana answered with a shrug. "Only met a few, anyway." And it wasn't like they wanted to do that sort of thing with plants. They'd probably want to lecture Jaenelle about controling life forms or something. "They're plants, themselves."

"Then who better to know about plants? Where I come from, some of my dearest friends are creatures one wouldn't expect to be able to carry on a conversation at all, much less an intelligent one. I haven't ever met any plants that can do that, though."

The mistletoe winks in and out again and Jaenelle smiles brilliantly. "We should go celebrate my success. Did you want to go get a drink or something?"

"If you're offering," Chiana confirmed with a cheeky grin, always one for free drinks.

Angelica recognized the signs of magical problems very quickly; she'd been there too often herself. Despite all her efforts, all her training, she still struggled with the nature of her own magic. She stopped to watch, thinking that she might gain a few pointers.

"Does your magic respond to pleas?" she asked, startled but interested by Janelle's approach, and entirely willing to believe that it might be effective. "Mine never does, but perhaps I'm only asking it the wrong way."

"Never," Jaenelle says. She turns to face the newcomer and smiles a bit, pleased to have found someone else who seemed to know what magic was even if she wasn't exactly Blood. This place was strange in that there wasn't anyone precisely like her but there were plenty of people who were close enough to feel a little like home.

"I think it actually works less when I beg it to behave. Magic is fickle and contrary by nature."

"So does mine," Angelica said, pleased to find someone who seemed to think about magic the same way she did. "It never does what I want." Angelica had mixed feelings about that, but right now she wasn't going to be too bothered about it.

"But there are so many different kinds of magic," Angelica added with a little shrug, hoping to sound sophisticated. She was certainly well-traveled, and knew it from experience.

"Oh, certainly," Jaenelle says brightly. She offers a hand to the other girl and gives her a smile.

"I'm Jaenelle. It's so, so nice to meet someone else who knows something about magic, even if it's only to join in my misery when things don't work right."

Angelica took Jaenelle's hand eagerly. She hadn't been back home since... it seemed like a very long time, ever since the door had disappeared on her, but making friends within the hotel made every seem so much better.

"My magic never works," Angelica said with the mixture of pride and resignation that her magic still made her feel. "But I do know quite a lot about magic," she said. "I'm a Petrocchi." That never seemed to work in the hotel, but she lived in hope that one day her name would be recognized for the important spellhouse that it represented.

Jaenelle smiles a bit but shakes her head. "I'm so sorry. It's not something I recognize," she apologizes.

"But I doubt you recognize that I'm a Queen who wears the black, so I suppose being a Petrocchi is something highly regarded in your world? If so, it is my great honor to have met you."

"Someday," Angelica said, "Everyone in many worlds will know the name, but it won't be because of the fame of my family. It'll be because of what I've done. I have plans, you see." She smiled, and then gave a little giggle as something else occurred to her. "And as long as you don't know who Chrestomanci is, I can't be too upset if you don't know the Petrocchis." She said the name without self-consciousness, knowing that the name spell that summoned Chrestomanci didn't work within the hotel.

She was flattered by Jaenelle's words, and curious as well. "I'm honored to meet you as well, your majesty," she said, dropping a polite curtsy and hoping that was the correct form of address. And since Jaenelle didn't seem like the type to stand on formality, she asked, "What does it mean to wear the black?"

Jaenelle curtsies in reply but it's broken up by a soft, silvery laugh. It's absurd to curtsy to someone she considered more or less an equal. "It's the jewel I wear - it helps me focus my magic. It's difficult to explain to someone who isn't from where I'm from but...there's levels of power. The black is the strongest jewel one can wear."

Jaenelle shrugs a bit. "It's different here. The Nexus doesn't seem to be the same as my world and the magic doesn't work the same."

"Does it channel the magic? The power?" Angelica asked with quick interest. In her time on the other side of various doors, she'd visited a number of magical worlds; the magic was all different, but there were patterns.

She considered the idea of jewels and levels of power against her own conception of magic. "Magic on my world is individual. There are classifications, but then there are people like me, whose magic is..." She smiled. "Totally unique. The funny thing about my magic is that it always finds a way to work that's not the way it's supposed to work. It does everything turned around and inside out, but it gets things done...like one of the stories about wishes that don't turn out like expected!"

She shrugged. "I hope to figure it out eventually, if only I can learn enough about different forms of magic. Have you been through very many doors?" Her interest was almost professional now. "Magic seems to be one of the things that varies most."

"I have been through several. There's one that's dangerous," Jaenelle says, almost conspiratorial, "Though you can obtain additional power within it. I got the ability to shoot lightning for a while but I lost it once I left that door. I don't know that I will be going back. I only went in to rescue a friend and then I nearly got killed myself."

That door is something she would rather leave untouched, if possible. "What about you?"

"Only one?" Angelica asked. She'd avoided anything that looked dangerous -- she'd been young enough when she started coming that she'd been given strict rules about only stepping through doors when she was sure of what was on the other side. Chrestomanci -- a friendly enchanter who could also travel between some of the worlds -- had been called in to make sure of some destinations on occasion, and Angelica had mostly used the nexus as a waystation.

"Mostly, I've only been through specific doors that I knew were safe," she explained. "But...some of them look so interesting...." And now that she was stuck here, she couldn't just stay in the approved areas forever. She had to get home somehow.

Her eyes widened at the idea of shooting lightning. And of obtaining extra powers. "It must be..." She hesitated, not sure what she was even thinking. "Your friend is lucky to have a friend like you," that much was clear enough. "But lightning doesn't sound very practical if you're indoors," she concluded doubtfully. "Are you sorry you lost it?"

"A little." It surprises Jaenelle just how easily she's able to admit that and she considers that it's likely because Angelica, like her, is a magic user. It's easier to build intimacy with someone you consider a peer and it's especially easy in this situation.

"I didn't get to have it long enough to learn the ins and outs of it and from a purely curious perspective, I would have liked more time. I don't know if it's worth the risk, though."

"If you're stuck here, then you've got plenty of time to deal with risks," Angelica pointed out. At least, that was her theory, as her mind turned to thoughts of exploration. She herself was stuck with nothing better to do, and there were so many interesting doors...

"What time could be better?" she continued with growing enthusiasm. "But the only question is, are you stuck here like me, or are you...just visiting? With obligations at home...?"

"I'm not stuck," Jaenelle confirms. "I can travel back and forth between this realm and my own. I don't go terribly often, though," she admits.

"I have responsibilities but time doesn't work the same way here as it does at home. I don't miss much time by being here."

Angelica laughed and nodded, having some experience with time differences as well, then stopped abruptly, startled when she worked it out. "You mean time passes faster here for you?" she asked. "It's always seemed to me that this hotel was much slower than anywhere else."

"Faster here, slower at home," Jaenelle confirms. "I always find that I haven't missed much time at all whenever I return to Ebon Askavi. It's...comforting. I would hate to know that my friends needed me and I wasn't there to aid them."

"But--" Angelica said. "Isn't it confusing? When I've been away, I want people to know I've been away. I want them to miss me, like I miss them..." For the first time, Angelica considered that this might be a selfish way of looking at things. The way Jaenelle said it, it was almost like being both places. And yet...

"I wouldn't want to suddenly show up at home years later -- years older -- and no one recognizes me!" she exclaimed.

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the darkest nights

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