all_inclusive | 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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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.

the darkest nights

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