When Seren awoke, their stomach grumbled at them. Their throat burned and their face still felt hot. They lay there under their desk and listened. It sounded quiet.

Slowly, Seren crept out from under their desk and to the door. They pressed their ear up against it and listened. They still didn’t hear anything. Seren opened the door, standing up and tiptoeing down the hall to the stairs. Everything seemed still. They crept down the stairs, avoiding the creaking floorboards.

When they reached the bottom, they heard the back door open and shut. They froze as they heard Mr. Asche grumbling in the kitchen. The first instinct they had was to run back upstairs, but they couldn’t make their legs work. Hovering at the bottom of the stairs in the shadow of the kitchen entrance.

“Lazy bastards, ‘it’s yuletide! We can’t be bothered,’” Mr. Asche grumbled as he grabbed a mug from the kitchen cupboard. Starting a pot of boiling water to make into a pot of coffee. “Can’t fix a window ‘cause of a stupid imaginary-” He turned and saw Seren in the doorway.

“Serenity,”

The silence was deafening, fragile, and somehow unending.

"Are you okay? You look flushed." He asked.

"I threw up." Seren said, ashamed.

"Oh. That's okay. Are you sick?" Eric abandoned the coffee making and knelt down to Seren. Carefully raising a hand to check their forehead. Seren flinched back but let him check if they were warm.

"You feel okay, I'll get you some water. You probably need it." He said, standing back up. He went to the sink and got Seren a glass of water.

"It's going to be a bit cold for a little while." he said, planning the glass on the bar. "The windows can't be repaired until after the holidays. We'll use the fireplace and if it gets bad enough you can sleep in the library." Seren nodded and carefully approached the bar. Sliding on to the stool and taking the glass.

"Let’s practice those topics of discussion, shall we?" Eric said, returning to making coffee. Seren didn’t answer, still sipping at their water.

“You walk in, you greet someone. How do you greet them?” Eric asked, looking at Seren expectantly.

“Happy Yuletide. I’m Serenity Winters, it’s nice-” Seren was soon interrupted.

“Asche-Winters. You have a hyphenated family name now.” Eric said as the kettle began to boil.

“Why?”

“Cause I’m your guardian now. Therefore your name changes, I thought it best to keep your old name as well. Hence the hyphen.” Eric said as he grabbed a loose towel and poured the water over the coffee.

“Oh. Serenity Asche-Winters.” Seren said, partially trying to correct themself and partially trying the name out.

“Continue with your discussion.” Eric said.

“But if I’m not supposed to talk about what I know, what do I talk about?” Seren asked.

“Little things, how nice they look. How cold the winter is. How business is going. How the family is.” Eric said, shaking the grounds to get stronger coffee before pouring more water in.

“Oh, little things.” Seren said, nodding slowly. Sipping their water. “Okay, that seems easy.”

“It is, try it.” Eric said, pouring the coffee into the mug. “You’ve just introduced yourself, I’ve introduced myself. Go.”

“Little things…” Seren said to themself for a second. “What’s your favorite kind of flower? I like lilies. Not the white ones, the orange speckled ones.”

“Not quite what I had in mind but I’ll take it.” Eric muttered then he sipped the coffee. “I’m not a fan of flowers.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Oh, that’s sad. Flowers are pretty.” Seren said.

“I think you got the idea.” Eric said.

“I worked hard practicing. It doesn’t make me sad.” Seren said, then the sadness came back and they stared into the water glass.

“Yeah, that’s the good part about hard work.” Eric agreed. “It distracts from everything else… maybe that’s also the bad part.”

“Why? I don’t want to feel sad. So if working hard makes it all better. Then why not work hard all the time?” Seren asked.

“Cause if hard work’s all you do, when do you have time for the other important things? Like friends, family? Fun?” Eric looked out the window with a far away look on his face. Seren looked into their glass.

“I’m too sad for those things.” Seren said, fiddling with their glass. “It feels like I can’t feel anything else ever again.”

“Okay, if that keeps feeling that way we’ll talk to a doctor about it.” Eric said mechanically.

“About what? Is being sad like being sick?” Seren asked.

“Depends on how sad and for how long.” Eric said, “but I think you’re good for now. Go work on your sums or your handwriting, I’d like to see your spelling improve so try and use more variation in your words.”

“Okay,” Seren said almost too eagerly. They jumped out of their chair.

“Hold it!” Eric called. Seren skidded to a stop, “where did you throw up?”

“In my trash bin.” Seren said ashamedly. “I’m really sorry,” he shook his head.

“It’s okay, I’ll get it taken care of.” he said. Seren nodded and turned to leave. “Serenity.” Seren turned back. There was an awkward silence.

“Your division is atrocious. Work on your long division.” He said finally.

“Oh, I don’t like the division.” Seren said as they headed out of the kitchen. They felt a bit hollow still as they climbed the stairs up to their room.

Eric took the glass and emptied into the sink, leaving it there to be washed later. He ambled about for a second before reminding himself of the mess upstairs that needed attention. But before he could climb the stairs he noticed the envelope delivered earlier he’d tossed onto the kitchen table for later.

It had his name on it but no return address. An annoying but not irregular occurrence. He scooped it up and opened it out of curiosity. Wondering what kind of threat it would be this time.

Instead he was surprised to find a pretentious letter from his cousins.

Eric,

It was an unfortunate mix up that you have received our invitation. You know how my dearest parents are getting on in years and have gotten rather confused. It would be best to return the invitations to us as the intended recipients.

I believe this will come as an enormous relief for you, as we both know you have no business bringing a fae-touched to the palace. It would be unthinkable. And you have your reputation to think about. What kind of talk would it bring?

We truly can’t understand your passing fancy with the thing, but we will be grateful when it has left and things return to the way they were.

Sincerely,

Nicole and Bernard Summers

Eric crushed the letter in his hand. He should have known. It boiled his blood to hear such insulting language aimed not only at him but at Seren as well. A thing. A passing fancy. It.

He ripped the paper up, envelope and all. Throwing into the compost hard enough to rattle the bin. He was seething. White hot rage pulsing through him. At the very core of his being came a little epiphany. A thought he’d never entertained before. The hateful pair would take over the family eventually. Probably sooner than Eric would like. Those two next door would do everything possible to make life insufferable. And gods help Seren-

A new thought popped up and stopped the rage dead in its tracks. Seren. He tapped his fingers on the counter, thinking hard about his relationship with Seren. If it was strong enough. He drifted out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

Seren heard him storm up the stairs from the library where they were reading. They stayed perfectly still until they heard him go up the next flight as well. Seren sighed and curled up and continued reading. At least in the books they could escape into a world far beyond where only adventures with happy endings happened.

Every so often they heard the noise of the chair in the study overhead. It was only one of many things that interrupted their focus. The sofa was hard and uncomfortable, as if it were never meant to be sat on. The room was too cold and Seren had to sit huddled up to retain any kind of heat. Which had their legs cramping up.

Eventually they sighed and gave up on reading. Putting the book down and moving from the library to their room. Sitting at their own desk and taking out a notebook to write in. Conjuring up a little story about a child like them and the adventure they had. A story where only good things happened to them, and they always lived happily ever after.