Eisenstern 3.8
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The Festival of Light snuck up on me when I wasn’t looking.
Cassandra and I had never gone before, though I’d asked more than once. It was always a different excuse. You know, sometimes in hindsight, you realise things weren’t exactly as perfect and wonderful as you had believed they were, and the realisation is both befuddling and devastating. I keep finding new ways and reasons to be upset.
And then I think of Branwen, and suddenly it all goes away.
She agreed to come with me to the Festival. We also managed to spot my cousin Ari and his wife Nathalie, and Hilda and Austin were also present. It was nice to see Ari, I hadn’t really spoken to him since high school, and we’d ended up missing so much of each other’s lives.
Turns out he and Nathalie are expecting a baby. I’m happy for them. And also kind of upset, but, that’s not about me.
“Ooh, wish trees!” Branwen squealed. “I want to hang a wish on it! How about you? Come on!”
I’d never made a wish on anything in my life, but Branwen seemed excited about it, so, I trudged over there with her. There were so many papers hanging from the tree, it seemed almost surreal. I wondered what people wished for, but then decided maybe I shouldn’t peek at them. That seemed rude, and it could mess up the magic or something, I don’t know.
Branwen excitedly scribbled her wish onto a piece of paper. Mine was a little less excitedly scribbled, but I got mine down, and we hung them up together.
“Soo, what’d you wish for?” Branwen asked, looking over at me.
I snorted. “I don’t think we’re supposed to tell,” I said. We’d been talking for about a week or two now, and we’d gotten to be pretty close.
She pouted. “Aww, come on, I’m so curious!”
“Well, what’d you wish for?” I asked.
“That’s not fair, I can’t tell you first!” she said.
We bantered back and forth like that for several seconds. And I don’t know what came over me, I just… leaned over and kissed her.
She must’ve set her makeup, because I smelled her lipstick but it didn’t rub off on me ( not that I would’ve minded if it did ). And then, reality set in, and I almost panicked. I backed away, my eyebrows drawn together.
“Sorry, I don’t know where that came from,” I said.
She smiled at me instead. “It’s okay,” she said. “I didn’t mind it.”
“Oh.” That was eloquent.
“Yeah… oh,” Branwen murmured. “You can uh, feel free to do that more often, if you want.”
Oh. That time, I could feel my cheeks heating up, and glanced down at the snow under our shoes.
She just giggled at me, leaned over and kissed my cheek.
There were a lot of fireworks being set off. A couple of particularly brave souls started fire dancing. Branwen and I stayed where we were, though, and spent the rest of the night talking.
For once, the cold didn’t really bother me at all.
“Oh, dad!”
It was almost like mom hadn’t expected grandpa to come by, and maybe she didn’t. He did just kind of show up on the front porch. I didn’t mind it.
“I did warn you I was coming, didn’t I?” he asked.
Mom looked surprised, and then frowned. “I don’t remember anything anymore, dad,” she said. “Come on in. Gabriel, you too. This is important.”
Anything mom labelled as important was probably very much so. And now I was nervous, but, I shoved the nerves down and followed mom and grandpa into the house.
Hilda was already in the kitchen, somehow. I hadn’t noticed her come in.
“So,” grandpa started, looking around. “I like what you’ve done with the kitchen.”
“Thanks,” I said.
The nerves must’ve been obvious in my tone, because grandpa snorted and smiled at me. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not the harbinger of doom today. At least, not for you.”
I’m honestly not sure, even now, if that made me feel any better at all.
“It turns out your ex-wife’s already attempted to claim ownership of the Eisenstern estate,” grandpa said.
I frowned. “Sorry, how is that even possible?”
“Technically, you have no other heirs,” grandpa explained, “so, Ivander is presumably it. This would theoretically mean the Eisenstern estate belongs to him, and of course, she’d be regent until he’s old enough to control it properly.”
“If Gabriel doesn’t have an heir, the estate falls to me,” Hilda said.
“Of course,” grandpa said. “And, she also left out the part where Gabriel’s not exactly knocking on heaven’s doors. But, be careful. I don’t think this is the end of the issues we’ll have with her.”
I knew there was something else. Something she wanted. I could guess as much, but the estate seemed somehow a bit too easy. The Goths’ pockets were, as aunt Stella had said, deep.
Grandpa stayed for a bit. I think he was hit by the nostalgia bug, to be honest, and was more interested in hanging around the house and remembering things. He’s notably older than most of us; he should’ve died off around when I was a kid, but he’d still felt like his presence was necessary.
And now he wasn’t immortal anymore, and I was out here fucking everything up.
“Thanks for coming by,” I said.
Grandpa looked over at me. “Gabriel, destiny doesn’t wait,” he said. “It’ll happen before you’re ready for it, if you’re not careful, and soon enough I won’t be here to fix it. She’ll be back, of that I’m sure, and she may have more friends next time. Whatever it is she’s after, I’ve not known Goths to back down from their goals easily.”
“What do I do then?” I asked. “I don’t want to fight with her.” Or her family, or spirits forbid my son.
“Don’t back down from your goals easily, either,” he said. “And remember what she’s got behind her, you also have behind you.”
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