The squirrels led us along the road, to the opposite direction to where we'd come from. Gradually the forest started thinning, the trees growing more and more apart, and I could see the sky from between the high branches. It was very late afternoon, and I found myself wondering if the sun would set early here, as it did back home. It was December, and the days were short, but in the city it didn't matter, because there was so much light coming from everywhere. But I really didn't feel like still being in the forest when it got dark. If goblins were real. and witches and weird trained squirrels, then who knows what else creepy, if possibly a bit exciting, creatures there lived it the woods. Wait, I thought to myself, didn't Hizi ask if I was a troll? There are trolls? Actual trolls, not just annoying people on the internet? As the rational part of my mind tried to wrap itself around the fact that I was honestly asking myself a question like that, the part that had absorbed everything about fantasy and mythology that a person could have possibly gathered in twenty years of living started listing all the things I knew about trolls. And goblins and witches and elves and faeries and... For a second I felt excited, but then the rational part kicked back in and I was brought with a crash back to reality. Or whatever this was. Next to me Hizi looked up and groaned.
"Well, the sun's 'bout to set," he said. Well, that answered that question. "We really don't wanna go around in the dark, even with as fine guides as these critters," one of the squirrels looked up at him, looking oddly offended, but Hizi ignored it, "so I suppose we should stop for the night. The goblin town is just up ahead, we can rest at my place. It ain't big, but at least it's inside. Tonight is the first night of Yuletide, and it's gonna get cold."
"How can there be snow already, if it only gets cold today?" I asked. Hizi looked at me in confusion.
"There's always snow on White Island, that's why it's called white. Well, apart from litha month, just before midsummer day, when it all goes away until after summer solstice. Oh, hey. You can see the town from up here!"
We had climbed on top a small hill, overlooking a clearing. Well, it wasn't a proper clearing, as there were still trees everywhere, but they weren't growing together as snugly together and there were small paths worn between them. I didn't understand at first where the town was, but the more I looked, the more I started to noticing little thing. A window in a tree. A lantern in another. They lived in the trees. Then I started noticing the goblins themselves. There weren't many outside, as it was starting to get visibly darker, and they were all scurrying around, before heading inside.
"Awesome," I said under my breath, staring down at the goblin town.
"Hardly. You should see the hall of the mountain king. That place is eerie," Hizi said and started skipping down the hill.
~x~
Hizi's house, or perhaps tree-cavern, was indeed small. I could barely fit in. And in the end Hizi rolled his eyes, grabbed a few pillows and blankets and we climbed up the tree. There was a hollow part in the trunk and luckily it was big enough for me to fit in properly, so we made ourselves small places to sleep with the blankets. Hizi said that even if the insulation wasn't all that good, the tree would keep us warm.
As we lay there in the tree, staring up at the stars, I let my mind wonder. Today was the first day of Christmas. Today was supposed to be the preliminary cleaning day, where I put everything in order, before the actual cleaning day tomorrow. And then I'd get the tree and do Christmas shopping if the tree didn't take up my whole day, and then decorating it the next day. There was so much I wanted to do, but now I was stuck here and who knows how long it would take for me to get back home and what if I couldn't! I curled up to the side and pressed my face to the pillow. It smelled of the forest. It was calming and hopeful and oddly familiar. But not enough for me to be able to put my finger on where I knew it from.
I breathed in the calm and still of the forest and managed to fall asleep.
____________________________________________________________
Sup. I meant to write this yesterday evening, and I actually wrote half of it, but then didn't finish it, so there. But at least it's on the right day, even if it's in the evening. (Though for me it's noon.)
I have no idea where this is going, haha. Also, the ending was supposed to be different, but I realized there's no way Cinnamon could fit in Hizi's bed, or even his house for that matter! So I had to improvise. Which is an odd thing to say, as this whole thing is ultimately improvised. But yeah. Topic for tomorrow: Music.
Pie out.
Now, for the promised Supernatural-themed freakout.
OH MY GOD. DID YOU SEE THAT? DID YOU?? IT WAS SO AWESOME AND EPIC AND HEART CLENCHING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. KEVIN. KEVIN NO. WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE KEVIN, I CAN'T JUST NO STAHP. Cas was awesome, I mean just. Ugh. He showed all the sides of himself, the socially awkward, the righteous, the tactician, the badass. I mean, he stole another angel's grace! How awesome is that. Well, not for the other angel, but Cas came up with a great plan in like ten seconds while being chained up and just bam! Angel'd up.
Ugh, Kevin, no. He can't be actually gone, can he? Kevin's mom is coming back, so..? And it has been established in canon that Cas (and other angels) is capable of bringing back the dead. He brought back Bobby in Swan Song. They couldn't have just killed off Kevin, right? He's Kevin freaking Solo! Nooooooooo. Ugh. How am I supposed to wait until January?
On the plus side, the trench coat is coming back??
I'll stop now. Bye.
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