FIC: Christmas on Gliese

Title: Christmas on Gliese

Characters: Chandir/Wryn/Enoch

Series: Another Life

Chandir smiled as he watched Enoch laughed with Astrid.  The red-headed Historian had been good for Enoch.  Astrid's sense of humor and penchant for mischief had been exactly what the somber man had needed.  As the seasons changed from summer to fall and now to winter, Chandir and Wryn had delighted in hearing their sub's sweet laughter occur more often.

Astrid and two of her three doms were visiting them.  They'd become close friends since the night Sophia had been sent by the fates to help Enoch.  Today Astrid was teaching Enoch how to crush the dried flowers and herbs that Astrid and her doms used to make the soaps and lotions they sold at the market.  Enoch hadn't yet found his vocation, nor had Chandir or Wryn pushed him to do so.  They were more focused on getting their new partner healthy and happy.  And how to accept the visions that were gifted to him.

Just as Chandir thought of those visions, a soft blue mist started to fill the kitchen.  Chandir instinctively let his mind follow the path the mist showed him.  He didn't know where he was, but the feeling was of peace, happiness and anticipation.  Chandir knew he was no longer in his own home, but somewhere else in time.

He looked around the warm room and saw a family gathered around a tree.  Chandir felt compelled to study the tree intently.  He didn't know why a tree had been moved from its natural habitat, but there had to be a reason.  The tree was sparkling with lights and some kind of decorations.  Walking toward the tree, Chandir reached out and touched one of the delicate globes.  

As the blue mist lazily swirled about him, the fragile ornament seemed to stand out.  It was clear and had small figurines placed inside.  Chandir bent closer to get a better view of the figures.  He assumed the figurines represented a family as he saw a man and woman looking down toward an infant in a wooden cradle.

A familiar laugh had Chandir shifting his attention from the tree to the family that sat at its base.  A man and woman were smiling as a young boy laughed. The laugh was similar to his Enoch's, but not quite the same.  The family was thin, but not the thinness of starvation.  Their faces were worn yet still held a glimmer of hope.

Chandir stepped closer to the young boy when the blue vapors swirled heavily around him.  The smile on the child's face was familiar.  Chandir watched as the boy tore colorful paper off a box.  The look of happiness made Chandir's own heart feel lighter.  

"Thank you, Papa!" The child exclaimed as he held up a small knife that had been nestled in the box.

"You're welcome, Marcus.  Remember, that is not a toy, but a tool that you will need.  The world is becoming a harsher place.  You'll need to know how to survive," the father told the boy.

Chandir's attention turned toward the woman as she spoke. "Today is Christmas Day.  There'll only be talk of happy things."

The father stood and wrapped his arms around the woman.  "Yes, Mama.  Today we will only talk of good.  We'll think of Marcus's future and the family he'll have some day."

The mist swirled faster, showing Chandir other images of the family.  Images of the special day.  The family stayed in their home as the wind howled and snow blowed outside.  They gathered around a table, clasped hands and bowed their heads.  After the father said some words that Chandir couldn't quite make out, they sat down and ate.  Chandir knew the vision was ending as the mist started to dissipate. 

The sound of Enoch's laughter blew away the last of the blue mist and Chandir was back in his own kitchen.  Enoch, Astrid, and Sophia were gathered around cutting stalks off of dried flowers.

"That knife is so old and dull, it wouldn't cut through butter," Astrid said.

Enoch's laughter died.  Chandir watched as sadness fell across his sub's face.  "Its all I have left of my parents," Enoch said softly.  "My dad gave it to me when I was little.  He said his father gave it to him."

Chandir glared at Astrid for making his Enoch feel sadness when just moments before his face was lit with happiness.  He knew he wasn't the only one to feel disappointment with the red-haired young woman, when one of her doms, Sophia, brought her hand down sharply on the sub's ass.

"Astrid, your words are unkind.  Yet I know you to have kindness in your heart," Sophia scolded gently.

"No, no.  She wasn't unkind.  I was just remembering my dad." Enoch hurried to smooth the tension in the room.

Chandir walked over and wrapped his arms around Enoch.  Enoch accepted his own spankings and swats almost with a relief of atonement.  However, he hated it when his new friend, Astrid was punished.  

Astrid had noticed Enoch's unease and set out to assure him.  "Its ok, Enoch.  I can accept a swat for my behavior. Matter of fact, sometimes it can even be fun."

"What can be fun?" Wryn asked as he and Kyra opened the door.  The wind blew tufts of snow inside before they could close the door.

Chandir waited until Wryn and Kyra had stomped the snow from their shoes and taken off their heavy cloaks.  "Astrid was just telling Enoch how a swat or two can be sexually arousing."

When Wryn looked toward him, Chandir knew that Wryn had read the tone in his voice.  He nodded back at Wryn's look.  They'd been together long enough to read each other's subtle body language.

"I think that's something Chandir and Wryn should teach Enoch," Kyra chided. "Not you, my darling sub."

Astrid grinned at her stern dom. "But he blushes so prettily."

"And with that, we will clean up and take our leave," Kyra announced.

Chandir had enjoyed the day with the women, but with his vision and Enoch's sudden melancholy mood he was eager for their home to be surrounded only by the three inhabitants.

"No bother," Wryn said.  "We'll clean it up and store what's left."

When Kyra readily agreed, Chandir knew that she had seen the look of communication pass between him and Wryn.  Chandir nodded at her as she ushered her wives out the door.  Her shrewd look confirmed that she knew the men needed privacy.

The three men quietly gathered up the plants and the tools that had been used.  They stored them in the wooden boxes and wicker baskets the women had left.  Chandir watched as Enoch's hand kept reaching out to gently stroke the handle of the small knife.

"Would you like me to sharpen the blade for you?" Chandir asked softly.

Enoch's eyes held a mixture of hope and fear.  Chandir and Wryn both had seen that look often as they'd tried to help him learn how to manage the visions and the emotions that they brought.  It didn't matter how often Chandir had seen that look, his heart still wept each time Enoch's eyes held that contrasting emotion.

"The blade is so old and worn, I'm afraid it'd break," Enoch admitted.

"Chandir has sharpened many blades.  I know that he'd take extra care with yours," Wryn said.

With Chandir's promise that he'd care for it with all the respect it deserved, Enoch handed it to Chandir.

"You said that your father gave you the knife," Chandir said as Enoch handed it to him.  "Was it a special occasion?"

"No. We'd been out trying to scavenge some food.  We found some old tins of food in a basement of an abandoned house. Food production had stopped when he was a kid, but he thought the food inside would still be good.  We packed up all that we found and took it home.  He showed me how to use the knife to open the tins," Enoch explained.  "After we'd eaten all we could, he gave it to me."

Chandir couldn't get the vision out of his mind.  The tree, the brightly colored paper covering the gift, and the food on the table.  He persisted in his questioning, "Was it special to him?"

Enoch tilted his head as if lost in thought.  "I think my dad said something about his father giving it to him on a holiday."

"Your grandfather?  Did you know him?" Wryn asked.

Enoch shook his head. "No, they died in a blizzard when my dad was a kid.  Or maybe it was an avalanche.  Yes, yes it was.  My dad said, he'd had the knife in his hand when the avalanche hit.  He was able to use it to dig himself out.  But he couldn't find his parents."  Enoch started coughing as he often did when he spoke a lot or used too much energy.

Chandir knew that Enoch had grown stronger over the months, but the damage the volcanic ash had done to his lungs was irreversible.  "We're all but finished here, Enoch.  You will rest in our bed, while Wryn and I start dinner."

"I'm fine. I can help," Enoch said.

Chandir braced his feet and squared his shoulders.  He shot his new husband a stern look.  "I'm sure I did not phrase that as a question, but as a statement of what you will do."

"Go on, Pais," Wryn encouraged Enoch.  "You should know by now how Chandir is when he's in protective mode.  Go lie down and rest.  I'll be in shortly."

Chandir waited until Enoch had given each man a kiss and left the room.  He then turned the same stern look toward Wryn.  "We've agreed he needs coddling, but he should not receive it when he questions my care for him."

Wryn shot back his own stern look and replied, "And you should not try that look on me.  I, too am a dominant.  You are also still riding on the emotions of a vision.  Your perception may be off."

Chandir conceded the point to Wryn.  He was still trying to decipher the vision and Enoch's connection to it.  "The vision had something to do with Enoch.  The knife he has was given as a gift to his father.  I saw that.  But it was a special occasion.  A celebration.  That I do not know of."

Chandir went on to explain to Wryn what he'd seen.  The tree with lights on it and the decorations.  The little globe that had the figurines in it.  The dinner that seemed to hold a special value to the family.

"I don't know, Chandir," Wryn said after the big dominant had finished talking. "I've not heard of others from Earth holding special celebrations.  It might have been a ritual that was lost as Earth laid on its deathbed."

"Maybe we should resurrect it?  We could chop down a small tree and bring it inside," Chandir said.  "We could put things on it-ribbons, or pine cones."

Wryn nodded and quietly walked to the bedroom door.  After peaking inside, he turned to Chandir.  "He's almost asleep.  Sharpen the blade, and when you are finished we will go find a tree."

Chandir stepped over to a cabinet and brought out his sharpening stone.  Wryn hadn't questioned Chandir's strange request to chop down a tree.  This was why Historians only bonded and married other Historians.  They understood the unknown call that the fates often set out to them.  Chandir's hands deftly brought the blade across the stone, and after several more swipes the knife was once again sharp.

The two men checked on their sub and after being assured he slept, they bundled up.  With a small axe in hand, they walked toward the nearby woods.  Chandir inspected several trees as Wryn gathered fallen pine cones.  Finally Chandir found one that looked similar to the one in his vision.  An evergreen that was full but not too tall.   With a few heavy strikes, the small fir tree fell.

Chandir grabbed the small trunk and pulled it toward their home.  "We'll use a bucket to keep it upright."

"I'll help you and then get a pot of stew going.  We could spend this evening decorating it and then tomorrow night we'll have the dinner you saw," Wryn said.

The scent of the pine was a pleasant smell inside their home.  Chandir wondered if that was why the humans on Earth brought in the tree. He added rocks to the bucket to help hold the tree in place.  Once he was satisfied it wouldn't fall over, he stood back and looked at it.

"We don't have time to make lights from the MXenes, but if we do this annually, we could make some this spring," Chandir stated.

"Or maybe we could make them during the harshest of winter time.  We have quite a supply of titanium carbide clay," Wryn offered.

"What are you doing?" Enoch's sleepy voice came from the bedroom.  

Chandir turned and saw his love standing in the doorway.  He normally didn't feel embarrassment when he explained things to Enoch.  But this time he did.  He didn't know why he had brought the tree in, except he felt compelled to by the vision.

Luckily, Wryn came to his rescue and explained.  "Chandir had a vision today.  It was of what has once been.  It showed a celebration from Earth that included bringing a tree inside.  We thought it would bring comfort to you to resurrect the unknown tradition."

Chandir watched as Enoch's eye's swung toward him.  The soft smile told Chandir that Enoch was happy.  The kiss that Enoch gave him confirmed it.

"We'll decorate it with ribbons and pine cones.  Maybe some of the dried flowers that Astrid left," Chandir told him.

"We'll eat first," Wryn stated.

Enoch laughed as he walked toward the tree. "Between Chandir always insisting I rest and you always feeding me, its a wonder I don't roll instead of walk."

The two big doms laughed at his words.  They'd heard them more times than they could count in the past months.  Suddenly Enoch fell to his knees.  Chandir rushed to wrap his arms around him.  He knew the young man was experiencing a vision.

Chandir sat down on the floor and pulled Enoch onto his lap.  The vision appeared to be one that was happy, or at least, not of death as Enoch's body melted into his own.  Chandir held Enoch and rocked him as the vision played out.

Finally after what seemed an eternity to Chandir, Enoch came back to the present.  Chandir tilted his boy's face toward him.  The smile on Enoch's face reached his eyes.

"Christmas. The celebration is Christmas.  A time of family, of giving and of hope," Enoch said.

Chandir smiled at Enoch and then at Wryn, who'd joined them on the floor. "It sounds like a wonderful celebration.  We'll talk to other's who have come to Gliese from Earth and we'll have Christmas on Gliese."

The End