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Winsol was the thirteen days of celebration of the Darkness - of Witch: the living myth, dreams made flesh. Blood everywhere danced and drank in honor of Witch; those who actually knew Witch got to enjoy their time with her between other parties and gatherings that their own duties required them to attend. Jaenelle herself attended parties with Daemon as the wife of the ruler of Dhemlan, attended the parties held by the Queens of other Territories, and in general enjoyed the holiday the way any witch ought to. And her friends and family respected her desire to be a ‘normal’ witch.
Though some few members of Jaenelle’s former court had a hard time remembering - even five years after the Cleansing of the Blood - Jaenelle’s birth-sister Wilhelmina was actually getting comfortable with her knowledge of her sister’s past. Leaving Dhemlan to put some space between herself and the enigma of her younger sister had done her a world of good. Regardless of her relation to Jaenelle - or perhaps because of it - Wilhelmina had still needed to spend her eighteen months in service to one of Kaeleer’s courts. While Jaenelle lay in a deep healing trance - unbeknown to the rest of Kaeleer’s Blood - Wilhelmina had been offered the use of her sister’s house in Scelt. With the offer of a place to stay, and after speaking to Scelt’s Queen Morghann, Wilhelmina took a contract to work with some of the Healers who were learning to work with the Sceltie kindred. Part of her - a big, guilty part - had wanted to work with the Kindred as a way of atoning DeJaal’s death for defending her, another part of her was merely grateful to get away from Dhemlan long enough to find her balance again. The rest of her, the majority of her, really and truly wanted to find a place in Kaeleer, where she could be someone deserving of the second chance she’d been given.
Now, five years after the Cleansing, Wilhelmina Benedict was sure enough of herself to attend Winsol in Dhemlan rather than demurely declining the invitations she’d received every year. More than that, she was sure enough of herself to bring her apprentice with her. Chaley Shuyler, a young Opal witch, had been adopted by one of the Sceltie kindred - who had then led her human to Wilhelmina’s cottage. No longer as surprised as she once had been by the kindred’s seemingly ‘random’ leaps of logic, Wilhelmina had invited the young witch in for tea and by the end of the day had tentatively accepted Chaley as her apprentice. That had been a year ago. This year, Wilhelmina had accepted the invitation to Dhemlan, and sent her response with a request to bring her apprentice. After all, meeting some of Kaeleer’s other kindred would be good for Chaley, and the best place for that was at Dhemlan during Winsol. Ladvarian had met her already, but that left the Acearian Prince Kaelas, the tiger Prince Jaal, and any of the other kindred who might wish to attend. It would be good for both of them, quite honestly; Chaley needed to meet the other races and it wouldn’t hurt for her to meet Jaenelle, Wilhelmina needed to show her sister (and prove to herself) that she had truly settled in Kaeleer and found happiness in her new home.
Winsol in Dhemlan was... exactly what Wilhelmina expected it to be. Villages bustling with activity, parties hosted in multiple houses, gatherings in every village, and the big gathering at the Hall. This was the gathering that Wilhelmina had been specifically asked to attend, though she and Chaley had gone to some of the other village parties where it was almost a shock to see fewer Scelties running and playing amongst the other revelers. Black and tan Demia never left her human’s side, of course, but it still struck both healers as odd not to see Scelties everywhere.
On the longest night, the height of the celebration to the Darkness, Wilhelmina slipped into large comfortable sitting room where gifts would be exchanged and the hot blooded rum shared with all in attendance. She’d expected, in this smaller intimate setting, to be asked to leave Chaley behind but her apprentice had been invited along as well. Though neither woman had gifts for all of the ‘family’ who would be in attendance, each had small tokens to give to those they did know. In Wilhelmina’s case this meant gifts for Ladvarian, Jaenelle, Daemon, Lucivar and Marian, Morghann and Khardeen, Karla, and a few less-personal gifts for the rest of the no-longer-official court of the Queen of Ebon Askavi. Chaley had gifts of her own to give, though Wilhelmina hadn’t demanded to know who those gifts were for. No doubt her apprentice had gotten advice from Ladvairan, possibly via Demia, on what might be acceptable host and hostess gifts for Daemon and Jaenelle, but Wilhelmina found she had no idea who else Chaley would approach.
The last of the guests finally arrived for the gathering, and the small conversations that had filled the time until everyone had arrived tapered off as people paired up for the sharing of the cups. Daemon’s red-jewelled butler appeared with a tray of tiny silver cups and began filling them with the rum and distributing them. Wilhelmina looked for her apprentice, intending to share the cup with her, only to meet Surreal’s eyes as the Dea al Mon witch approached her. Initially terrified of the former (hopefully) assassin, Wilhelmina actually smiled as Surreal stopped near her. Welcoming Surreal’s presence, Wilhelmina turned to check on her apprentice - and to smile as the Warlord Prince Rainier invited the Glacian Queen Karla’s adoptive daughter Della to share a cup with him - she made a startled little noise to see Chaley approaching Karla with one of the tiny cups. To her knowledge, Chaley had never met Karla, and the Glacian Queen seemed just as surprised as Wilhelmina herself to be approached by the younger witch. Chaley’s offer was accepted without complaint, thankfully, avoiding what might have had the potential to become a rather upsetting scene. Wilhelmina then turned her attention back to Surreal, standing with the former assassin as everyone in the room waited for Jaenelle’s unvoiced signal to share the cups. No-one drank alone, unlike far too many Winsols that Wilhelmina could remember from her childhood.
After the butler Beale had collected the cups and disappeared in that way that the truly amazing butlers could people began to exchange the gifts they had brought. There seemed to be no resentment when someone ended up with more gifts than another - yet another difference from Winsols past - and Wilhelmina was glad to share those gifts she’d brought, and to accept the gifts given to her with surprised pleasure. She opened her gifts, touched by the thoughtfulness that had gone into each neatly wrapped package. A brief look let her see Ladvarian carefully shredding gift paper with skillful use of the Craft from one of his gifts, Chaosti chuckling over something cupped in his hands, and Chaley...
Chaley was holding a small gift out to Karla with a shy expression. No doubt used to keeping track of everyone’s emotions, several members of the former First Circle looked in Karla’s direction, but Wilhelmina wasn’t interested in that, not for the moment at least. Though she wanted to see what Chaley had gifted Karla, she was more curious to see what Jaenelle though about this. Karla was, after all, one of Jaenelle’s closest friends, and anything that could cause that sort of surprise was doubtless something for her sister to check out.
Which was why she was probably one of the few people to see the tiny pleased smile on Jaenelle’s face before she turned her attention back to her own gifts and her husband’s doting attention. Wondering what had brought that smile to Jaenelle’s face, Wilhelmina decided to ask later and turned her own attention back to Karla and Chaley. In the brief moments that her attention had been off the two women, Karla had accepted the gift and begun to unwrap it. The pleased surprise that Wilhelmina could read even halfway across the room - and Chaley’s unmistakable relief at having her gift accepted - was easy to see even without a personal familiarity with the emotional currents in the room. She was far enough away not to see clearly what lay on the creased paper, but the quiet ‘thank you’ was easy enough to hear.
From somewhere, Wilhelmina got the curious impression that she might not have an apprentice much longer.