Trisandrah Emberstrom

Winter's Veil Blues

The flat was dark. The sunlight glittering in through the living room window illuminated the presents in various stages of wrapping.  Tris ambled out of her bedroom holding her head with one hand and the wall with the other. “Sun above, what have I done?”  She looks at the timepiece on the wall and squints to try to see only one set of hands and numbers.

The banging on the door which had originally roused her continued. “Ooph…okay okay…you can stop now,” she murmured, clearly not loud enough for the person on the other side to hear. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” Slowly, she made her way to the door and opened it to find a relieved Ande.

“Bout fuckin’ time. Where ‘ave you been ‘n why ‘aven’t you been answering your comm?” The blonde asked as she waltzed in the room. “Fuck all, what a mess? What’s gotten into you?”  She turned and peered hard at Tris. “You’ve pulled a bender, ain’t ya?”

Tris blinked and shook her head. “I didn’t!” Her hand went to her head again, as the room still moved even after her head stopped. “Oh fiddle, I didn’t. Not exactly. Just…just hold it down. You don’t have to yell.”

“What’d ya do then? I’ve been tryin’ to check in on ya for two fuckin’ days.”

The chocolatier flopped down on the couch and stared at the wall for a while. “I slept.” Slowly, she turned to look at Ande, a smile creeping onto her lips. “I slept, thank you very much.” She hopped up to get her comm and thumbed through the messages. Her ears drooped. They were all from Ande. She tossed the comm on the table and leaned back. “So what did you need? You don’t just check up on me.”

The fixer rolled her eyes and hopped up. “I do at Winter’s Veil, your birthday, ‘n durin’ Children’s Week. Anyway, you’re fine ‘n good ‘n I’m glad of it. Stay away from the booze, you obviously can’t handle it.”

“Oh fiddle.”  As Ande stormed by, Tris reached out and grabbed her benefactor’s hand. “Wait, thanks. Thank you for looking after me.”

Ande paused and squeezed Tris’ hand. “Sure thing. Now get this shit cleaned up ‘n take a bath. I dunno if it’s your flat or you, but somethin’ reeks.”

After she was gone, Tris looked around, her gaze focusing on the mess she’d made. The only thing she cared to tidy up was the empty bottle of vodka. She tossed it in the trash and headed for the bath. It only took a couple of steps before she returned and shifted the trash, effectively hiding the bottle.