A version of the other

Larkin and Caitlin instinctively found each other's hand once inside the old brick apartment which neither of them had been to since they were girls. It was not the chill that brought their hands -- Caitlin's right and Larkin's left -- to clasp. The heart of the Rayburn was doing its job filling space and wrapping arms around each Being, a huge Teddy Bear who knew just what and who might be in need of a spark. "It's changed somehow, hasn't it?" Caitlin looked at the big room she remembered in a child's dream memory. "Yes! But I can not say how it's changed exactly." What she did know was that the house was still exceptionally good at listening. Larkin searched the walls and sought the stairway that she remembered conscious of how the ears of this old house opened its channels to it all.

"They, the stairway, are still there," Maydene sought Larkin's elbow and pointed as the night's hostess was also facile at hearing. "We have laid a quantity of Appearances and Disappearances in the magic of this night. So for a little while what once was will ... come and go. See!" Seemingly out of a nowhere space at the back end of the large room two figures, familiar yet dressed differently were Daniel, Larkin's father and Peg her step-mother. "We are Tree Shavings and Mushroom. A version of ourselves, the wood worker and ..." Peg curtsied, "Mushroom Mother." The effect of the costumes set both young women giggling at what was at once beautifully depicted and whimsical. The flutes and ruffles of Mushroom was not a Portabello but it was closely Chantrelle-ish if it weren't for the avenues of violet and purple that showered Peg like a crown. Daniel's feet were encased in boots that were more furry than smooth and dangled with rootlets with an underside of Velcro. "It's possible I will be the night's vacuum." Larkin reached for a hug speculating on the effect. "Fear not fair one." Daniel squeezed the wood shavings. "Foam peanuts for packing parcels!" That did it! A merry foursome of Foam peanuts with furry feet, a violet-ish Mushroom and two young witches yet to be costumed for the night circled and jigged to the grand amusement of the rest.

The silver-haired Raven was at his between world best. Standing inside the large room he was a Silver bird dressed in a waistcoat of brilliant red brocade held with jewels set in taped silver. An emerald faceted like the hair of kelp still swimming in water was closest to his bearded feathers. Next a red stone, maybe garnet ... yes, it must have been for next was a diamond rough rather than polished. The two garnet and diamonds are said to reside in Earth's depths close-by. The fourth and last stone was golden amber. "All of them gifts," the Bird-man was not lying.  Jacob and Rabbit listened. Rabbit's long ears twitched. Jacob simply listened. "Each of the stones were given some willingly though others were payments for deeds others could not do for themselves so these were exchanges rather than true gifts." The Building considered the worthiness of the Silver Bird. Could he serve as gatekeeper to the new birthing coming soon? Breathing in and out, the walls and roof allowed for the future. Maydene had a plan unfurling. The place trusted her.

Fairy Lady apprised the gathering with amusement. Comfortable with serving her interstitial clientele at The Safety Pin Cafe, this Christmas gala would be a time of movements. She would be leaving the care of The Pin to the younger generation of Salish. Mina and Skeena would continue the legacy she and their father, the Silver-haired Raven, started decades ago. When the new year of the Fire Monkey began the Rayburn and this kitchen would be her new domain.

"I had never thought to become a city fairy," she confessed when first she heard of Maydene's plan. "My kin have in the past enjoyed the activity of city rather than woods. But it has been a very long time since that was true. Hundreds of calendar years to be sure." Maydene began her meddling just after the harvesting of apples began. Apples were and remain the prime fruit for pies baked for regular customers and those who wandered into The Safety Pin Cafe. Fully dressed with their chosen faces, or faceless because life had flushed unexpectedly or prematurely, the common magic of the cafe fed and nurtured. The idea Maydene Short was proposing had a pure ring to it, fairies are keen to the sound and smell of an idea not true.