TamOShanter: I actually was thinking of you just last week. I was in London and dropped into the Queen’s Head.
TamOShanter: Sadly no Rudolph Rosé until next month, but they assure me they’ve got an even twirlier straw this year!
TamOShanter: Just in case you didn’t have plans on Christmas Eve—sorry, YULE—this year.
TamOShanter: I mean, it did take me three days and about a thousand teeth-brushings to make my teeth not pink after drinking that thing last year, but if we wanted to make liver poisoning an annual tradition, I’m available!
BGPCymru: I’ll be in Graves Glen this year.
BGPCymru: Taran’s first Yule.
TamOShanter: Oh, right! The new addition! How is your nephew?
BGPCymru: From the pictures Vivienne sends, bald. Happy. Really interested in eating his hands.
TamOShanter: Please tell me you’re bringing him a developmentally appropriate gift and not, like, an elk horn dagger for scrying or something.
BGPCymru: You couldn’t use a dagger for scrying, and in any case, a witch doesn’t get his first elk horn until he’s thirteen.
BGPCymru: (That was a joke.)
BGPCymru: (There’s no age limit on elk horn.)
BGPCymru: Anyway, not sure how long I’ll be there. I think they’d like me to stay for most of December, but that feels like . . . a lot.
TamOShanter: Bowen, two hours in another person’s company is probably “a lot” for you. A month with family? Family with a BABY??? You will need an entire TANK of Rudolph Rosé by Christmas Eve.
BGPCymru: Too fucking right. All right then, sorted. I’ve got a Traveling Stone, so getting there from Graves Glen won’t be hard. Christmas Eve, the Queen’s Head. You and me. Twirly straws.
TamOShanter: Red dye 40 and glitter.
BGPCymru: Pink teeth and liver failure.
TamOShanter: Mistletoe and bad choices.
BGPCymru . . .
BGPCymru . . .
BGPCymru is typing
BGPCymru . . .
BGPCymru is typing
BGPCymru: Was that a bad choice?
BGPCymru: The mistletoe?
TamOShanter: Ohhhh, it is too late to be having this conversation, Bowen. That way lies danger.
BGPCymru: You’re right. Sorry.
BGPCymru: Honestly, I should get some sleep. Words are starting to blur, and I’m clearly at the talking bullshit stage.
TamOShanter: And I have a hot date with several Real Housewives currently saved on my DVR.
BGPCymru: Clearly time to go to bed because every bit of that sentence sounds like a hallucination to me.
TamOShanter: Ha-ha. Okay, off you go! Have fun in Georgia, and see you Christmas Eve.
BGPCymru: See you then.
BGPCymru: Oh, and check your email tomorrow, I might have a lead on a dagger I need you to track down for me.
TamOShanter: Classic Friday at the office! Will do. Night, boss.
BGPCymru: Night, Tam (still not your boss).
BGPCymru: (And I didn’t think it was a bad choice, by the way. The mistletoe.)
TamOShanter: (Neither did I.)
Chapter 1
This December
“Santa hat.”
