Judith worried about Gwendolynn.
The young woman in front of her had certainly changed a lot since they first met. She had grown in strength and confidence: the shy librarian from England would have burst into flames at the mere thought of shouting in Baron Valentin Von Fischer’s face, but that was indeed a thing that had happened, just a few weeks earlier (he totally deserved it).
And yet, Judith was afraid that this mission could be too much for her.
This year’s Krampusbeasts infestation had been especially vicious, and the gang had spent several weeks in the woods, with little respite from fights and none of the little comforts they could enjoy in a city or even a small village.
The adventuring life kept throwing challenges at them. Gwen was certainly resilient, but she appeared tired, almost skittish. Maybe it was just her feeling, but Judith felt like Gwen was avoiding her.
And, weirdest of all things, she was spending most of her time with Pisspot.
The rest of the gang also felt kinda distant. Adventuring life is hard, and maybe she had led them through too much danger. It was a painful thought, but maybe it was time for her to consider going solo once again. The company of these people had been precious to her, and kept her alive more than once. But exactly for that reason, she really cared for them, and she needed to do what was best for them, not for her.
It was a sharp, cold morning, and Judith had gathered some wood and started a small fire to make breakfast. The rest of the group showed up soon, someone waking up, someone coming back from their night watch, they all gathered for breakfast.
Gwen showed up last.
“Do you know what day it is today, Judith?”
“ehr…. Thursday?”
“It’s Friday. And it’s Christmas.”
“Oh. But you know, some of the Krampusbeasts are aligned to the Julian calendar, so it’s gonna take just a bit longer, we’re gonna get through this soon…”
Gwen made a large sweeping gesture to interrupt her, and let out a big sigh.
“And there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Okay?”
Judith felt a cold shiver through her back. This was it, eh? She was gonna be alone again…
“My grandmother’s great-grandmother was Icelandic. Or so grandmother claimed. She was very fond of this heritage, and never failed to tell us the tale of Jólakötturinn, Yule Cat, the house cat of Grýla, a mountain ogress that would descend on Icelandic villages at Christmastime to eat naughty children, and the only way to keep them away was to receive new items of clothing among your Christmas presents. I always assumed this was an excuse to give me clothing, rather than the books I asked for, but…”
Gwen let out another sigh.
“... after everything I’ve seen here in Translovakia, I started wondering if there might be some truth to the tale, so I made sure you all got some nice clothing for Christmas.”
Gunter interrupted, enthusiastically: “Yeah, those gloves you gave me last year are excellent, I’m still wearing them!”
“It’s hard to find nice clothing in Solomon’s size. The waistcoat you gave Solomon is very nice.”
“I can fit so many things in zis pocket brodée, it’s so useful!” exclaimed Yvette.
Eldric was looking at his fingernails, pretending not to be interested, but then declared “Yeah, I was really surprised you managed to find such a nice cravat, I usually get mine made in Paris”
Judith was reminded of the nightgown she had received from Gwendolynn, such a fine material, almost sheer but very strong, packed very compact and yet it kept her warm. Such a practical gift. Yes, practical, the fact that it was see-through was only a consequence of the excellent quality of the fabric.
Gwen shushed them all with a gesture. “Yes, yes, I am good at giving gifts. I know that. But we haven’t been near a village, an emporium, or even another human in weeks! I had no chance to buy clothing, or even materials to craft them, so I had to come up with something!”
Judith felt dumbfounded and was trying to put together the pieces to understand just what it was that was happening, while Gwen explained about Yule Cat and Grýla and their complicated family, but she had really been taken by surprise.
She also tried to mitigate Gwen’s worries, with little success.
“I’ve never heard of a Yule Cat before, and anyway how would they get all the way to Translovakia from Iceland?”
Gwen looked at her sternly. “What about the Yuki Onna we fought last week?”
“She’d come to visit some relatives!”
“Yeah and how can you be sure that Grýla doesn’t have any Translovakian cousin?”
“... you’re right, I can’t” replied Judith, with a frown.
“So, as I was saying, I had to figure out something. We’ve been traveling light, and it’s cold, so I had nothing I could sacrifice for fabric. Linen would require time, planning, and staying in one place to grow flax, which are all luxuries we don’t have. I even considered bark, but really, wool was the only option.
So I explained the situation to Diana and we tried spinning some of her hair, which is very soft and shiny, such a pleasure to the touch…”
Judith thought for a moment she’d seen Diana blush, but no, that was certainly not possible, was it?
"...but it disappeared as soon as the moon went down.”
Both Gwen and Diana appeared very,very disappointed.
“So… we turned to Pisspot. Who’s been very agreeable to all of this! But, getting fleece is just the first step! You need to prepare it, spin it, and then make something from the yarn! Do you have an idea how long it would take a mediocre spinner to spin enough yarn for a pair of socks?”
“An expert spinner who can do it while walking, straight from the fleece, could pull it off over a couple days maybe” intervened Gunter.
Everybody turned to him.
“That was a surprisingly specific answer” observed Eldric.
“Yeah, my mum was a great spinster! Best of the whole duchy. She even moved in with the local weaver once I left home, you know, to be more efficient, less time wasted traveling. Also they shared the bed, guess that leaves more space for supplies?”
“Yes, thank you Gunter, we all want to know about your mother’s roommate and why there was just one bed, but let Gwen tell her tale so she can get to the end of it…” interposed Diana.
“Thank you. So we involved Yvette, who helped me and Diana to gather fibers from Pisspot, wash them, and prepare them for spinning. Gunter built me a very nice spindle, well balanced, and also needles to knit it, out of stuff he found around, and I spent as much time as I could spinning it into yarn”
“Wait a minute, was I the only one that didn’t know about… this?” asked Judith
“Gifts are better when they are surprises!” blurted Gwen, on the verge of tears.
“Uhm, yeah? But only because technically, neither Solomon nor I need sleep, and we were playing cards when we spotted Yvette and Gwen brushing Pisspot” mumbled Eldric.
“Solomon doesn’t like secrets. But this was important to Gwen”
Gwen cleared her throat to get the attention back to her.
“So, since it’s now officially Christmas day, you are all going to get… a woolen ribbon. And let’s just hope that it counts as clothing because we sure don’t need another monster around here”.
Gwen took out of a small sack seven small parcels, wrapped with birch bark and tied closed with dried grass. She distributed one to each member, and when she got to Pisspot, she opened the package and took out a short ribbon made of wool and tied it to one of Pisspot horns.
Meanwhile the others were busy opening their own parcels, and figuring out a way to work the ribbon into their clothing.
“But, but, wait a minute, what about you?” asked Judith.
“Well I certainly couldn’t make a gift for myself, could I ? I just hope Yule Cat will find some more appetizing victim before getting all the way to Translovakia.”
“No need to worry about that, we got you covered!” proclaimed Gunter. “Eldric sacrificed one of his very fine, unused handkerchiefs, Yvette figured out she could do with one less strap to secure explosives, and everybody else helped keep it a surprise!”
Diana commented “It was indeed a surprise, finding out that Gunter is so neat and precise at stitching.”
“Anyway, here it is, for you Gwen, a perfectly new napron!”
Gunter handed Gwen a package, also wrapped in birch bark. Gwen was speechless but immediately gained back composure, gracefully tore into the package, and immediately wore the napron over her cloak.
Judith observed all of this with a turmoil of feelings: she was certainly relieved, her heart warmed by how much the gang members cared for each other and the length they would go to protect each other.
Yes, even the goat.
All her doubts had no reason to exist, this group of people was strong together.
And now breakfast was ready, so she called them and they sat around the fire. Gwen next to her.
“Please, Gwen, please. Just promise me that whatever monster worries you next, you’ll tell me about it. No matter if it might ruin a surprise gift.”
Gwen pouted just a bit but then smiled and said “I will, Judith.”
That smile did things to her. Or maybe it was just the breakfast? Yeah, it was probably the breakfast.
–
A couple of days later, Gunter was on watch duty with Diana.
“Hey Diana, can I ask you a question?”
“Uh, ok.”
“Do you think my mom was a lesbian? I mean, she could have moved close to the weaver without moving in with her”
“Well, you did say there was just one bed”
“Yeah right.”
Gunter was silent for a couple of minutes.
“But you know what? It was a really large bed. Guess it was a polycule.”
Notes:
More about Yule Cat
https://hauntedlibrarian.substack.com/p/12-demons-of-xmas-day-3-yule-cat
Embroidered pockets were tie on, separate from the clothing
https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/make-your-own-pockets
"in old English, the words orange, adder, and apron all began with the letter n,
and so were spelt narenge, nadder, and napron." Napron hails from the French
word naperon, which is an iteration of "nappe," or "a little cloth." This word is
also the root of nap-kin, which also means "little cloth." As grammar and
phonics shifted through time, words that originally began with "n" were
modified and adjusted. Eventually, they lost their "n" and whatever the second
letter was — which in 99% of cases was a vowel — became the first.