Fire in the candle ring, water from the thaw...

[llewych_will]

"Just a bit further. That's it--now we swing it to the right..." Will shuffles backwards, guiding the top half of the small tree they'd cut as Bran carries the bottom half, and the 'X' of boards nailed to the bottom

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[branbach]

"It's going to need water," Bran says, standing back to look up and down at the tree admiringly. "I think we did a right good job though, don't you?"

[llewych_will]

"Yeah, I'm not quite sure how to work that bit," Will admits with a shrug. Maybe the tree will just have to get dry. "It's lovely, though. Just the right size, you were right. The other one would've been too tall." He grins and goes to pick up a couple of the makeshift ornaments, wanting to get it decorated.

[branbach]

"Of course I was right," says Bran cheerfully, "we've been over this. I usually am. Though I think you may be right about the water, but I will keep a lookout for a pot or something, in the meantime."

He picks up an ornament off the bed, a bell made of a pair of coins fastened together. "You ought to sing a carol or something, really, Will."

[llewych_will]

Smiling at the suggestion, Will nods. "All right." He takes a deep breath and starts singing, hanging the ornaments in his hands and going back for more.

"O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear saviour's birth."

He moves back to the tree, still singing as he hangs more ornaments.

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till he appearred and..."

His voice trails off as he sees an ornament he knows neither he nor Bran had put there.

"......Oh." It's a weak, breathless sound, as the ribbon accented pine cone in his hand drops to the floor.

The Sign of Water is on the tree.

[branbach]

Bran had looked away from the tree when Will started singing, watching him instead. He's always had a good voice, and Bran scoffs at the idea that it isn't what it was after it changed, but then Will trails off, and Bran looks at him in concern.

"Will? What is it?"

[llewych_will]

Will's fingers have a faint tremor to them as he reaches out and carefully pulls the Sign free of the tree branch threaded through it, crossing to Bran's side with it cupped almost gingerly in his hands. "It...was on the tree," he whispers, unable to take his eyes from the shimmering glass.

[branbach]

Bran crosses to him, hesitant to touch it. He knows how Will must feel; he felt the same thing when he walked to the beach one morning and saw Eirias' gleaming hilt jutting from a stone.

"..Oh," he says, helplessly.

[llewych_will]

Will finally manages to tear his gaze away from the Sign, looking at Bran with eyes that are wide and almost frightened. "You remember it?" Because Will does. He remembers Bran holding the Sign, trying to lift Eirias with just one hand--he remembers John Rowlands sweeping in to take the Sign from Bran, holding off the dark at just the right moment, and then Bran raises the sword, cutting the sprig of mistletoe from the tree, fulfilling the prophecy.

The Sign of Water: Bran's sign. A shiver runs through Will as his thumb traces the curved outer edge, the crossed arms of the mandala.

[branbach]

Something is Will's voice makes Bran...nervous, almost, awkward. "Of course I remember it," he says, but in a shaky voice that suggests there is no of course about it, because he had, after all, forgotten it for a very long time. "Are you all right?"

[llewych_will]

There's a reason that this Sign showed up, above all of the others. There has to be. Why not the Sign of Iron--that had been Will's birthday present? Or the Sign of Stone, the Sign he himself had held to ward off the Dark? Why not the Sign of Fire, Merriman's sign, his mentor?

Why Bran's? Will thinks he might actually know the answer to that, but it terrifies him just a little.

"I--course. Just...surprised," Will half-gasps, abruptly clutching the Sign to his chest. "I think I need a bit of air, actually..."

[branbach]

"Go have a breath then," Bran says, "I can take care of the tree, or what we've got of it." And then he realises perhaps this is not what Will means, or what he needs, and adds, "Unless you want me to go with you, that's all right too. I know it's a bit mad, and all...."

[llewych_will]

Will quickly shakes his head. "No no--I'll be all right." He grabs his purple coat and shrugs it on, giving Bran a weak smile before he ducks outside, barely feeling the chill wind with the hot blood pounding in his veins.

Bran. All my life, it's always come back to him. Oh God, how did I not realise--and what do I do now? He takes a few steps away and leans against a tree, branches poking into his back.

[branbach]

Bran looks after Will, racing outside like he's about to be sick. Which is understandable, really; he thinks he felt a bit like that when he found Eirias as well, and he might have cried, and in any case was not really coherent company. Once the door swings shut he picks up the makeshift ornaments again, hanging them carefully off the branches of the tree while he waits for Will to come back inside.

[llewych_will]

It takes him about ten minutes to get his emotions under control enough to face Bran again, his face numb and pink from the wind as he re-enters the cosy cabin. "...Hey." He glances from Bran to the tree and smiles, leaning against the door, hands shoved in his coat pockets--the right one still clutching the Sign tightly. "The tree's looking quite nice..."

[branbach]

"It is mostly finished," Bran says carelessly, sinking onto the edge of the bed to peer at Will worriedly. "You can put that back on it, if you'd like. Are you all right now?"

[llewych_will]

Will looks at the Sign, then at the tree. If he's putting it back, there's only one place for it, really.

"I'm okay. Help me put it on the top?" he suggests, slipping out of his coat again and moving toward the tree, reaching for the top branches.