Comfort in the Caves

[a_mere_child]

It took three and a half hours to get the displaced residents of White Forest settled in at Druid Cave. They haven't moved the Borealis yet; it's getting dark and there's enough snow falling to conceal the boat effectively for the night. Also, though Alyx would never willingly admit it, she's just too damn tired to think about moving the damn boat

Comments

[remindmeof_me]

Sooner or later Alyx is probably going to pick up on a faintly burnt, roasted kind of smell. Not food, but something not too different from coffee. In a house this size it's hard to keep what's going on in the kitchen separate from what goes on anywhere else, and Alyx isn't the only one who's had a long day. Kate Shephard kind of figures that alcohol is not the best way to cope right now.

[remindmeof_me]

"Y'welcome. Sorry it ain't better, but this time of year we're savin' up the good stuff for Thanksgiving."

[a_mere_child]

Alyx looks up. "F'r what?"

[remindmeof_me]

"Thanksgiving," says Kate. "Last Thursday in November? You know, that whole holiday with the Pilgrims'n givin' thanks for makin' it through another year without starvin' or endin' up worse off than you were before?"

Living through the Xen invasion, and then the Combine one, meant that the people of Rowlesburg put something of a different spin on the holiday. The spirit's still the same, though.

[a_mere_child]

"...oh," says Alyx in a tone that says she didn't know at all until just now.

[remindmeof_me]

Kate laughs. "It's all right, don't you worry none," she says. "Used to be a real big American holiday before the Combine came. Can't imagine most folks figured they had enough to be thankful for to keep it up none, tell you the truth."

[a_mere_child]

"My dad wasn't big on national identity," Alyx admits. "Too divisive."

[remindmeof_me]

"Yeah, well-" Kate picks up her mug in both hands. "Folks need somethin' to hold on to, to keep 'em goin'. And there ain't nothin' wrong with celebratin' that you survived another year, neither."

[a_mere_child]

Alyx looks down at her plate.

"Is that what it's come to?" she murmurs after a long moment. "Just surviving?"

[remindmeof_me]

Kate exhales, blowing on her coffee. "Think you missed somethin' there," she says. "It ain't 'just surviving'. It's 'surviving is worth celebrating'. Means the world's tried to kill us three hundred sixty five days now, and the Combine's tried to make us lose hope 'n break our faith in the future, 'n we're still here 'n we still believe. Life's worth livin' even if we don't know what's comin' next."

"Which ain't to say we don't enjoy ourselves the other three hunnert'n sixty-four, neither. Thanksgiving's just the day we sit down'n talk about everything we're glad we've got. Count all our blessings, y'know?"

[a_mere_child]

Alyx takes a deep breath, then lets it out.

"They seem pretty thin on the ground, sometimes."

[remindmeof_me]

"I know," says Kate. "I know. But long as there's life, there's hope."

[a_mere_child]

( "Hope. Her name's Hope." )

Alyx manages a faint smile. "Yeah."

[remindmeof_me]

"There you go," says Kate, smiling. "That's a start. You want some meat? It's rabbit. We got a real nice breeding program goin' in one of the side caves."

[a_mere_child]

"Yes, please," says Alyx. "I've never had rabbit befo--"

It comes on in a sudden rush; horror, longing, desperate hope reaching out to her from hundreds of miles away...

Her fork drops from her fingers and clatters against the plate.

"Gordon?"

[remindmeof_me]

Kate blinks, hand stopping partway to the pan handle. "Beg pardon?" she says cautiously. "You okay there?"