Chapter Text
The sign hanging above the gate reads ‘Temult Family Tree Farm’. The sign itself is intricately carved, the wood stained dark against the pale yellow paint of the letters. Fearne scrambles to get out of the car, her door opening in a sudden wave of cold air. Laudna follows quickly, tucking herself through the door so the spiked ends of the jacket don’t snag or scratch.
“Oh she left the gate unlocked! That makes this much easier,” Fearne claps, “C’mon Laudna, lets get started.”
Once the gate is pulled open, and Ashton makes sure the truck is ready for whichever tree Fearne has decided on, Laudna picks an aisle and starts walking. Fearne encourages her to wander, hesitantly at first, but soon her mind is distracted by the quiet crunch of snow under her feet as she walks between the rows of trees. For a tree farm, the trees are all shockingly varied. Laudna had assumed they would all be identical, manufactured and cultivated to be the same no matter what. Her assumption is shattered the moment she starts walking. Some are massive, close to seven or eight feet tall with snow piled on the boughs, while others are three or four feet and nearly bowing with the added weight.
Laudna wanders further, and soon the sound of Ashton asking “What do you mean you changed your mind?” is muffled by the trees and snow. The wind blows through the branches, small bits of half melted snow that has then refrozen into ice sway as she brushes past. She can hear, distantly now, an odd sound. A loud bleating, one that slowly grows louder as she walks through the trees. It takes only a moment, a few more steps forward, before Laudna spots the source; a sheep, standing in the middle of the row and chewing on the low hanging branches of the trees. For a moment, all Laudna can think to do is stare. She remembers Ashton mentioning sheep on the farm, though she didn’t expect them to be able to roam and graze on the trees as they saw fit. But she also doesn’t run a tree farm so maybe this is a common practice, a possible way to save on pruning and animal feed.
That thought is proven wrong, when the rustling of leaves and a loud bark breaks the silence. A dog, a blur of black and white among the green pine needles, darts through her legs and straight towards a now very grumpy looking sheep. More footsteps follow, slower but still approaching.
“Get’er Heart! Go bring her back to the-” The voice and the footsteps stop suddenly.
“Who’re you?” The footsteps start again, moving faster as the snow beside Laudna crunches. She glances over then, peeking through the tree she had to almost step into in order to avoid getting bowled over by an extremely energetic dog, and gets a glimpse of the voice's owner.
A woman, bundled in a coat and flannels, stands stock still in the center of the row as the dog nips and barks at the single sheep. It would really be a funny sight, watching the dog jump and yip at the sheep to get it along, if Laudna’s mind was able to focus on anything other than the woman beside her. She just stares and Laudna takes the chance to study over her face, or what she can see of it anyways. A thick yellow knit cap and scarf obscure her face, leaving only her eyes and nose exposed to the elements, a loose braid of purple hair just visible. She has freckles, faint things in the middle of winter, but still dark enough to see. Laudna notices one of the woman’s eyebrows quirking up, and suddenly remembers she had been asked a question.
“Right! Sorry, I’m a friend of Fearne’s, she told me to wander until I was found. I take it you must be-"
“Imogen! Oh thank goodness you found her Imogen, I was starting to get worried.” Fearne had that frantic quality to her voice, one Laudna was all too familiar with. It looked like the woman, Imogen apparently, recognized it too, if the way she rolled her eyes was anything to go off of.
“Yeah, I found her Fearne. How she managed to just, wander into my very closed farm is beyond me.” Imogen was hard for Laudna to read, even now with her scarf pulled down to reveal her mouth and more faint freckles, and her tone was only making Laudna more and more worried that maybe she had crossed some sort of line. Her fingers comb through a freshly tangled patch of hair, the tug and pinch against her scalp soothing in its own way.
“I really am sorry, it wasn’t my intention to cause any problems.” Fearne and Imogen both look at her then, and Laudna fights the urge to shrink into the boughs behind her. Fearne glances from her to Imogen for a brief moment before she reaches out to stop Laudna from tugging at more of her hair. Fearne steps closer, her hand threading through Laudna’s before she turns back towards Imogen.
“Oh none of that Laud. Imogen, you know how our usual things go but Laudna’s new. She’s my friend that was coming down to visit, the one I told you about?” That makes Imogen shift, and for a moment Laudna debates actually diving into one of the nearby trees out of the sudden need to not embarrass herself further. Figures that throwing herself into the tree would be much more embarrassing. Imogen eyes her over before letting a full smile break across her face. Laudna reevaluates her tree diving plan.
“So you’re this mysterious Laudna I’ve been hearin’ about..” Imogen glances quickly down the row again at a sharp bleat before looking to Fearne again, “Listen, I’ve gotta handle the girls. Just holler if you need any help, or call me.” Imogen gives Fearne a very pointed look before she begins to walk away. And for a moment Laudna thinks that they’ll split off, that she’s seen all she’ll get to of Imogen. Oddly that thought hurts, causes an ache to form right between her lungs. It makes Laudna wonder if her inhaler is still packed away in her luggage.
“Actually! Imogen, would you show Laudna around the farm?” Imogen stops and gives Fearne a scanning look. One eyebrow cocked, what Laudna might hazard to call a grin on her lips. It doesn’t deter Fearne in the slightest.
“She’s never been before, and I wanted her to get the full experience without having to deal with the crowds.” Imogen glances towards Laudna then, “And, I mean, who better to show her around than the owner!” Fearne says it as if they were already in agreement. Laudna watches as Imogen cracks under the sheer force of Fearne’s oblivious optimism, or more realistically her untameable troublemaking. The signs are obvious, the way her face softens and her shoulders droop ever so slightly. Ashton had attempted to keep their sternness the same way that morning, and it was something Laudna herself had tried over the years.
Fearne always wins in the end.
“Really? You know Fearne and you’ve never been? Not even once?” Imogen sounds confused, even with her voiced colored with a smile.
“Afraid so, this is my first time properly visiting Gelvaan for longer than a handful of hours.” Outside of when she had stopped in a gas station once while she made her way through the rolling countryside, this was the most of the small town she had ever seen. Which she felt was a feat in itself, the town being little more than a handful of streets hidden beside an empty stretch of interstate.
“See, and neither of us can really let that slide. And you know I would love to show her around. But I have Ashton wrestling a tree and I don’t want to miss it so.” Fearne flashes them both a blinding smile before she turns on her heel and genuinely skips back down the empty aisle. They both stand in silence, watching as Fearne disappears among the pines. Imogen breaks the quiet first, scuffing her boot along the dirt speckled snow before speaking.
“Well, s’long as you don’t mind me checkin’ up on the sheep, you’re free to tag along? My daddy, the actual owner, usually handles the proper tours we do ‘round here so I’m not sure how much fun you’ll have followin’ me.” Imogen has her hands stuffed in her pockets, and they both briefly make eye contact before she sniffs and raises a shoulder, “If you want, I know Fearne kinda volunteered you for a tour so she can go kiss up on Ashton in the trees.”
“I don’t mind! Honestly, this is the first tree farm I’ve ever actually seen.” Laudna gives Imogen what she knows is her safest smile, her teeth tucked safely behind her lips as she takes a hesitant step forward, "That and I'm staying with them, plenty of time to accidentally stumble on them later."
They walk in silence for a longer while, with Imogen pausing every few moments to duck her head between the trees to check for any other woolen stragglers. The tour consists mainly of more trees, still in their neat lines and uneven heights, though Laudna catches glimpses of fences and empty fields every so often.
“So. Are you one of Fearne’s. . ?” Laudna can’t help but ask it, the question burning in the back of her mind. Imogen looks a little confused for a moment, before her eyes brighten and she chuckles.
“Oh, me? Naw, that’s just Ash and Dorian far as I know.” Imogen is idly running a hand over her braid as they walk, fingers playing with the few strands that broke free. Laudna watches for a few moments before Imogen catches her, a sly grin on her face.
“What about you? She’s been talkin’ you up ever since you decided to come to town for the holidays, had me wonderin’.” Imogen leans in a little, braid ignored as Laudna bites back a groan.
“I’m not, Fearne has just been.” Laudna huffs, and Imogen shifts closer, “She’s decided I’m lacking in the relationship department. See, my work keeps me rather busy, I can barely take the time out of my day to eat and spend time with Pâté, so that takes dating out of the equation.” Laudna picks at the tips of her fingers, lets the feel of her long nails against the skin of her fingertips keep her mind on track.
“That and, well, for all most people say they want to date a goth girl they always seem to balk at my more, eccentric tastes.”
“You’re not one of those people that thinks they’re really a vampire, are you?” Imogen’s voice is steady, and when Laudna glances back up she’s relieved to see that same grin playing at Imogen’s lips, even as Imogen eyes the shining spikes on the borrowed jacket.
“You’ve learned my secret, yes I’m a terrible creature of the night, come to steal you away and make you my next meal.” Laudna exaggerates her smile, baring her longer than normal canines for a moment before dissolving into giggles. Imogen joins a moment later, though Laudna can’t help but notice her cheeks being pinker than they had been before.