Auld Lang Syne
Another sweet and lovely story! I can actually empathize a great deal with Jamila and that awful sense of holiday blahs. Sometimes all the enforced merriment is enough to make me want to hide on a cold porch, too.
But let me tell you what I loved about this story. You took a kiss and turned it into this utterly wonderful, sweet awakening, and even though they didn't manage to get past the kiss (not for lack of desire, mind you!), it was still a beautiful consummation of new feelings. A new year is a beginning, and Jamila and Cory are definitely beginning something special.
Thank you for this treat of a story!
And thank you, KoKoa, for the lovely review. I really was always intrigued by the way the Holly King and Oak King change places at the Solstices, and being me, I had to poke it. I'm sure the gods will kick my butt at some point for this one, but it was too good to pass up. I'm glad Derwen's heartache came through. I thought it made more sense to have him be the one who had gotten sick of the endless cycle, although he presides over the winter months as well.