Yay! Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays! Yeah, it's a little late, but that's alright :P . I think. I hope. I'm going to leave the ranting till the end, and boy do I have a lot of it! This is quite a long read ('specially for a one shot) so snuggle up by the fire with some egg-nog (drools) or get a comfy blanket and prepare for a trek through holiday semi-fluff.

Karis smiled as she hung brightly colored tinsel all along the walls of her house, while Ivan watched from the comfort of his leather chair. Karis, biting her lip as she examined her work, turned around to ask him how the decorations looked, and giggled when she noticed his eyelids starting to droop and that he looked very, very relaxed.

Walking over to her father, she smiled, and rubbed his shoulder affectionately. "Dad, it's barely even ten, and you're nearly out! I told you that liquor would put you to sleep…"

"Now Karis," Ivan began, drowsy but trying to perk up in order to respond. "I've been doing a lot this last year, what with traveling back and forth between here, the cabin, and Contigo. It's perfectly acceptable for me to have a small glass of liquor to celebrate the holidays. And ten's not too shabby a bedtime either. I'm getting up there in the years, to be frank."

Karis rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say Mr. Going-To-Live-Forever. Anyway, do you like the decorations?"

Ivan glanced around, and nodded with a smile on his face. Karis had strung tinsel and garland nearly everywhere she could fit them, and he had to squint to find an area of more than a square foot that wasn't coated in red or green. And, taking after him in regards to his knack for invention, Karis had created these strands of pieces of colored glass with metal inside them. When she hit them with lightning, it caused them to light up for hours at a time. They were truly some of the most ingenious and wonderful things he had ever seen. "They're beautiful," he replied. "They haven't looked this good since your mother did them."

Karis beamed at his compliment, and glanced around, taking the time to admire her work. "Do you really think so? I'm glad. I'm also glad we're home, and together. I've missed Kalay… and I've missed you." She knelt down and embraced her father, an embrace which Ivan returned lovingly.

He could never really describe how hard it was for him to see his baby-girl, the only remnant of his late wife, and his pride and joy, going off into the world. And not just finding a job, or getting married, but going on her own life-threatening adventures. He could hardly tell her to stop: she was older than him now (and had been older during her first journey as well) than he had been when he had set forth from Vault with a silent blonde and an obnoxious red-head as his only companions. She also was (and had been) more equipped, literally being prepared to protect the world by him since her early teens.

That didn't mean he hadn't nervously swallowed when she had described in detail every single near-death experience her quest to recover a Mountain Roc Feather (and eventually to stop the Grave Eclipse) had provided. Images of Karis laying still while nearly succumbing to acrid venom or being impaled on a troll's club haunted his dreams for a few nights, but he was fine. She was here, with him, in his arms. And he couldn't be happier.

"I've missed you too, sweety," Ivan said, patting her back. "Speaking of missing people, though, aren't your friends going to be arriving soon?"

Karis parted from him, her face glowing brightly. "Yep!" She exclaimed. "Tomorrow for the party and gift giving. I've missed all of them. What with only Tyrell being here, as Matthew has spent the last few months in Belinsk…" Her face dimmed considerably, but then another second passed and her smile was back, if a bit faded.

"You must have missed him very much – you two have hardly been apart since you were ten," Ivan replied, not showing any sign he noticed her change in mood. She nodded, and he continued. "I'm sure he's missed you too. According to Isaac, Matthew has been asking about you often, apart from the letters he's sent you."

"Oh?" Karis questioned. "That's… surprising. He's been asking me how Tyrell has been doing most of the time in his letters to me." She frowned.

"Interesting," Ivan responded with a smile. "Isaac said that he's been very interested in your and Tyrell's relationship. That he might be a little worried that you two were… you know."

Karis blushed. "W-what? Oh, t-that's…"

"So I wouldn't worry too much about Matthew. I think he's just as happy that he's getting to see you again as you are him, if you catch my drift," Ivan said with a knowing smile.

Karis's blush didn't fade, but she whispered, "Thank you, Dad." She looked around the room, trying to find anything to change the subject. Her eyes caught the numerous decorations, causing a question to form in her mind, and instead of simply wanting to alleviate the awkwardness, she was now generally intrigued.

"Dad… why do we do all this? Like, where did these traditions involving Krismas come from?" Karis asked, sitting down in a nearby chair and picking up hot cocoa she had placed earlier to cool.

"Ah, I was wondering if you'd ever ask that," Ivan said, stroking his minute goatee that Karis had been begging him to shave for years. "You see, all of this is based on an old holiday Vale used to celebrate of the same name. It's changed a lot over the years, and some of it was lost with Vale itself, but I know the basics. The story behind Krismas was a benevolent old man who had a thick white beard and dressed in all red with white trim on his clothes delivered gifts to children on Krismas day by flying with the power of Jupiter. He would fall in through their chimney, or if they didn't have one leave the gift by the door."

"Huh. Sounds slightly… odd, but fun," Karis said, picturing this elderly man trying to fit himself down her chimney. Of course, all she could picture was Kraden dressed as such and getting stuck in it, then having to call Isaac to come get him out with the Lift Gem. She smiled at the thought.

"It is, here, let me go get a book on it," Ivan said, standing up quickly and nearly falling onto his face, before regaining his balance. He gave Karis a shaky grin. "I might have refilled my glass when you weren't looking. Maybe twice."

Karis would have punched him gently in the shoulder if she wasn't fearful she would knock him over in doing so, so instead she just glared. He was still not a very large man, and as such could get tipsy from just a few drinks. Ivan pouted his lip out, and Karis rolled her eyes. Even though he was nearing fifty, because of the effects of the Golden Sun he still looked very young, and still retained some of the boyish charm Garet and Isaac claimed he had possessed on their journey: as least enough to get her to forgive him.

"Fine, I can't get angry at that face. But only during the holidays!" Karis said firmly, and Ivan chuckled. And here he thought he was the overprotective one. Soon, he returned with an old tome detailing current and past holidays. He flipped open to a page somewhere in the middle, and Karis looked upon it.

"See! There he is!" Ivan said gleefully, pointing out the old man he had mentioned. "Says here his name is 'Santa Claus'. Huh. I wonder if that name holds any secret meaning."

Karis tilted her head as she studied the figure; he was not what she had been expecting, but certainly looked jolly. "Um, Dad, why is he so fat? How one earth does he fits down those chimneys?" Karis asked, and Ivan chuckled.

"Apparently he eats a lot of milk and cookies because people leave them out for him. Interesting. And he's a magical being; a lot of the stuff in here is just childish nonsense, but it's amusing nonetheless. Apparently he'll leave small gifts in your stockings if you hang them on a mantle or something similar as well."

Karis shrugged. "Hey, Dad, mind if I borrow this book?" Ivan nodded, and yawned. As Karis went over to the table and continue to read, he slowly drifted to sleep. She turned to ask him another question, but smiled when she realized he was in slumber and did not wake him.

Karis stayed up late that night, reading about the lore of Krismas. Around twelve, a brilliant idea struck her, and her mouth curled with glee. She quickly assembled all cloth, string, bells, and fur they had in the house. She worked tirelessly, sewing, cutting, and stitching, but around four her idea had come to fruition. With a smile, she went up to bed, anticipating the next day, and dreaming of seeing Matthew once more.

Matthew smiled as he walked into the city of Kalay: it had been too long. Sveta followed slightly behind him; Matthew turned to face her, and grinned. "Welcome to Kalay!" He said merrily. "And we couldn't have picked a better day. I'm glad I'm back home for Krismas."

"Mmmm," Sveta replied, her mind clearly elsewhere. They had walked only a short way, having spent the night at the inn of a nearby town, and as such were both refreshed and excited for the day. Well, Sveta was more anxious, as Matthew could glean from a quick glance at one of his closest friends

"Still worried about tonight, hmm?" He asked with a smile, and Sveta blushed.

"What if he doesn't come? Or if he doesn't… you know…" Sveta said slowly, her eyes not meeting her best friend's.

"Sveta, he said he wouldn't miss it for the world. Besides, knowing you're here, how could he stay away?" Matthew replied.

"…Matthew," Sveta sighed, not appreciating the light teasing.

Matthew's smile shifted to a neutral expression as he took a step toward her; their bodies were very close. "Sveta, do you trust me?" Matthew asked, clearly no longer joking around.

She nodded, and replied, "Of course, Matthew. I shared my soul with you: I may never trust someone more."

He smiled, and grasped her hands in his, saying, "Then believe me when I tell you he feels the same way, and tonight will be amazing." He then leaned forward and kissed her lightly on her forehead.

Sveta sighed happily. "I certainly hope so."

"I know so," Matthew said with a wide smile. Keeping his hold on one of Sveta's hands, he began to move towards the city. "Common, I've been dying to see my Mom! I was afraid that she was going to go to Belinsk herself and drag me back with her when she found out I would be staying with you to help repair the city."

As they moved, Karis, who had been watching them from slightly afar, sighed. She had come to pick some fresh berries, but now she was not very-much in the mood to do so. With what Ivan had said, she had been hopeful that… well, at least Matthew was happy with Sveta. It wouldn't keep her from enjoying the holiday that she had worked so hard on. With that thought in mind, she bent down and began to pick the berries.

Matthew sighed as he left his house, Jenna having nearly pushed him out the door, stating that she simply NEEDED to have some girl to girl time with Sveta. Which meant, in other words, that despite Matthew's continuous denials that there was anything between the two, she was no doubt trying to ask her about their non-existent relationship. He had hoped to save Sveta from this, but it looked as if he had failed.

As he wandered down the street, he felt a small patch of his back beginning to warm. Turning around to discover why, he noticed a certain red-headed Mars Adept smiling at him while pointing a finger in his direction; a finger that happened to be producing a small fiery beam.

"It's about time you came back: leaving me all alone with Karis," Tyrell huffed in fake anger, and Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Oh please. You like Karis a great deal, and your relationship only improved over our quest: you two were much less argumentative toward the end of it," Matthew stated in mock-annoyance, but he could not keep the smile off his face: he had missed his best friend.

"That's not what I meant," Tyrell replied, smiling as well. "What I did mean was that, simply put, you left me with a girl who was crushing on you, without informing me whether or not I could make a move."

"W-What?" Matthew sputtered out, causing Tyrell to grin in victory.

"You know. Karis likes you, and I'm pretty sure you like her. But I couldn't tell, considering you went along to Belinsk with our fine furry friend. So, did you make a move on Sveta, or was I right to hold off on pursuing the green-haired beauty?"

"M-me and Sveta are just friends," Matthew replied.

"And Karis…?" Tyrell questioned, and Matthew gulped.

"…Your really think she likes me like that?" The Venus Adept asked nervously. Tyrell laughed and slapped his leg.

"I knew it! Glad I held off. And I'm pretty damn sure, to answer your question," Tyrell responded. "Maybe I'll give Himi a shot tonight, who knows?"

"That's good, because Sveta is… never mind," Matthew quickly backtracked, praying Tyrell wouldn't push him on his slip up.

The Mars Adept raised an eyebrow, but then simply shrugged. "No, we're just friends. I wouldn't want to rule a nation that big either. She has her work cut out for her." Tyrell stretched, and began to walk toward his house. "I'll talk to you later man, I've got to get my gifts wrapped. See you at the party! Seven at Karis's, right?"

"Yep!" Matthew said as he waved goodbye to Tyrell, letting out a sigh. That had been too close.

He heard a door open from behind him, and turned to see Sveta exiting his house, smiling but blushing somewhat. Jenna caught his eye and gave him a wink, causing Matthew to groan. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," He said as the beastgirl approached him.

"Oh, no, it was fine," Sveta said happily. "She asked me upfront whether or not we were an item, and when I said no she believed me. She then told me she would have been happy either way, but was glad that Karis still had a shot as well."

Matthew blushed, and Sveta flashed one of the smiles where her teeth were just barely visible. Just as Matthew had given Sveta advice on her love life, so had he received some for his. Of course, he had tried to keep the identity of the girl he was smitten with a secret, just as Sveta had, but both had failed, as each had seen the signs of the others' affections during their quest.

Sveta hadn't been able to confirm that Karis had feelings for him, citing that everything Karis had told her was secret and between them, but certainly had encouraged him to pursue her heart, making it clear he at least had a chance. Of course, Sveta had also mentioned that Karis might be confused by the fact that he had gone to Belinsk with the beastgirl, rather than to Kalay with her. Matthew had smacked himself when he had realized she was right, but thankfully everything seemed to be working out regardless. Well… if he could get himself to confess to Karis, that was.

"She was also helpful with my… predicament," The Jupiter Adept continued. "Your mother is a very kind and wonderful woman."

Matthew smiled. "She's my mommy, and I love her very much," he said with a laugh, and when she gave him a questioning look, he smiled wider. "That's what I used to tell her every night before I went to bed."

Sveta shook her head and laughed, as the two made their way to the market to acquire some lunch.

"Yamata's Princess, huh?"Garet questioned as he finished the last preparations on his gift to Isaac.

"Mmm," Tyrell grunted. "She's pretty and very nice."

"Does she have any interest in you?" Garet asked, smiling at his fine gift wrapping.

"Of course she does, look who I got my looks from!" Tyrell said, about halfway through his gift preparations.

"Hahaha, well put!" Garet exclaimed. "To be fair, though, you're still missing the quintessential touch: the facial hair."

"How shall I ever find the girl of my dreams now! Tyrell shouted in mock-misery, and the two Mars Adept burst into laughter. As Garet wiped his tears away, he smiled. His boy had turned out alright. They hadn't gotten along this well since his mother had been alive. He had been so afraid that he wouldn't be able to raise Tyrell himself, but damn was he proud of the young man in front of him. Of course, he had Isaac to thank for raising him as well.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the present he had taken the most time to wrap: a Tiara. It had been Mia's favorite on their travels, even though she had stopped wearing it in favor of stronger head-gear on their quest, and somehow at the end of their journey it had ended up in his possession.

Funny how that happened with objects when you travelled in a large party. He half-wished Felix would finally come out of hiding just so he could ask him what the bloody hell a Laughing-Fungus was, and whether or not he could get rid of it (he also wished the Venus Adept would return for Jenna's sake, of course). He already would have thrown it way, if he couldn't imagine tossing it only for Felix to show up the next day asking for it, claiming it to be a vital key in stopping a new world threat. Garet always had crappy luck in regards to things like that.

"So, I heard Mia is coming up with Rief and Nowell," Tyrell started with a wink, and Garet let out an exasperated sigh.

"I swear to Mars, if Isaac has been filling you in on my past love life, I will beat the living crap out of him," Garet said gruffly, which only caused Tyrell to chuckle.

"Nah, Rief told me. Mia's been single for quite some time, though. You should make a move. Give me some live-action examples of how to woo a woman before I have to," Tyrell said, putting another finished present in his completed pile.

"It's a bit harder when you haven't seen them for a long while," Garet replied, scratching the back of his head. He had never imagined he would be having THIS conversation with Tyrell.

"Well, according to Rief, you two have been in constant contact over messenger pigeon. He also told me a very heroic story about you jumping off a Lighthouse to save Mia," Tyrell said, continuing his teasing and light prodding.

Garet sighed. "You've got me there. I… can't deny I've been hoping maybe we can start up what we never really did. You wouldn't mind?" Garet knew how much Tyrell missed his mother, and even though Tyrell was the one pushing him to do this, he still wanted to make sure.

"Pff, of course not," The younger Mars Adept replied. "You two sound like you were made for each other. And I've always wanted siblings, and Rief and me got along great during our journey. Not to mention you are WAY too handsome to stay single. It's a crime to all of Weyard."

Garet smiled, and shook his head in disbelief. "Fine, I'll show you how to put the moves on a lady. You might have to take quick notes, though: I move fast!" They shared another laughed before Garet went to clean up his old suit, now very worried about a potential confession to the girl he had let slip away more than thirty years ago.

Jenna picked up the vase, and dusted under it for what had to be the sixth time that day, and the fourth in the last hour. She doubted heavily that she could find even a spec of dust in the house, but that didn't stop her from trying.

Five months. That was ridiculous. Five months. She had to grip the vase tightly, in fear her shaking hand would drop it, as she fought back the tears. But that didn't matter. He was coming home, and Matthew already had. She had mugged him with hugs and kisses, of course, not even caring how embarrassed it made him in front of his new friend: Gods damned Grave Eclipse… she had been certain he had died.

She hadn't been too sure about Isaac's survival, either. That had been… a terrible, terrible few months. She didn't want to think about them. She didn't want to think what it would have been like if Ivan hadn't been there to constantly provide support and logical reasoning, even though he must have been scared out of his mind for Karis himself.

That didn't matter. It had ended, and now Matthew and Isaac were okay. Still, five months. Didn't the ring on her finger mean anything? Of course it did. He did it for Weyard, she knew that, and it was incredibly noble. Maybe if Felix…

She gasped and swore; if thinking about Isaac caused her eyes to water, Felix caused them to break and pour out water. Five months? How about thirty damn years? No, NO, she would not lose herself down this road again.

Better to make sure everything was perfect. She glanced around the house, her fingers fidgeting nervously. It looked… fantastic. Like it had just been built and had been cleaned for a royal procession.

And what of her? She slowly walked in front of her mirror, and tried to force a smile, which came out uneven. It was the only flaw she could detect: her red and white house-dress was nothing fancy, but free of crinkles and perfectly clean. Her hair was down; she greatly preferred it shorter, and hoped Isaac agreed. It was still past her shoulders by two inches or so, but certainly not what one would consider long. Her face seemed free of any blemish, and her eyes… well, they would get the spark they had once held once he came back of course. They had to. Just like her smile would.

A knock on the door broke her free from her thoughts, and she closed her eyes and prayed it was who she thought it was. She took her time (if it was indeed her husband, he had no right to complain about her making him wait), and sighed as she reached the door, flinging it open with reckless abandon and hope.

Behind it, wearing a small smile, was Isaac… wrapped in a gigantic red bow. "Before you ask," He began, "I have a gift for you. I know we're supposed to wait till the party tonight, but I figured you deserved at least two, and I also think you've earned getting this one a little early."

"Isaac, if you consider yourself a gift – as glad as I am to see you – well, that's kind of, I don't know, shallow," Jenna replied, confused as to what he was talking about. Part of her still didn't know whether or not to let him have it for so many years of living basically all on her own, or embrace him. She had decided to base it off how he greeted her, and currently his behavior was making her lean toward the prior.

"Well, it's me in a sense," Isaac replied, walking up to her. Jenna didn't stop him, even though part of her wanted to: she let him get closer, so close he could lean in and kiss he—and then made no motion as he ignored her lips, and brought his own to her ear. "We're finished at the cabin. This time, it's not a visit. I'm not leaving you again. I'm not leaving you ever again."

She didn't breathe, trying to process what he said. Part of her wanted to be gracious, but stay strong. But, as he leaned back from her ear and brought his lips to her, and she felt his warmth surge through her body, she found her knees grow weak, and her body began to shake. "I've missed you so much," She managed to sputter out, before driving her face into his shoulder and letting out a massive sob.

Isaac simply held her, letting her weep. It wasn't long until she initiated another kiss, then another, then pulled him indoors, slamming the door and locking it, then threw him on the bed that had been so empty when only filled by her body.

Jenna didn't give a damn what his other gift was. Nothing could be better than what he had already given her, and she had a gift of her own to give him; well, she would get a good deal of satisfaction from it as well. After all, Jenna was still in impeccable shape, just as Isaac was, and both of them were still young because of the Golden Sun: meaning their hormones were still very, very much so active. And they hadn't gotten to do this for quite some time.

She licked her lips after they had blazed through foreplay, as she was not in the mood to get warmed up; she was already scalding, and needed instant gratification. When Isaac reached for a condom, she slapped it out of his hands. Her first child had been raised out of her home for at least five years of his life: that was not going to happen with the second one.

Mia was not known to be a fast walker, but she had made sure she was at the front of the group nearly the entire trek to Kalay. It had taken much begging from Rief to convince her to come: as much as she wanted to see everyone again, there were a few re-unions that might be slightly… awkward.

The reason she had decided to lead the group was simply so she would not have to watch Piers and Nowell hold hands, talk about their relationship plans, or – worst of all – simply grin at each other with dumb-struck love plastered all over their faces.

Mia had known Piers had held feelings for her back during their journey, and she had not been pleased in having to refute him. He was a very nice man, and she had hoped sincerely that he would find someone to spend his (considerably long) life with. Just not her daughter.

Of course, Nowell was seventeen, and therefore a woman by Imillian standards, so Mia had done nothing to voice her complaints. Instead, she had slowly seethed, which was very unlike her. Perhaps seeing all her old friends would put her in a better mood. One in particular always knew how to cheer her up an—

"Yes! We're here!" Came Rief's voice. He turned toward Mia (he had been walking at the front as well for mostly the same reasons) and grinned widely.

She gave him a warm smile in return: her little boy had grown up. She had been worried enough when he had been under Kraden's care, and when the old sage had informed her they had been separated she had become very nervous. Then, of course, the Grave Eclipse had plagued the continent, and she had been downright panicked. But here he was, alive and well. More than that, his journey had changed him; he was now brimming with confidence, something he had lacked previously.

"Yay! I've always wanted to see Kalay!" Came Nowell's voice from behind, and Mia turned to see a sight that made her silently cringe. Nowell had embraced Piers, nearly burying herself in his chest. The sailor was returning the embrace, albeit not as enthusiastically, and when he saw Mia staring, he smiled and gave her a small wink.

Mia responded by giving the weakest and quickest smile her mouth had ever produced, before quickly turning back to the face the city. While Rief had grown, Nowell seemed to have regressed. She, whenever near Piers, became a googly-eyed chatterbox.

Every night they had spent at an inn, she had been forced to hear how "charming he was", how "she had never seen him even glancing in another girl's direction", and how "he had sailed the whole world and back". Mia had dealt with it by remaining silent, until the night during which Nowell had started to describe his "rock hard and rippling" abdominal muscles. Ever since Mia had taken a certain fondness to wearing earplugs at bedtime.

She wanted her daughter back. She also couldn't tell whether or not Piers was actually serious about the relationship, even though, knowing his character, he must be, as he wouldn't lead her on.

"Nowell and Rief, why don't you go down in to the town, and Mia and I will join you in a bit? I have something I need to tell her," Piers said after Nowell had reluctantly let go of him.

Nowell gave him an odd look, but shrugged, and said, "Of course dear. Don't keep us waiting!" With that, she leapt up, planting a kiss on his cheek, and made her way down the hill to Kalay, dragging Rief after her.

Mia watched them descend, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Piers turned to her and said flatly, "Would you like me to end my relationship with Nowell?"

Mia blinked in surprise, but remained silent, thinking over her response. She hadn't expected him to address her distaste, and was somewhat at a lost as to how to put her feelings into words.

"I've thought about why it might be, that you dislike us being together," Piers said, realizing she was lost as to how to answer. "I've thought that, perhaps, it was simply seeing your daughter getting into a relationship. Then, of course, there's it being with an older man, and also that it's a man you know well and are close friends with. There are numerous reasons our relationship may be unsatisfactory to you, and I respect your feelings towards it. I do not want to hurt your relationship with me or with your daughter, Mia."

Mia smiled; Piers was still ever the gentlemen. "I think, Piers, it's a bit of all three, but I've come to fear it's something else. Jealousy, actually. I'm ashamed that she went out and took the man she wanted to be with, ignoring any customs and her own mother's feeling to be happy," Mia replied, not looking into his eyes.

"Well, if that's the case," Piers responded, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You have a great opportunity to follow her lead, and tell Garet how you feel."

Mia sighed; of course he knew. They had never given Piers enough credit for his wisdom. "So much has changed…" She began, but was interrupted by her fellow Mercury Adept's warm chuckle.

"Talking about change to a man who's spent his life living in a city that never changes won't do much good, now will it?" He smiled again. "I think you misunderstand exactly how much Garet cares for you. So much that rather than tell you how he felt, he restrained himself – and we both know how hard it is for Garet to do that – because he knew it would cause you to choose between him or the teachings of Mercury."

"That law was baseless. I had it revoked ten years ago, finally. The highest servants of Mercury have every right to pursue love as do the rest of her followers," Mia stated, somewhat bitterly.

"Oh, it's revoked? Even better, you're all clear, then," Piers responded, and she rolled her eyes.

"You're going to make sure I talk to him about this, aren't you?" She questioned, and Piers nodded. "Sigh. The least I can do then, is let you continue to be with Nowell. It's clear that you are as fond of her as she is of you… except you are a bit less, er, pronounced about it."

Piers grinned bashfully. "I've been meaning to talk to her about that… it's cute, but a little wearing. Don't worry, I'm sure it will wear off, especially once I ask her to tone it down a bit. She's adorable, though. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to, well, bring this up."

Mia smiled, and shook her head, saying, "It's alright… I'm just glad you DID bring it up. I don't know if I could take much more of it, to be honest." Piers nodded, clearly happy he and Nowell were still allowed to be together. "Let's not keep them waiting: who knows what would happen if Nowell is physically removed from you for more than five minutes." They shared a laugh as they began to descend the hill, Mia feeling much better about her daughter's relationship, and slightly excited about a potential one of her own.

Karis sighed, staring at the red suit that lay out before her. She had been so excited last night: she would dress up as this "Santa Claus" and give everyone their gifts, possibly try to get a few people to sit on her lap (preferably Matthew), as the book had described, and perhaps guzzle down some of the luxury milk Jenna purchased from Gondowan every year around the holidays, as well as some of Kraden's delicious homemade cookies.

But now, it seemed pointless. Truth be told, the entire reasoning behind it would have been trying to show off for Matthew: flaunting her somewhat revealing (but not terribly so: Karis was a modest girl after all) costume, showing him how much holiday cheer she possessed, and maybe pulling him away at the end of the party and finding a nice secluded spot to give him her very, very special present…

Knock knock! Karis sighed and pushed her costume under the table, then rose to answer the door, expecting either her father back from the market or perhaps Tyrell, who visited often. She was surprised to see a regally dressed young man instead. It took her but a moment to recognize his kind smile and aqua blue hair.

"Oh, Amiti!" She shouted joyfully, running forth and embracing the Ayuthayan pri—king. She realized suddenly that, while still her friend, Amiti was a member of high royalty now. She quickly released him and bowed, shakily saying, "My apologies, I forgot your position, and—"

"Oh, please Karis," Amiti said with a roll of his eyes, pulling her into a hug. "I despise all these ridiculous customs involving royalty. Pleasantries are wonderful, but the bowing and extravagant salutations some monarchs except are simply preposterous." Karis smiled as she returned the hug. Amiti hadn't changed in the slightest, and she was glad for it.

"But forgive me for droning on," Amiti said, parting from her. "I am admittedly worn out from my royal duties, and am greatly looking forward to this respite."

"Kaocho?" Karis questioned. Rumors had hit Kalay that Ayuthay had been attacked once more by the militant Sanan nation.

"Yes; Wo continues to be an enormous thorn on anyone who actually is fond of peace. Don't worry, though: he sent a legion into Authay across the lake to the castle ruins, and in response I used the Alchemy Well to drain the lake outside, making them stuck in the city. Eventually, they surrendered, and we're refusing to release them until we get Wo in return. Which obviously Wo has declined to do, but his people are growing slightly annoyed with him, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him carried into Ayuthay in the near future," Amiti concluded. "How have you been?"

"I've been doing well," Karis stated, motioning him inside with her arm, and closing the door behind him. "I've mostly been spending my days doing things with my Dad and hanging out with Tyrell."

Amiti frowned. "What of Matthew?" He asked, taking a seat Karis had offered him.

She found one of her own and replied, "Well, he's been in Belinsk with Sveta the past few months."

"Ah, how noble, helping to rebuild and defend from potential attacks," Amiti said in return, glancing around at the decorations.

"Oh, yes…" Karis responded, an image of Matthew placing a kiss on Sveta's forehead filling her mind.

Amiti, noticing her reaction, asked, "Was there another reason for the visit?"

Karis shrugged. "Well, truth be told I think he and Sveta might be…"

"Oh, not at all!" Amiti piped up, and Karis raised an eyebrow. He grinned nervously, and said, "You see, well, I, um… I asked Matthew a while ago if he had any feelings for Sveta, and he told me no."

"…Really?" Karis questioned. "I mean… they just seemed so close. I saw them while I was picking berries, today, and I just got the sense that they were more than friends."

"He told me they had talked about it, and decided their relationship was siblingish in nature," Amiti replied, and Karis noticed his face showed quite a bit of relief.

"Oh… I'm… glad to hear it, to be honest," Karis said, blushing lightly, and Amiti nodded with a smile. "But, why were you asking Matthew about his relationship with Sveta?"

It was Amiti's turn to reply awkwardly and blush, and Karis smiled. The Ayuthayan king sighed, and said, "So, yes, I might have interesting in courting Sveta. I was asking Matthew about his relationship with her to make sure they were not together." Karis allowed herself a brief moment of happiness; what she had seen was friendship. Almost certainly… almost.

Outside the house, Matthew swore as he glanced in the window and saw Karis and Amiti in conversation. What if they were…? He would have to talk to Amiti about it. Not now, but later. He sighed as he turned way; he had been coming to talk to Karis, as he had missed her dearly. But now, it looked as if he would simply have to wait till the party.

"So, what brings you here?" Karis asked. "The party is still not for a little while."

"Oh… yes…" Amiti began awkwardly. "Could you happen to show me to the inn?" Karis smiled; Amiti had displayed his lack of a directional sense multiple times on their journey.

"Of course, Amiti: thank Jupiter it's so large, there are so many people visiting for the holidays," Karis replied kindly, and with that they left in the direction of Kalay's inn.

"Feeeeeeeliiiiiiix, can I please ride on your back? These shoes are worn out beyond belief: I can more or less see through the soles. I told you I needed that new pair back in Loho," Sheba whined, but it was partially in jest. She loved pretending to whine to make Felix grumpy, as that was when he acted the cutest.

Or when he tried to be romantic, especially when he tried to sing to her. He had a deep, deep singing voice, and would serenade her with Lemurian love songs Felix had learned while in Lemuria and from Piers. She usually had to get him drunk or beg in order to get him to do it, but it was so worth it.

"Ugh. Sheba, I thought after thirty years, you would have grown up at least a little bit," The gruff Venus Adept replied, but his reply wasn't serious either. If anyone listened to the two, they might have imagined their relationship was terribly grating and dysfunctional. And yet, nearly all of it was simply joking around.

"I was going to grow up, but that was only if you developed a childish side to you, which has still yet to occur," Sheba responded, her feet seriously beginning to feel sore. "…Please?" She asked softly, and Felix, who was in front of her, huffed, but smiled and leaned down.

She leapt and plopped onto his back, her arms wrapping around his neck and her legs wrapping around his waist. She had grown a good deal in that thirty years, but he was still strong enough to carry her for an entire's day worth of walking. She propped her chin on his shoulder, so she could whisper right into his ear.

"Don't lie, Felix," She said after a minute of silence. "You love letting me ride on your back." Felix smiled.

"Maybe. It's alright, I guess," He replied teasingly, and she rolled her eyes.

"Would it hurt you to show some of all that raging emotion you have every once in awhile?" She asked in mock-anger, and to her surprise he responded by flipping her body so they were face to face, and leaning in so their noses were touching.

"How's this?" He whispered before be plucked a kiss on her lips. When he went to pull back, she grabbed his head in both of her hands and held him there.

When she released, she smiled and said, "Now that's more like it." Felix smiled as well, then flipped her back and resumed walking. They were nearing Kalay, Felix noted, and he felt his heartbeat flutter. Jenna. Isaac had promised not to tell her that they were coming, so it would no-doubt be a surprise. Still, he was worried: how would she react to seeing him again? Would she be angry, or overjoyed?

"Worried about Jenna?" Sheba questioned, and he rolled his eyes.

"I thought you promised to stop mind reading me for my 39th birthday? Don't you remember the Koliman underwear debacle?" Felix asked, and Sheba burst out laughing.

"How could I forget? I mind read you to find out what to get you for your birthday, and all I see in your head is Koliman underwear. So, I get you twenty of their finest products, and then it turns out you were thinking about them because you had been wearing a pair and had actually been allergic to them!" Sheba laughed again: it had been the best birthday ever. She would never wipe the look on Felix's face when he had received the underwear out of her mind, nor did she want too.

"It wasn't that funny, I actually needed underwear. Anyway, yes, I was thinking about Jenna," Felix replied, shaking his head. He had spent the five years after receiving the underwear trying to find ways to get rid of them, and some of his methods had been rather odd. To this day he wondered if that one couple would ever clean out their chimney only to find a pair of very charred briefs.

"She'll be so happy to see you," Sheba said, and gave Felix's hair a ruffle.

"I really, really hope so," Felix responded, still worried. Thirty years… and he couldn't exactly tell her why, either; he had been sworn to secrecy.

"I know so," Sheba said in response, now beginning to braid his hair. He rolled his eyes: he loved it when she rode on his back, but not when she gave him a bunch of braids while doing it.

"Prophecy-know so, or female intuition-know so?" He questioned, hesitancy present in his voice.

"Both," Sheba said reassuringly, and he smiled; if Sheba thought things were going to work out alright, they were. She had a knack for sensing good tidings. His smile faded as she pulled tightly on his hair.

"Gentle!" He said sharply, and she responded by giggling and leaning over to give him a small kiss on the cheek.

Ivan sighed as he made his way back to his house, slightly leaning this way and that: he just needed to come to terms that he wasn't a large man, and as such was not able to carry this amount of food in one trip. Every five-steps he would look behind him to see if something dropped (which of course something had), and pick it back up and drop it into the massive pile jammed between his arms.

He had never been more thankful that he had won the Catch Beads from Isaac in that silly bet: if he hadn't, there would be a line of produce and whatnot trailing behind him for a few hundred feet back. Granted, betting on whether or not Matthew and Karis would kiss before they were sixteen had been slightly morally questionable, as was reading her mind to see if she had (which she had not, Ivan had been very happy to note).

As he made his way, something caught his eye to the right and he gasped, dropping all of his purchased goods. Piers… and Mia? Holding hands? When the hell…?

"Oh, Ivan! How good it is to see you again!" Piers exclaimed, having noticed the Jupiter Adept after he dropped his mass of market-items.

Ivan blinked, looking back and forth between Piers, and… "Oh, you're Nowell! Mia's daughter! That makes more…" He paused, and suddenly burst out laughing. Piers rubbed the back of his head with a slight grin, while Nowell began to silently fume.

"W-Wait," Ivan said, trying to resume his composure. "Are you two…?" Piers nodded merrily while Nowell gave a forceful nod, and Ivan burst into laughter once more. "Oh, geez Piers… it only took you a few centuries, but good for you!"

"Haha, I know what you mean: I was surprised myself," Piers replied, taking the entire thing in stride while Nowell gave Ivan a death glare.

"How is Mia dealing with it?" Ivan asked, imagining his close friend must not have been too terribly happy about this arrangement.

"Oh, surprisingly all right," Piers said, putting one arm around Nowell. "I mean, obviously it took some getting used to, but I think she's okay."

"That's… that's good," Ivan said, trying to restrain himself from laughing. "You're a brave man, Piers: I know I wouldn't have had the determination to commit to such a relationship."

Piers shrugged. "Well, being exiled from Lemuria I really have no choice but to choose someone who, obviously, is greatly younger than I am. Nowell had all of Mia's benevolent qualities, and then some, so it seemed like a perfect match."

Nowell smiled and gave the sailor a dreamy look, causing Ivan to snort. She glared at him once more, and Ivan decided he best get going before he found himself in a block of ice. "Okay, I'm going to get this stuff back to the house: Jenna should be coming over soon to quick-cook everything, but still. Have a nice walk around town, you lovebirds," He said, waving pleasantly and then proceeding to scoop up everything he had dropped.

Nowell, still in a slight huff, gripped a very amused Piers by the arm and began walking in the opposite direction.

"…Mom? You think Nowell might be a bit… over-zealous around Captain Piers?" Rief asked hesitantly as they made their way to Isaac and Jenna's house.

"Oh, um, I'm sure it's just a phase," Mia replied hopefully. As long as Piers honored his vow, which she knew he would, Nowell would most likely start acting a bit less ga-ga in the next few days. Mia personally couldn't wait, and was glad to see it was grating to Rief too, if only so that she knew her distaste for her daughter's behavior wasn't existent just because she was her mother.

They walked in silence, nearing their destination. Mia was so excited to see Isaac and Jenna: she had kept in contact with both of them via pigeon, but it was not the same as talking in person. She secretly wished deep down that their quest had lasted a little longer, as Jenna had been like the best friend she had never had in Imil, and Isaac had been a very stabilizing influence for her, particularly when she had dealt with memories of Alex.

As she reached the door and knocked, she was filled with anticipation to see her old friends again. However, no one answered. Mia knocked again, and still no reply. She was about to give up and leave, as she would see them during the party anyway, but as she began to turn a voice from inside the house rang into her ears: "Ah, Jenna!"

Mia froze, and turned back: that had been Isaac! And it sounded like something was wrong! Mia, always ready to lend a hand when needed, surged forward and pushed the door open. She began to say something along the lines of, "Is everything okay?" before she froze in her tracks.

Mia took in, for one split second, the image of a very unclothed Jenna straddling a very unclothed Isaac, both of which seemed to be getting along perfectly fine without her help, before she spun, grabbed the door handle, and slammed it shut.

Rief raised an eyebrow, but Mia gave him a look that quite clearly stated: "Don't ask." As they turned to move on, Mia shaking visibly at what she had just walked into, Rief turned back and shouted, "Oh, hey Matthew!"

"Hey, Rief!" Came a voice from behind her that Mia could only assume was Matthew, and turned to see him standing in front of the door she had just slammed, his hand grasping the handle. "Just a second, let me get my jacket!"

Mia realized all too late what was about to happen, and screamed, "MATHHEW, NO!" But he had already opened the door, and was staring straight ahead. Hearing her scream, he turned his head to look back, but froze halfway. Slowly his jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

"Oh Gods," Muttered Mia under her breath, covering her mouth and praying that after her intrusion perhaps Isaac and Jenna had stopped their lovemaking and were now simply getting dressed.

Her worst fears were confirmed when, from inside the house, came Isaac's voice, muffled but audible. "Well hell, Matthew, this isn't exactly how I planned on teaching you about sex, but sometimes life throws you curveballs. Um… first lesson, lock the door."

Matthew turned, and, with a completely straight face that held no emotion whatsoever, closed the door and began to walk down the road. When he reached them, he turned to Mia and said, "You must be Rief's mother, Mia. Thank you for trying. I'm going to go and try to find Ivan so he can remove that from my head." And with that, the young and scarred Venus Adept began walking down the road to Ivan's house, leaving a very empathetic Mia and a chuckling Rief behind him.

Moments later, Isaac stuck his head out the door and said, "Um, sorry about that Mia. See you at the party." Mia sighed as he closed the door. Perhaps she would seek out Ivan for the same reason.

"Thanks Ivan… I didn't want that lingering in my head," Matthew said with a sigh of relief, and Ivan chuckled.

"My pleasure. My advice to prevent this from happening? Knock," Ivan replied, patting Matthew on the shoulder.

Matthew nodded, and with one last expression of thanks, parted from the elder Jupiter Adept. He had been lucky to catch him as he was going to pick up a few last minute items. As he walked down the road, he realized he really had nothing to do in the last hour until the party. With this in mind, he began to contemplate exactly what he could do to fill the time.

As he began to do this, he caught someone out of the corner of his eye: Amiti. Perfect! Now he could ask him about Karis!

"Amiti!" Matthew shouted, quickly attracting the Mercury Adept's attention.

"Ah, Matthew!" He replied as they walked toward each other, and grasped each other's arm in a sign of companionship. "It has only been a few months, but it feels like so much longer."

Matthew nodded: ever since their journey, time had seemed to speed up. He felt as if he had defeated the Chaos Chimera and activated the Apollo Lens yesterday. "How has Ayuthay been doing? If you ever need any help, let us know," Matthew replied, and Amiti smiled.

"That is very kind of you, but I fear that if we become dependent on other Adepts, we will expect them to solve all our problems. Make no mistake, however; you are welcome in my nation for as long as I rule," Amiti said, and to Matthew's embarrassment, bowed.

"A-Amiti, if anyone should be bowing, it should be me," Matthew stated, but Amiti silenced him with a shake of his head.

"All the prosperity that my nation is blessed with is because of you and the rest of our friends. You have earned it: I have not, yet. You, Rief, Karis, and Tyrell deserve the upmost praise for starting the Alchemy Well. Or, at least, most of it…" Amiti trailed off, his face hardening into the expression he wore whenever he thought of his father, as that strange Adept had been the one to start the Well in the first place.

"Amiti, I have a question for you," Matthew said quickly, wanting to make sure he brought up what he had originally intended to.

"My apologies, I was lost in my thoughts," Amiti replied. "Go ahead."

"Uhhhh…" Matthew began, frowning. "There's no non-awkward way to say this, so I… well, I saw you and Karis today in her house when I was going over to talk to her, as obviously I hadn't seen her for awhile. So… ummm… you two aren't…"

"Ah, no, no, I was actually inquiring as to the location of the inn," Amiti responded. "No, Karis and I are just friends."

"Oh, okay," Matthew replied, breathing in a breath of relief. "Because, well… you know…" Amiti laughed, and nodded.

"Of course, of course," the Mercury Adept replied. "I have a question as well, though. When I talked to Karis, we began discussing you and Sveta… she seemed to think you two… had something together. Something about seeing you two this morning."

Matthew raised an eyebrow. This morning? What… oh, crap. She had seen him kiss Sveta's forehead. Matthew palmed his face with a groan. He was terrible at relationships. "Yeah, I know what you're talking about, and I can see why she would think that, but it wasn't anything like that."

"Ah, well, okay then," Amiti replied. "Erm… is Sveta doing well?"

Matthew smiled. "Very well… I suspect she'll enjoy seeing you at the party very much, if you get my meaning. I'll see you then as well: I need to get into my house, providing my parents are done making up for lost time…" And with that, Matthew walked away, leaving Amiti somewhat confused and embarrassed.

"Nowell, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something," Piers began, stopping in a mostly deserted alcove.

"Of course darling, what is it?" Nowell asked, batting her eyelashes at him. Piers grinned sheepishly, and sat down on a bench.

She mimicked his action as he cleared his throat, and said, "Okay, Nowell, before I begin, I want to make sure you don't take this the wrong way—"

"Oh Gods. You're breaking up with me," Nowell interrupted, holding her face in her hands. "It was my mother, wasn't it—no, it was me! Dammit. I should have just been myself, rather than imitating those cheesy romance novels!" Piers raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, to begin with, that's probably the most wrong you could have taken it. Secondly… you've been basing your actions regarding our relationship off of romance novels?" Piers asked, and Nowell nodded unsurely. Piers burst out laughing, and hugged her.

"Oh, Nowell! Where on earth did you find such novels, and why did you think it would be a good idea to replicate the women in them? In most cases, they act like, well, complete love-sick fools."

Nowell shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "Nowell…"

"Oh, Piers," Nowell said, looking at him now. "I just… wanted our relationship to be perfect, you know? I mean, I wanted to be perfect. I felt like I had to be."

"What do you mean?" Piers asked with a confused frown.

"…I didn't, and I guess I still don't, think I'm good enough for you," Nowell whispered, her eyes sullen. "I mean, I'm just some silly seventeen year old girl, while you're a Warrior of Vale and the greatest sailor in all of Weyard. I wanted to live up to what you deserve."

Piers shook his head in disbelief, and replied, "Nowell, that's ridiculous. You don't need to act like anyone else but you. I like you just the way you are. To be frank, I've been somewhat put off by you acting unlike you. It's usually around other people, but still: be yourself."

She perked her head up. "R-really?" She squeaked, and smiled. He nodded and she sighed. "Thank MERCURY. I was growing so tired of acting like a complete… bimbo. I think it's been grating on Mom and Rief too."

"Oh, you could say that," Piers responded, and she shot him a questioning look. "Er… well, that's kind of what I talked to Mia about. But it's fine, i—"

Nowell interrupted in a fluster, "She put you up to this! Ohh... I just knew it. Who does she! — I mean, it's not like her love life has been – humph!" She stood up, her arms crossed firmly. "Oh, I'll worry about it later. Let's just get going to the inn, we're supposed to meet up there soon."

"Okay," Piers said, standing up and taking her chin in his hand. Before she could respond, he kissed her lightly on the lips. "Don't blame your mother," he said as she swayed slightly, her cheeks red. "I'm the one who brought it up. And don't frown: your face is too pretty for frowning." With that, the old lover and young lover grasped hands and made their way toward the inn.

"Been way too long!" Rief said as he plopped down on Amiti's bed, the Ayuthayan unpacking. The Imillian boy had already unpacked, and been delighted to find Amiti in a nearby room. "I don't know though, this room might not be fitting for royalty."

"Oh, for the love of!" Amiti seethed, throwing his cotton undershirt down in annoyance, causing Rief to chuckle. "Don't even joke! Everyone else is serious about it. Nothing's changed now that I have a crown on my head. I have no idea how Paithos did it. No idea how I can do it."

"Amiti, you'll be a great king," Rief said, growing serious upon seeing his friend's reaction. "Trust me. I've seen some fairly horrid ones, what with living so close to Bilibin, and you are the opposite of them. You'll do fine."

"It's just… it's stupid, really," Amiti said, his mind focusing on one singular image, of a man with hair eerily similar in color and shape to his, whose face was eclipsed by a thin white mask. "I'm worried about what I will do with that power."

"…Why?" Rief inquired, and Amiti grimaced.

Because my father was notorious, and is still notorious, for being a power mongering monster, Amiti thought to himself, but responded, "It's complicated."

Rief nodded, and replied, "I understand, there's nothing wrong with holding something inside if you wish to, Amiti. But… well, you're kind of like the brother I never had, and I'm here for you if you need me."

Amiti smiled, and had to turn his head to brush a stray tear. He thought the same of Rief, and hearing him say that, now that he had none of his family left… "Thank you, Rief. That means a lot to me."

A silence came across them, which Amiti broke by then saying, "Well, I'm just about done. But, before we leave, I'm taking this damned crown off. I might burn it, Mercury as my witness." As he placed it on the desk, something caught his eye. A small black box he had never seen before sat upon a small piece of paper. He raised an eyebrow, and curiosity piqued, reached down to pick it up.

Ignoring the box, as well as a raised eyebrow from Rief, for now, Amiti took the piece of paper and stared at it. It was a note, not very long and written in blue ink, with lacy cursive. Somehow, the writing seemed… familiar. He began to read:

It seems, at least to me, that you inherited mostly the good qualities I possess, few they are, along with your mother's many outstanding aspects: this being the case, I find it somewhat unnecessary but important all the same to give you a piece of advice. Do not choose anything over the one you love. Not a kingdom, not pride, and certainly not power. Enclosed in this box is something that will hopefully help you display your affection to said young woman. While I suppose I have little say in the matter, I must admit I approve of your choice, and wish you both many happy years. I would attend the wedding, but that would probably be a rather… destructive decision, so I will refrain from appearing. In that case, this is probably the best I can do. I will not pretend that I by any means am deserving of praise for my role in your life; I have tried to keep you safe, and put you in good positions. As hard as it may seem, it was best that someone (anyone) other than I raised you. I had hoped it would be… well, that's another story. I apologize for how terrible of a father I have been, but perhaps, in the end, you will find that I at least acted as a decent man. I hope so. You will be happy; this I can promise you. That, and that your mother would be very, very proud of you. As am I, Amiti. Love, your father – A

Amiti's mind seemed to explode again and again with every sentence he read, but as he reached the end, he had yet to make any movement whatsoever. Very calmly, he laid the paper down, and picked up the box. Opening it, his eyes lit up, nearly blinded by the radiant emerald before him. It lay encrusted in a golden ring, and it was nothing story of dazzling.

He felt his throat choke up, but ignored the sensation, instead taking out a small piece of paper rolled and stuffed inside the ring. It featured the same handwriting as the other note, and was brief:

This was the ring I was to give to your mother. Take it with her blessing.

Amiti wasted no effort in trying to remove Rief from the room before he dissolved into tears; he probably couldn't have if he tried. No matter how much disdain, apathy, or intrigue he held for Alex, and he held a good amount of each, the meaning of this gift could not be put into words, only into tears. He would give the woman he loved a ring surpassed in beauty only by his love's eyes, and it would be that of his mothers. Truly, there was nothing more perfect than that.

Mia laid her travel pack down on the floor of the inn's room, and glanced around. Staying in inns certainly brought back memories: it seemed to her that nostalgia had led her to be more excited that she should have been. Staying at an inn was fine, but it wasn't quite like she remembered it being on their journey.

Thankfully, Nowell hadn't tried to pull a "can Piers and I room together?" again, and her daughter was currently unpacking as well. Mia smiled as she looked over Nowell's rigid posture and noticed how firmly she was putting things on the bed. She must be a little angry about her and Piers's discussion, Mia figured, and decided to leave it alone. Nowell would talk to her when she was ready.

Without speaking, Nowell left the room, and Mia sighed. She should probably get going as well. As she turned to leave, something caught her eye. A small blue box, holding down what looked to be a note on the room's table. With a raised eyebrow, she walked over to the table, and picked up the note, scanning its contents. Before she read a word, she felt her breath halt, and her heart nearly stop as well; she knew this handwriting.

I meant to give this to you, and I wish I had. It wasn't your fault; I say that because, knowing you, you blamed yourself even when only I was to blame. You were always so radiantly kind, Mia. An angel sent down by Mercury herself to Weyard in order to spread love and happiness. It's high time you found happiness yourself, and I hope you choose that instead of some stupid outdated Imillian law or solitude. You deserve to be happy, Mia.

And… I'm sorry. I'd write it a thousand times, a million, until my hand bled and my blood froze as cold as it used to be when I betrayed you. It wouldn't make things right. Neither will this note or this package, but maybe one will make you happy. I hope so – A

Mia fumbled with the blue box, eventually popping it open. She wondered if the eyes of Mercury were as serene as the sapphire before her, and if any silver she had seen glowed as brightly as the beautiful metal before her. She hung her head in memory, in love, in bitterness, in guilt. All of those emotions escape as she took in one breath and gave one long, hard sob, and then whispered softly, "Alex."

Jenna gave Ivan the smile she was known for: the "I'm too wonderful to deserve to get yelled at for doing something wrong" smile. The reason she was so known for it was because, even after supposedly mellowing out with age, she still found plenty of ways to cause trouble. Such as showing up to cook the food that needed to be prepared by seven at six rather than five, like she said she would.

He rolled his eyes, pointing to the numerous amount of food that needed to cook. "Really? An hour late? Really? No one will blame you, they'll blame the host, namely me," Ivan said in frustration, tapping his foot.

"Oh, um, Isaac came home a little later than he intended, and—" Jenna began, but she was quickly interrupted by the flustered Jupiter Adept.

"Listen, I had to clean out Matthew's head, so I KNOW why you're late. Honestly, if it was anything else, I would be angry, but everyone deserves some alone time with their love. Anyway, can we start? You're going to have to work fast and delicately to get all this together in so little time."

"N-no problem," Jenna replied, embarrassed that it was becoming such common knowledge that she and Isaac had gone at it like rabbits for a few hours straight. At least Matthew had knocked the second time… her poor son just didn't have luck when it came to these sorts of things.

She began to read Ivan's detailed list of instructions as the Jupiter Adept called upstairs, "How are you doing Karis?"

"Fine!" Came his daughter's shout, and with a yawn, Ivan found his favorite chair and collapsed. One little nap before the party would be nice: everything else was in order, and—

"Whoops," Jenna said, following a loud explosion. Ivan winced, and sighed.

"That was just a nightmare, she did not blow up the turkey," He whispered to himself, eventually dozing off.

"Eoleo!" Himi chided, looking behind her for the eighty-second time; she had counted.

"Argh, I know, I know, I'm comin' Himi, don't get your pigtails in a knot," The pirate exclaimed, moving slowly as he pulled a wagon carrying a gigantic roast boar behind him as well as multiple buckets filled with other delicacies (namely alcohol) strapped to reeds adjourning his shoulder. "Actually, if you did that would probably look pretty hilarious."

"We're going to be late!" Himi said, stamping her foot. "Did you have to buy that… carcass." She wrinkled her nose, as the stench was unbearable. And, as much as she loved the pirate, he was already a little ripe to begin with. "And all that alcohol! Something tells me the venerated Warriors of Vale do not play drinking games at holiday parties. I will never forgive you if we are late!"

Eoleo sighed, and tried to move faster, succeeding somewhat. "Don't worry, we'll make it: I promise ye, on… on… my ship! Well, it still has a few holes, but I hold no doubt that soon it will be fresh and new again!" Himi shook her head, but smiled slightly. It had been quite the escapade, convincing her father to let Eoleo take her (let alone convince Susa to not execute him on sight), but it had been worth it. The journey had been great fun, and she was excited beyond belief for the party; provided they made it on time.

She frowned, and thought long and hard about whether or not what she was considering was ethical or not, considering that misusing Psynergy was such a terrible crime. However, in this case, perhaps it was less of a misuse and more of something done out of necessity. So, rather than wait for Eoleo to drag his bounty all the way to Kalay, she raised her hand, and summoned her Psynergy.

"I-It's a landship!" Eoleo shouted, as the piece of earth that Himi imbued flew across the ground. "This is amazing!" Himi smiled at his reaction; they would be on time. And, truth be told, they were having quite a fun time getting there.

Karis sighed, and glanced in the mirror once more. It should be perfect, she wanted it to be perfect. Well, it looked nice, but would he like it? Would he think it was too… revealing? The last thing she needed was him thinking that she was a girl who liked to show skin, or show off her body in general.

"Hey, Karis, do you know how to wake you dad up?" Jenna's voice came from the stairwell, along with footsteps, startling the Jupiter Adept. "I threw a dictionary right at his face after shouting didn't work, but all that did was give him a black eye—"

Jenna's speech froze as she walked into the doorway and caught a glimpse of Karis. The young Jupiter Adept erupted into a deep blush, nearly as red as the fabric she was wearing; Jenna's face was widened in shock, her eyes slowly scanning the outfit Karis had been slaving over.

It was mostly red and white, but well designed nonetheless. The top was a long sleeve, button down shirt, that had a somewhat low cut. Any cleavage was mostly covered by the white fluffy lining, but not completely. Said lining also covered the wrists, which were adjourned with a few small silver bells. The skirt was short for Kalayan standards, but still only just above the knees. It had white lining on both ends, and also donned a small red belt coated with more silver bells. Finally, she wore all red boots, and a small Santa hat.

Karis had been proud of the creation, if incredibly nervous. Now, though, any pride seemed to shrink, and she bit her lip. "Oh, Jupiter, Mrs. Jenna, you're right, this is much too—"

"This is fabulous!" Jenna exclaimed, moving forward and examining the costume at a close distance.

"R-Really?" Karis stuttered, and Jenna nodded, grinning as she got a closer look.

"Yes, absolutely! The fabric's very soft, the white lining is very puffy and nice, the bells are a nice touch, and the sewing and tailorship are spectacular! Who did you hire to make this? I could use a tailor like this, who really knew what they were doing…" Jenna trailed off, shaking her head in wonder.

"O-Oh, I um, I made it," Karis muttered, staring at her feet.

"You did!" Jenna nearly shouted. "Oh, Karis, I had no idea you were so gifted with tailoring! This is just wonderful… very sexy too, I might add." Karis's blush deepened. "But not overly so, and that's a hard balance to hit. One thing, though: you should probably put on some red stockings. The skirt is a little short, and if it got knocked up, well…"

Karis nodded without responding, and quickly pulled on a pair of stockings. Jenna nodded when she finished, and smiled widely. "Yep, that's perfect! Oh, Mars, Matthew won't be able to take his eyes off you the whole night! I take it that's why you made it?"

"O-Oh, um, yeah. I… well… it's been so long, and…" Karis gulped. "Is it that obvious I have a crush on him?"

Jenna laughed, and replied, "Oh, you two have been so adorable every since you were young. I was hoping, to be honest, that at some point he would get a clue and make a damn move: I was afraid someone else would snatch you up. It is slightly obvious, but that's how love is. It's also worth noting that he is crushing as hard, if not more."

Karis's eyebrows and faced perked up, and she asked, "You really think so?"

"Of course! I'm his mother, and he hasn't been able to talk about any other girl besides you for five years," Jenna said in return, and Karis felt her heart grow warm. So, as long as she played her cards right… "Listen, just get him alone, and tell him how you feel. Mars knows he won't do it himself, too shy. But if you whisk him away and lean into him as your bells lightly jingle, oh, he'll turn redder than my hair." Jenna giggled, and Karis smiled: she could do this.

"…Thank you, Mrs. Jenna. I was really worried about tonight," Karis said, adding a curtsy in for good measure.

Jenna waved it off with her hand, and said, "Oh, no need to thank me, just trying to ensure I get the grandchildren I so crave. Then again, I should be happy raising my second."

Karis's eyes lit up, and she replied, "Oh, I had no idea! How late is the pregnancy?"

Jenna giggled again, and blushed a slight bit, saying, "I've got a ways to go. Let's just say Isaac and I were very glad to see each other today, and while I'm not positive I'm expecting, I'd be pretty damn surprised if I wasn't."

Karis's blushed returned, and she muttered something about checking her make-up as Jenna laughed. "Love is a wonderful thing, Karis, and it's fitting it comes out so much during the holidays. Sorry if I've been a bit… embarrassing. But I stand by what I said about Matthew: tonight is your night. But, one last thing." Jenna leaned in close, and whispered, "Feel free to hold off on the grandchildren for a little while."

Karis laughed, and replied, "Trust me, I will. A first kiss would be a nice start though."

Jenna smiled, and said, "Indeed, it would be." The Mars Adept turned to go back downstairs, but was stopped by Karis grabbing her arm.

"…Mrs. Jenna?" Karis started, and Jenna turned to see the young girl slightly teary eyed. "I know that… it's just… I really appreciate it. How you've always been there for me. And no matter what happens with Matthew, you've always be like a m-mom to me, and…" Karis trailed off with a sniffle, and Jenna pulled her in close for an embrace.

"Karis, I know your father couldn't be any more proud of you, and neither could I," Jenna said as she hugged her. "I'm honored that you think of me that way, and I've always thought of you like a daughter as well. I couldn't ask for a better daughter-in-law." Karis sniffled once more, and Jenna felt her own eyes begin to water.

Said feeling increased as a thick acrid stench pierced her nose… "OH CRAP THE FOOD'S ON FIRE!" Jenna shouted, breaking the embrace and turning to sprint out the door, before stopping in her tracks and turning back to Karis. The young girl stood with a smile on her face, her streams of tears still visible, but now drying. She nodded, and with a motherly smile, Jenna turned and flew down the stairs in order to prevent the house from burning down on the merriest day of the year.

And so, it came to finally be seven o' clock, and the guests began to arrive. Ivan manned the door, years of being an ambassador between Kalay, Contigo, Vale, and other nations making his greeting skills top-notch, while Jenna worked in an absolute frenzy in the kitchen to finish up the cooking.

The Jupiter Adept had been forcefully awoken by Jenna just ten minutes prior, and after a few Auras to heal his black eye, he was more than ready to greet the long line of people pouring into his home. Or, he would be, if he wasn't still incredibly drowsy. Indeed, after every new guest entered and was sufficiently greeted and directed, Ivan would yawn, bat his eyes for a few moments, and eventually close them, only for them to be snapped open by the knocking of the door a short time later.

Ivan was in such a state, his eyes firmly shut and a light string of drool beginning to fall from his mouth, when a great, booming knock came from the door. Ivan flinched a bit, but did not break out of his slumber. After a few moments, another knock came, this time even louder. Observing the scene with a slight smile, Piers nudged Mia in the side and said, "I would be willing to bet you a good deal of money that the person at the door is Garet."

Sure enough, when Ivan came to his senses and opened the door, the large bodied Mars Adept and his son were behind it. As Garet walked in, he hit his head on the frame, and Ivan sighed. "Garet, I've owned this house for twenty two years, and not once have you ducked while walking into it. Surely you must have suffered multiple concussions by now?"

Garet, shaking off the collision after a mere moment, chuckled and replied, "The greeter who can't keep his eyes open is telling me off for not looking in front of me? My head's too thick for a concussion: what happens is I remember just before I walk through the door that I'm going to run my head into it, and then SMACK and I forget again for the next time. Oh well, there are worse things in the world; we should know, we fought most of them. Want help greeting?"

"Jeez, the way you two bicker it's like you're an old married couple. You're both single, actually, so when's the wedding?" Tyrell remarked, receiving narrowed eyes from both of the adults at his comment. "I kid, I kid! I'm going to go mingle." And with that, Tyrell, who had begun to develop a much needed sense of when to leave a room before someone got too fed up with him from the quest (mostly from pissing off Karis, actually), joined the rest of the party, leaving the two old friends alone.

"So, er, who has already arrived?" Garet questioned, scanning the room, his eyes landing on Mia and his heart fluttering as a result.

"Uh… I've kind of been asleep most of the time, but I think Rief and Nowell, Mia's kids, Mia, Piers, the prince of Ayuthay, Amiti – Oh, don't bow when you meet him, I did and he didn't seem too pleased about it –, and Jenna was already here. So… that's about it. Still waiting on everyone else."

Before Garet could respond, a knock was heard at the door, and the Mars Adept quickly opened it, revealing Isaac and Kraden. The latter, per usual, was engagingly spouting off on various subjects to the Venus Adept, who was listening with a smile, more than used to his elderly friend's habit of devolving into long segments of un-interrupted speech.

"So, the Wise One himself appeared to you and told you to abandon the area? My word… I'm terrified of the Tuaparang still, but they seem to have been mostly quiet. Odd, very… oh my, are we here already?" The wise sage smiled warmly, and his eyes sparkled with the mystical and lively blue time seemed unable to dull.

"Yes, indeed, we have arrived," Isaac replied, motioning for his elder to enter before him, and then stepping across the threshold himself. The Jupiter, Venus, and Mars Adept then all shared looks bred from tumultuous adventure and friendship forged during said daring escapades.

"Ivan, it's been too long," Isaac said, embracing his friend and then ruffling his hair for good measure. Ivan rolled his eyes; Isaac knew very well he hated it when he did that. "And Garet, probably not long enough." He held out an arm and Garet took it, albeit featuring an eye roll that eclipsed Ivan's in size.

"Hardee har har, as if I was the pain in that relationship. You made me cook, clean, and train the kids more than half of the time, and when they leave I take up their workload too? Yeah, you had it real rough up at the cabin," Garet snorted, but was unable to keep a grin off his face.

Isaac, never one to take heat from his best friend, replied, "I was busy: you know very well how important the task the Wise One bestowed upon me was."

Garet rolled his eyes once more. "Yeah, important enough so that you should have spent more time on it and less time locked in your room. I swear: you leave Jenna alone here for months at a time, only to spend half your time doing the one thing you really NEED a woman for. If you had controlled your right hand a bit, we probably would have been done in half the time. The real thing is much better, as I'm sure you've realized by coming home."

He finished with a wink, and before a slightly stuttering Isaac could force out a true reply, a hand appeared around Garet's throat. He gulped as Jenna hissed, "Make one more crack about me or my husband and I'll make it so you WISH you had either of your hands to do what you speak of."

Garet nodded fearfully, as a sleepy Ivan chuckled lightly, and a now-relieved Isaac beamed. As wonderful as their love-making was, it was definitely not the only reason he adored Jenna: her strong will and ability to strike fear into the hearts of men (including his own) were qualities he couldn't help but appreciate, and had missed while isolated in his lonely cabin, continuing to fulfill Vale's duty by guarding he sacred mount, Mt. Aleph.

"I always had a feeling you being scarier than a dragon wasn't just going to be a teenage phase back in the day," Garet muttered, pushing his luck. "Still wish it had been, though."

"Awww, is widdle Garet more scared of me that the dragons he fought on our quest?" Jenna teased, releasing her more-often-than-not partner in crime from the good ole' days in Vale.

"Combined," Garet said matter-of-factly. "I'd rather fight a Fusion Dragon consisting of the whole damn town of Prox that you when you're pissed off."

"Then why have you continued to piss me off over the years?" Jenna questioned, and Garet grinned dumbly.

"Getting the crap beaten out of me was a nice reminder that you still had that Mars-Adept spirit. It was also a nice change from you being all luvy-duvy with Isaac." Garet expected a kick to the shin, maybe a slap, for his comment, but sadly for him, he hadn't been around Jenna for awhile. So, naturally, he was surprised at the punch straight to his jaw, which naturally caused Isaac and Ivan to begin laughing, and even caused a slight chuckle in Kraden.

The sage said merrily, "It's funny, thirty years later, and not much has changed at all, really."

As Jenna and Garet prepared to begin more banter, a knock on the door halted them, and Ivan opened it to reveal Matthew and Sveta. Garet spared a second long glance at the Queen of Morgal, and then muttered to Isaac, "Is that a kitty-dog?" causing Matthew to chuckle and Sveta to roll her eyes.

"Like father like son… why am I not surprised?" She replied, slightly miffed but clearly somewhat amused nonetheless.

"Ummm, Ivan, do you have any idea where Karis is?" Matthew asked, wanting to avoid getting caught in any conversations, at least not until he finally got to see his crush again.

Garet shook his head and glanced at Isaac, remarking, "Speaking of sons being like their dads, somehow it doesn't surprise me that Matthew picked up your habits with women, Isaac. Brings a girl to a party, and the first thing he does after walking in the door is ask where ANOTHER girl is."

"What are you implying?" Jenna questioned hotly, driving her finger into Garet's chest.

"That your husband used to be a complete player," Garet replied with a straight face.

"Oh, you're going to get it n—" Jenna began, but was cut off by Ivan.

"Actually, Jenna, he does kind of have a point," Ivan said with a small smile. "I distinctly remember Isaac eyeing just about every girl he met on our quest."

"Um, Ivan, could you please close the door?" Came a voice from behind the group, and they turned to see Mia, shivering lightly. "It's finally started to grow a little cold out, and you've kind of left Matthew and – Sveta, is it? – to stand outside while you converse."

"Always thinking about others, still huh?" Garet said, beaming at Mia, causing her to bring her eyes to the floor.

"Oh… um… well, it's more or less my duty as a member of the Mercury Clan. They could catch a cold," Mia replied, and Garet let out a silent groan. He prayed Tyrell hadn't seen that, as it appeared that any "skills" he had with the ladies had worn off. Not like Mia had ever been one to fall for such brazen attempts in the first place.

"I don't believe you guys!" Jenna said, cutting back to the conversation about Isaac. "I've known Isaac for a long time, and he's always only had eyes for… um… well, what I mean is… he doesn't act that way around women!"

"Not while you're around," Ivan supplied, giving the Venus Adept in question, who was giving the Jupiter Adept a "please-don't-say-what-I-think-you're-going-to" kind of smile, a friendly punch in the shoulder. "As soon as our parties joined together, he snapped out of it. But before hand? Ask Mia, she had to fend off his requests a few times."

Isaac and Mia immediately became flushed red, and Jenna slowly looked back and forth between them, a look of shock dawning on her face. "You two… you two were together?" She questioned, her gaze now resting on Isaac, who was squirming quite uncomfortably. As he began to speak, Mia, glaring harshly at Ivan, motioned him to follow her outside, which the wind Adept did begrudgingly.

"It… it was nothing really," Isaac said quickly, trying to keep his vision focused on anything BUT Jenna. "I mean, we were traveling together, and Mia's very nice, so we… um... tried something out, but we decided to just be friends." Isaac winced, no doubt expecting Jenna to berate him for withholding this information, but to his (and everyone elses') surprise, she laughed.

"Isaac, it's not that big of a deal, I'm not surprised you dated or were interested in other women at some point in your life. I did the same with Piers: it's no big deal," Jenna said, and Isaac breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Wait… Piers?" He then asked, his eyes widening.

"Indeed," Came the Mariner's reply as he joined in on the conversation. "It was for a short while, as if it had become serious we would have been forced to tell Felix. Believe me, it was hard enough keeping him from knowing when we were just dating lightly."

"Oh please, Isaac," Jenna said, rubbing up against her husband. "You look so flabbergasted. There's nothing wrong with bringing up past romances. I had a good time with Piers while it lasted, and I'm sure you enjoyed your time with Mia. She's a real fox, ay Garet?" She finished my elbowing her fellow Mars Adept, who grinned dreamily.

"I'd agree with that statement, yes!" He said enthusiastically, causing everyone to chuckle, except for Mia, who was simply embarrassed, and Matthew and Sveta, who were somewhat awkwardly blocked from moving further into the house. Matthew was staring firmly at the ground, trying to block out everything he was hearing, from his father being loose with women early on in his life to the knowledge that Rief's mom and his dad had once been together. Sveta giggled in some cases, but sadly did not know most of the people talking besides by name, so was naturally confused.

On cue, Mia and Ivan reappeared from the outside, with Mia's normally angelic face slightly marred by a frown and narrowed eyebrows, and a significantly more damp Ivan shivering badly.

"I-Ice Q-Queen," He chattered, earning another angry glance from Mia, who raised her hand in a threat of retaliation. Ivan quickly raised his hands in surrender, shouting, "Okay, okay! I'll stop poking fun at you and Isaac! Just don't Douse me anymore!" As everyone laughed, Matthew and Sveta used this distraction to slip away from the crowd.

As they did so, Ivan, seeing Matthew moving away, called to him, "Oh, Matthew, sorry about that, I forgot. Karis should be up in her room. I'm sure she'd be fine with you going to get her, just, uh, don't stay up there for too long." He winked, and Matthew turned away with a groan.

"Good luck, Matthew," Sveta whispered to him, as she eyed Amiti talking with Tyrell, Nowell, and Rief. "And thank you for all your help."

She hugged him lightly as he replied, "Don't mention it. Good luck to you as well. Hopefully by tonight we'll get to make use of some of this mistletoe."

"Mistle-what?" Sveta questioned, wrinkling her nose as she always did when confused. Matthew smiled, and chuckled.

"Ask Tyrell about it, he'll be more than happy to explain," He said with a devious grin, and then turned towards the stairs.

Sveta raised an eyebrow in confusion, but shrugged, and made her way over to the group of her friends. "Ah! Sveta! Hopefully you take bowing to royalty better than Amiti!" Tyrell exclaimed upon seeing her, dropping low to the ground in a surprisingly graceful bow.

Amiti snorted, and Sveta giggled, while Nowell and Rief simply shook their heads. "There is no need to bow, but do as you wish. How have you all been?" Sveta replied, looking at all her friends, who had changed little since she had last saw them.

"I've been good. Mostly have been setting things on fire and letting Karis blow them out with wind and then yell at me about it the last few months," Tyrell replied with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, um, working on political business and the such, you know," Amiti replied, visibly uncomfortable. Sveta noted that one of his hands seemed to be fondling something in his pocket.

"Been watching my sister eat Captain Piers's face off. Fun time," Rief replied drolly, gaining an angry glance from Nowell as a result.

"Piers and I are in a serious relationship, and we do NOT do such things in public," The Mercury Adept huffed. "But yes, I have spent a good deal of time with him, obviously. Anyway, I have heard many stories of you, Sveta, but we only met during that chance meeting after your party stopped the Eclipse. It would be nice if I got to know you a little more."

"Yes, that's the only reason she's not next to Piers, at the moment: trying to mingle with everyone else," Rief added, fanning the flames of his sister's wrath. Before she could retort, he continued, "Anyway, how are you, Sveta?"

"Fine, I guess," Sveta replied, her ears drooping slightly as memories of long nights going over mountains of paperwork and making tough decision after tough decision came to mind. If it hadn't been for Matthew, she may not have survived. "It's hard, but I think I may be getting used to it. I was very happy that my people had been able to build Belinsk back up to such a degree that I was allowed to come here for this party and gathering, at any rate."

Rief nodded, but Sveta barely noticed; her green eyes were fixed on Amiti, who seemed to be entirely distant. She knew he reverted to this state when something important was on his mind, and was dying to find out what had him so deep in thought. On cue, Rief stated, "Oh my, who is that woman Piers is next to?" Nowell didn't even bother saying anything, rather immediately turning to run towards her boyfriend, and plowing over Tyrell on the way.

"Ugh, I do NOT see the resemblance to you and Mia, to be honest, Rief," Tyrell muttered, rubbing his now bruised ribs.

"Oh, she can be a handful, on occasion," Rief replied, and then nudged Tyrell. "Say, want to try some of the food Jenna has laid out? It looks very appetizing, and I'm a little famished."

"Nah," Tyrell responded, surprising everyone around him. "I'm saving my appetite for the main course!"

Rief chuckled, but seemed to be concerned over his reply. "No, really Tyrell, there's some great chicken you just need to try!"

Tyrell raised an eyebrow. "Er, Rief, you feeling okay? You're usually not this pushy…"

"Ah, it's just…" Rief groaned, and pulled Tyrell in close, whispering into his ear.

"Ohhhh," Tyrell said, turning to look at Amiti and Sveta, who quickly glanced at each other and then away. "Rief, I don't get it, why do WE have to be involved in everyone's match-ups? Can't they just, I don't know, say, 'Oh Sveta!' and 'Oh Amiti!' and start making out without us having to make some crappy excuse about eating chicken."

"Wh-wha?" Sveta explained as Amiti stammered gibberish.

"Oh, for the love of Mercury Tyrell, you possess the tact of a wilderbeast," Rief seethed, dragging and pulling the significantly larger boy across the room, toward said chicken.

Amiti rubbed the back of her head, and Sveta breathed in deeply. This awkward tension was killing her, and she needed to do something about it before she lost her nerve. "Um, Amiti?" Sveta began, the Mercury Adept turning quickly to face her.

"Yes my Queen? Er, I mean, yes Sveta?" Amiti sputtered, and Sveta smiled. Somehow, knowing he was more flustered than she was made her feel just a little bit better. She was glad that love didn't make only her feel this way inside, all confused and like a great gooey mess. She was ever gladder though, because it most likely meant that, he did indeed feel the same way, as Matthew had indicated.

"You can call me whatever you like," Sveta purred, trying her best to sound flirtatious. Judging by Amiti's subsequent blush, she succeeded, she noted with a surge of triumph. "I was wondering if we could find somewhere a bit more private so I could talk to you and—"

"You guys realize you're standing right under mistletoe, right?" Tyrell interrupted, munching on a large piece of chicken as he spoke.

"Mistle-who?" Amiti questioned with a raise eyebrow, and Sveta smiled. So he didn't know what it was either.

"Mistletoe. It's part of the holiday tradition. It's a plant that gets hung up, and whenever two people meet under it, they're supposed to kiss," Tyrell supplied as he finished swallowing his chicken (not much chewing having occurred).

"Oh… oh! I-I see," Sveta stuttered, cursing Matthew in the back of her mind. There was silence for a few moments, before Tyrell began to tap his foot.

Finally, he said loudly, "Well, get on with it! Seriously, you guys are nearly as bad as Matthew and Karis! Why is everyone so uptight about crap like this!"

Sveta and Amiti both glanced at each other and blushed, for once holding onto their stare, but just as they began to lean forward, Rief's voice came from a short distance away.

"Oh, for Mercury's sake Tyrell, I told you to leave them alo—" Rief paused as Tyrell pointed upward. The young Imillian followed his finger, and noticed it was directed at a piece of mistletoe directly above them. "Yes, I get it, mistletoe, they're supposed to ki—GALUMP!" Rief's words became inaudible as Tyrell swiftly planted his lips onto his.

"There, Merry Krismas!" Tyrell exclaimed as they separated, Rief looking worse than the first thirty minutes he had spent squealing after Sludge nearly had eaten them in the Phantasmal Bog. "See? Not hard! Granted, I don't love Rief, but as soon as Himi gets here, I am going to plant one on her lips!" With that, the always-unpredictable Mars Adept walked away.

"…Tyrell has a thing for Himi?" Amiti and Sveta said at the same time, quickly pausing and then laughing at the coincidence.

Rief slumped away from the couple, muttering, "I'm going to go ask Mom if tonight I can try some alcohol to get that out of my brain."

"Well, they're gone again," Sveta remarked as they watched Rief drearily march toward the rest of the party. How to reinitiate a kiss with Amiti escaped her.

"Yes, they are. And, well, we're still under this mistletoe," The King of Ayuthay responded, gulping and taking a small step forward.

Sveta smiled, took a larger step forward, and then pulled him in close. "Then what are we waiting for?"

"I uh, well, MMF!" Amiti's blabbering was unceremoniously ceased as Sveta slammed her lips into his. It was a nice, long kiss, during which Sveta noted with glee how interesting the smooth texture of the human tongue was, while Amiti simultaneously felt his knees buckle from both surprise and arousal as her rough tongue explored his mouth eagerly and at the lovely scent she held.

Of course, their intimate moment was anything but, with a large plethora of cheers and whistles exploding from nearly all of the parties' guests. Also, Piers and Ivan took this moment to nudge Mia and Garet and give them looks telling them that they should follow the teenager's example. Both blushed, especially as their eyes happened to collide, and then quickly shift away.

It took little time for Amiti and Sveta to fall into a groove, having sent signal after signal of their affections over their quest. Indeed, they had both dreamed of this, and were in their own personal bliss that not even the embarrassing applause from the guests could pull them back to reality.

Ivan, however, was drawn away from the spectacle as he heard a knock at the door. He walked over and opened it, and for a brief moment he was confused. There stood two people, a man and a woman, who he instantly felt some kind of recognition towards. But, whether or not it was his general sleepiness, the darkness outside, or the brandy he had been sipping at a bit faster than he probably should have, he found himself stumped, and quickly racked his brain to figure out who this couple was.

They had to be a couple, as their hands were interlocked, and they simply had that air about them. Both looked fairly young, possibly in their mid to late twenties, but somehow they carried the weight of greater age.

The man fit the cliché tall, dark, and handsome to a fault, his dark, nearly black brown hair jetting down his back (it was at least two feet long), and a well kept full beard of the same color adjourning his face. His figure was definitely powerful, but in a constrained sort of way; at the least, Ivan sure as hell wouldn't want to pick a fight with him. His chocolaty eyes were arguably the most familiar things about him, though.

He turned his attention to the woman, who was quite the opposite. Her long, flowing blonde hair was even longer than her partner's, sweeping down well below her buttocks. She was quite slender, but close to his height. She was wearing a simple white dress that suited her well, with leggings underneath as the dress had two slits which Ivan assumed were made for better movement. Overall, she was stunning. In particular, her eyes and eyebrows drew him in: only one person in the world besides him and Karis had purple eyebrows and irises, and she was—

"Sheba!" Ivan shouted in realization, slapping his head. Sheba and Felix, who had grown more uncomfortable with every passing second of Ivan's stare-down, both heaved out a sigh of relief, and shared a smile. While neither had spoken of it (they knew each other too well to have any need to), both had been worried of the reception they would get, and had originally taken Ivan's questioning look to be one of recognition and distaste, not simple confusion.

Jenna's spine straight at Ivan's shout. She had not see Sheba in as many years as Felix, and missed his just as much; she had been her best friend, and Felix's disappearance had been more painful as it had coincided with Sheba's. Of course, Jenna had believed them to have leave together, but still…

She turned, and gasped: she was much more mature, and her hair was grossly different, but there was no mistaking it. After thirty long years, her best friend was within ten feet of her. She tried to process this, but it became lost as she noticed the man Sheba was standing next to. Her mind had a brief tug of war, the more logical side arguing that it couldn't possibly be Felix while at the same time realizing it definitely was, and the emotional side completely breaking down into feelings of immense happiness, anger, and relief.

She took a shaky step forward, and managed to force out a choked, "Felix?" causing the man in front of her to shift his gaze towards her. She knew the moment his eyes widened in recognition that it was indeed him, and that was enough for her. How could she not: his eyes were hers, the one trait they definitively shared besides their blood. Jenna shot forward, moving faster than she had in her entire life (which, as a Warrior of Vale, was saying something), and tackled Felix, surprising just about everyone in the nearby vicinity.

"You!" Jenna screamed, "Bastard!" punching his stomach with one hand, "How could you leave me!" and nearly breaking Felix's ribs by hugging him tightly with the other, "For thirty years!" She couldn't tell what she wanted to do more, hurt him or embrace him, so she did both, all the while beginning to cry.

"I take it Felix arrived?" Isaac said with a smile, and Ivan shot him a look of surprise.

"You knew he was coming?" Ivan asked, a smile of his own visible, having come to expect Isaac to manufacture miracles such as this after years of knowing him.

Isaac nodded, replying, "Yep, I ran into Sheba and Felix while I was leaving the Cabin. It was quite the coincidence: I would have told Jenna, but Felix wanted to show up as somewhat of a surprise."

"Jenna… I can't even tell you how sorry I am for causing you so much distress. But, I'm here to make it up to you. If you want, feel free to light me on fire until you feel compensated," Felix replied, a small bit of sarcasm leaking into his voice, as he tried to speak clearly despite being short of air and being repeatedly pummeled. "Or just continue breaking my ribs. Whatever works."

Jenna picked herself off of Felix, and glared down at his with such ferocity witnesses would later claim small beams literally fired from her eyes and managed to seer parts of Felix's eyebrows off. However, she faltered nearly immediately, and collapsed back down on him, this time only embracing him. "I missed you so much, thank Mars you're back," She cried, and he held her in return.

"I missed you too… I love you, Jenna. I never forgot about my little sister." He said, stroking her hair.

"I love you too, Felix," Jenna whispered, before pulling back once more and jamming her finger in his face. "But if you EVER do anything like that again, I will CHAR you." Felix smiled and nodded, and with a hand from Sheba both of them quickly rose.

"So, it took you thirty years to have a suitable honeymoon, huh? Talk about a power-couple," Jenna teased, staring straight at Sheba. "And holy crap, you're taller than me!"

"I cannot adequately describe how scared I was that you were going to murder Felix, intentionally or unintentionally," Sheba said with an air of mock-concern. "I'm… um… sorry we've been gone for so long. And, it's kind of something we can't… really… talk about, so, um…"

"Sheba?" Jenna said, and Sheba looked at her with a slightly fearful look. "You're my best friend, and I know that if you were away for so long, and if you can't talk about why, you must have very good reasons. With that being said, I'm soooo glad you two tied the knot, and can I have a hug?"

Sheba giggled and accepted her request, drawing in her new in-law. Unsurprisingly, there was yet another "daww" moment, as everyone in the party smiled and began to feel warm and fuzzy. Everyone except, of course, Amiti and Sveta, who were still locking lips passionately (having already been feeling very warm and very fuzzy for the last few minutes) and showed no signs of slowing down.

Matthew stood outside Karis's room, trying to get his head in order. Now that he thought about it, a gift would have been nice. Or he could have dressed better. Or maybe he could have… he shook his head, trying to clear it. He just needed to knock on the door. Everything would be fine and go from there. He just needed to — KNOCK, KNOCK!

Crap, crap, crap, WHY DID I KNOCK, Matthew screamed in his mind as the agonizing seconds ticked away, the Venus Adept doing everything to distract him from his current situation.

"Coming!" Came a voice from inside after what seemed to be an hour (and was in reality two seconds). Matthew gulped, and went over what he had drawn up in his head. Something he could only vaguely remember, involving a song (why on earth was he thinking of that? He couldn't sing for Venus's sake!), flowers (which he didn't have…) and, of course, a confession he had planned. He recalled he had been pleased with how it had turned out (very poetic, and very heartfelt), but now it seemed to have completely left his mind.

Before he could mentally scramble anymore, the opening of the door in front of him caused him to gasp.

"O-Oh, Matthew, it, it is you…" Karis stuttered, but Matthew did not hear anything of what she said, at least not consciously.

"Y-Yes, I am Matthew," Matthew dopily replied, staring Karis up and down. It's not that he hadn't known that Karis had a nice – more like great – figure, but she was fairly modest. He hadn't seen her showing much of any skin for a good five years or so, well before she hit puberty. She naturally wore a lot of clothing, and while she looked great in anything she wore… seeing her dressed in an outfit like this was quite a shock. A really, really good shock.

There wasn't that much skin, actually, but there really didn't need to be. She looked sexy, and Matthew was fairly awestruck. After several moments, he realized he had been ogling Karis up and down, and glanced at her face to see a blush matching the color of the outfit.

Matthew closed his eyes and swore to himself; wonderful, he had just stood there like a moron and checked her out for at least ten seconds.

"I… um… I'm sorry, it's clear you don't like it… I was trying to dress up like… Santa Claus, was it? I'll… um… go change," Karis sputtered out, growing increasingly self aware of just how geared toward naughtiness the outfit was. Matthew must have thought her to be a terrible, terrible person for dressing up in something like tha—"

"W-Wait, what's this about me not liking it?" Matthew asked, realizing that, just maybe, her reaction wasn't because of his staring. "I mean… I love it. You don't have to change. It's really… clever, and well made. And it fits you wonderfully. Um… where did you get it?"

"I made it myself," Karis replied slowly, her nervousness starting to fade. "You… you really like it?"

"Wow, Karis! You made this yourself? That's amazing!" Matthew said, looking the outfit over again once more. "I mean, yeah, I've seen a bunch of people try to dress up like Santa, but usually it comes out terrible. I remember that one time Kraden came over dressed as him, and the costume ripped in a very unfortunate place and Ivan had to wipe everyone's mind and then go see his sister to wipe his, and… You must have spent forever on this!"

"Oh… no, it was nothing, really," Karis whispered, a sliver of a smile poking through at all his compliments. "Um… then… why were you looking at it like that?"

"…Huh?" Matthew asked, suddenly going rigid. He had thought he was in the clear, but…

"I mean, when you saw me at first, you were looking at me with a really… I don't know, flustered look," Karis said, looking over the outfit with some still apparent unease. "I thought… well, I thought you thought of me badly because it's a little revealing."

"Oh, no! I was looking you over because you looked so sexy! And…" Matthew stopped speaking mid-word, his mouth hung open and his eyes widening. Karis's eyes were equally as wide. Whatever she had been expecting to hear, that wasn't it.

"O-Oh," Karis replied quietly. "Well, that was kind of what I was hoping for, but you know, in a mature and not, well, lewd way. I… er…"

"I didn't mean to be so, um, brazen about it," Matthew muttered, staring at his feet. "It's just, it was so nice, and such a surprise, and… uh… it caught me off guard."

Karis frowned and bit her lip, moving a bit closer to Matthew, who seemed to be expecting a slap or worse. "Matthew…" She began. "I… I did this for you. I-I mean, I WANTED you to see me like this. It was… it was supposed to be your gift. So, I don't mind that, you know, you like what you see."

Matthew felt his heart-rate flutter and begin to beat like a war-drum, and tried to keep his head cool as he drew his gaze upwards, and into the eyes of the girl his heart had been set on since he was a child. "You spent all that time to make that outfit, just for me?" He whispered.

Karis nodded, and rubbed her side anxiously. "Y-Yes. I wanted to appeal to you, you know, like…"

"I know it's not much of a gift," Matthew whispered, placing his right hand lightly on Karis's love handle. "But it's something I've been meaning to give you for quite some time."

"Oh… really?" Karis whispered, her voice so low that he could barely hear it, but filled with hope and anticipation. "What… what is it?"

"Close your eyes," Matthew said, leaning in to her ear as he did so. Karis gulped, and shut them, her body beginning to slightly shake. Matthew shook his head, and smiled; all of the awkwardness was more than worth it for this. He reached out, cupping the back of Karis's head and her lovely green hair, and then brought her in close, brushing his lips onto hers before leaning in fully.

His hands then fell lower, across her back, enjoying the smooth, velvety feel of her clothing. They were both nervous, at first, but eased into it slowly. Karis reacted to his hands, reaching hers around him and pulling him in closer. The next thing Matthew knew, his hand was partially up her shirt (but only in the stomach region), their kiss had morphed from something timid and unsure to wild and passionate, filled with sloppy and wet suckling and a smorgasbord of tongue. Before either of them knew what was happening, Matthew had Karis pressed up on the wall, with one of her legs straddling him from behind.

Acting without thinking, Matthew broke the contact from her lips and started eating away at her soft neck, alternating between quick smooth kisses, gentle nibbles, and hard sucking. In the heat of the moment, he could barely make out Karis whispering his name fervently every other moment. As he coated her lower neck, he heard her exhale in a throw of passion, "Best… gift… ever…" That was all the incentive Matthew needed to keep going.

"Felix, I'm going to go find Matthew… it's about time he's met his Uncle, and you met your Nephew! You'll love him, he has all of my great qualities and none of Isaac's terrible ones!" Jenna exclaimed, having spent the last few minutes, as had everyone, animatedly catching up with Sheba and Felix. Isaac shook his head at her comment as she began to climb the stairs, drawing chuckles from the crowd.

Matthew was kind of stuck; he was happy where he was, and wanted to go further, but knew it was a bad idea. However, he also had no idea how to stop… his mind kept telling him that now, or now, or now was a good time, but his body kept kissing Karis harder, reaching his hand just a bit further up her shirt, and holding her just a little tighter. (un)Fortunately, his intervention came in the form of his mother.

"MATTHEW! You'll never guess who came! It's your Uncle Feli—! Oh my," Jenna shouted, flying up the stairs, and halting when she realized what she had walked in on.

"W-We were, Karis had something on her neck so I was trying to lick it off, uh, we—" Matthew began to sputter, his face and Karis's both brilliant shades of red.

However, he was interrupted by Jenna, who pulled off a series of large and enthusiastic fist pumps, shouting, "GRANDKIDS! GRANDKIDS! I'm going to have GRANDKIDS! YESSSS!"

"Jupiterkillmenow," Karis spat out very quickly, but Matthew barely noticed, so caught off guard at his mother's… support? of their current… engagement.

"Well, what are you waiting for! Continue! I'll leave you alone, you two lovebirds!" Jenna said teasingly with a wink, before flying back down the stairs.

Karis and Matthew both stayed in the same position in silence for a few moments, both realizing how awkward and uncomfortable it was when they weren't in the middle of making out. "Um… We're lucky that wasn't my dad, or you would either be a pile of ashes or I wouldn't be allowed to see you until I was thirty," Karis whispered, breathing heavily.

"Yeah, really… I don't know how I feel about my Mom wanting us to… er… never mind." Matthew closed his eyes and frowned. Things had been so much easier a minute ago.

"You… want to forget that happened, and just keep going? But… I mean… not any farther, you know?" Karis asked, and Matthew breathed a sigh of relief. Thank Venus, he now had a boundary. "And… how about my room? More privacy?"

"That sounds good," Matthew replied, moving his other hand out of Karis's shirt and around her other leg, lifting her up and carrying her to her room. After quickly pushing the door open and awkwardly closing it, they collapsed onto Karis's bed and continued from where they had left off.

"Feliiiiiix, guess what?" Sheba asked in a childish tone, leaning in close to him and staring straight into his eyes.

"Sheba, my name has one I, for Venus's sake. Why do you always talk to me like this?" Felix replied gruffly, and Sheba giggled.

"Because you love it when I do, Feeeeeeeliiiiiiiiiixxxx," Sheba whispered, drawing out even more sounds, a pumpkin grin spread across her face.

Felix had to fight ever base instinct within him to not smile; as serious as he was, he could not help but adore Sheba's free and whimsical nature. It completed him, and he didn't know how he had lived without it for the first eighteen years of his life. "What, then?" Felix said in return, trying to sound moody, and succeeding in fooling everyone besides Sheba, whose purple eyes danced with the knowledge she had him right where she wanted him.

"Look up," Sheba whispered once more, and Felix did so to see…

"Mistletoe," Felix commented dryly, not bothering to move or attempt to avoid the lips he knew were en route to his own. Sheba pressed into him, pecking lightly before mixing it up with longer bursts, as everyone around the two shook their heads in disbelief.

"You know what I love most about kissing you," Sheba purred in between her angelic lips gracing his.

"What?" He whispered, now completely giving up on the tough guy routine.

"The way your beard tickles my chin, lips, and nose," Sheba whispered seductively, pulling him in once more.

"This party is going to turn into an orgy, at this rate," Isaac said softly, nudging and smirking at Jenna, who had returned from the upper story with a smirk of her own in the middle of Sheba and Felix's flirting, and promptly palmed her forehead.

"NOT WITHOUT RUM, IT WON'T!" Came a shout that attracted everyone's attention, besides Felix's and Sheba's (at this point, Sveta and Amiti had managed to remove their lips, and were now merely holding hands).

In barged Eoleo, carrying a barrel of his favorite thing in the world, and behind him walked a very straight-faced and slightly miffed Himi. "See! I told you we'd get her—what's wrong?" Eoleo asked, looking at Himi's clearly disgruntled expression.

"We're late! We're late! We're late!" Himi shouted, smacking Eoleo's back lightly with her staff each time she said "late."

The pirate shrugged. "I've broken so many laws, I can't admit to giving much of a damn about the laws o' formality. Besides, I had to provide and therefore bring most of the booze! That's a hefty time commitment!"

Himi simply glared, and muttered, "Late," before moving inside, leaving Eoleo with a large smirk on his face.

"Oh my gosh, you must be Eoleo. I'll never forget that red mop of hair," Jenna said, moving toward the pirate. "I'm glad you could make it, I was always sad I hadn't gotten to see you in so long. You were… an interesting toddler, to say the least. I'm very thankful for the help you provide Matthew and the rest of our children. Also… I was very sad to hear about Briggs. The first time I met the man, I thought he was an oaf of a level surpassing even Garet, but he had a heart of gold, and he brought Champa back from extinction. He was a great man."

Eoleo nodded, turning away so that the small water forming in his eyes was not visible. "Aye, he died heroicly, trying to save us. The stubborn bastard found a way to die on his own ship, and somehow the old piece of driftwood managed to outlive him. He talked of your group often, he had great respect for you and your prowess."

"He… Briggs is dead?" Came Felix's voice, having only recently picked up on the conversation. Eoleo nodded, and Felix frowned. "I had hoped to meet him at least once more… I can't count how many times he both hindered and helped us, but even if I never was quite sure how he felt about me, I always valued him as a friend. I wonder how many other people… in those thirty years…"

"Wait a moment! Are ye Felix!" Eoleo shouted, his eyes widening, only now recognizing the dark hair he vaguely remember from the past. At Felix's nod, Eoleo slapped his knee. "Friend? My father adored you! People claimed he only started telling the stories after they found out you were the one who lit the rest of the Lighthouses to build up his own reputation, but that was hogwash! My father believed you to be the best man he had ever met. He lauded your efforts in battle, how you had sailed to Lemuria, how noble you were, and how kind you had been to him and Champa. Believe you me, many children in Champa grew up hearing tales of the Great Felix, Warrior of Vale and honorary Pirate of Champa."

Felix's expression quickly became one of beaming pride and nostalgia, and the normally stoic Venus Adept had to wipe a few tears of his own. "I wish I could have told him how much all that meant to me."

"Aye," The Pirate replied, feeling his throat choke up once more. There were plenty of things he too still wished to tell Briggs.

"But now is not the time to mourn. It is time to party! Bust out the rum!" Eoleo shouted, not wanting to linger on the thoughts of his dead father. Soon, the small compliments of alcohol that Ivan had provide were combined with Eoleo's massive quantities, and the guests began to loosen (just a bit) up.

It was around this time that Ivan announced the food was ready to be eaten, and, as they had no table large enough to fit all involved, everyone sat at smaller tables of simply on whatever spare seating was available.

As it happened, Piers, Nowell, Garet, Tyrell, Himi, Eoleo, Rief and Mia ended up sharing one of the larger tables. Tyrell managed to worm his way next to Himi, causing Eoleo (who was on his other side) to throw more than a few suspicious glances his direction, while by some magic between Rief, Tyrell, and Piers, Mia and Garet ended up next to each other. Rief sat in between Mia and Tyrell, Nowell in between Tyrell and Piers, while Piers and Eoleo completed the circle.

As Piers and Eoleo chattered on and on about the sea, with Nowell being surprisingly accepting of the lack of attention she was getting, Tyrell was layering all the attention on Himi he could manage, proving he needed no advice from Garet after all.

"So, Himi, is Yamata doing well? The country must be thriving now that you have returned and are safe," Tyrell said, striking up friendly conversation.

"Oh, yes, I suppose," Himi said, giving Tyrell a questioning look. They have never quite talked before, but he seemed very interested in her all of a sudden.

"The same can be said for us, though; I've missed you a lot," Tyrell gave her a warm smile along with his kind words, and they caused what he had hoped for: a blush.

"That's very sweet of you, Tyrell," Himi replied, sipping lightly on her drink. "I have missed you as well."

"Yeah, very sweet," Grumbled Eoleo, taking a long heave of his rum.

Himi raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Eoleo, what are you so tense about?"

"Oh, er, well, you know… he's putting the moves on," Eoleo muttered. "And it's kind of making me uncomfortable. You're father left me in charge of you, and truth be told you're the closest thing I've had to a child of my own."

Himi smiled, but was still somewhat confused. "Um, what do you mean by putting the moves on?"

Tyrell chuckled, and Eoleo sighed, causing Himi to glance back and forth between them. "Um, you know, Himi," Eoleo said, using a great deal of hand motions to little effect. "He's… well… he fancies you. He's trying to warm you up to him." Himi's blank face made it clear she still had no idea what he was talking about.

"Oh for the love of…." Eoleo stood up, walked over to Himi, and whispered in her ear, "He thinks you're cute and wants to be more than friends. I know it's Tyrell, but still. If he pushes it, let me know and I'll throw him overboard."

Himi tilted her head as she realized what Eoleo was speaking of, then turned her attention to Tyrell. "That is acceptable, then," She said with a nod of her head. "Tyrell, I hope you understand the courting of a princess is a lengthy and detailed task."

"Uh… I was hoping we would just date a little, first," Tyrell replied, rubbing the back of his head. The last thing he needed was to, once again, bite off more than he could chew.

"That was a joke," Himi said in return, a small smirk on her lips. "Perhaps you could show me around Kalay tomorrow? Mr. My-Rum-Is-More-Important-Than-Punctuality made it so I had no chance to explore the city."

"That'd be nice," Tyrell responded, leaning in and giving Himi a quick peck on the cheek, causing Eoleo to growl.

Himi turned to him swiftly with a hard face, and, grabbing his shirt and pulling him in close, spoke quietly and fiercely, "If you ruin this for me, I will see to it that you stay sober for the next decade."

"H-Hey, I'm just trying to—" Eoleo began to respond, but was silenced by the glare of Himi's read eyes.

"I am more than old enough to deal with boys, Eoleo. As evidence by my hold over you," Himi whispered, before turning back to Tyrell.

Eoleo fumed silently, wanting to refute her but knowing very well it was useless: somehow, the prince (now king) of the pirates had become wrapped around a young princess's finger. He sighed, and shook his head. This wasn't fair; they grow up so fast.

Mia and Garet, meanwhile, were conversing lightly. "So… how have you been?" Garet inquired, his voice lacking its regular confidence. As crappy of a writer as he was, he greatly preferred their letters to face to face conversation, the reason being that he could form his thoughts over a long time and make sure he wasn't saying anything stupid, rather than quickly while she looking directly into his face.

"Alright," Mia replied, cutting a piece of the meat on her plate as she spoke. "It's been kind of lonely, but that's to be expected when you're a widow and you send your kids off with a sage to study and explore the world."

Garet frowned, and nodded. "That must have been hard, and was very selfless of you. I was barely able to send Tyrell out when he needed to go, and you just did it for their sake, even though you obviously wanted them there. At least, I would, being alone sucks. I mean, I had Isaac, but half the time he literally acts like all those rocks he moves around, and just sits still and does nothing." Garet winced as he finished. Great choice of words: "being alone sucks". She must have loved that.

However, Mia seemed not to notice, and replied, "Well, I figured it was a rare opportunity and I wanted to give it to them. That's nice of you, calling me selfless, but truth be told, I thought I was going to have some company come up, but then with the Grave Eclipse…"

"Oh, really? Who?" Garet asked, ripping a large chunk of steak off and sparing only a moment to chew it before it flew down his throat.

"Oh… well, you. I was going to ask you to come up, but, I mean, you were busy, and then the Eclipse…" Mia responded, nervously rubbing her arm. "I really did… miss having people around me."

As Nowell and Rief shared guilt-ridden looks at Mia's revelation, Garet placed an arm of her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry, you're here now! I can come up with you too when you leave, if that's what you want."

"Oh, no," Mia said, blushing. "I wouldn't want to make you go out of your way."

"But… uh, I'd like to come," Garet said quietly.

"Really?" Mia asked, and Garet smiled.

"Of course, silly!" He replied, patting her on the back.

"But I thought you hated the cold?" She whispered, her beautiful blue eyes staring innocently into his own.

"As long as you're there, I'll be fine," Garet responded, his smile widening with every passing second.

Mia's mouth began to curve as well, and she said, "I'd like that, then."

"Hey! Eoleo! How come when I try to flirt, I get growled, but when they get all mushy you just let it slide!" Tyrell shouted suddenly, causing Mia to blush, Garet to groan, and Eoleo to growl once more.

"It's because you're an immature rascal! As you just proved by ruining a nice moment!" Eoleo shouted back, standing up.

"Sit. Down." Himi hissed with simmering draconian rage, and for a brief moment Eoleo was sure she was about to swallow him whole.

"Nice moment? Me and the Rief are the people who set this up! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get old people to make a move? At least teenagers just get it over with, instead of drawing it out for thirty damn years!" Tyrell shouted in return.

Simultaneously, Garet rose, slamming his fists on the table, and shouted at Tyrell, "Who are you calling old!" while Mia turned to Rief, who was trying to ignore her piercing stare, and whispered, "Set this up?"

Somehow, the quieter of the two outbursts prevailed, and everyone turned to look at Mia and Rief. "Um, well, you see, Tyrell and I happened to have read a few of each of your letters to each other, and figured we'd… lend a helping hand?" Rief provided, unsure of how Mia was taking this revelation.

"Yeah, it wasn't malicious or anything: it's clear you two are in love, and were taking forever to do anything about it for really stupid reasons, so we've been working at giving you that little push so we can be in-laws," Tyrell supplied, and Garet groaned again. Why had his son been so unfortunate as to inherit his own complete lack of tact?

"L-Love?" Mia whispered, filled with a good deal of emotions she had spent the better half of thirty years suppressing. Out of all the places for her feelings to come out, here? Did it have to be in front of both of her children?

"Yes, love," Said Garet, turning to her once more. "I've never stopped loving you Mia, even if I never said I did in the first place. I should have fought for that, but…"

"No, you have no idea how much it meant to me, that you refrained from confessing," Mia quickly replied, her bottom lip quivering. "If you had told me that, I would never have been able to resist being with you, and would have left my role as a servant of Mercury, and I would have regretted it. But still… I regret those thirty years."

"Oh, come on," Tyrell piped in again. "You guys are going to live forever, why on earth are you getting hooked up on thirty measly years? Besides, if you had gotten together back then, me, Nowell, and Rief wouldn't exist, and by proxy Piers would be single!"

"True, true!" The wise mariner added with a hoist of his glass, his usual bemused smile in full display due to the awkward romance dominating the table's conversation.

"Anyway… you want to try it out?" Garet asked, offering a hand to Mia. "I mean, we don't have to rush, I can understand if you want to take it slow—"

"The only thing I need you to do," Mia interrupted, her voice cracking as tears of joy streamed down her face, "is to give this to me." She quickly put the blue box into Garet's hand, and he opened it, his eyes widening as he examined the jewel inside.

"Normally, I would like to get the ring for you myself," He whispered, as he plucked it gently from the box, putting the box on the table and holding Mia's hand with his free hand. "But I don't think there's a ring that better suits you in all of Weyard." He slipped the ring onto her finger, and Mia let out a squeak of delight, not fully believing that this was happening.

"YOU MAY NOW KISS THE BRIDE!" Tyrell shouted, and that was all the two lovers needed to meet in a kiss of perfect harmony that they had worked so hard for.

"Awww… that's so sweet!" Nowell mused, leaning into Piers. "Piers, could we tie the knot soon?"

"Uhh…." Piers said, having in no way expected to deal with this question this soon.

"Aha! Too bad for you missy," Eoleo chided, nudging Piers with a grin. "Sailors are terrible with commitment. The only way you'll get him to tie the knot is if you tie him to the mast first, and only let him down once you're legally wed!"

Piers sighed in relief and Nowell immediately began to badger Eoleo, letting him avoid giving an answer; that had been too close. Piers gave his fellow oceanographer a nod in thanks, and Eoleo replied with a grin.

Mia and Garet parted lips, and simply hugged, having waited for this moment for so long. "I think we should have the wedding somewhere neutral," Mia whispered into his ear, tears still silently falling from her eyes. "How about Crossbone Isle? Nice and cheery, and it's somewhere we had really nice experiences."The sarcasm rolled off her tongue effortlessly, as both of them imagined the utter hell that island had been.

Garet laughed, and replied, "Oh, yeah, I can see it now: Deadbeard walks up in a tux and drones, 'Dearly beloved'. What a sight that would be!" Mia giggled as well, as the other people at the table admired the two's obvious chemistry and joy, with Rief and Tyrell high-fiving each other in success.

Meanwhile, at a smaller table featuring Amiti, Sveta, Felix, Sheba, Jenna, and Isaac (and two spots for Matthew and Karis, that remained empty), the conversation was mostly a discussion of the past between the four adults. Mainly, they were catching up after having not seen each other for years on end.

"So, do you two have any bundles of joy?" Jenna inquired to Sheba and Felix, as Amiti and Sveta sat in relative silence, certainly on friendly terms with but not close to any of the adults they were seated with.

"Oh, no," Sheba replied, eyeing over Felix as she delivered her response, just the slightest bit of dissatisfaction quivering in her voice. "I wanted children, but up until now it wouldn't have been very, well, easy to raise them."

Jenna smiled and nodded, and even though it was clear she desperately wanted to know where they had been for the past thirty years, she controlled herself. "So, you might consider it now, then?" The Mars Adept asked, causing Sheba and Felix to look into each other's eyes. A brief tug of war emerged, with Sheba's expression growing less amiable by the second, and Felix's unwavering. "Er…."

"Well, to be honest, Jenna," Sheba said, turning to face her friend in a haughty manner. "It was hard enough to convince Felix to make love to me in the first place, as he takes forever to make important decisions, as I'm sure you will recall." She sent a glare his way before continuing, "But, yes, I am going to have children sooner or later. And by that I mean sooner."

"Sheba…" Felix whispered, embarrassed that she was bringing their love and sex life, along with the idea of childbearing up at Krismas dinner, trying to placate her to no avail. "You know why I'm reluctant to do so, it's not that I don't love you, or want to have children with you."

Sheba rolled her eyes, and hissed, "Felix, I'm a warrior of Vale. I don't care what that crackpot doctor said: I am perfectly healthy and able to survive childbirth. I—"

"But he said—" Felix began to interrupt, but was quickly silenced by Sheba's hand in his face.

"If you are so worried about it, then Mia can take a look, and if she says no then fine, I will relent, and we can adopt," Sheba replied, and quickly silenced Felix once more as he began to speak again. "And your other reason is just stupid."

"What's his other concern?" Isaac asked, generally intrigued.

Sheba's demeanor shifted considerably, her firm spine dropping and her eyes morphing from annoyed to morose. "It's… not really a topic for an occasion like this," she whispered quietly.

Isaac raised an eyebrow, as did Jenna, but Sheba remained silent. Then, however, Felix spoke. "Sheba, they've already thought about it before: they must have."

"…I suppose," The Jupiter Adept replied hesitantly.

Felix took it as an invitation to say what they had been skirting around, and said, "I'm reluctant to have a child because I fear, due to our lack of aging, I will have to bury him or her. Unless the effects of our lack of aging carry over genetically, which I'm not sure they do, I'm not sure how interested I am in raising a child, only to watch them age while I remain young."

"Is that all?" Isaac replied with a smile, earning a shocked glance from both Felix and Sheba: it was clear this was an issue that had caused a rift, however small, between the two. "You'll be happy to know, then, that I've confirmed it is indeed genetic through research of my own. Why else would Jenna and I, and Ivan, and Mia, and Garet all decide to have children?"

"So… they would live as long as us?" Sheba asked brightly, and Isaac nodded. "Oh, Felix!" The Jupiter Adept shouted, nuzzling into her lover. "Do you hear that? We can finally have our own child! Oh, I'm so excited!"

"Let's… not… rush things," Felix muttered quietly, and Sheba scoffed.

"Oh for the LOVE OF JUPITER, I've been waiting for so long! You're still not… caught up on that, are you?" Sheba questioned, staring up into Felix's eyes with her puppy-dog pout. He grimaced: there was no way he could say no to that face.

"Caught up on what now?" Jenna inquired, and Sheba turned to her with a roll of her eyes.

"He's too damn noble: even though I'm nearly fifty, he still sees me as 'younger than him', so he's always very persnickety about love-making," Sheba vented, causing Jenna to giggle and Isaac to chuckle.

Felix, however, was not amused. "I… just like to, you know… not overdo things," He muttered, and Sheba clasped his hand and stared into his eyes once more.

"I understand, Felix. For that reason, we'll only start off with one child, and see how it goes from there." Sheba batted her eyes seductively, and Felix slowly but steadily grew red.

"Sheba… not at the table…" He whispered, causing Jenna to burst out laughing.

"Oh, for the love of Mars, Felix! You've been married how long and you're still antsy about having sex with her? I knew you were overprotective to a fault, but this is ridiculous!" Jenna cried out.

Amiti and Sveta sat in silence, feeling very awkward about the entire situation, unwilling to be rude and remove themselves but feeling quite out of place. "Hey," Isaac said, nudging Amiti and gaining both of their attention as Jenna, Sheba, and Felix conversed. "This is a little… weird for you two. Why don't you head outside? The stars are wonderful tonight." He gave them a wink, and then turned back to his wife and brother in law.

That was all the motivation Amiti and Sveta needed, and they quickly left the table while everyone was distracted, and exited the house. They found a secluded area featuring a bench, and sat down. Taking Isaac's advice, they looked up to the sky, and smiled as their eyes scanned the constellations, recalling images of the zodiac, as their hands squeezed tightly.

"It's beautiful, tonight," Sveta whispered, smiling as a soft breeze coated them, smoothing over her light fur.

"It is…" Amiti replied, his eyes now back on the ground. Sveta frowned; he seemed distant.

"Amiti? Is everything alright?" She asked, and Amiti grimaced.

"You, you didn't use Spirit Sense, did you?" Amiti asked, turning to face his love.

Sveta grinned, and shook her head. "Of course not, King of Ayuthay. I trust you to grace my ears with what I need and desire to hear."

Amiti flatly frowned, and replied, "I wish you would not call me that. How would you feel if I went around calling you Queen of Morgal, or Queen of Belinsk?"

"I would not mind," Sveta replied dreamily, lost in the grasp of nature and the feeling of the night air. "However, I might prefer Queen of Ayuthay to either." She turned and faced him, her expression still kind but now serious. "Would you be my King of Morgal?"

"…Sveta," Amiti began, frowning and dropping his gaze, but before he could continue her hand was on his shoulder.

"Amiti, I was just joking," Sveta replied. She smiled, but Amiti could see imperfections within it: had she really wanted to move so fast? "I mean," she continued, kicking her legs out in front of her to preoccupy herself. "This innocent romance can't last forever. We… well, we're both monarchs. It took us great lengths to even manage to meet today, and seeing each other afterwards would most likely be even more difficult. I… I guess I was just being foolish."

Amiti's mouth parted in surprise as he realized what she was getting at. "Sveta, I think that…"

"I know," She interrupted, turning away from him. What had she been thinking? That they were going to make this work? Their nations were far apart, they were both in dire straights due to threat of war and the chaos the Psynergy Vortexes could bring, and… well, he was human, and she wasn't. "There are too many buts, too many ifs. I wish we could make it work, but…"

"Sveta, no! That's not what…" Amiti tried to state his case, but she silenced him with a shake of her head.

"You know this can't work, Amiti. So do I. I will marry a beastman, and you will find a nice girl to accompany you on the throne. We are held to a higher standard, and must make personal sacrifices to reach that standard, as painful as they are." Amiti longed to interrupt, trying to ignore the logic she was making in favor of the feelings he felt for her. His hand desperately gripped the small box that he had been given by his father. That ring… it would be perfect… just like her eyes.

"…Amiti, I need to tell you one more thing," Sveta whispered, looking into his eyes. She smiled, a tender, heart-broken smile he couldn't bear to see on her face, and gently brushed his blue bangs from his eyes. "I didn't want to tell you this at first, because I feared how you would react. But, I trust you, Amiti, and I know you will understand, and know now that you must know. I know who your father is." Amiti's eyes widened, and Sveta heaved a breath before continuing.

"It is Alex, of the Mercury Clan. I used Spirit Sense upon him at the Apollo Lens… I'm sorry. I know it must be painful, but—"

"I already knew," Amiti whispered, his hand now so tightly clinging the box that surely either it would break or his knuckles would pop. Sveta gasped, and Amiti said, "He left me a note, today. It was slightly vague, but it was clear enough. I could kind of tell, to be honest: I don't know what to tell Rief or Mia or Nowell. But, that's not important right now. What is important…"

Amiti turned to face his long, cupping her dainty paws in his smooth hands. He then whispered, "What is important is the words he wrote in that note, one phrase in particular: 'Do not choose anything over the one you love. Not a kingdom, not pride, and certainly not power'. I do not know my father, and may never know him, but he is right: I love you, and am willing to do everything to make it so that we can be together. Even if that means taking a leap of faith. I know we've… only kissed, and tonight was our first."

Amiti reached in his pocket, and pulled out the black box, hiding it in his hands so Sveta could not see it. "But I refuse to let anything get in the way of my love for you, and if that forces my hand, then so be it. Sveta Gloria Czamaral will you marry me?" He dropped to one knee, and held the box out in front of him, opening it as he did so.

Sveta was positive that she was either dreaming, or completely misreading Amiti's actions. She stared into his icy blue but so, so warm eyes, realizing that neither was the case. She glanced down, surprise running up and down her entire body like a wondrous, burning sensation. It all halted when she saw the ring before her. The Emerald in its center… it was the same color as her eyes. It seemed to glow even in the dark, unlit street, and she had to breathe in deeply several times before trusting herself to lift the ring out without dropping it in amazement.

She was successful, and held it in her hands, studying every aspect of it. Shaking, she held it in two fingers, and slipped it onto her other hands ring finger. It fit perfectly, and somehow made her feel whole. "Yes, I will," She replied firmly and lovingly, taking his hands in hers. Her logic faltered: yes, she was the Queen or Morgal. But she was still a person, deserving the happiness everyone else did, and she would only have one man beside her on the throne.

Their eyes connected, love seemingly dancing between them, the soft whisper of the wind and gentle hum of water converging effortlessly. The two monarchs leaned it and kissed once more; Jupiter had been bound to Mercury, and nothing, not politics, not war, would break them apart.

"You –ah— sure you haven't done this before?" Karis panted in between kisses, Matthew on top of her.

"No, I told you, I've never kissed a girl before," Matthew replied. "Am I really that much better than Tyrell?"

Karis scoffed, and said in return, "That was forever ago. You know now that… I always wanted to be with you."

"Well," Matthew whispered, Eskimo-kissing Karis, staring into her eyes and just barely being able to see them as they were so close. "Now I am."

"I'm glad," Karis whispered as he continued, kissing her once more. "I'm going to have to do so many Breezes to heal all the damn hickeys you're going to leave me, I swear."

As Matthew began to reply, there was a knock at the door, and the sound of it opening slightly. "Karis?" Came Ivan's voice. "The party is nearly over, you should come down, I know Matthew was loo—king for and found you apparently." The Jupiter Adept sighed as he glanced over the two teenagers, who quickly separated, both red as tomatoes and doing everything to try to readjust their clothing so it didn't look like they had been eating each other's faces off for the past ten minutes.

"Why does this not surprise me?" Ivan muttered, rubbing his temple. "I should ground you, or something worse, but I would feel stupid for doing so: it's hard to tell two people who've saved the world they aren't allowed to… you know. Even if one of them is your daughter, and the other is more or less like a son."

"D-Dad, it was just kissing! I swear!" Karis clamored, and Ivan rolled his eyes.

"I'm not saying you… went further than kissing. But there's kissing, and then there's rubbing your body against another person while drowning in their lips, and you two were doing the latter." Both Karis and Matthew looked down at the ground in shame. "Oh, common, I didn't mean that… look, I believe you weren't doing anything too… dirty, and I'm just acting like concerned and cautious parent. You're still my baby girl, Karis."

Karis gave a small smile, which Ivan returned, before turning to Matthew and saying, "And, uh, Matthew? Remember the whole 'lock the door' thing Isaac mentioned?" Matthew stared at Ivan cluelessly for a few moments before Ivan snapped his fingers and whispered, "Memory wipe! Dammit! In anycase… how about you both go downstairs and say hi to everyone. You'll have plenty of time in the next, well, long while to… that."

Both Karis and Matthew, surprised and relieved that they were mostly clear and had avoided a terrible situation, rose and made their way to the door. However, Ivan reached out and grabbed Matthew's arm just as he was about to walk out. Karis turned around and frowned, but Ivan motioned her to the stairs, and said, "It's fine, I just need to ask him two questions." Karis bit her lip, but did as was asked, and descended the stairs.

Ivan turned toward Matthew, and sighed. "Man, I wish someone could wipe MY memory… maybe Sheba knows how. At any rate, I'm not mad. Just… I'm a parent. It's hard to deal with the knowledge that your child is, you know. But, I do need to ask you two things. Um, first… you know how to use protection?"

Matthew gulped, and sputtered, eventually spitting out, "Oh, yeah, but, sir, we're nowhere near that, I—"

"Matthew, I know what love is like, and trust me, as much as it pains me to say it, if what I saw and what I've seen for years is any indication, you two may be not too far off from that. Ugh. Okay, next question. Er… did Jenna put you up to this?" Ivan asked, and Matthew frowned.

"Um… I'm not sure what you mean," He replied, and Ivan sighed.

"Well, Jenna, very clearly wants grandkids… so… she didn't, um, tell you two to… you know," Ivan said, desperately wishing he wasn't having this conversation.

"Uh… to be honest, a little, but like I said, Karis and I… we aren't there yet. Not at… sex (he whispered the word like the very mention of it could cause the world to explode), and certainly not at children," Matthew responded, and Ivan nodded.

"Okay, that's all good then. Take good care of her, Matt: I know you will, I've been preparing for the day you would sweep her off her feet for some time now…" Ivan trailed off, lost in memories.

"…Is it really that obvious?" Matthew asked with a frown, and Ivan laughed.

"That you two are madly in love? Yes. It's been obvious for a while, and is still as cute as it was then. I couldn't think of a better son-in-law. Now, let's go say hi to the guests: there are a couple of surprise showings that you might find interesting."

The rest of the night went surprisingly fast, with many tasty treats, much gift giving, and more than a few kisses. Matthew was given the pleasant experience of meeting his uncle, who he quickly bonded with, while Karis was very enthralled by Sheba, having gotten to meet very few fellow Jupiters Adepts in her life. The highlight of the party, however, may have been a humorous instance, in which Tyrell noticed Karis's costume, and remarked, "Hey, Karis, you messed up the myth a little. Santa only said the word 'ho': he didn't dress like one."

While the joke, if a little off-color, was amusing, it was what followed that was even funnier: the combined force of Matthew (unwilling to let his best friend make a fool out of his girlfriend's outfit, especially since Karis had held some reserves over the sexual nature of it), Himi (not about to let her new love interest mock other women on her watch), Karis herself (ever-willing to beat the tar that she believed clogged Tyrell's head whenever he pushed her patience), Garet (just rearing to teach his son a real lesson on female relations), and surprisingly Mia (no step-son of hers was going to be so crass around young girls) all converged on Tyrell in less than a second, making him greatly regret his little joke.

It was an enjoyable party for nearly all involved: love was found once more, friends were reunited, and holiday magic was present in the air. However, as with all good things, soon, it came to an end. Ivan, determined to see his position as host through to the end, waved goodbye to everyone, saying kind parting words. The guests, meanwhile, were busy making plans for the future, as well as the present.

"Ummm, Nowell, Rief?" Mia began after they had left the house. "I'm going to… um… be staying at Garet's house tonight… er…" Nowell cut her off with a giggle, and Rief chuckled.

"Yeah, we kind of figured: Tyrell can stay with us at the inn," Rief replied, and Mia nodded before frowning.

"But… then he'd be rooming with Nowell, wouldn't he?" Mia questioned, and directed her vision towards her daughter, who blushed and mumbled nonsensically under her breath. Mia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, you and Piers can stay in the same room, and Tyrell and Rief can room together."

"R-Really! Thanks Mom! I promise, we'll just snuggle!" Nowell shouted, and then began to race towards the inn.

"Err… Piers, make sure she sticks to 'just snuggling', okay?" Mia said, but to her surprise Piers responded with a devious smirk.

"Ummmm… no promises. Have a good night!" The sailor replied before running off after his beloved, leaving Mia with her mouth wide open.

"I… I am going to—! Oh, forget it," Mia trailed off, wrapping her arm around Garet's.

"Er… we're going to be doing more than snuggling, right?" He asked hesitantly, and Mia shot him a look.

"Whoa! Okay, that's our cue to leave!" Rief said, also heading toward the inn, with Tyrell trailing behind him, smirking and chuckling at his father's brilliance. His dad certainly was good with the ladies, and he had certainly inherited that trait: as evident by the goodnight kiss he had received from a certain Princess, and an invitation to visit her country in the near future.

With that, the older couple began to walk to Garet's house, both imagining what would take place there; unsurprisingly, both were imagining MUCH more than just snuggling.

"Well, um, I guess this is goodbye, for now," Amiti began awkwardly, sad to say goodbye to the beastgirl so soon.

"Erm… Amiti, I'm staying at the inn as well," Sveta reminded her fiancé with a small smile; Ayuthay certainly couldn't have found a better king, but their king certainly could benefit from a better memory.

"Oh… right. I shall escort you then… maybe, um, even tuck you in?" Amiti said hesitantly.

"Tuck me in… to my bed? Would you simply stay and watch while I disrobed, then?" Sveta teased, causing her love to blush and sputter out jibberish. Sveta giggled, and said, "Oh, Amiti: calm yourself. I was just joking. Besides, you have no reason to take me to my room, as I'll be staying in your room."

"R-Really?" Amiti muttered, gulping, and Sveta quickly read his heart with Spirit Sense. The results caused her to giggle once more.

"I thought I was supposed to be more beastial of us? And yet in your mind you picture us succumbing to our most basic instincts and mating…" Sveta trailed off, turning away from him.

Amiti gasped: less than a day into their relationship, and he was already screwing things up. "No, no, I was only thinking that because, uh, well I wasn't sure what you meant when you said you were staying in my room. I mean, we've only just gotten together, and…"

"I agree, going that far would be very impulsive and inappropriate," Sveta said, and then turned back to him, sporting a seductive grin. "We can push the envelope a little, though."

Amiti gulped once more, and unwilling to screw things up again, simply nodded. He then held out his arm, which Sveta gleefully took, laying her head on his shoulder as they began to walk toward the inn.

"So… you're staying, right?" Jenna asked Felix hopefully, and he and Sheba both nodded in response.

"Yes, we are: we've decided we'll most likely settling down here, actually. It will be a nice change," Felix replied, and Sheba sighed in relief.

"A VERY nice change," She echoed, clearly recalling the past thirty years. Jenna twitched; this was not the first time she wished she could read minds.

"Well then… we shouldn't keep you. You must be tired from your travels, and should rest. And… you know, whatever else you might be up for." Isaac finished with a wink, causing Felix to grown and Sheba to grin wildly.

"Goodnight then, Isaac and Jenna! We'll definitely see you soon, most likely tomorrow!" Sheba said, clearly wanting to leave quickly.

Felix nodded, and they all exchanged pleasantries and hugs before leaving, with one minor exception: as Isaac and Felix drew in for a quick man-embrace, Felix whispered, "Thanks for taking care of Jen. I owe you one." As they parted, Isaac nodded with a grin. And with that, Felix and Sheba began making their way toward the inn.

Felix didn't need to read minds, as they strolled, to know what Sheba was thinking about; there was an uncommon silence around them, and this only happened when she was either displeased or trying to think of how to convince him of something.

As they neared the inn, he put his hand on her shoulder, and they both came to a stop. Looking directly into her questioning, hopeful, and beautiful eyes, Felix whispered, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm fine with… having a child. I'm not sure about one, but I know it's what you want, and that it will make you happy. And your happiness means more to me than anything else in all of Weyard."

"Oh, Felix…" Sheba replied in a whispered, staring downward with a serene expression on her face. "Just one question… will… can… can we do it tonight? It's been so long." She stared up at him, her purple eyes reflecting the moon as she silently pleaded.

He sighed, and nodded. "Yes, we can. Anything for you."

She smiled, filled with glee, and leapt up, planting a kiss on his lips. After she fell back, with a small blush on her face, she pushed her lips to his ear, and whispered softly.

Felix's face quickly flushed redder than she had ever seen it, and he said loudly, "Sheba, that's… that's dirty! I can't… I don't know how to… you want me to…? GAH!"

Sheba giggled, holding him close and silencing his worried by putting her finger to his lips. "I kid, I kid… or at least I do for now. But who knows: maybe, in the bedroom, we can try experimenting a little."

Felix groaned, and replied, "How do I put up with this constant torment?"

Sheba giggled again, and whispered seductively (even resorting to using his pet name), "Fe, if you do that for me, and put up with that so called 'tormet', I will return the favor tenfold and make you feel like you've never felt before." She didn't allow him to ask what she was talking about, whispering in his ear once more. This time, he was utterly speechless, but she wasted no time in calming him, instead dragging him toward the inn as she read his mind (where he was much, much more excited about what was to come that evening than he was showing on the outside) gleefully.

A child, of her own; she couldn't wait. And making it was going to quite a good time as well.

"Sooo…" Karis whispered to Matthew. They stood just outside the house while Ivan, Isaac, and Jenna conversed, being kind enough to give the two teenagers time alone before they said goodnight. "To be honest… I never thought this night would happen." She stared into his eyes, and he smiled. "You have no idea how glad I am that it did."

"I might have somewhat of an idea: I just always felt like… I don't know, I didn't want to rush things," Matthew replied, not breaking his gaze from Karis as he spoke. "I always figured that there would be time… but then with the Eclipse: either of us could have died multiple times. And, let's face it, we're probably going to have at least a few more adventures ahead of us."

"If there are, we'll face them together," Karis whispered, reaching out and interlocking her hand with his. "And… maybe we should have a kid, or two, before them," She added, blushing lightly as she did so. "For your Mom's sake. Although… I wouldn't mind being a mother."

"You'd be the greatest mother in the world," Matthew replied earnestly, placing his hand on her stomach.

"And you the greatest father, of course," Karis said with a smile, placing her hand over his. "For now, though, I think it's time to say Merry Krismas, and goodbye."

"More of a Karismas, for me," Matthew replied, drawing her in closer. "And less of a goodbye, and more of an 'I'll see you tomorrow'."

"Skip the semantics and get to the kissing," Karis whispered, and their lips met and while it was not the first time, and certainly not the last, it would be a kiss both would never forgot.

"Awwww!" Came the chorus from their parents (who had long ago stopped pretending to converse and had been eagerly watching their childrens' romance), ruining the moment perfectly after a good five seconds of holding in their delight.

"Goodnight," both Karis and Matthew said as they parted, Karis turning to go back inside along with Ivan, while Matthew simply stood with a smile on his face, watching her slip indoors and shoot one more quick smile back at him before the door closed.

"Isaac! We're going to have grandkids! I'm going to have grandkids!" Jenna shouted with glee, tightly squeezing her husband, to shook his head and chuckled.

"We should focus on your new child first," Isaac replied, squeezing her back.

"New child…? Oh, geez…" Matthew said, realizing what his parents were talking about.

"I'm very impressed with you and Karis, Matt," Isaac said in return. "You're much more modest than me and your mother: we were younger than this when we first did it, and to be honest neither of us were each other firsts."

"…The hell, you were my first!" Jenna replied with a dropped jaw, and Isaac gulped and rubbed his head.

"Oh… uh… oops. I thought you said… but you and Piers…" He sputtered, but Jenna quickly silenced him with a glare.

"Dated. Nothing else. I mean, kisses, a little touching, but certainly not… wait. Was this with Mia? Or… who the hell was it?" Jenna spouted, clearly shocked at Isaac's revelation.

"You… uh… met Feizhi in Champa, right?" Isaac asked slowly, and Jenna's jaw fell lower.

"…You slept with that purple-haired girl? SHE was your first! I'm insulted," Jenna said in a mix of real and mock anger.

"However can I make it up to you?" Isaac replied with a smile, pulling Jenna in close with his hands around her hips. Matthew felt his stomach turn. In no way was it alright for his parents to be this flirty or this revealing in front of him… even if, past all the disgust he felt, it was kind of sweet. Just a little bit.

"Not in that way!" Jenna barked, but made no motion to push his hands off. "Not with Matthew in the house, certainly."

"Didn't really stop us before, though," Isaac said with a smirk, and both Matthew and Jenna blushed: while Matthew had gotten the images erased, he still knew very well what had happened.

"T-That was accidental," Jenna replied. "And we had a specific goal in mind, and we accomplished it."

"We THINK we accomplished it. Might as well make sure." Isaac said, leaning in for a kiss.

Before he could, Matthew shouted, "Okay, that's it! I'm gone! I'll go, get my stuff, and stay at the inn, just please, please don't make me watch any more of this!" And with that, the younger Venus Adept ran off, hoping silently that he never embarrassed his child like this.

"Haha, you should follow him home, Jen. If he wants to stay at the inn, though, I wouldn't mind that. They're probably a little booked, but I'm sure he could find a small room to sneak into, or maybe get onto Felix/Sheba's floor, provided they aren't also trying to conceive tonight. I'll be there in a few minutes, I have something to do," He said, and then turned, but was stopped by Jenna grabbing his arm.

"What exactly?" She questioned, mindful that the last time he had told her those very words it had resulted in her barely seeing him for more than a decade.

"I need to… meet an old acquaintance," Isaac replied, and Jenna frowned.

"I'm not stupid, Isaac. I know he's here; I can feel him, and I've seen him in the trees in the distance. To be perfectly honest, I would have gone and set him on fire if I had gotten the chance: Matthew's recount of their quest sounded like it was missing something, some kind of manipulative figure he wasn't mentioning. But, for some reason you didn't seem interested in confronting him, and since I knew YOU must know he's here, I figured I'd go along with it. But seriously, when you talk to him, tell him to get out of this city, and to stay the HELL away from my son, and my grandkids." Jenna closed her rant with a frown, and growled, "I hate that bastard."

"Really? I couldn't tell," Isaac replied with a chuckle, and Jenna narrowed her eyes.

"You don't sound as if you think he's all that bad, too be honest… why?" Jenna asked, and Isaac shrugged.

"A few reasons, mostly that if he had wanted to kill Matthew and the rest of the kids he could have, and that beyond that he had a great deal of opportunities to use them to get to us, but didn't. I'm not saying Alex has turned over a new-leaf, but was he ever really a villain? Maybe now, he's more of an anti-hero. At any rate, he asked to see me in a letter, and I'm going to keep my word," Isaac finished, glancing up to where he knew Alex was waiting.

Jenna sighed, and shook her head, saying, "Isaac, I trust your judgment. But be careful, and come back soon, or I WILL freak out… I love you." She pecked him on the cheek, and Isaac smiled, ruffling her hair.

"I won't be long; I love you too." With one last smile, his wife turned and made her way toward their home, silently seething at the idea that her husband was going to be alone with what she considered the least-trustworthy and second most powerful man in all of Weyard. Thankfully, she considered Isaac to be the most trustworthy AND most powerful, so even as she cursed his decision, she had full confidence in him to make the right decision. And if meeting with Alex was it, so be it.

Isaac walked up a small hill, mostly covered by trees, eventually coming to the apex which was slightly more open. There, standing near a tree, stood Alex; he looked virtually identical since the last time Isaac had seen him, except now a small and thin white mask covered half his face. However, something else seemed… different. Isaac didn't feel like this was quite the same Alex; he held a different aura.

Before the Venus Adept could linger on that subject, Alex spoke. "So, you came. I can't say I'm surprised, but I am pleased. We have little to discuss, but that which we do you will undoubtedly want to hear."

"…Go on," Isaac replied, his hand tense, but not around his sword's handle.

Alex nodded, and continued. "I have asked to speak with you to inform you that, as of now, the Tuaparang empire is mostly decimated. A few rogue factions remain, which I will deal with shortly, but for the most part, they have fallen."

Isaac raised any eyebrow, and asked, "I assume you had something to do with this?"

Alex smiled, and replied, "Yes; I have been slowly luring them to their demise. Their leader, the High Empyror, was quite insane. Reminded me of my past self, to be frank. I've been manipulating them so that I could eventually betray them and destroy them from the inside, and it worked. I created a split in their organization, and they are now destroying themselves as we speak, with the Empyror dead."

"Sounds too good to be true," Isaac stated bluntly. "Also, I have a lot of reasons to not believe a word you say. Namely, you starting the Grave Eclipse."

Alex's smile faltered, and he turned away. "Make no mistake, Isaac, I did what had to be done: the Alchemy Dynamo and Apollo Lens were both required to play a role, and they played it, that role being using both to tempt half of the Tuaparang to secede. I wish… that it could have gone differently, but there was no other option. The point is, after tonight, you will most likely not see me for some time. While neither of our jobs are done, we have at least earned a respite. Weyard will require help once more, but not for a small while."

"Alex… since when have you been a good guy?" Isaac questioned, and Alex chuckled.

"Nearly dying for something as foolish as power changes a man…" He whispered, now becoming slightly flustered. He had hoped to avoid any personal questions.

"If you are a changed man, I would suggest you do two things: go to your home, of Imil, and tell Mia you're sorry, and then have a long talk with your son," Isaac said firmly, and Alex smiled and sighed simultaneously.

"I've done both… in my own way," He replied, but Isaac shook his head.

"That's fine, but I suspect that, with the time you say we now have, you should spend a little bit more time doing things other people's way." He walked over to the Mercury Adept, and put his hand on his shoulder. "I think Mia and Amiti would appreciate that."

Alex began to speak, but halted as Isaac began to walk away. "Goodnight, Alex. I hope you are having a happy holidays, and that this isn't an act. It would warm my heart a little: to know that you really have changed." And with that, the Venus Adept made his way down the hill, leaving Alex to his thoughts.

He smiled, as he turned eastward, preparing to trek toward Ayuthay, and then Imil after. Maybe, he had played the villain long enough, and could finally enjoy some of the rewards being a hero brought. He sighed, and whispered softly, "Vertiri… How I miss you. But look: our son is in love, and to be married. And so is Mia, finally finding happiness so many years later. The world is still in flux, yes, but I believe that maybe my efforts won't be for naught. I hope you agree, when we meet again."

And with that, he turned and began to sprint toward the home of his son. The rest of the city fell into an easy peace, as many couples warmed themselves against their lovers, while others dreamed sweet dreams of their beloveds. It was, in many ways, a perfect night, and one none of them would soon forget.

Some time later (twenty four months to be exact), Karis lied in a warm, comfortable bed, a small bundle in her arms. She was very flushed, but the smile on her face was so serene that it was hard to notice. Matthew was by her side, staring into the bundle just as she was: staring into the face of their beautiful baby girl.

"Good morning, Eve," Karis whispered, gently rubbing the face of her child. "Welcome to the world." Karis shifted her gaze towards Matthew, and smiled even wider.

He returned it, squeezing her hand as he did so, and then turned to his mother, who was among the extensive amount of people that had packed into the medium-sized room to watch the birth. "Happy, Mom? Grandkids!" Matthew teased with a smile, and Jenna giggled.

"You have noooo idea how happy this makes me," She chortled with glee, her own child held steadily in her arms. "And just think: all our children will get to grow up, for the most part, together!"

Matthew acknowledged that was the case, as he glanced at Mia (who had delivered for Karis) and Garet holding their own bundle of joy, along with Sheba and Felix doing the same, and a very pregnant Sveta who was tightly embraced with a very joyous Amiti.

Matthew turned back toward Karis, his entire face glowing with pride and happiness. As he leaned down to kiss his child and his wife, he whispered into Karis's ear, "I loved two years ago, but I think this may be the best Krismas we'll ever have."

She solemnly agreed with a nod, as they stared into each other's eyes, love tangible in their smiles and irises, before turning their attention to their child, who they would come to raise with love and care, often with the help of their friends and family.

Author's note: Holy Snikes. This took long enough. Where to freaking start… well, I broke my rule on writing the word buttocks. Not sure quite how I feel about that, but it happened. I also feel I can safely pronounce myself the king of ellipses, as they were pretty damn prevalent in any piece of dialogue. First it was parentheses, then semi-colons, now this! What new grammatical fad will I indulge in next, I wonder?

But yeah, this is a gigantic Christmas one-shot released in January. Late January. Almost Februrary. Mmmmhmmmm. See, originally this was supposed to be a 2,000 word Dawn Shipping one-shot where Karis dressed up like Santa-Claus and she and Matthew did cute Dawn-Shipping things. But… it just kind of started growing, and then it turned into this. I kept adding, and adding, and adding. Ironically, it was supposed to be released on Christmas, but obviously that didn't happen.

For those wondering where I've been in regards to updates, I've been here trying to figure out what the hell to do with this damn gigantic one-shot. I still have half a mind to scrap it, because I KNOW it has bunches of plot-holes, pacing issues, and just overall issues, but somehow I can't help but feel someone will appreciate this giant blob of Christmas fluff. I sure as hell had fun writing it, despite numerous amounts of blockage. Once you get past 20,000 words, man, the piece starts to own you.

In reality, this kind of turned into… well, it did turn into a giant mesh of one-shot ideas I wanted to try out. Jenna being like a parent to Karis, Mia dealing with Piers/Nowell while Piers tries to deal with Nowell, showing Ivan and Karis's relationship, Himi and Eoleo having a cute protector relationship going on, and so forth. So… if it feels like a lot of ideas pasted together, it is. Normally, I would feel too crappy about all the things that went wrong here to post it, but hell, I didn't write 30,000 words for kicks. Okay, maybe I did, but I hate the idea of putting this much work in and just saying screw it.

That being said, I really wish I had time to fine tune a lot of this. I like a lot of what's going on, and while some of it is clunky I think even with that it reads fairly well, or at the very least is amusing. I had fun putting all the Warriors of Vale back together. To be honest, I didn't even get to have all the character interaction I wanted in this one-shot: that would have taken about 100,000 words.

This was also a giant exercise in restraining myself from making Christmas themed sex puns. I mean, I love sex puns, and holiday themed ones are the best. I have some great stories about this one-shot, my favorite being when I stayed up so late that a piece of dust nearly made me pee my pants when it flew in my face. I also got to use the word smorgasbord in a make out scene, which really made me proud of myself.

I also learned that all it takes is a sexy santa claus outfit for two teenagers to go complete ape shit and start screwing each other's brains out (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). And why the hell did I make Sveta's middlename Gloria? I have no idea, it just kind of happened. I think it fits, though. This is probably a cesspool of grammatical and spelling errors the likes the internet hasn't seen for years. Can you blame me? IT'S OVER 30,000 WORDS LONG.

Like, that's more than triple 9,000. I actually managed to get about… oh, 10,000 of this done in three-days, but then I just hit a wall. Especially with the ending, I suck at endings. And as much as I normally suck, this was on like, a whole other level. I feel like Alex being in this that much was forced. I might edit that out eventually.

Also, really, really sorry for all the backstory that got glazed over. As much as I had a really interesting reason why Sheba and Felix (it involves a secret underground society of Venus Adepts, and the Anemos slightly) were gone for so long, it would have taken a good, long while to explain it, and I think we can agree I got a little cramped for space. People who read this in one sitting deserve a medal. I also skipped most of the gift giving, because that would have added a ton more words and such.

So, characters. Um, I still can't write Karis well, which is pretty terrible because half of my writing is about her O.o . I also felt like Ivan was a little… off, but I let it slide. There are a few hidden themes in here, like Ivan's slight depression at being so lonely, obviously Jenna's, and the mentioning of deceased parents. I didn't want to linger on anything too sad, as this is supposed to be mostly happy, but still. Some reality adds depth.

Writing Tyrell and Garet together is a blast. Those two knuckleheads. First attempt at Hurricane Shipping, happy with how it turned out. I love how strong Camelot makes its female character: getting to have the girl initiate things rather than the standard JRPG fare is a nice shift. I mean, yes, you can do it in a few other games, but in Golden Sun I can easily see Karis or Sveta or Jenna or Sheba (and kind of Mia and not really Himi, mostly because… it's Himi?) making the first move in a relationship. I had a kick with Sveta making Amiti consistently sputter and gulp.

Steam Shipping? Why the hell not! I think they can work fine. One of my big issues with this fic is simply there was so much going on that I feel it was hard to really build up character relationships and dynamics… I mean, I think I did an alright job, but still. Definitely could have been better in places, and some characters had very little to do at all: Himi, Eoloe, Kraden, etc.

Still, I thought there were a lot of nice touches: Amiti and Rief's brotherly bond, Rief and Tyrell trying to hook up their parents (oddly enough), Jenna with the grandkids, Garet being happy Tyrell is growing up alright, the friendship-based Matthew/Sveta in the beginning. One of my key issues with Dawn Shipping is that Matthew and Sveta are so close, I didn't know if they could work in a siblingish relations. But, in the end, I feel like they can.

Finally, oh my goodness I love writing Sheba and Felix. I mean, when they are adults they're even more adorable, with Felix being so gruff and tender on the inside, and Sheba still being very mischievous and constantly teasing and poking fun at him. I loved writing any scene with them; they were probably my favorite parts. It's nice when they're older and you don't have to worry about it turning into pedophilia (ugh).

I had a big debate about whether or not to make this a two parter, but I decided it wouldn't make much sense to do so as, well, it's all done right now. Unless it actually causes some lag issues or something of the like, at which point I'll cut it into two chapters (I like it as one though, as crazy at that is).

One last thing: I kind of shifted the ending right before posting; I think it works better this way. Originally it ended with Alex, but I thought that wasn't… cherry enough? Either way, I like this ending, and I think it captures the happy go lucky feeling I was going for better. Also pushed it to just above 30,000 words… :D. Yay for lots and lots of Holiday Shipping!

Okay… this has gone on long enough. What a rant, what a long-ass story. I apologize for the delays on all my other fics, they will be updated fairly soon, as soon as I get back in the swing of things. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this! Reviews are welcome, as is criticism. Really late, but, Happy Holidays!

Edit: Lightly edited. I mean really lightly. Mainly, I finally fixed Sveta's freaking last name.