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The sun was out, but only for a few more hours. It was probably about eleven o’clock or so when the prince had left, and neared the noon hour by the time he’d departed the Kringle’s barn. His stomach burned and grumbled as he poured his magic into the reins. They connected to the straps which held the enchanted bells. The more magic he funneled into it, the faster the reindeer and sleigh flew.

The silver bells were for flight, and the gold were for speed and strength. Tidas assumed Gretchen had filled the silver ones with Wind magic, but was curious as to who could’ve filled the gold ones with Tank magic. It was most likely done by another member of the Kringle family, but the prince couldn’t know for sure unless he asked them, or Nicolas directly.

Tidas considered what the Kringles did akin to charity work, and wondered if he could talk his father into an Indoctrination Wavier. Only a handful of nobles had them, and it wasn’t widely known that Magnus made exceptions. Certain families were excluded, provided that they followed in their family’s profession; all of which still served the kingdom.

Most of those families were either doctors or scientists, and trained from birth in their specific fields. Tidas was sure that the Kringles would technically qualify, but if there were more talented mages like Gretchen in their family, the king side of Magnus might refuse. He wanted as many powerful magic users as possible within his armies, and little stopped him from his ambitions. Not to mention how Marco would react to finding out that whole generations had dodged being indoctrinated...

Tidas filed the thought away for later as Moonstone Castle came into view. He was happy that his little adventure was ending; he preferred his feet on the ground.

As he approached the castle, he made it a point to circle widely, so no one in the village might see him. As he came towards the ground, his nerves locked. The angle that the reindeer came down at was far too steep for his liking, and the prince bellowed out his fear. Alerting all within the castle of his return.

Nicolas, Petrie, Ralph, and Lucas came out with their arms full of garland and bobbles to hang. Nicolas called out to the reindeer, which made them straighten out, and avoid crashing. Tidas nearly fell over when he came out of the sleigh, but everyone was too focused on getting to the next part of the plan.

After the prince recovered enough to move around again, he beamed at what the others were doing to the sleigh. Ribbons and ornaments full of greens, golds, silvers, and reds twinkled brightly as the sunlight hit them. It took about fifteen minutes between the five men to decorate the sleigh. They even dressed up the reindeer a bit with the ribbons.

.....

“Alright! I believe we are done! Great job, men! You’re all on the Nice List for next year!” Nicolas announced as he grinned proudly at their handiwork.

“Ye mean we weren’t on it before?” Petrie inquired, half-jokingly.

“No comment..” came the old Fae’s short reply.

Tidas was pulling at something in the back that was in the way of a hook he needed as he spoke; “I wish you would’ve thought of this before the ladies went down to the village. I think everyone would’ve gotten a kick out of receiving their gifts from Santa’s sleigh.”

“Oh darn... You got a good point there.. I wish I had gifts for the children, at least..” Nicolas’ expression immediately went downtrodden as he finished.

A sad silence began to fall before Lucas smacked his hands together in remembrance; “I can help with that! I still have the bag of coins from the wedding! It was too dark to throw them by the time ye two left, so I kept it; even been adding to it.”

Nicolas fluttered his wings at top speed with happiness; “You truly are a good man, Lucas! Thank you! If there’s enough, even the adults can participate!”

Lucas chuckled; “Aye, there be enough hold on while I go get them..”

“That you, Moonie. I’ll reimburse you for half of it, if you’d like?”

Lord Moonstone turned to face the prince with a soured face; “Nonsense! This was meant for yer weddin’: tis already marked as spent. I was gonna give it to Skye before ye left again, but I think she would want ta use it for this..”

All standing had smiled at the lord’s words. Skye would most definitely prefer to give the money to the people, than to keep it herself. Especially since it was supposed to be thrown as they left the reception; traditionally speaking.

Tidas grinned at Lucas as he disappeared into the castle. He acted like a penny-pinching gruff, but it honestly was all an act. And he was happy that his wife would finally get to see a good example of just how selfless her father truly was.

*****

As Lucas made his way back from his quarters, a scratching, scurrying noise distracted him. He stopped in the hallway a short distance from Skye’s hallway to listen, but didn’t hear anything else. Thinking it must’ve been a servant busy with work, he kept walking. Just as he passed the doors to the kitchen, the noise seemed to come from right behind him.

Twisting in place to look; Lucas saw nothing but a flash of a small black streak, then the door to the kitchen closing. A tenseness filled his gut that he knew better than to ignore, but he pushed it down anyway. Writing it off as a servant again, the lord continued down the hallway, towards the front courtyard where everyone waited. Pushing the ominous feeling in his stomach deep down...

As Lord Moonstone came close to the main door, he could hear Petrie arguing with Nic. He couldn’t tell what it was about until he came outside to see. When he did: Lucas would’ve argued too, if asked. No way in Hell, for any amount of money..

Tidas and Petrie held elf costumes in their hands as Nicolas tried to talk them into wearing them. Tidas had agreed after a minute to think it over.. The Nomad screamed at him first.

“What kinda man wears bloody TIGHTS?! I’ll tell ya: they DON’T! Hell will freeze over before I wear this!”

Tidas tried to help Nicolas; “Oh, come now! It’s for children! No one will care. I promise that you’re overreacting..”

“Oh, sure! It’s all good fer You! Yer wife is such a goody two-shoes, she’ll probably love seein’ ya in that getup!”

Tidas grinned devilishly; “Aye, she will. That’s the main reason why I’m doing it. But don’t you think some of the women in the village will fuss over you as well?”

“Oh, shut it, Pillar! You could wear a bloody cardboard box, and still be a catch! Yer a bloody Prince! Ima Nomad! NO ONE will want me there in the first place!”

Tidas glared at Petrie; “Do you really think that these people are that shallow?! How have they treated you thus far, hmm? What was the reason you even agreed to help in the first place?!”

Petrie shrugged away before commenting low; “Should’ve kill ye when I had the chance...”

Nicolas smacked his hands together to gain the two’s attention; “Enough! Petrie: how about I promise to personally visit your mother and sister next year? I’ll even surprise them with presents if you’ll wear the costume, hmm?”

Petrie fought with himself hard. He didn’t want to wear the stupid hat, and he hated the green tights. His little sister and mother would be beside themselves if they met Nic. Yuletide was their favorite holiday, and meeting the original Santa would probably make them faint with happiness.

“Why would they even have these?! Did you set this up beforehand?!” Petrie glared at the old Fae as he watched his reaction.

“The Kringles have their young kin that are training for the seat of Santa wear them on Yuletide Eve; to deliver the presents. Dressing like elves keeps the story going,” Nicolas replied with a cocky grin.

“You really are a Fae, Nic.. Ye got that mischievous, boarderline sinister streak in ye,” Petrie grumbled as he hung his head in defeat, and begun to pull the costume on over his clothes.

As the two argued back and forth, Tidas noticed that Lucas was a little distracted. He was staring at the sleigh, but his eyes told the prince he was elsewhere. Skye got the exact same look when deeply pondering something, and it made the prince smile to recognize the family trait. Before he could ask what was troubling his father in law, Nic began to fuss.

It had taken minutes for the two to awkwardly dress. Their pants looked terrible but both had refused to take off any layers. The snow-heavy clouds Tidas had flown through were approaching fast, and the wind already felt colder. After snagging the coins from Lord Moonstone, the three took off eastward of the village so they could circle around, and come out through the woods for their big reveal.

Lucas waved them off, then went back into his castle. He planned on eating some more of the food that should’ve still been in the banquet hall. Once he entered the room, however; what he saw eating his bacon had nearly given him a heart attack....

***

Skye and the children screamed for joy as Nicolas came out of the forest. Pulled in a gorgeous white sleigh by reindeer. She hadn’t seen the massive white reindeer in the front at first. It blended in with the snow that was already on the ground, and beginning to fall faster. The children took off into the field towards the sleigh, with their parents calling after them.

The sleigh came to a halt, and Tidas and Petrie jumped out of the sleigh to greet the kids. They yelled and climbed and jumped until Nicolas called for calm. Each child got a turn petting and riding a reindeer, sitting in the sleigh, and singing Yuletide songs with Tidas and Petrie.

The parents cheered for the three men as their children ran amok for nearly an hour. Once the snow started to fall heavily, it was time to go. Tidas handed each child a gold coin as they stepped off the sleigh. The remaining coins were given to the adults as gifts from the Lord and Lady. Everyone cheered for Lidia, whom instantly tried to deny any involvement, but they weren’t having it.

As distant as she was to the servants, she’d never been mean or cruel to them either. Many servants had experienced Much worse employers than the Moonstones, and they’d always been very generous to their people. Granted, they generally knew Skye was responsible for it, but everything she did still had to be approved by her parents first. Many asked the gods to bless their good and fair Lord and Lady in the coming year, and to protect their all gathered from all harm.

The snow was beginning to pick up, so Nicolas called it, and had the three women join them in the sleigh. Skye saw Tidas’ obvious apprehension, and asked if he was alright. He chuckled nervously, then pointed out the gleam in the old Fae’s eyes. He whispered something to Peggy, and her reply was all he needed to hear to know what was coming next.

With a jovial laugh and a flick of his wrist, into the sky they went, with jolly old Fae Nic...

*****

Once they made it back to the courtyard; Petrie jumped out of the sleigh, and hugged the ground. He rolled his face in the snow as he thanked the gods for not dying. He glared at Nicolas as he said; “Don’t You EVER Do That To Me Again!

“No warning! Just-Psst! Into the Bloody air! We have Feet! We’re meant to stay on the bloody Ground!”

“I second that,” the prince commented; gripping his stomach as he got off the sleigh with Skye’s help.

“Although it’s much worse when he steers,” Tidas added as Skye helped him begin going up the stairs.

Nicolas defended himself; “Hey! You didn’t hear any of the women complaining..”

“I thought it was a lovey flight,” Peggy stated with a sincere smile.

Before their banter could continue, Lucas flung open the door in a panic. His face was red with effort, and he was huffing louder than a horse after a run. After catching his breath enough to form words, Lucas stammered out; “There’s.. There’s Somethin’ Loose.. In The Castle!”