Some part of me can’t understand why he’s telling me all this so freely. “Were you…”

“A part of them? No. I wouldn’t have agreed to do something so foolish. They acted mostly on their own out of impatience and overconfidence. I want what they want but there are better ways to achieve it. Besides, while I am a part of the Ascendant Union, I find them particularly foolish.”

“You said there are better ways to achieve it?” Since he wants to talk I am determined to see how far I can push my luck. Who knows, maybe he’ll reveal some of his plans to me. He has made it absolutely clear that he doesn’t like the Laen.

He laughs. “How simple do you think I am? Why would I tell you my plans or ideas? So you can go tattle to the Laen? Sorry, but my lips are sealed. Besides, I came here to share the joy of the season not to talk about war and all those dreadful stuff.”

He quickly sketches a noer mid-air. “This is my gift to you. Merry Christmas, Ian.” Then he vanishes just as quickly as he appeared.

I study his gift as it slowly fades away before completely disappearing. I have no plans to use it until someone far better at understanding noers than me tells me it's safe. Tentatively, I look out my room window and study the Fasurus still roving about. After some deliberation, I turn off second sight and close the window. It doesn’t seem like they are going to be doing anything for now so it might be best just to ignore them.

Darkness slowly fades away, as the sun’s golden beams light up the world when a loud shout suddenly rings through the house. “Merry Christmas everyone!”

Shaking my head I turn off my phone. I couldn’t comfortably go back to sleep with the knowledge that just outside my windows are who knows how many Fasurus, so instead I opted to just spend my time watching random videos on YouTube. That is until Emily decided to wake up the entire neighborhood with her shout.

Soon the entire family is gathered in front of the tree. My mom fights a yawn, looking as though she wants nothing more than to go back to bed. Emily, on the other hand, is the very definition of excitement. I get the feeling that if she had a bit more energy she’d probably begin to bounce around the room.

After getting permission from Mom, Emily begins to open the presents. She starts with mine, spending a few seconds weighing the box before glancing at me. “It feels light.”

I nod, giving her a confident smile. “Well, what do you expect, it’s quality cardboard.”

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She opens the box and is met with… good-quality cardboard. Without her expression changing she lifts the cardboard to reveal a dark blue dress. A wide smile appears on her face. “You remembered! Thank you.” A moment later the dress lies forgotten by her side as she opens the rest of her presents.

Meanwhile, Mom begins to walk away when I grab her hand, stopping her. “At least open your presents before you leave,” I say to her.

“I just want to make some t-” She lets out a small sigh. “Fine. I’ll open them.”

She starts with my present which is in a very small box. She doesn’t seem to care much as she opens it to reveal a box of tea. Emily, who had moved closer to her to better see the presents reads the name. “Earl Gers Tea. Isn’t that very expensive?”

“It is.”

Mom smiles at the sight of it and moves to put the box. “Thanks-”

“Wait. Take the tea out of the box.”

Mom gives me a suspicious look but decides to do as I ask, taking out the box of tea and finally noticing the folded piece of paper at the bottom. She picks it up and unfolds it, probably expecting something like a heartwarming message. A moment later she begins to look confused.

“What is this?” she asks.

“A lottery ticket,” I reveal. “A winning lottery ticket. Five grand.”

For a moment there is silence in the room. Emily is the first to react as she gently takes the piece of paper from my mother and stares at it. “You’re not joking.”

I shake my head before proceeding to tell them the lie I had concocted about how I had bought it.

“My god!” my mother says, almost breathless when I finish. “We could add this to your colleg-”

“No,” I say firmly. “It’s for you.”

“Ian-”

“I’m not listening, mom. Look, you’ve been saving up for our college for a long time now, and even if I hadn’t gotten this we would have been fine. So, while I know it would help, I still want to give this to you. Use it to go on a holiday or something, you deserve it.”

She was not willing to agree and in no time an argument starts until Emily decides to put an end to everything. “You guys should stop for a moment. Why can’t you just do both? Split the money in two. Mom you save part of it for our college and then use the rest as Ian wants. Hmm?”

I think it through and realize that I am okay with it. The main reason I don’t want her to save everything is the Laen. I have no idea how my future is going to be, but for some reason, I feel confident that everything is going to be fine. So, instead of saving the money why not use it for something else instead? And yes, I have no idea if things are going to get worse in the future, but even if they do I have magic now, with it there’s very little that can cause my life to be unbearably bad. Besides, if not for the Laen there is no way I would have gotten something like this, so what’s wrong with using it the way I want?

Mom also agrees to Emily’s suggestion and the argument passes. We open the rest of the presents, but after my little gift, almost everything else seems bland. Still, it’s the thought that count, right? Well, Emily didn’t think so.

“You gave mom five thousand and only got me a dress? Good one, brother.”

I don’t mention the fact that the dress is one she wanted, and it isn’t exactly cheap either. Instead, I just slowly turn my face away from her. There are some cases where silence is the best answer, this is one of them.

After we have breakfast, Mom loads Emily and me up with food and sends us off to our neighbors, the ones we are really close to. The reason is this weird ritual they have where every Christmas they all cook ridiculous amounts of food and proceed to share with each other. Well, it’s the season of sharing so I guess it’s not really weird.

Still, lugging food around is not something I particularly enjoy.

* * * * * *

Sometime in the afternoon, my phone begins to ring. I check the caller ID. It’s Charlotte. After excusing myself, I leave the living room and answer the call. Before I have the chance to greet Charlotte’s panicked voice cuts me off.

“Ian, we need your help right now. We’re in the South Side, please hurry or we’re going to die!”

In the background, I can hear the sound of hurried footsteps, Charlotte’s heavy breathing, and what seems to be an almost continuous explosion.

“I’m on my way,” I say.