I said I'd be working on trying to get this out, didn't I? I literally started writing it after I posted the final chapter of Happy Birthday, so it is very rushed. It's not set in any particular point of the game. I hope that it is still somewhat enjoyable.
"We need a tree!" Edea announced in the middle of winter, prompting confused looks from their group. She looked unimpressed by their blank expressions. "Y'know, a Christmas tree!"
"Ah," Tiz rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "We didn't usually have a tree in Norende. Too expensive, too much work."
Agnés looked troubled, eyes wide with curiosity. "Am I to understand that a tree is one of these Christmas traditions?"
Edea nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly. There's definitely room on Grandship for one in the tavern, and I'm sure the Proprietress and the others will be on board. I've heard Christmas is quite a large celebration in Eisenberg as well," she grinned. "Plus we have almost a million pg. Certainly enough to shell out a tree and some decorations."
"Christmas...it is a time of prayer and giving, is it not?" Agnés questioned. "Anchiem used to have something akin to what you describe, but less flamboyant. We would pray to the crystals and thank them, and everyone else in our lives,"
"Huh," Edea cocked her head to one side. "Interesting. In Eternia prayer isn't such a big deal, so I guess we over exaggerate the 'giving' part,"
"Norende and Caldisla aren't ones for big giant celebrations," Tiz admitted. "I never really got what the buzz about Christmas was all about,"
"It's about the giving," Ringabel piped up. "About the love a couple feels when they exchange gifts underneath the mistletoe-"
"You've never even celebrated Christmas in memory!" Edea scolded him. "What have you been reading?"
"Books on Christmas tradition," Ringabel had the audacity to look slightly embarrassed. "Being rather uninformed on this sort of thing, I didn't think it would hurt to do my research," he smiled. "Florem used to do things similar to Anchiem apparently. But ever since they turned their back on the crystals...it has been a...rowdier affair," his eyes gleamed mischievously.
"We're not going to go to Florem for Christmas," Edea stated blatantly, earning an incredibly unsubtle pout from Ringabel.
"We don't need to go anywhere, do we?" Tiz asked cautiously, looking at them all. "Instead of following one region's specific tradition, shouldn't we just make our own?"
"That sounds good," Agnés agreed, smiling gently. "It's less pressure that way,"
"Alright," Edea nodded her head. "Then I guess we should start preparing,"
"Do you know what would make a great Christmas present?" they had almost forgotten about Airy's presence, but the fairy made herself known, settling down onto Agnés's shoulder. "Awakening the crystals and restoring peace to the world,"
Agnés chuckled lightly. "That may be so, Airy, but we only have one week. That may have to wait until after the New Year Festival,"
"In the meantime, we do need a tree," Edea clasped her hands together. "I know they have them in Eternia, but we're all the way in the Caldislan region..."
"They used to sell a few in Norende around a Christmas time," Tiz pointed out. "People in Caldisla used to buy them if they wished. There may still be sellers lurking near the Norende Ravine,"
Agnés looked at him carefully. "That sounds...like a good idea,"
"So full speed ahead for the ravine?" Ringabel questioned, already pulling the giant ship up onto the air.
"It sounds like a plan," Edea quivered with excitement, before faltering. "But what about decorations?"
"Decorations?" Tiz looked at the ground. "Like I said, Christmas is-was not celebrated very flamboyantly in Norende. Maybe you could get some basic decorations in some Caldislan shops, but I'm not quite sure,"
"You'll have no luck in Anchiem," Agnés added, appearing in deep though. "I don't suppose Florem would have any?"
"From what I've read, Christmas is not terribly in fashion these days," Ringabel shrugged languidly. "It is more an excuse for beauty festivals and love. Although I certainly wouldn't mind spending my Christmas amongst a group of lovely ladies, I fear our efforts would be fruitless. Besides, I have the most beautiful ladies with me right now," he winked at Edea and Agnés, both who seemed unimpressed with his charms.
Tiz just looked uncharacteristically annoyed. "What about Hartschild? They are quite into festivals and celebrations,"
"Yeah, but it's about a day's journey away," Ringabel reminded him, and Tiz deflated slightly.
"Hey! We can't give up now!" Edea chirped, glaring at the group. "Come on, there has to be somewhere!"
"Gathelatio is always an option," Ringabel clicked the ship into autopilot, setting the course for the ravine.
"Huh. I've forgotten such a place exists," Agnés admitted, looking slightly sheepish. "It's hard to remember places like that when I've never actually been there, despite it being head of the Crystal Orthodoxy,"
"Neither have I," Tiz reassured her, smiling gently. "Did you read about it in your journal, Ringabel?"
"Not particularly, no," Ringabel clarified, hand reaching down to brush against the journal in question. "This book speaks nothing of Christmas celebration. I've simply heard that in Gathelatio, the regular townspeople all go to the Geneolgia manor to feast with the founders of the orthodoxy. They do, however, tend to put up simple trees and decorations in their home to represent the spirit of Christmas, if you will,"
"That's very interesting," Agnés nodded, and Airy huffed loudly in obvious disagreement. "But isn't Gathelatio um...east of Anchiem?"
Edea laughed, slapping a hand on her shoulder. "Not quite, Agnés. I think your sense of direction has gotten you mixed up again,"
"It's just enroute to Caldisla," Ringabel explained. "It's easily accessible that way,"
"So...are we actually doing this?" Agnés asked doubtfully, nervousness clear in her eyes. "I've never celebrated Christmas the way you're talking about..."
"Nor have I," Tiz admitted, gazing at the ground.
"I've probably had a plethora of brilliant Christmases vanished from my memory," Ringabel sounded almost sulky before he sighed. "I suppose there's a first time for everything."
"It's going to be great!" Edea assured them, practically quivering with excitement. "I'll go tell Datz and the others what's going on!"
Before they could stop her, the excited Eternian fled the room, the giddiness of Christmas clearly filling her with joy.
It brought a smile to all of their faces.
-/-/-/-/-/
"Leave it to Edea to choose the biggest tree," Tiz muttered to himself when ut seemed nobody was listening as he stared down the monstrous beast Edea had chosen. Then he spoke again, louder. "Will this thing even fit on Grandship?"
"You underestimate the old girl." Datz told him. "She can take 'em,"
'But I cant' Tiz wanted to protest, but settled instead for literally hugging the tree in an attempt to move it even a single inch. He blocked out Datz's laughter in favour of focusing on manoeuvring the tree into a more manageable position.
Tiz Arrior, everyone. He could take on the most fierce of warriors and survive, but couldn't lift a Christmas tree.
He'd like to see the songs the bards made of that.
Datz sauntered over, flopping the tree over his shoulder with ease. Tiz rushed to support the back end of the tree, but felt that he maybe wasn't needed in face of Datz's brute strength.
They hobbled back to the ship, where Ringabel was returning, a box in hand.
"Did you get decorations?" Tiz inquired, moving away from the tree.
Ringabel nodded in response, taking out a few baubles, some tinsel and...
Some mistletoe.
Of course.
"Is that really necessary?" Tiz asked.
"I believe Edea wanted us to 'get in the spirit of Christmas', if you will. Mistletoe is a very important part of Christmas in many cultures," Ringabel smirked widely as he entered the Grandship.
"I'm not sure that's what she meant," but Tiz relented anyways, following Ringabel into the ship.
He'd just have to be careful.
-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Why is there traditionally an angel at the top of the tree?" Airy mused, settling herself down on one of the tree's lower branches. "Why not a fairy?"
"That's a good question," Ringabel smiled. "Volunteering yourself, Airy?"
"What? No, I was just wondering..." Airy trailed off, staring at the angel Agnés held in her hands, ready to place on the tree.
Agnés looked down at it. "Well we are recreating Christmas tradition, aren't we?" she asked shyly. "I don't suppose it would be too much trouble to change it to a fairy,"
"Great idea!" Edea grinned at her friend, going off to rummage in one of th boxes. "I'm sure I've got something...Tada!"
"That's ugly,"
Edea scowled. "Don't be so picky. You wanted a fairy, here's a fairy. Yeah it has no idea of colour coordination, but it will have to do,"
"I suppose," Airy sighed, flitting down to take the neon object from Edea's hands. She hefted it up to the very top of the tree, putting it down carefully. "There! Much better,"
The warriors of light stood back to admire their work. The tree was, in all honesty, a shoddy, messy work. The tree, thanks to its size, had half collapsed into itself, and lay terribly lopsided. There hadn't been enough decorations available to put on the beast, so several branches lay unadorned, looking stark naked next to the ones decorated with colourful baubles.
There was something about it however that just screamed unity, and happiness, and originality. Looking at it they couldn't find it in themselves to find any negative emotion about the tree, even after viewing all of its' flaws.
"It's beautiful," Agnés breathed, clasping her hands together in awe.
"It has...personality," Ringabel decided on, but there was a twinkle in his eye.
Even Airy seemed somewhat impressed with the atmosphere the tree came off, not to mention it's calming odour of pine. The Warriors of Light, worn out by their endeavours, retreated to the tavern, where steaming mugs of hot chocolate were already waiting for them.
-/-/-/-/-/
Agnés thought the whole thing was fascinating.
She had seen festivals before. Or rather, she'd seen the Beauty Pageant in Florem, and the Hartschild festival. But none of that, none of that compared to the festivity that was literally rocking the boat.
She had never celebrated Christmas as anything more than a ritualistic day for the crystals. Vestals tended to the crystals for the full day, not consuming food or drink. After the day was done, a small feast would be thrown for important members of the Orthodoxy, followed by an uttering of thanks and gratitude to the crystals and those who deserved it.
Agnés had liked the simplicity and simple joy of those days.
But Christmas, on Grandship, surrounded by her friends, was a totally different manner.
Agnés woke up, to presents lying under the tree, opened them to find gifts made especially for her.
She and the rest sat down at dinner time, only to be served a feast bigger than anything Anchiem had ever held, and she tried turkey for the very first time (having recently gotten over being a vegetarian)
She had fallen to sleep, happy and fulfilled and content.
She wouldn't mind if that was how they did Christmas every year.
-/-/-/-/-/
Tiz thought the whole thing was overwhelming.
He knew of Christmas, obviously, knew of the symbolism and the trees and the presents. He had just never celebrated it on such a large scale, with friends instead of family.
Til would have loved it. Til should have been there instead of him.
Tiz would always sneak out to the marketplace, to purchase something for Til with money he had been saving up all year. It was never anything big, they were poor, and Tiz barely had two coins to rub together.
But it had been cozy, and warm, and family.
There was something about the whole affair on Grandship that was just alien.
But at the same time...opening and giving presents, sitting down for the best meal he probably had ever had in his life?
Yeah. He could get used to that.
As long as Til stayed by his side.
-/-/-/-/-/
Edea thought the whole thing was exciting.
Being the Grand Marshal's daughter meant she was subject to a certain number of privileges. These included Christmas trees, feasts, and many other things that made Christmas one of her favourite times of the year.
Nearly everyone had trees at Christmas time, two in fact. One would be left outside, so snow could settle onto its branches, decorate it in white. The other remained inside, and these were the ones which would be decorated.
Christmas dinner followed present giving, and then a night spent as a family would occur. All three became more scarce as the years went by, but Edea's father would always try to find gaps in his schedule on Christmas, and her mother would normally get discharged from the healing tower for that day. They'd often find Alternis and drag him along too, much to his protests.
It made her a little sad, honestly, to think that she was fighting her family, forgoing this one day of unity with them.
But she was excited. Despite the mixture of warm and tense Christmas' in the past, Edea knew that this one would blow them all out of the water.
Her friends' smiles, their laughter, the food that somehow tasted better than anything they had ever had back home, (maybe that was just the proprietress cooking), made it seem special.
She went to bed happy, and dreamed of Christmas with her family.
-/-/-/-/-/
Ringabel found the whole thing intriguing.
Ringabel had never celebrated Christmas properly in his life before.
He couldn't quite say why he was so sure of this, why he felt like it was a concrete fact, but the event tugged loose no important memories from his brain, just dark alleyways, and bright lights and damp.
He was sure he must have celebrated it at least once in his life. Even Agnés knew of the holiday, so what on earth was wrong with him for him to not? He must have celebrated it before. But not properly, not truly, and not as an equal, not as someone who belonged.
He remembered dark, bright, and damp.
He remembered the tinkling of snowflakes being crushed into slush under boots in a hurry to pass him by.
He remembered the remains of Christmas food being tossed away into bright blue dumpsters.
He remembered bright colours, but dark meanings.
If every year had been like this one, spent with friends, spent with his love, with an abundance of food and gratitude and emotion, it was impossible for Ringabel not to remember such joyous occasions, such brilliant affairs.
Which was why he had come to the conclusion that he had never celebrated Christmas properly before.
Until today.
-/-/-/-/-/
They had enough food to feed a small army, but somehow it was all demolished in a matter of minutes.
After the food they had stood or sat around chatting, enjoying each other's company.
"Hey, Tiz! Look above you!"
Tiz had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what was above him. His eyes spied on the mistletoe hooked onto the ceiling, and then on the other unfortunate soul also caught up in the mess.
No, it was not Agnés.
"I did not put that there," Ringabel said bluntly, and his eyes moved over to accuse Edea, who just shrugged her shoulders.
"You were trying to lure me over to the original spot for ages, I thought I'd just mix it up,"
Tiz looked at her. "Some warning would have been nice! I..."
"Mistletoe is an important part of Christmas tradition," Agnés quoted quietly, and Ringabel laughed a little sheepishly, turning a little pink. "When two come underneath the-"
"O-Okay!" surprisingly Ringabel was the one to interrupt her, and he looked quite flustered with the whole situation. "I...I know what we have to do,"
Tiz wished the ground would swallow him whole. Or that the duchy would attack. Or a rogue goblin out at sea for some bloody reason, he didn't care! Anything to save him standing in front of Ringabel, staring at him like an idiot.
Ringabel leaned over, and Tiz kept stock still as the older boy placed the softest of kisses on his right cheek. Ringabel moved back, still appearing throughly embarrassed.
"Boring!" Edea called, and then cocked her head to on side. "But cute,"
"S-Sorry, Tiz," the struggle was real as Ringabel attempted to pick up his usual persona again. "I am unused to the art of kissing a man. Um..."
"That's your cue! Agnés! I choose you!"
With a well timed push from Edea, Agnés stumbled into the spotlight, directly in front of Tiz. Ringabel dutifully moved towards where Edea sat, revenge gleaming in his eyes, leaving the two others to stare at each their.
"O-Oh," Agnés breathed.
Staring at her hazel eyes, Tiz found that he couldn't find a single part of himself that wanted to protest against his predicament.
"Merry Christmas, Agnés,"
A/N: GET HEADCANNONED:
Norende: Christmas is a very warm affair, with all coming together to spend the night as a family. Trees and decorations are practically non existent, but gift giving would sometimes occur if the family had enough money.
Anchiem: A ritualistic holiday for the crystals. People would get the day off all work to give gratitude to the crystals and their family. Trees and presents are non existent, and only important members of the Crystal orthodoxy have any kind of feast
Florem: Christmas in Florem was similar to Anchiem before they turned their back on the crystals. Now it is an excuse to throw parties and hook up with men or women. Trees and gift giving is non existent, but misteletoe, wine, and other decorations are plentiful.
Hartschild and Yunohana: Both towns similarly celebrate Christmas with festivals and entertainment. One giant tree is normally placed in the town square, and gift giving will occasionally take place amongst the richer. The food sold at market stalls contributes to the people's Christmas dinners.
Gathelatio: Christmas is much celebrated affair. Due to the fact that most people are quite well off in this town, most can afford presents for others. Outdoor trees are planted around the town, but rarely in houses, and feasts usually take place in the Geneolgia manor, or the sanctum.
Al-Khampis: Christmas is a holiday for all, and school is suspended for several days. Feasts take place in the school, where gift giving also occurs. Students rarely see their family on these occasions, spending most of their time in school.
Eternia: Christmas is a huge affair. Gift giving, Christmas trees and other decorations are all present.
yay, headcanons. Airy didn't get a pov, cos that would've been too spoilers for this fic to handle (Ringabel's was bad enough) Hope you enjoyed, and I wish all of you a merry Christmas/whatever you celebrate and a happy new year!