So, since my FE inspiration has so recently started coming back, I decided to act on it and try and write some more for this challenge.

In honour of the holidays, here's a sort of holiday story. Oh right, and this takes place post-FE10, but it's not necessary to have finished it to read this.

Just another note, since Christmas clearly wouldn't make sense as the name of a winter holiday in the world of FE, I decided to go with Yule as the name for their holiday, since it's more archaic and less specifically related to any deity (that I know of). It is not my intention to offend anyone with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem.

Just Another Knight…

Theme: #95. A Party/Banquet

Genre: General/Humour

Characters/Pairings: Calill, the Crimean Royal Knights

Calill knew that it would be busy—it was Yule, after all—and, after three years of running General Ike's Inn (the name had been kept despite said General's objections), she really should have been used to it by now. However, as she took a deep breath and stepped out from the kitchen and into the lobby once more, she could swear that it was even busier and rowdier than usual.

The blonde woman quickly strode over to a table and set down four bowls of their famous beef stew and two loafs of bread from the tray that she balanced on one hand.

"Here you are, my dears," she said with a trained smile.

"Thanks, Calill!" the group of knights chorused, immediately starting to scramble over the bread.

She whirled away, dodging a couple of men who stumbled away from the bar, and slipped behind the counter. Calill placed the empty tray on the counter for the dish girl to pick up and grabbed another tray of food. Before she could step from behind the counter, however, a familiar face slid into her line of vision.

"Cawill! Gimme… gimme anoder… anoder ale!" Makalov mumbled, slumping down on the counter with a lopsided grin.

"Pay your tab first, mister," Calill replied, wrinkling her nose before ignoring the drunken paladin.

She was vaguely aware of Marcia rushing up to Makalov from the corner of her vision, and didn't need to see any more to know that the young woman had probably smacked him.

After delivering the food to its table, and picking up some empty dishes from another, she couldn't help but notice that there was a large amount of Crimean Knights that night. It was no secret that the inn she ran with Largo was popular among the Knights, but she could swear that everyone in there was one.

As she made her way back to the bar, she saw a familiar blue head sitting on a stool at the counter.

"Ah, Geoffrey, my dear!" she chortled, sliding behind the counter, dropping off her tray on the way.

"Calill! You've been so busy tonight I haven't had a chance to speak with you at all!" the young general replied with a wide grin. It seemed that he had been drinking as well, for he didn't usually come off so exuberantly. Not that the sage was complaining; it was nice to see him loosen up a little bit.

"Well, the place is filled to the brim with you people! Are all the knights in Melior here tonight or something?"

"Maybe," Geoffrey answered with an uncharacteristically mischievous smile.

"CALILL!" someone called from the west side of the dining area.

"Duty calls," Calill said to the man before her and flashed him her trademark smile before dashing off to appease her customers.

Arriving at the table, she found Kieran and Oscar seated with several other of their comrades.

"And what can I do for you gentlemen?" she asked.

"It's nothing, Calill. We didn't mean to bother you, Kieran was just being—" Oscar started to say, but was immediately cut off by the redhead who sat across from him.

"Being what? Don't you weasel your way out of this, you squinty-eyed fiend! You agreed to a drinking contest with me, and don't you dare back out! You brought it upon yourself by claiming that you're better than me!" Kieran bellowed, and Calill could see the spittle flying from his mouth in his indignation.

"I said no such thing, Kieran. I just said that maybe you shouldn't drink anymore, since you're clearly drunk already and I really don't want to have to drag you back to the castle later," Oscar replied with a sigh.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY MOTHER?"

Calill raised an eyebrow and looked at the green-haired paladin, who sighed and slapped a hand to his face before simply waving her away dismissively, indicating that she could go and he'd deal with the problem.

As she swept her gaze around the large lobby, she saw that some of her hired help was busy cleaning tables and one was serving more food. So far, everything seemed to be in order, despite how crowded it was.

No one else seemed to notice the front door swing open, nearly knocking down a knight who was passing by, and three newcomers stepped in. Calill knew two of them by face, but not name, and the third was a pretty, black-haired female. She hadn't noticed that Astrid wasn't already there.

Someone else called her name; this time it was one of her staff. Heading over to the counter, she helped him serve out drinks as more people began to crowd around the bar. They were starting to run out of clean cups, and she immediately grabbed a bin, tossed the used ones in and brought them to the back.

The kitchen was just as noisy as the front end. Largo was stirring a pot at one of the stoves, and several of his helpers were busy chopping ingredients. A young boy sat in the corner peeling potatoes, and another entered through the front door, shaking off the snow as he brought in extra firewood.

Calill didn't like doing dishes, but the dish girl was clearly feeling overwhelmed, and Calill walked over to help her dry some of the much-needed mugs.

"Calill, are those guys out there almost finshed eating now? I'm almost done these next few orders, but are there more coming?" Largo asked, his deep voice carrying over the crackle of fire and the chattering of the other workers.

"A few more have come in, but no one else seems to be ordering anything. I think the night's starting to wind down. It'll probably just be the bar that will still be busy," she replied in an equally loud voice.

"Thank the goddess!" some of the kitchen workers chorused.

"CALILL!"

The sage recognized the shrill voice of one of her servers.

"What is it?" she asked, as she stepped out of the kitchen, seeing the girl looking rather panicked.

"Calill, I tried stopping them, but they wouldn't listen!" the girl squeaked.

Calill's eyes followed the girl's outstretched arm and couldn't believe what she was seeing. The main area of the dining room was empty. And not just of people. It seems that the knights had pushed the tables around and cleared a large space right in the middle of the lobby.

"Calill!" Geoffrey called, sidling up to the counter. "I hope you don't mind, but some of the Knights brought out their instruments. Someone demanded dancing, and well… I told them to wait and ask you, but…"

"Hmm, well, it's all right, I suppose," Calill replied with a small smile. She could already hear the instruments being tuned and some of the men had started singing raucously. At least, they'd stopped eating.

She sent her workers to clean the empty tables, since most of the patrons had now gathered in a loose ring around the empty dance floor. As she helped them clear away the empty plates, she heard a fiddle strike up a country jig and many of the knights cheered, starting to clap their hands and stomp their feet.

A little while later, while wiping clean a table close to the dance floor, she heard the music change and a fast-paced waltz began playing, accompanied by a flute.

The sage heard more cheers, and laughter. Looking up, she saw that Makalov had stumbled onto the newly vacated dance floor, dragging a flustered-looking Astrid behind him. Though she smiled, her face was red with embarrassment as she practically had to support the pink-haired man as he tried to lead the dance.

"Makalov, you ninny! Stop making a fool of yourself!" she heard Marcia shriek as other couples started to waltz, some just as drunkenly as her brother.

"Allow me," Oscar interrupted, stepping onto the dance floor. He quickly dislodged Astrid from Makalov, who seemed to now be fully supported by the petite woman, and the drunken man nearly collapsed onto the floor. Some of the other men grabbed his arms and dropped him unceremoniously onto a chair where he seemed to fall asleep.

"Oh, you think you're so… so SUAVE!" Kieran cried, loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room. "I won't let you show me up! I can dance just as well as you can!"

Calill couldn't make out Oscar's answer, but he could see him mouth something as he made an exasperated face over Astrid's shoulder.

"MARCIA! HONOUR ME WITH A DANCE!"

"What?"

More laughter erupted from the crowd as Kieran pulled a horror-stricken Marcia away from her brother and onto the dance floor. For someone who had drunk so much, Calill couldn't help but notice that Kieran didn't make a half-bad dancer. Until he started moving too fast and ran right into one of the other dancers.

Then the yelling came.

Before it could turn into an all-out brawl, Calill quickly strode to the counter and pulled out one of the drawers. She always kept one in there for occasions such as these. Her inn was renowned for the lack of fights for a good reason.

The Knights all let out yelps of surprise and the instigators of the would-be fight were picked up from the dance floor by a gust of wind and dropped back down from a height that, while not causing them harm, would knock some sense back into them.

"Behave yourselves," Calill chided, tapping a finger against her Wind tome, as the entire lobby silenced and looked at her with wide eyes.

After giving them a smile, the music quickly resumed and, seeing that most of the restaurant had been cleaned, allowed her staff to take a well-deserved break.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but as Calill shoved the last straggling knight out of the door and slammed it shut, she let out a sigh. At last, peace and quiet.

Say what, my title's a pun? Oh ho! Sorry, the lameness of it had to be done.

Anyway, sorry it's so short and choppy seeming, but my intention was to portray the story from the point of view of a waiter (in this case, Calill) in a restaurant at Christmas time. So they're more like snapshots of moments here and there among a whirl of faces and action.

Either way, hope it was somewhat enjoyable. Please leave a review with thoughts and/or criticism! Happy holidays everyone!

-FireEdge-