Well…By the time you're reading this it will be the first day of December and been thinking about what I'm gonna do for the Christmas Season, been thinking I will continue my Halloween Special because as YouTube Channel Overly Sarcastic Productions pointed out in the review of A Christmas Carol there is plenty spooky about Christmas! Also other YouTube series Extra Mythology also demonstrates Europe's various spooky Christmas Myths like the famous Krampus and Iceland's Yule Lads and they've given a passing mention to Winter Werewolves really back in the day there didn't seem to be much difference between Halloween and Christmas, also Feast of Murtyu is basically the Dardunah equivalent to Halloween the last Holiday of Autumn before Winter it is also a day of food given to placate wandering spirits and children, Murtyu is the Devah who is the judge of the dead and the cycle she is most commonly depicted as a Raven but other animal associated with death, are common (In fact of all the Devah listed in the Sourcebook Murtyu has the most species listed as her possibly forms) whatever her form she is always shown seated and holding a scale…Also thinking I also resume A Tale of a Tail because it's a story prominently featuring snow and it's fitting for the Christmas Story even though in the story it is explicitly uncharacteristic snow in the middle of summer.

As Chanchalla began to stir the next morning, she began to yawn and stretch when she heard the knock on the door…

She smiled when she heard Leo's voice

"Hey Challa…" Leo said "…You awake?"

"Just woke up a moment ago…" Challa said yawning some more, she peered at what she had been told was the clock in Mikey's room, she squinted and then remembered while she could understand the spoken language of this place she still couldn't read anything.

"What time is it?" She asked

"6 AM." Leo said "We rise early for practice…" He noticed Chanchalla peering apprehensively at the ladder for the platform bed's ladder "Need some help?"

"I don't think I really need help…" Chanchalla said feeling she had to be truthful "…I just my feet are tender immediately after waking up…The rungs of a ladder would be more painful than they would be after more hours of wakefulness…"

"I see…" Leo said "…Here I'll help you down."

He placed his arms under her arms, and Chanchalla was amazed by how strong he was, she bleated a bit in surprise as he lifted her almost effortlessly…When her feet was placed on the floor she wobbled a bit and leaned against his plastron remembering what Samtra had said she quickly pulled away

"A thousand thanks…" She said quietly

At the breakfast table she asked for another bagel and cream cheese.

"The aroma in Mikey's room whet my appetite for cheese…" She said dryly

Don and Raph laughed heartily knowing full well what she was talking about, Mikey chuckled awkwardly but the zinger from the normally excessively polite girl stung a bit more than usual Challa remembered what her brothers had told her that her wit is more terrifying because it seems to come like a sudden bolt of lightning out of cloudless sky no one ever expects it and it always cuts more than they expect it to…

"April and Casey will be shopping for your new clothes later today," Don said

Chanchalla only had one request that the clothes not be too heavy as she is more than adequately insulated by her wooly coat she didn't need anything too warming.

After breakfast it was time to meet Leatherhead, along the way they explained to her Leatherhead had been mutated by the same ooze that had mutated them but unlike them Leatherhead had actually been raised by the Utroms.

"Utroms are a creature that live on one of the stars…" Don said "…Some of those stars are other worlds where other creatures live…Utroms…Are tricky to describe at first glance they appear something like a disembodied brain with a mouth and eyes…"

"Sounds grotesque!" Chanchalla exclaimed

"I know…" Don chuckled "…But the Utroms are good…Well most of them are…"

Leatherhead was a giant, indeed, he would tower over all but the largest Crocodilians on Dardunah (Who range from seven to ten feet tall) but his expression was kindlier than any Crocodile she had ever seen on Dardunah (She had been warned he was normally nice but sometimes he couldn't control his temper which hadn't been helped by the one time he had been captured and tortured)

"Greetings." Leatherhead "Delighted to meet you Young Lady, what is your name?"

"Ch-Ch-Chanchalla…" She squeaked out "I apologize for my trembling."

You have no need to apologize…" Leatherhead said soothingly "It is perfectly natural to be frightened, you're in a new place…Away from home…" He knelt down to both seem less intimidating and so he could see her better.

"My…You are quite different from us…" He said after take a quick glance at her anatomy "You are very human like in your build…You are like a Chimera…"

"Uh…What?" Mikey said

"A Chimera." Don said "In means a combination of two or more different species."

"Named after the monster of Greek mythology that was a combination of lioness, goat and snake…" Leatherhead said "There are various Chimeras already in existence that are combinations of two non-human animals…But theoretically one could also combine Human DNA with another Animal to create intelligent Human-Hybrid Chimera…Only Theoretical because science has not yet dared to bring such a creature to term."

"I-I might be a Chimera…" Chanchalla said "I am beginning to believe this after meeting humans….I should tell you the story we tell of how the Janah came to Dardunah…"

She told the story of Great Mother and Father who tore asunder the veils of Heaven to find a safe Haven for their children to hide them from the Devourer 'The Darkness without End' the many different forms of Janah was to hide them from the Devourer

"Ever since I was very small, I asked my family if the Devourer would ever figure it out and see through our disguises no one ever had an answer for my question other than to 'Be Quiet' Great Mother and Father are always depicted with haloes of fire instead of heads or faces, I'm beginning to believe they might have been humans…"

"Fascinating…" Leatherhead said as he stroked his chin "…In the Science Fiction here on Earth, a recurring theme has been the concept of the Space Ark, after the Biblical Noah's Ark…"

"Who was Noah?" Chanchalla asked then she had a burst of intuition "Is it from the Earth Religion of Christianity?"

So…This might be the last chapter from this story you might see in a while, or it might not be, who knows?