Disclaimer: The following characters and settings of the Fire Emblem series are a belonging of Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. The characters (Mace, Wiz, Zoe, Adrion, Adam, Nicole, Trevor, Keri, Ben, Chelsea, Mace of Kilvas and Mina of Kilvas) are the only belongings of the author.
--HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS--
—Christmas in Radiance—
Chapter 11: The Forgotten Christmas
-Tellius Calendar, Winter 650-
-Serenes Forest-
Twas the week before Christmas and all through the herons' homes of Serenes, candles were lit, children herons were all tucked in and sleeping peacefully, and… looming through the shadows of the bright night, was a greedy familiar noble. Trailing behind him like hatchlings were his trusty soldiers. Upon arriving at the Serenes Christmas Tree, one of the largest Christmas trees overlooking all of Tellius, they scaled on it and reached their destination: the treetop.
At the very top shone a luminous light and the noble's greedy eyes met that light.
"Duke Tanas," one of the soldiers exclaimed, "Can you please explain to us what we're doing here?"
Duke Tanas, also known as Oliver of Tanas, glared at the soldier, "Idiot! Have you been listening back at the villa? We're here to take those Crystal Ornaments with us." He pointed towards the source of that light: seven majestic crystal ornaments floated gracefully together at the tree top's altar. The ornaments weren't like regular ornaments, for they each had the size of a soccer ball. Together, they formed a glorious blinding light.
Two more soldiers came from behind Oliver and admired the light, "They're… beautiful my duke. Are those—?"
"Yes." Oliver reached for the light and pulled through a Crystal Ornament of the color sapphire. The light seized to glow after this event. Oliver continued, "Just as the legend spoke of: the Seven Crystal Ornaments. They are the sources of the Christmas Spirit of Tellius." Oliver explained, "They come into view along with this tree at this time of year."
"What do you want to do with them Duke Tanas?" One of the soldiers asked.
"Why, I'll take them for myself." The duke said.
"But Duke Tanas!" the soldier said, "If we take the Ornaments, everyone will—"
"I know, I know." Oliver replied, "but with those in my home, we'll celebrate everyday!" to these words, he laughed.
-Sienne, Begnion-
The wealthy streets of the Begnion capital were decorated in wreaths, lights, and festivities for the holidays. Although, despite the holiday-cheering setting, no such spirit were among its people.
Queen Elincia Ridell Crimea rode the Royal Crimean convoy, along with General Crimea Ike and his companions Titania, Soren, and Rhys. The convoy was filled with rare merchandises and goods, all gift-wrapped.
Elincia sighed, "I love this time of year. Birds are singing, people are happy. Christmas is the best."
"I agree." Rhys replied, "Christmas is the one time when everything in Tellius is peaceful."
"I remember when Mist and I were kids," Ike reminisced, "we would wait outside our bedroom and see if St. Nicholas will leave us presents. But we always fell asleep before midnight."
"Ah! St. Nicholas is very tricky, Ike" Elincia remarked, "He'd use the Sleep Staff on those who are not sleeping."
"Really?" Titania gasped.
"Judging by your knowledge Elincia, it seems that you saw St. Nicholas yourself." Ike said.
"Quite a few times," Elincia sighed, "His bishop attires are as bright as Heaven itself. Lucia and I pretended to be sleeping. It was a ruse."
"I don't think this is a ruse." Soren interrupted.
Everyone glanced at Soren, "What are you talking about Soren?" Rhys asked.
"Look at this." Soren pointed outside. The gang all took a peek and saw Begnion citizen, one by one, taking out the Christmas decors, trees, and wreaths off their homes and gardens.
"Um…what are they doing?" Titania asked.
Elincia gasped, "They're taking down their decorations."
"But Christmas is only a week away." Rhys scratched his head.
Ike got off the convoy and went to speak to a middle-age man, who was about to dump his Christmas tree in the garbage, "Excuse me sir!"
The man faced Ike and smiled, "well, if it isn't General Crimea! How fare you?"
"Great!" Ike mirthlessly smiled, "I'm doing great. How come you're doing that?"
"Doing what?"
Ike pointed at the tree and the garbage. The man nodded, "Oh you mean those things? Well, I'm throwing them away. I mean, it's nice to have those nice decors on a tree. But please, a tree in my house? How can one get a tree in a house?"
"Because of Christmas?" Ike said.
The middle-aged man cocked his head on one side, "Christmas?"
Ike nodded. The man blinked, "What's Christmas?"
This statement immediately floored Ike. The man approached a woman who was also taking out her decorations, "hey do you know what Christmas is?"
"Christmas? Never heard of it."
"What?" Ike cried, "Christmas is a holiday! It happens every year! It's like the greatest holiday ever!"
"Christmas?" another man scratched his head, "Isn't that a game or something?"
Elincia, Rhys, Titania, and Soren watched Ike getting frustrated, "Does he need help or something?"
"I guess so." Titania replied.
"I'm sorry General Crimea," the man exclaimed, "but it's a normal day here at Sienne. A very weird normal day."
"Yeah," the woman replied, "most of us have trees in our homes and it's quite strange."
"It's like a plant invasion or something." Another of the men joked.
Ike headed back to the convoy, feeling frustrated all over.
"What happened?" Elincia asked.
"They don't know what Christmas is." Ike grumbled.
"What?" Titania gasped.
"Oh my!" Rhys held his heart.
"I propose we head for the Mainal Cathedral." Soren offered, "We may find some answers there."
-Melior, Crimea-
Although the Begnion Empire had lost its Christmas spirit, the kingdom of Crimea still thrived for this festive holiday. Castle Crimea's Courtyard was festooned in lights, wreaths, and the splendid decors of Christmas and gathered at one of the courtyard's picnic tables were Mist, Bastian, Geoffrey, Kieran, Oscar, and Trevor. Trevor is a young green archer from Begnion, who recently came to Crimea to be part of Ike's Crimean Knights Army. Trevor, and his older sister Keri, are both of noble heritages, but they both rather be independent.
Entering the courtyard was Lucia, her arms both carrying overwhelming shopping bags.
"Well met guys!" she greeted.
"Hey Lucia!" the gang all greeted back.
Mist approached Lucia and helped her out with the bags, "You're carrying too much Lucia," she said, "what did you buy?"
"Why, so many stuffs," Lucia replied exhaustingly, "They were on Early Bird Specials and I couldn't sleep all night because I was thinking of buying so many goodies."
"You mean you couldn't sleep all night, or your alarm kept blaring every ten minutes?" Kieran sighed.
"All right, that too…" she then faced Geoffrey, "Oh don't forget we're caroling tonight." Geoffrey gave a thumb up.
"You guys do caroling?" Trevor asked curiously.
"Course we do." Geoffrey responded, "It's kind of a family tradition our mother came up with."
"A family tradition?"
"Yes." Lucia replied, "Every year, we would go door-to-door around Melior's countryside homes, singing Christmas hymns…"
"…and," Geoffrey continued, "while the families are listening, we would sneak inside their homes and plant by their Christmas tree, an invitation to an annual Crimea Noel Feast at the royal villa."
Everyone breathed in awe in reply to this statement.
"Wow! I love those authentic traditions you've just described." Oscar said.
"It is quite awesome." Kieran replied, "In fact, I was in charge of the cooking."
"No offense Kieran," Geoffrey smiled, "But you are quite bad at cooking. So itis more of a… potluck invitation."
"Wait a minute! I made perfect cranberry cheesecakes last year!" He argued.
"Ahh, the holidays," Bastian daydreamed, "A time of joy, a time of cherishment, my favorite time of year…"
"I second that." Trevor smiled, "In fact, I feel like I should spread the cheer with you."
"Really?" Lucia asked the young archer, "You'll join us in the caroling?"
"Of course."
"Count me in too." Bastian proposed.
"That's great!" Geoffrey exclaimed, "But who'll be in charge of the cooking… besides Kieran?" He quickly replied as he noticed Kieran's hand up.
"Aw man!" Kieran sighed.
"Oscar will help with the cooking." Mist proposed, "He'sreally good at it."
"Actually Mist," Oscar replied, "I will love to help but my brothers and I have got better fishes to fry." With that, he readied his horse and took off for the gate.
"But where are you going Oscar?" Trevor called out.
"I feel inspired!" Oscar replied.
-Mainal Cathedral-
The halls were decked out of over a dozen Christmas boughs and ornaments, yet the cathedral, like the capital city itself, was not into the Christmas spirit. Sigrun, commander of the Begnion Holy Knights, greeted the Crimean guests with simple warmth from the front, yet there was a surprising expression in her face.
"Ha, General Ike, Queen Elincia," she said, "We didn't expected both your arrivals."
"Beg to differ," Ike replied, "The apostle invited us to spend the holiday in the city."
"Holiday?" Sigrun asked confusingly.
"We're talking about Christmas." Elincia replied, "You know, the decorations, the foods, eggnog…Oh! See, you have the decorations all set up." She pointed at the decked halls.
"Oh those." Sigrun said, "Yeah, these limbs and lights do tone with the cathedral's architecture, however the apostle recently ordered us to take them down by tonight. We don't know why they're up there."
"Because it's Christmas!" Ike began panicking, "We…we…we have gifts!" he pulled from the convoy a wrapped gift and shook it in front of Sigrun, "We give them to you!"
Sigrun smiled and reluctantly took the gift, "Thanks for those gifts, but if it's for the help we've offered to Crimea four years ago during the war, there's no need…"
"Is the apostle here?" Ike looked around, his tone sounded livid.
Sanaki was having a private meeting with the seven senators and Sephiran on the main royal hall when Sigrun entered in, escorting only Ike and Elincia. The empress and the senators rose from their seats at their sights.
"Queen Elincia? General Ike?" Sanaki said, "What a surprise. We didn't expect you here."
"Yes well," Elincia replied, "We apologize for the intrusion, but you did invite us here to spend Christmas at Begnion…" she then whispered to herself, "But I presume you must have forgotten too."
"I did?" Sanaki solicited.
Sephiran stepped in, "but you must be mistaken. We've never heard of Christmas before."
"It's a holiday Sephiran!" Ike freaked out again, "here, we bought gifts! And… goodies, mostly imported from Gallia and Goldoa. Some gifts are of authentic qualities from Crimea! We even bought some desserts of Peppermint, Gingerbread, Pumpkin spice, and eggnog, and—"
"Ike…Ike, IKE?" Sanaki interrupted.
"Huh?"
"We understand how you feel about…" Sanaki paused, "this marvelous imagination of this sort of holiday. But you must face the fact that we don't know this."
"Is that a holiday Her Majesty intends to create in the near future? Or is it someone's birthday we're to guess?" Sephiran addressed Elincia.
"Erm..." Elincia hesitated.
"Is this a joke?" Ike boomed. This time he was showing anger, "I will like to know if this is a joke, so that I could breathe in peace. IT'S CHRISTMASTIME PEOPLE! We have only a week until Christmas Day and what? YOU FORGOT IT?"
The senators began talking among themselves. Lekain, one of the senators stepped in, "General Crimea." He said, "The way you are currently expressing your emotions shows how much you're tripping."
"YOU BET I'M TRIPPING!"
"All right, all right, settle down you two." Sanaki appeased the tension in the room, "Ahem! Now Queen Elincia and General Crimea; although we have never heard of Chinas…"
"Christmas."
"Yeah, huh-uh! We do appreciate your gifts and all and much like your enthusiasm," Sanaki began to freak out also from that point, "we do wish to have at least one holiday break from these 1440 minutes, of these 24 hours, of these 7 days, of these 4 weeks, of these 12 months, of a year of work!"
"True that." The senate agreed. Sanaki sighed, "But otherwise, your presence is well appreciated. Please escort them to their chambers, guards."
The guards took the Crimean party to their respective imperial suite. Few hours has passed since the meeting and the foursome took a walk in the garden.
"So what are we going to do here?" Ike asked, "Perhaps we should go back?"
"No Ike." Titania replied, "It'll seem disrespectful for the apostle to leave Begnion without feasible explanation that does not relates to their forgotten Christmas."
"Titania's right." Elincia said.
"This is sad." Rhys shook his head, "Everyone forgot Christmas?"
"It is hard to believe, but it's true." Soren added.
"I don't think so." A voice came from behind them. The foursome turned to face a beautiful heron Laguz dressed in a stainless white robe. Her golden hair was wavy and reached the shoulders.
"Chelsea?" Elincia gasped at her sight, "Is that you?"
"What are you doing here?" Ike asked, "Shouldn't you be in Serenes with Reyson, Leanne and the others?"
"There's something I must show you." Chelsea said.
-Goldoan Gathering-
The gathering was filled with many Laguz guests and among these guests were the Laguz kings: Lion King Caineghis of Gallia, Hawk King Tibarn of Phoenicis, Crow King Kilvas Naesala, Black Dragon Deghinsea, and his son the Prince Kurthnaga. Included in the party were each king's trusted officials: Lethe, Mordecai, Ranulf, Giffca, Janaff, Ulki and Nealuchi, including two familiar dragons: White dragon Nasir and his granddaughter Ena. There was a new addition among the group: Naesala's country cousins Mace and Mina, twin Laguz crows from the Kilvan government, known to be as mischievous as Naesala, featuring a case of loose lips.
The Laguz were all enjoying delicious foods which sat at a large round table. There were delicious tropical fishes from the isle of Phoenicis, to the authentic red wine of the isolated Goldoan kingdom. The lions brought from Gallia some delicious meats and goods, and the crows of Kilvas brought some authentic eggnog, desserts, turkey and ham from traveling merchant ships.
"Thanks for inviting us here Deghinsea." Caineghis complimented, "We were too busy with Crimea and Daein's reconstruction that we lions have forgotten our annual Thanksgiving feast."
"We understand." Deghinsea replied, "Thanksgiving may have been a long time but it's not affecting our calendar."
"Well, one thing that is affecting me," Tibarn added, "is the fact that Reyson and Leanne are not here to join us."
"They'll be fine." Naesala grinned, "You don't have to protect them all the time. They're in Serenes now."
Janaff scoffed, "yeah. What about the time you sold Prince Reyson to that nasty Oliver?"
"That was years ago." Naesala argued, "I turned over a new leaf, for crying out loud."
"That's not what I'm hearing." Ulki argued.
"All right, enough." Tibarn sighed, "I don't want to hear it again. Whenever you two bring this up, I'm about to lose it."
"I agree. And Christmastime is about joy, hope and remembering the good tidings, not remembering the bad ones." Kurthnaga exclaimed.
"The prince is right." Mace replied, "And I've gotta say, it's quite amazing that we Laguz haven't forgotten Christmas."
Everyone stared down at Mace. "What do you mean, we Laguz haven't forgotten Christmas?" Ranulf snarled.
Mace and Mina's smile sent chills on the Laguzes' spines. "Those two are up to something." Lethe hissed under her breath, "I'm smelling it."
"Mm…like that ham over there?" Mordecai's attention was on the succulent honey ham.
"People, people!" Mina sighed, "Don't tell me you aren't aware of what is happening at Tellius. Christmas is dying."
The Laguzes went in an uproar as they took upon their animal forms. The beasts roared angrily, the dragons breathed their flames everywhere, and the birds shrieked and flew around the Gathering hysterically. Deghinsea got up and slammed the table, "SILENCE!" he yelled.
The Laguzes seized the uproar and returned to their original form. Deghinsea shot a glare at the twin crows, "if you two are here to cause trouble…"
"But it's true!" Mace argued, "Christmas is…"
Mina smacked Mace's mouth to keep him quiet, and whispered to his ear, "I think they know what we meant." Mace nodded. Naesala smacked his face and shook his head embarrassed, "What did I deserve to have these two as my blood relatives."
NEXT CHAPTER…