Ruby woke up with a yawn and stretched her arms above her head, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, and she came to consciousness slowly. Looking around she heard the bedroom door open and Weiss came through it, fully dressed, but with her hair wrapped up in a white fluffy towel. "Morn-yawn-morning Weiss."

"Good morning." Weiss smiled at Ruby, her red and black hair was tousled from just waking up, and one strap of her tank top had slid part of the way down her bicep, revealing she wasn't wearing a bra. At that realisation, Weiss blushed and looked away, fussing over making her bed properly and making sure she didn't look at Ruby until the girl had gone to the bathroom. Get a grip Weiss. Unwrapping her hair, she plugged the hairdryer into the socket and sat at Ruby's dresser. Focusing on ensuring her hair was completely dry, once she had finished she decided to forgo the braided ponytail she had used for the last few months and instead just put it in a basic ponytail and slipped a small hair tie around the base to hold it there, leaving the usual tiara on the bedside table where she'd placed it the night before. She turned around to find Ruby sitting on the end of bed grinning like an idiot, bouncing ever so slightly.

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her, inviting Ruby to set free what she was obviously dying to say. "Happy Solstice Weiss!"

Weiss rolled her eyes and stood up, "Happy Solstice Ruby. May your year be as bright as the snow." Despite the apparent disdain, Weiss was smiling as she said it. It had been far too long since she had actually celebrated the Winter Solstice, and a lot longer since she'd cared about it. But here? And now? She was hoping it would be the start of caring about it again. I know if that dolt has anything to do about it, I'll end up caring again.

Ruby grinned even wider, even as she tilted her head to the side slightly, "Is that an Atlesian Solstice greeting?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes, as you know, it's traditional to wish someone a very bright year to come on the shortest day, and as white snow is so common in Atlas, it was incorporated for that greeting."

Ruby smiled as she stood up and joined Weiss as they headed downstairs. "The proper Vale one is...erm...I don't know to be honest; it's rarely ever said!" Ruby looked a little embarrassed as she realised she couldn't remember the traditional greeting, to which Weiss laughed.

"It's only really used in Atlesian high society because appearances and tradition are everything up there. But I figured as it's our first proper Solstice together..." Weiss shrugged a little and followed Ruby towards the kitchen, finding Blake sat with a mug of tea in front of her, eyes fixated on the book in front of her, and Yang leaning her head on her hand, staring at a cup of coffee trying to stay awake. Tai meanwhile was leaning against the counter with a smile and a cup for himself.

"Happy Solstice everyone!" Ruby shouted as she bounded into the kitchen, her face back into its massive grin.

"Happy Solstice kiddo," Tai ruffles his youngest's hair as she gave him a massive hug. "Happy Solstice Weiss," he smiled and handed a cup of coffee over, which she gratefully accepted.

"Happy Solstice to you too Tai, and to you both as well."

Yang lifted her head up and downed her coffee in one go. She shook her head, hair swishing behind her quickly before settling again. Blake gave her a quick side eye as the blonde locks flicked against her before the other pair said their greetings as well.

Everyone could see Ruby was bouncing up and down on the spot with excitement, and none of them could resist the childlike eagerness that was radiating off her.

"Fine then, come on girls, let's get on with the main event." Tai pushes off from the counter and headed to the living room, a red blur of petals shooting behind him, splitting into two to go around him without hitting him, before reforming into their excitable team leader. He laughed, "That's a new trick, when did you learn to split?"

Ruby pauses her bouncing as she thinks, "Err, about a year and a half ago? It was just before the Vytal Festival, but I didn't have the hang of it properly until after I headed to Mistral."

As Yang walks past she nods towards Weiss, "She can do it with other people too." And winks at Weiss, who splutters in response.

"She's done it with you and Blake too!" Unfortunately for Weiss this only makes Yang smirk even more.

"Yes, but it makes me feel nauseous, so I prefer just running." Blake walks past Weiss, who was still standing indignant halfway to the sofa, and sits on the edge of it next to Yang. Yang's open mouth changed into a pout at the clear and obvious attempt to steer the conversation away from double entendres.

Tai meanwhile, to Yang's amazement, had actually ignored the not so hidden meaning in her words. "Hmmm I'll have to see that, that's very interesting. I can get the sparring ground set up later in the week for you if that's alright?"

Ruby grinned, clearly excited at being able to show how much she'd improved to her Dad, "Yeah! We can also do sparring practice and work on some team moves too! This way nobody will be able to spy on us for the tournament!" She said the last bit in particular to Weiss, who grinned alongside Ruby.

Tai turned to Ruby, "But if you're going to do it with other people, make sure everyone else is out of the house first, especially me." He winked at Yang, who cackled whilst Ruby turned bright red.

"Dad! Stop joining in with her! Gods I haven't missed you two together..." she put her head in her hands. "Can we just open presents now? Please?" Yang and Tai laughed, and he nodded, directing her to the pile around the fireplace. Letting out a whoop, Ruby disappeared in a swirl of rose petals and was in front of the fireplace, distributing presents accordingly.

Yang motioned to Blake to open hers first, and she did so, recognising the shape as clearly a book. Pulling the wrapping off she actually let out an audible gasp, eyes wide, and ears pointed skyward, before immediately shoving the book back in its paper and staring at Yang intently. "Where did you find this? How did you find this? What did you have do to get a hold of it?" Ruby and Weiss looked at each other out the corner of their eyes, each as baffled as the other.

"In a package, delivered by courier, and sweet talk a guy at the publishing company in Vale into letting me have an early release copy for reviews." Yang's grin stretched from ear to ear. "I know how badly you've wanted it and how much you've been trying to hide it, but feel free to delete your preorder for it now."

Blake's cheeks turned a little pink as she clutched it to her chest, "I feel a bit bad about what I got you..." Yang looked confused and opened her gift from Blake. She saw the picture, read the description on the box, and roared with laughter. Blake looked a bit better at Yang's reaction, "You're always complaining that you can never see anything at night so..."

Yang turned the box for the others to see: Night vision goggles. Tai burst out laughing, Ruby started to snicker, and Weiss cracked a smile, all of which made Blake feel better about her (sort of) joke present to Yang. She'd hoped her partner would appreciate the joke, as Yang did actually complain quite a lot that she couldn't follow Blake easily when they were on night missions together.

Continuing on the circle, Weiss was next. She opened the badly wrapped package knowing it was from Ruby and she stared at a beautifully bound, black notebook. She ruffled through the pages quickly, seeing it had everything she looked for in a planner, a day by day diary and planner combo, plus a space for notes at the end of every week, month, and then a larger section at the back. Best of all, the inside was a soft ice blue, matching her snowflake symbol that was embossed into the front cover.

"It's a reinforced moleskin cover, so should able to take almost anything that could happen to it. I know your old one was getting full, so figured you could do with a new one." Ruby smiled as she explained.

"It's beautiful, where did you..." Weiss spotted a small mark inside the back cover and just looked at Ruby, knowing exactly where she had got it made, and exactly how much it had cost her to do so.

"Aha...yeah. I'll tell you later where I got it..." Ruby rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Aaanyway, my turn? Woo!" Switching topics back to presents that hadn't cost her almost every bit of lien she'd got since they'd gone back to Beacon, she picked her present up, a large round cylinder. Unwrapping it she found a plain metal tin inside, one she was fairly certain belonged to her Dad, and was usually used to store cakes or cookies. Opening the tin, she let it a quick cry of happiness and pulled out a very slightly misshapen Solstice cookie in the shape of a snowflake, before devouring it. She turned to Weiss, "Did you make these yourself?"

Weiss looked anywhere but at Ruby. "...Yes. But I had..."

Tai cut her off, "No help whatsoever. She was up most of the night making them for you."

Ruby gasped and threw herself at Weiss, wrapping her in a massive hug, squeezing tightly. "Thank you so much! This is the best gift you could have ever got me! I love Solstice cookies, especially homemade ones, and you made them just for me!"

Yang's eyes glinted behind Ruby and Weiss' backs; her plan had worked! She sneaked a glance at Blake, who saw it, and rolled her eyes, not wanting to give Yang the satisfaction of an 'I told you so!'

"Ruby. Can't. Breathe." Weiss managed to croak out over Ruby's bare shoulder that was pressed up against her neck. If she hadn't been squeezing so tightly, it might have actually been rather nice. When Ruby pulled back the look on her face made all the effort that morning worth it and more. She ate another cookie and was sat there with a massive, beaming grin on her face.

Yang leaned over and said, "I take it you like them then?"

Ruby nodded vigorously, "They're delicious!" Weiss blushed, happy that she'd managed to get it right, even if she had to have some help from Tai.

They went round in the circle, each person opening one present each until they were all opened, by which time it was a bit before lunchtime and Tai vanished into the kitchen to make them a simple lunch, before starting preparations on the Solstice dinner to come that evening. The four girls lounged around, Blake reading her new book, Yang and Ruby playing a video game against each other, and Weiss looking through her new planner. After their lunch they watched a traditional movie, 'A Muppet Solstice Story', one that Weiss had never seen before, but ended up absolutely loving, much to Ruby's joy.

The Solstice dinner that night was everything they had hoped for. Plates and plates of food, everyone talking, including Blake and Weiss, who both felt included as part of the family. Neither of them had experienced a family Solstice in quite a long time, and it was refreshing. Yang and Ruby both kept an eye on their respective partners, making sure they felt included, but they needn't have worried.

After the dinner was finished, Blake, at Yang's urging, went upstairs to give her parents a call to wish them a Happy Solstice, and Weiss messaged Winter to say the same. Yang went out onto the porch to get some fresh air, and Tai followed her. Ruby was curled up on the sofa with her cookies munching away happily, with Weiss next to her. "Ruby?" Weiss asked tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"Did you mean what you said about them being delicious? I mean they're misshapen, there's definitely a couple that were overdone..." Weiss looked down as she worried out loud.

Ruby laughed, which earned her an icy glare from her partner. "Weiss they're absolutely amazing. The fact that you made them yourself makes them even better. So yeah, I meant it when I said they're delicious. Because they are." She smiled reassuringly at Weiss, whose gaze softened and nodded.

Yang was leaning on the railing looking out towards the forest, staring into the inky darkness between the trees. "If you're trying to see into the forest, you might as well use your Solstice gift." She hadn't heard Tai come up behind her, and he was sat in one of the wooden chairs.

She gave a hollow laugh, "It's not quite like that."

"So, what is it then?" Unlike with Blake and Weiss, both of whom Tai hadn't been sure how to go about drawing details out, he knew Yang needed a much more direct approach.

Yang looked him in the eyes, "I killed someone."

Author's note:

A bit shorter, but mostly happy chapter, with pretty much nothing bad happening. Had to have one in there.

Yes, in case it wasn't obvious enough, Winter Solstice is basically Christmas, and as my favourite Christmas movie is a Muppet's Christmas Carol (such a good movie!), I had to put it in somewhere.

Next chapter Yang has her chat with Tai, and, although I haven't written it yet, I think that'll be the last chapter of the Patch mini arc.

As always thank you all so much for reading and leaving comments/reviews, kudos, favouriting, following, and subscribing, it really does mean a lot.