Saoirse opened her eyes that morning, not remembering how she had gotten to her room. She remembered getting lost in the woods, being completely frozen, snuggling up to Thorne and then... nothing. Clearly, she must have fallen asleep, something which was rare for her as her slumber was usually full of nightmares.

Pushing back her blankets, Saoirse made her way over to the window, which had a small layer of frost covering the glass.

Outside, the surface of the moat had frozen over and Saoirse could see her brother outside, sliding about skillfully and gracefully, not missing a beat in his movements. He peered up at her bedroom window and, upon seeing her face, smiled brightly and waved his arms over his head in greeting. Saoirse rolled her eyes at how childish her brother was being within that moment. It reminded her of how he always managed to get himself in trouble during their school years.

Saoirse turned away from the window and began looking in her closet of something to wear. She settled on a overly large knitted sweater that her mom had made her and a pair of black skinny jeans, along with her black combat boots. She had bedhair but she didn't bother to fix it as she knew it would drive Gildar to insanity. She grabbed her work belt, which carried all of her magical materials, and tied it around her waist. The belt was a gift from her father and the only time she didn't wear it was when she was travelling, out of fear that she would lose it.

Finally, Saoirse ventured out of her room and down the staircase in order to find the dining room to get some breakfast. Decorations lined the walls with every turn she took, and the sight of it made her moderately unwell.
She arrived in the dining room to see a spread of cooked food set out, welcoming her and inviting her to sit down and eat, which she did with great appriciation.

It was only when she began to tuck into the food she had selected that she actually noticed that she wasn't alone in the room. Sat a few seats down from her was the blonde-haired Warrior, Ballista, and she had a smile on her face that Saoirse knew all too well. It was the same kind of Sly smile her brother would give her when he knew something she didn't.
"Is there a reason you're staring at me?" The warlock asked, highly irritated at the girl's persistant staring and smiling. Ballista's smile simply widened as she clasped her hands underneath her chin.

"Did you sleep well?"

Saoirse frowned as she stared at the archeress in confusion. Her innocent tone made her very suspicous and her expression didn't help.
"Yes, it was moderately pleasant."

"You gave everyone quite a scare last night." The blonde continued as she took a sip of her coffee.

"What?" Saoirse was not exactly sure what Ballista was on about.

"You don't remember?" She asked, her smile only widening as if what she was discovering was beautiful news for her. Saoirse shook her head, waiting for Ballista to continue talking, but, to her dismay, the warrior said nothing more as she pushed herself up from the table and began making her way out of the castle, more than likely to go and train.
Saoirse finished her breakfast in silence, wanting nothing more than to be left alone.

The rest of the morning played out quite similarly with the other defenders. Even Ruby giggled slightly and told her that if she wanted any information, she certainly wouldn't get it out of her. She didn't understand what everyone was making a fuss over. And, it was making her that furious that she decided that she would do nothing more than hide out in her room and practice her magic.

She had to train and practice her shadow spells, as Warlocks were well known to conjure physical forms and minions out of the darkness. Saoirse sat cross-legged in the middle of her room, her hands outstretched in front of her as she practice manipulating the shadows that remained hidden away in every corner. She would've continued with this for the fest of the day, but, unfortunately, it seemed that wouldn't be the case.

It was shortly after lunch and Saoirse had managed to reach the stage where she could create a silhouette of a very small person. She was just about to focus her mind to make said silhouette grow larger when her bedroom door swung open and her brother came bounding in. He had bits of snow stuck to his clothing and his face was rosie red, thanks to the cold that nipped at his nose.
"Come on! come and join us outside! We're switching the castle's christmas decorations on!"

Saoirse looked up at her brother from her spot on the floor, a look of seething anger on her face, making Carter's smile drop. He gazed about at the materials that lay out around his sister and realized he had interrupted her work.
"You were casting, weren't you?"

"Yes and you made me lose my progress..." She hissed as she dropped her hands. Her enthusiasm left her body as she pushed herself up off the floor and climbed onto her bed. "Just leave me alone, Carter."

"But, the decorations..."

"I don't care about the stupid decorations! I'm tired. I want you to leave me alone!"

Carter's face dropped as he turned around and left the room. Closing the door behind him, the boy began to make his way back down the stairs and outside once more, where most of the defenders were waiting.
"Well, my boy? Is she comming?" Knightriss hollered, staring at Carter as he approached them. Carter shook his head, his sadness clear upon his face.

"But, everyone has to be here when we turn on the decorations!" Crocness declared as she crossed her arms. "It's tradition!"

Carter looked over at the reptillian girl and shook his head once more. "She ain't feeling very well."

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Carter stared down at his feet. "You know what, I'm not in the mood for this now. I think I'll go inside. You lot enjoy yourselves." and with that, Carter disappeared back inside, closing the castle door behind him.
Gildar let out a sigh huff of disappointment before seeing Shaiden make a move to head inside after his. The viking was quick to stop her, shaking his head.
"Not a good idea." He told her honestly.

The blue ninja frowned as she stared at Gildar. She could tell by the look on his face that he knew something and he wasn't telling her or the other's what what it was.

XXXXXXXXX

The pot boiled as Gildar made a hot coacoa for himself and Carter. Seeing his Cousin sad was not something the Viking was used to and he had tried a selection of things to cheer him up. He had even offered to have a slime fight with the boy, but, Carter had declined the offer very quickly.
"So, how's Aunt Belinda?" Gildar asked as he added coacoa powder into two mugs.

Carter shrugged his shoulders as he sat with his chin in his hands. "She's fine."

"Has she been coping since... you know?"

Carter stayed silent for a while, before making any kind of response. "She had to see a councillor a few times. Nowadays, she doesn't really talk about the past unless she has to."
Gildar nodded as he placed the mug down in front of his cousin before taking a seat in front of him.
It was silent between the relatives as there wasn't much to talk about.

"It's really hard these days to be the strong one." Carter finally spoke. "I have to work hard, make sure the farm is in working order and keep a smile on my face, pretending that everything is okay."

Gildar kept silent as Carter spoke. "Since you last visited, Saoirse has gotten worse."

"Worse How?"

Carter bit his lip as he thought carefully about what he should say next. Seeing the hesitation on his cousin's face, Gildar patted the boy's hand, trying his best to be comforting.
"We're family, Carter. You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know... It's just... "

"What is it?"

Carter sighed. "Rie and Mom had a massive arguement recently. It's literally the reason why Mom sent us here. She hoped that maybe Spending Christmas in a new enviroment would change everything."
Gildar nodded his head as Carter spoke the truth.

"Maybe sending her here wasn't the best idea." The viking told his cousin. "It would've been better sending her to stay with someone who wasn't family."

"No," Carter shook his head. "Mom knew that Christmas was taken quite seriously here. She obviously heard a lot about Knightriss from your letters. I think that's why she decided this would be the best place."

"Okay... So, it's gonna have to be a team effort."

Carter stared at his cousin in confusion. "Team effort?"

"Yeah, if Rie doesn't have a reason to smile, then, we need to give her a reason."
Glidar felt himself cheer internally as he saw a smile appear on Carter's face, an excited glimmer in his eyes.

"Well, if we're gonna do that, we gonna need backup."

XXXXXXX

"Gildar's hiding something."

Thorne had been rudely interrupted by his sister that evening. It seemed he couldn't be left alone for more than five minutes in this castle.
"We have to find out what he's hiding." Shaiden continued as she paced back and forth.

"You know, it's called a secret for a reason. There's probably a good reason he's hiding whatever it is he's hiding." Thorne grunted as he tried to work on the slime mixture for Knightriss.

"But, hiding things from your friends is the worst thing you can do!" Shaiden argued as she tried to get her point across. "If it's something bad, we need to help him."

"Firstly, I don't care if Gildar has a problem or not. I'm sure he's big enough to take care of his own issues." Thorne spoke as he focused on measuring his ingredients. "Secondly, There is no 'we' in this senerio. I'm not about to get involved in something so rediculous."

"But-" Before Shaiden could get another word in, there was a heavy knocking at the door, causing Thorne to let out a growl of frustration.
"One day, I'll be left alone in peace."

The door flung open and Gildar marched in, causing Shaiden to fix him with a determined gaze. Carter followed behind him, having to take faster steps inorder to keep up with the viking.
"Thorne, Shaiden, me and Carter require your help!" Gildar announced as he came to a stop besides the work table.

"Whatever it is, forget about it. I'm busy." Thorne hissed as glared at Gildar, before turning his attention to focus on Carter, who was moving about the room, his eyes looking over everything.

"What do you need?" Shaiden asked, seemingly ready for anything.

"All the help we can get." Carter called out. "And maybe more."