"Secret Santa?"
Saoirse stared at Knightriss suspiciously as the leader stood before her.
"I have been informed that your family used to make it a tradition to do secret santa every year." the Knight told her, Which made Saoirse raise an eyebrow.
"And, who exactly gave you this information?" She asked, although, she had a pretty good idea who it was.
"That is confidential, my dear." the leader spoke. "Now, we all would very much like it if you joined us for dinner this afternoon so we can pick the names for Secret Santa."
"My family haven't done secret Santa since-" Saoirse stopped herself abruptly, realising what she was going to say. Knightriss gazed at the girl, wondering what she would have said.
"Since what?" The leader asked.
"Nothing. I'll be there for dinner."
The leader nodded and left the young girl alone.
"Well? What'd she say?"
Knightriss was surprised to hear Thorne's gruff voice, let alone discover he had been waiting around for the results of the leader's interaction with the dark-haired girl.
"She will be joining us for Dinner this evening, Master Thorne."
"And the Secret Santa thing? She agree to that?"
"Fortunately for us, she did."
Thorne stood in front of Knightriss, his arms crossed over his chest and a stern look on his face as he stared at the floor. Knightriss found it usual that the man didn't turn and leave instantly with the information he had been given. This made her believe that there was another reason he had been waiting.
"Is there anything you would like to speak of, Master Thorne?"
Thorne dropped his shoulders slightly, realising that if he wanted the information he required, he would have to be blunt and ask. "Shaiden said that Gildar might have a secret and she was wondering if you knew anything about it."
"Was Lady Shaiden the only one who was wondering, or were you wondering as well?"
Thorne clenched his jaw. There was no way he would admit that he was concerned about the Viking with the overly large ego. "Shaiden was wondering. I honestly want no involvement in this."
Knightriss smiled, finding amusement in Thorne's weird way of showing affection. "If you must know, I do have knowledge on Master Gildar's secret."
"You do?"
"Yes," Knightriss responded, "But, his secret is also the secret of Master Carter and Lady Saoirse. Master Gildar came to me in confidence shortly before his cousins arrived. You must understand that the only people who could tell you what the secret entails is either Master Gildar, Master Carter or Lady Saoirse."
"Yes, Knightriss."
Silence ensued once more. Knightriss changed the weight in her stance as she waited to see if anything more was wanted from the British Alchemist.
"Well, Thanks. I'll be in my lab if you need me."
Knightriss watched as Thorne began walking away, when an idea hit her. "Master Thorne?"
Thorne spun around, turning his gaze back on Knightriss once more. "Yeah?"
"Do you think you could do me a favour?"
XXXXXXXXXX
The table was set with a selection of cooked food, cold food and drinks. The dining hall had been decorated with sparkly tinsel and mistletoe, giving it a very festive vibe. Saoirse had decided that if she wanted to eat something, she would have to withstand the Christmas decorations that had been laid out.
Everyone chattered and laughed as they passed around different foods, all enjoying the meal. Saoirse wasn't used to having such a high amount of happiness in one room and it made her a great deal uncomfortable.
"So, Saoirse, what do ya enjoy?"
Saoirse turned to look at Shaiden, who was sat next to her.
"Excuse me?"
"Your brother told us a lot about himself, but, we don't know anything about you." Shaiden explained as she bit into her chicken leg.
"Yeah!" Kook called out. "Surely there's a talent you could tell us about or something like that."
"There's nothing interesting about me." Saoirse answered, using her fork to poke her food.
"Come on, there must be something about you that we should know." Kook continued.
"What's that TV show you like? Doctor What?" Carter spoke, his mouth full. Saoirse clenched her jaw as she narrowed her eyes at her brother.
"You know perfectly well what it is. There's no need to announce it to everyone."
"I'm sure it's called Doctor Who." Gildar piped up, a small smirk on his face as he saw his cousin's eyes fix on him."
"Shut up." Saoirse hissed, the glare she had pinned on him strong.
"You used to march about the house when you were younger, declaring that you were going to marry the timelord." Gildar continued. Carter was trying to stifle his laughter while Ruby was punching him to try and keep him quiet.
"Gilly!" Saoirse shouted, making Gildar's mouth drop open and Carter to finally bellow out in laughter.
"Gilly?" Ballista asked, an amused grin on her face. "What kind of name is that?"
"When Rie was younger," Carter spoke as he tried to catch his breath, "She had difficulty saying Gildar's name. So, She called him Gilly. He absolutely hated the name, but, he couldn't get her to stop."
"GILLY! GILLY! GILLY!" Skabb chanted, seemingly excited with the discovery of the name.
While everyone teased Gildar about the embarrassing nickname, Shaiden turned to speak with Saoirse. "My brother likes Doctor Who too. He's a big fan of it."
Saoirse raised an eyebrow as she turned her attention to the boy they were speaking of. Thorne liked Doctor Who? That seemed unlikely, due to his appearance and personality. But, then again, Carter had said the exact same thing about her when he discovered her whole collection of the First Doctor comic book series.
She would have to at least try and talk to him later and test his knowledge on the subject.
But, for now, it seemed that the questioning would have to wait as Knightriss stood from her seat and slammed her helmet down onto the table to get everyone's attention. "Defenders! It is now time to pick out the names for the Secret Santa!"
The Knight's eyes focused on Saoirse, who was twirling a lock of her dark hair around her finger.
"Lady Saoirse? Would you like to explain how This Secret Santa works?"
Everyone turned to look at Saoirse, making her drop her lock of hair and sink back in her seat. This was not what she wanted. She looked over at Carter, who was smiling at her and nodding his head in encouragement.
"Okay, so, uh, you need to write your name down on a piece of paper and, erm, put it in the helmet." Saoirse explained, her eyes focused on her fingers, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.
Everyone began to follow these instructions, writing their names down on the blank pieces of paper and throwing them into the helmet.
"Now what?" Kook called out, clearly excited over the whole idea.
"Y-you have to shake the names up a bit. Y-you know, so you get a random name. Then, you go about and... just... pick out a name..."
"Let me go first!" Kook bellowed as he jumped up from his seat. Knightriss shook the helmet about so all the pieces of paper got shuffled about. She then held the helmet out towards the Australian bird, who plunged his hand in a pulled a piece of paper out.
"Um, also, y-you can't t-tell anyone who you got. It's a tradition thing." Saoirse spoke, her voice quiet. Kookaburra nodded before looking down at the piece of paper, a small smile on his face before he stuffed it into his pocket. The helmet was passed around the table before it finally reached Saoirse. She reached in and pulled out a paper quickly before shoving it towards Shaiden. She really just wanted to go back to her room. She opened up the scrap of paper, her eyes widening at the name that was written out in neat hand writing. She quickly shoved it into a pouch on her waist belt before pushing her chair backwards and getting to her feet.
"Tonight has been lovely." Saoirse smiled at Knightriss, although, everyone could see that the girl was forcing this positive attitude. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to bed."
"But, the lake is still frozen over!" Carter exclaimed, causing Saoirse to raise her eyebrows at him.
"What exactly does that have to do with anything?" She asked as she slowly inched closer and closer to the doorway.
"It means, Dearest Rie, that we're taking you skating." Gildar spoke as he gave Shaiden a pointed look. The ninja was quick to get to her feet and block the doorway out of the dining room. Saoirse could feel the frustration bubble inside her as she tried to get past the woman, failing every time she did so.
"I have no desire to go skating." She told her brother, causing his eyebrows to furrow. His eyes then softened a bit and he clasped his hands underneath his chin.
"Please?"
The scowl melted away from the girl's face as she looked at her brother. All she saw in that moment was her father's eyes staring back at her.
She let out a little sigh as she dropped her head. "You know I don't know how to ice skate." she mumbled.
"Don't worry." Gildar smiled as he appeared at his cousin's side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "We'll help you."