November 3rd, 1205

Like any good Bracer, Fie didn't deal with her personal affairs during business hours. She had developed a little ritual. After a hard day's work she would come back to whatever guild branch she was currently stationed at, take a warm shower, change into casual clothing, and the business notifications on her ARCUS would be shut off while the personal messages came out.

She would then spend the next fifteen minutes in bed responding to any messages she had received. Sometimes there would be some from Emma, sometimes from Vivi or Edel. These were the ones she would answer first, because she knew that they would escape her attention otherwise as she focused on the constant.

Every night, without fail, there'd be a notification on her personal ARCUS' home screen reading "Unread message from Elliot". It wasn't his voice, nor his touch, nor his presence, but it was something, and it made her smile.

From that point on, barring any urgencies or emergencies, she would be texting with her boyfriend until either she or he went to sleep.

He'd tell her about his classmates and the new music he was learning and gigs he was doing, she'd tell him about fellow junior bracers she had met and the missions she went on and the people she helped. He'd tell her about carrying equipment and learning how to set up a stage as part of paying his dues, she'd tell him about being stuck with jobs involving sewer trips and making several laps across town as part of paying hers. What they were talking about mattered less than the fact they were talking.

Tonight was a little different. Instead of a statement waiting for her, there was a question.

"Are you doing anything for New Year's?"

"Somehow I feel like I'm about to be."

":) Do you want to stay over for New Year's? I asked dad and he said it was okay."

"Hmm, do I want to spend a holiday chasing down monsters or with my boyfriend? Tough call.

"^^ Of course I do. I'm yours."

"I love you too :)"

November 6th, 1205

Back in Zephyr, Fie's vacations had all been with Rutger and he had taken care of the arrangements, and in Thors everyone's break days happened at the same time as part of the school schedule. It was only a chance overhearing of the phrase "leave request" over breakfast that made her realize there might be a process to it all now that she was a bracer. She asked Sara about it while they were filing their reports at the end of the day.

"Oh, I was wondering when you were gonna do something with those vacation days burning a hole in your pocket. Leave forms are a bit tedious to fill out but as long as you ask far enough in advance you should be fine," explained Sara. "When do you want it?"

"Elliot invited me over for New Years," said Fie.

"Awww, that's so cute!" Sara gushed. "Your first real holiday together!"

Fie smiled faintly. "Thanks."

Sara made a hand gesture equivalent of 'Don't mention it'. "Oh, we can fill out the forms together when I walk you through it; that'll make it easier. You're not the only one with New Year's plans, you know."

"Oh?"

"You think I'll miss out on the longest happy hour of the year? I'm parking my butt in the finest seat in Celdic and not leaving until it falls out!"

"Ah." Fie tuned out Sara's enthusiastic spiel about all the alcohol she was going to consume when the day came. The lack of any people being mentioned did not escape her notice. The thought of her… Friend? No. Teacher? No. Mentor? Closer, but no. Whatever, the important thing was that the thought of Sara spending New Year's drinking alone in a hotel room, like she had passed so much time at Thors, gave Fie pause.

She normally didn't send personal messages before her work day was officially over, but for this she made an exception. The response came quickly, as she had come to expect from Elliot.

"Hey, Sara?" she asked, interrupting her extolling of the virtues of wheat ale.

"Sup?"

"You wanna come to the New Year's dinner with me?"

Sara leaned back in surprise. "Fie, you can't just invite someone to another person's party like that," she gently admonished.

"I asked Elliot, he said his dad and sister would be happy to have you. You know his sister, right?"

"Yeah, I've been friends with Fiona for years. But that type of thing is really meant more for family," Sara ruefully said.

Fie shrugged. "You're basically my family."

"Awww, Fie," Sara said with a smile as she swept her up in a big hug.

"'S that a yes?" Fie asked, muffled by Sara's torso.

Sara let out a short laugh and hugged her tighter.

November 7th, 1205

"I'm glad Sara agreed to come. I worry about her sometimes."

"Me too. You know she's still gonna get drunk off her ass though, right?"

"Yeah. At least she won't be lonely?"

"Yep. And it'll be nice having someone else there to talk to while I get to know your family. Avoid that awkward period."

"Were you worried about that?"

"Eh. A little bit. Not much though. I like your dad."

"Oh he hasn't stopped talking about how excited he is to really meet you. I haven't seen him like this since Fiona's first professional gig. He was so excited he couldn't sleep the night before."

"How'd that go?"

"It was in the morning. He slept right through it."

""

"Yeah, Fiona didn't stop teasing him about it for a month."

"Just Fiona?"

"I only teased him about it for a couple of weeks. And then whenever I was mad at him."

""

"I've been thinking. Would you want more of your family there?"

"?"

"Like, maybe, your two brothers I met? Xeo and Leo?"

"Xeno and Leonidas?"

"Whoops. Yeah, them."

"I don't know. Let me think about it."

There was a lot to think about. A big part of the reason Fie was here, covered by a thin blanket on a hard bed in a drafty Bracer guild branch, was to try and reach a point where she had to be acknowledged as an equal by them and the rest of Zephyr. On the one hand, she wanted to surprise them; to come up to them one day and show them all how much she had grown while they weren't looking, make them see how much they had missed. On the other… she wanted to spend New Years with her big brothers.

The conversation shifted, but she kept the question in the back of her mind, turning it over and over, for days.

November 12th, 1205

"If you can find a way to invite them, go for it." What were the odds of him managing to track them down anyways, she figured.

The question now answered, she cast it out of her mind, never expecting to think about it again.

December 3rd, 1205

There are three places every mercenary, from Bracers to jaegers, know to go to if they want information. Bartenders for local; hookers for political; musicians for cross country.

Musicians don't just travel, they talk. A lot. Especially to each other, and even more especially about each other. After all, gossip keeps road trips interesting and the more interesting something is the faster it spreads.

Such it was that when Leonidas was asking a flutist in Lamarre about where he might be able to find an unlucky lowlife who had made the soon-to-be-fatal mistake of robbing the local crime boss's fourth-favorite mistress and skipped town, he also got told that a redheaded music student in Heimdallr was looking for him and his partner, and it had to do with his little sister.

Normally he would ignore that little tidbit; the actual jobs they had to do were more important than some vague rumors suggesting no urgency or danger. Then it kept coming up, and an oddity became a curiosity. They decided hey, maybe it was worth checking out. They were going to be passing through Heimdallr pretty soon on the way to another job anyways, what's the harm? The rumors usually came with mention of a little cafe off of alto street, apparently a nice enough place, the kind of place you could easily kill a half hour while waiting for a boat. They hadn't walked into a decent trap in a while anyways.

Thus, they found themselves sitting in silence across from Elliot Craig, a pair of coffees cooling in front of them while he nervously fiddled with his tie.

"You know," Xeno said, breaking the silence as he looked at Elliot with half lidded eyes, his head propped up on one hand. "I was sort of hoping it would be a trap."

"Indeed," agreed Leonidas, regarding Elliot with the same kind of dangerous curiosity. "With a trap one knows what to expect."

"Yep. And I have got no idea," said Xeno, pointing at Elliot with a slowly twirling finger. "What you could want."

"S- Sorry," Elliot stammered out, his every muscle tense under the gaze of the pair of extremely well-trained and ludicrously deadly men. Why had he thought this was a good idea again?

Xeno couldn't take it anymore. His palm went up to cover his eyes and his trained killer's smile broke into laughter. "Relax, kid," he said as he took a sip of his coffee. He wouldn't swear by it like some of the musicians had, but it was pretty good. "We just heard you were looking for us."

"And it had something to do with Fie," added Leonidas. His posture hadn't changed but his lips were twitching at a smirk from seeing how nervous Elliot was. Regardless, it was hard to be intimidating with a half-eaten muffin in your hand. Not that Leonidas couldn't absolutely pull it off if he wanted to, he just had no reason at the moment.

Elliot let out a breath it felt like he had been holding since he walked in. "Right. Uhm, so I invited her to spend New Years with me and my family and I didn't want her to feel lonely so I was hoping maybe you two would want to come so she didn't feel like an outsider."

"Pfft," Xeno went, nearly briefly doubling over the table as he held in his laughter. "Oh that's- wow. You're really something kid." His shoulders shook with the laughs he was keeping in.

"Who else will be there?" asked Leonidas.

"Oh, well, uhm, me, Sara- uhm, that's Sara Valestein, my dad, and my sister."

"And your sister's secret boyfriend?" Xeno asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know about that?!"

"Everybody knows about that," said Leonidas.

"A hardass major and his boss's daughter?" added Xeno. "Lot of train-station paperbacks written about that, kid. Leo has most of them."

Elliot looked at the human tank in shock. The tank shrugged. "I get bored during travels."

"Don't let him fool you. Not all those pouches are full of ammo."

Elliot noticed how very rectangular one of the bulges on Leonidas' vest looked. The large man met his gaze and shrugged. "I am not ashamed."

"Nor should you be, pal," Xeno said with a pat on his friend's back before he turned his attention back to Elliot. "So, when's it all happening?"

"Well, the dinner is on New Year's Eve, usually at 9 so we can go do other stuff before the fireworks. Fie's coming on the 30th though so maybe you can come then and hang out or- or not! Whatever you want, really. It's okay." Having thoroughly explored his tie, Elliot's fingers took an interest in the tablecloth.

"We will attempt to be there," said Leonidas. "They will be staying at the former bracer hall, I assume?"

"S- Sara will, yeah."

"I will pretend I did not hear that."

Elliot blushed, quarter out of embarrassment, mostly out of fear.

Xeno chuckled. "We've gotta get going. Our boat comes in soon and I hate waiting at the back of a boarding line." He pulled out some money and left enough to pay for the bill. "On me. Oh, and kid?"

"Y- y- yeah?"

"That was a pretty clever way of getting ahold of us. Nice work."

"Th- thank you! Both of you! For coming and for the- yeah." He looked down at the tablecloth, his eyes wanting to join in the fingers' fun. He didn't look up again until they had left.

Elliot slumped back in his chair and exhaled, his hands wiping at his face. He did it! Hooray! He was so relieved about his success and survival, he didn't notice that feeling in the back of his head like he had forgotten about something.

December 7th, 1205

"Ah, thank you dear," said Olaf as his daughter gave him a cup of tea. She settled onto the other side of the couch, drinking from her own mug and looking through a book.

"What's that?" he asked, interested in the unfamiliar cover.

"This?" she said, slightly closing it so he could read the title. "It's a cookbook. I'm going to be making food for many more people than usual on new years, my normal recipes won't be enough."

"Oh, don't say that like you'll be doing it all on your own! You know Papa will be here to help!" Olaf said, puffing out his chest. Fiona giggled behind her palm.

"Yes, I know Papa. But I'll still be in charge, so I need to know what we'll be making." She frowned. "It's so frustrating though. All these recipes are for even numbers of people, and we're going to have either five or seven. What will I do with all the leftovers?"

"I could eat them!"

"You could," she admitted before reaching out with one finger to poke him in the stomach, making it jiggle slightly. "You're not."

Olaf pouted, but it quickly faded. "Are you excited? You haven't gotten to spend time with Sara in a few years now. You two were inseparable for a while."

Fiona smiled, tilting her head back. "I am. I've missed her. But you know, I'm worried about you."

"Me?"

She nodded. "I'll have Sara, Elliot will have Fie, who will you talk too?"

Olaf laughed before pounding his chest. "Oh don't worry about me. You don't give as many speeches as I have without getting used to talking to yourself!"

Fiona shrugged. "What are your officers doing for the celebration?"

"All the usual, visiting family and friends. In Gaul's case I think they'll be trying to make one from how much they've talked about their wife!" he said with a hearty laugh.

Fiona let out a short chuckle of her own. "Even Neithardt? What will he be doing?"

Olaf frowned. "I don't know. I don't think he's doing much of anything."

"Maybe you could invite him to the dinner?" Fiona suggested. "Doesn't he lives nearby?"

"Hmm, so he does," Olaf said, thoughtfully.

"It would solve both of our issues. You'd have someone to talk to and I wouldn't have to negotiate with this book."

Olaf nodded. "You're right. You're a genius, Fiona! I'll invite him first thing when I return to the fortress!"

Fiona smiled. "That sounds wonderful, Papa." She finished her tea and put the cup in the sink. "Sweet dreams," she said as she kissed him on the head.

"Sweet dreams, Dear," he returned.

Fiona went up to her room, feeling proud of herself. If Elliot could bring his lover to the holidays, than by Aidios so would she!

A/N: This story will hopefully update once a day from now until January 1st. Please drop a review if you liked it, and thank you for reading.