When this chapter was originally published I was a junior in high school. This was actually the last Christmas I spent together with my grandfather before he passed away. This makes this very very special to me as you can guess. Please enjoy!

I do not own tsubasa!

Ashura's eyes scanned the endless shelves of books in his privet library, looking for a good spell to teach Fai. The boy had only started his magic lessons two months ago but as expected, had made amazing progress. (After a few expected mishaps of course)

Sighing, the king glanced over his shoulder to see Fai sitting on the floor reading a book about the country's history. The blonde seemed to really take a liking to history, aside from his lessons in sorcery—history was his favorite study by far.

"My king?" the child voice was as soft as ever as he spoke, not lifting his eyes from the pages.

"Yes?"

"How come the maids are hanging decorations in the hallway?" the page of the book was flipped.

"The winter festival is just around the corner. A few weeks and were going to be hosting guests from all over the nation." The king hadn't completely forgotten about the festival—as King he had been going over the budgets and orders for months. He had been waiting for the right time to tell the fragile child about the excitement however.

There was a noticeable pout on Fai's face. It was a well-known fact for that the skittish little blonde he did not like large gatherings. "What is the winter festival?" Fai said while setting the book down and jumping to his feet. He came to stand next to Ashura, peering up at the king with big blue eyes.

"A tradition of Celes that has been going on since the country was founded generations ago. It celebrates quite a bit actually, the founding of the country, thanks for a safe and good year, and prayer that the next year with be safe and wonderful as well. They are all celebrated in a month long festival"

"Oh… kind of like Christmas?" little hands tangled in the cloth of his robe. The poor child seemed suddenly uneasy.

"What is Christmas?"

"In Valerie we used to celebrate a holiday call Christmas at the end of the year, but it had something to do with some religion… I'm don't really remember because I was so little…" The king blinked in surprise a few times—this was the first time he had heard Fai mention anything about the country he came from.

"How did you celebrate this—this Christmas?" Bending down he lifted Fai and carried him over to one of the oversized chairs, settling the child on his lap.

"I remember that we made our mother cards and little trinkets. Every one gave gifts and it was really fun, they were wrapped in bright colored paper with pretty ribbons. And we decorated trees and made cookies that looked like little people…" Fai leaned his head against the king's chest. His eyes were unfocused as he stared into the fire that was burning on the other side of the room.

Ashura wasn't sure if the poor boy was sad or just remembering something found. If there were any fond memories to be had of early childhood.

"Did you like celebrating Christmas?" the king prompted and Fai nodded.

"Then I think you are going to like the winter festival. Although we don't make cookies that look like little people, we do give presents. There is a fairytale that we tell the small children of Celese, do you want to hear it?" Ashura got another nod.

Fai was just so precious.

"A long long time ago, when Celese was just a baby of a nation, it was much smaller. Because it was much smaller there was only one large city. In this city lived a man, his name was Père Neige and he was a very generous man."

The little blonde seemed instantly interested and sat up to look at the king while he spoke. "He believed that if every child worked hard for the betterment of this small, but wonderful land—then they deserved a reward. So the last full moon of the year, he would give a gift to all of the children in the country of Celes to reward them for working so hard."

"Isnt it weird that he knew all of the kids Ashura-ou?" Fai seemed seriously concerned that the king chuckled.

"Just listen child—the children were very happy that the man was so kind as to think of how hard they too had worked this year, that, the next year that worked even harder to make him proud. Because of this Celese quickly grew into the country it is today."

Fai continued to listen intently and so the king continued with the story. He wished he had found one of the many children's books on the subject—but Fai didn't seem to mind the king telling the story from memory.

"Eventually though, the man grew too old and the land to vast. So, it became customary for the lords of the land to continue his work by not collecting taxes for this month so that parents could afford to give their children gifts. Many of the lords had lived in the city and received gifts from this kind man when they were children. So, when Père Neige finally died, the king of that time held a month long festival in his honor and it became a tradition. And so to this day we celebrate the winter festival and give gifts to children who have been good and worked hard this year." Ashura poked Fai's nose.

"I see… why is it a fairy tale? If Père Neige was a real person… then…"

"It has been so long that no one knows if it is really true. It's not in recorded history, it's just an oral tradition. A story told this time of year and has been for years."

Fai nodded. "I think I will like this winter festival."

Ashura woke up to find that Fai was already up and around. Today was the main celebration, the last day of the festival and the day Ashura finally got to give Fai his present. The blonde did better than Ashura had expected him too, he had had to meet many people, go to many parties, and many dinners. And although he still didn't smile—he seemed to be enjoy himself when eating the traditional puddings and cakes.

Ashura didn't bother getting dressed. He slid his coat on his shoulders and ran his fingers through his hair a few times before setting out to find the blonde. He wasn't in the libraries, the kitchens, or the training fields. He wasn't in the throne room or the dining halls or Ashura's study, meaning that he was no doubt in the sacred pool visiting with his brother.

Ashura got more than a few, wondering about in his pajamas in the early hours of the morning was not a common site at Luvel. It wasn't a secret that he did enjoy his sleep.

Before he had brought Fai home he usual slept until the early hours of the afternoon and worked late into the night. However—the little blonde had different ideas about when it was time to get up and Ashura had followed suit.

The king slowly made his way up the many stares before pushing the door open and setting eyes on Fai. He was wearing a black coat that was pooled around him on the floor as he sat staring into the pool. He didn't seem to notice the king yet and so Ashura stayed silent and watched.

"The cookies don't look like little people and there much sweeter… I know you like spicy food but I think you will like them. They also have this thing called fruit cake, Ashura-ou really likes it but I think it tastes bad… there are these little pieces of fruit in it and it's a funny color… he said it's an acquired taste. I'm not sure what that means." Fai shifted so that he was lying on his stomach and was making ripples in the water.

"Today is the last day of the festival so everyone is going to go home and I'm going to have more time to come talk to you again. But because it's the last day every one gives presents, and it thought about what to get you… I decided that you would want something like when we were little and would make each other trinkets during Christmas." The blonde pulled something out of his pocket and held it over the water.

"It's a necklace. The pretty blue stone is called a fluorite, his majesty said that this stone has special meaning… it's supposed to protect people, and so you will be safe." Fai watched the stone for a while before dropping it into the water and watching it slowly drift to the bottom.

Ashura smiled again. He seemed to be doing an awful lot of that since Fai had come to Celese. Clearing his throat he made his presence known before crossing the room and kneeling next to Fai. They sat there in silence for a few moments, and surprisingly enough Fai was the one to break it.

"My king? Why are you still in your pajamas?"

Merry Christmas~~~~~ or whatever it is you celebrate!