The last few weeks had been a whirlwind of excitement in the Portland Annex of the Library, and Franklin the tea dragon had been absorbing every wonderful moment.
It had all begun with a huge feast, just before the snows came. Chá Huā and Xiàng Rì Kuí (his tea dragon names for Cassandra and Eve, respectively) had prepared the feast, which featured some kind of large roasted bird, accompanied by many dishes of vegetables, breads and sweets. Everyone had eaten, laughed, sang and celebrated for many hours before the feast finally ended. Franklin figured it was some sort of autumn celebration; his kind celebrated a similar festival when the autumn moon was full—though not with so much food! The little dragon knew it was special occasion, because Bái Shān, as he called Jenkins, actually allowed Franklin to sit in his lap at the table and slipped tidbits from his own plate to Franklin, something that Bái Shān was normally very strict about.
After the feast, everyone gathered in the Library's theater and watched tiny men chasing a ball on the large, flat magic mirror all afternoon, the Librarians and their Guardian hollering and cheering loudly whenever one of the small men carried the ball to the end of a field. Franklin didn't understand any of it, and after a short time he grew bored and went to find Bái Shān. He apparently didn't care to watch the tiny men, either, and had gone to his and Chá Huā's nest for a nap instead. The door had been left open, and so Franklin went inside, and when he saw Bái Shān dozing, the tea dragon couldn't resist jumping up into the bed and happily curling up with the beloved old man for the rest of the afternoon.
The excitement continued the very next day, as things around the normally quiet Annex became frenetic with energy and activity. Chá Huā made Bái Shān carry out box after box of shiny, brightly colored decorations and strings upon strings of bright, shining lights in all different colors—some of which even blinked on and off, just like the stars in the sky at night. Chá Huā spent days putting up the decorations and beautiful lights, playing festive music and dancing or singing as she did so. She even coaxed Bái Shān into dancing with her one day, something Franklin had never seen before and he was absolutely delighted by it.
Franklin sensed that whatever festival it was that they were getting ready to celebrate, it must be a very important one. But just when he thought things couldn't get any more dazzling or amazing, he was proven wrong on the day that Xĭ Qué, Fēng and Lao Hŭ—meaning Magpie, Wind and Tiger, his names for Flynn, Ezekiel and Jake—came through the glowing doors, dragging an enormous pine tree behind them, a tree that dwarfed even Bái Shān. The little dragon squealed and ran around the workroom in a frenzy of excitement when he saw them. Why had they brought the tree into Bái Shān's magic house? What were they going to do with it?
He found out soon enough. After Chá Huā saw the tree and squealed almost as loudly as Franklin had, she made the men go and fetch even more boxes of decorations and lights. They all then proceeded to actually put the decorations onto the tree itself! Shining strings of gold and silver; glass balls of many different colors; strings of red berries and popcorn all strung together (that didn't taste very good at all, he learned); little pieces of red and white striped sugar shaped like hooks (those tasted very good, indeed!). They even hid tiny boxes wrapped with colorful paper and ribbons among the branches of the pine tree. Franklin wore himself out with racing around and taking in all the sights, playing with the decorations, tasting the various items and playing in the empty boxes.
As if this all wasn't enough, the best was yet to come. As soon as all of the decorations were on the tree, Chá Huā turned off all of the lights in the room. Knowing that something wonderful was about to happen, the little reptile fidgeted anxiously as he waited to see what it could possibly be. Then, at a word from Bái Shān, Lao Hŭ flipped a switch, and Franklin was frozen with disbelief.
The tall tree suddenly blazed to life with lights, their glow reflected in the shiny surfaces of the colored glass balls. At the very top of the tree, a huge golden star was shining, just like the North Star. It was the most beautiful thing the little tea dragon had ever seen, and all he could do for several minutes was stare at it with wide black eyes, a faint whine of amazement sounding in his throat.
Everyone noticed Franklin's reaction, and watched quietly as he slowly inched his way forward to the tree. When he was close enough, he stretched out a careful paw and ever so lightly touched one of the shining glass balls. He saw his distorted reflection in its surface and recognized the comical-looking creature as himself. He was so tickled by his appearance that hopped up and down and half hooted-half barked with what passed for tea dragon laughter. Then, before anyone could stop him, he screamed with glee, raced beneath the tree's drooping branches and scampered up the trunk, his sharp claws making the climb almost effortless. Caught off-guard, Bái Shān, Chá Huā and the others then spent the next two hours trying to coax the mischievous dragon out of the tree before he could tip it over or discovered that he could remove and throw any of the decorations from off of the tree.
The days continued to be filled with activity. Besides the usual business of the Library, everyone kept carrying in bags of items, all sorts of things—clothes, books, electrical gadgets, knickknacks, perfumes, food, streamers, banners, and things that he couldn't even begin to identify. Everyone at some point took some of the items and wrapped them up in colorful paper and tied them with ribbons and bows. These were then placed beneath the pine tree, and over the coming days everyone took turns picking up one or another of the packages, holding it up and gently shaking it before replacing it beneath the tree.
Franklin was perplexed by the odd behavior, until one day it finally came to him: The tree must represent a local god or goddess that he wasn't familiar with, and the packages were offerings to that deity! Naturally, having been brought up properly by his family in China, he wanted to be polite and offer the tree a gift, too; for all the tea dragon knew, it may have been this very tree-god who had safely brought Franklin to this magic house and his new family in the first place. It would be unforgivably rude not to thank the tree-god properly!
Franklin scampered off to the box where Bái Shān kept all of his toys. He removed each and every one, examining them carefully to see if any of them would make a suitable gift, but they were all so badly mauled and chewed up that none of could be even remotely deemed fit enough for a god.
He then went to his nest to think about the situation. He tried to discuss his predicament with Chac, his pre-Columbian artifact roommate, but the ever-silent statue wasn't any help at all. Franklin began to dig through his meager belongings to see what he had that he could offer to the tree-god. His eyes fell immediately onto the perfect gift: A beautiful bow tie made of amethyst-colored silk and dotted all over with tiny gold diamonds. It used to belong to Bái Shān; Franklin found it one day in the Annex workroom on the patriarch's desk, and thinking that it had been discarded, Franklin quickly grabbed it and carried it off to his nest. It was the little dragon's most prized possession, because it reminded him of Bái Shān and of all of the love and kindness he had shown to Franklin from the very first day they met. Such a beautiful piece of silk would surely be an acceptable gift to the tree-god, though it made Franklin a little sad to part with something that had once belonged to his beloved Bái Shān. Still, he had been taught since the time he was a hatchling that one always gave one's best to the gods.
Franklin took the tie between his teeth and carefully carried it to the workroom. It was now very late in the evening and the others weren't around, so he had the workroom to himself. He carried the tie to Chá Huā's desk, where all of the colorful paper and ribbon was being kept. He paused for a moment, trying to remember how he had seen the others prepare their gifts. He then seized a roll of wrapping paper in his tiny claws and began tearing a huge, ragged chunk of paper from it.
He laid the paper on the floor, then carefully placed the tie on top of it. He tried to fold the paper over the garment, just as he had seen the others do, but for some reason it wouldn't stay folded, the paper kept lying flat again. He was about to lose his temper, but then he remembered the sticky strips—everyone had used sticky strips to make their paper stay folded!
The dragon ran back to the desk and found the thing that was holding the spool of sticky strips. He pulled it down onto the floor and, after several frustrating attempts, was finally able to pull the sticky strip loose from the spool. He dragged the continuous strand of the tacky substance over to his gift, and while his had the sticky strip clamped between his teeth, he quickly folded the paper over the tie with his paws. He was then able to place the sticky strip over the uneven seams of the wrapping paper, finally making the edges stay in place with a firm slap of his paw.
Franklin threw his head back and yipped proudly at his accomplishment. He looked his gift over and decided that it needed a little more of the sticky strip on it, just make sure the paper stayed in place. So he pulled more of the strip from the roll, slapping it onto the paper to make sure it stuck. Unfortunately, he slapped the sticky side of the strip, and it stuck to his paw. He then tried to un-stick it from his paw, and the more he fought it, the more entangled in the sticky strip he became. The fine, silken hairs that tufted at the end of his tail then became caught in the adhesive side of the stuff, then his rear legs. It seemed like the more he struggled, the more tangled up in it he became. Franklin began to be afraid and started shrieking with panic, leaping and thrashing about as he tried to free himself of the treacherous stuff.
Finally, to his immense relief, he was able to disentangle himself, though he had small pieces of sticky strip tangled in his tail and stuck to his body. He scurried over to his gift to make sure it had remained undamaged in the struggle. It was somewhat worse for wear, but not too much. He hoped the tree-god would understand. Franklin was about to take the package over to the tree, but then realized that it didn't have a shiny ribbon on it like the others had put on their offerings. He looked around and spied a spool of shiny gold-colored ribbon on top of Chá Huā's desk. He quickly climbed up and grabbed the spool, then hurried back to the floor. He wound the ribbon around his gift, but then realized he didn't know how to make a fluffy bow of it like some of the others had done. He thought for a moment as he looked around. There was a small piece of sticky strip still caught in his tail tuft, and he decided that would have to do. Franklin carefully pulled the piece of sticky strip from his tail and then quickly used it to stick the gold ribbon, untied, onto the package. He then chewed the ribbon free of the spool.
The little dragon stood back to admire his work. By human standards, it was a sorry-looking gift, looking as though a small child had wadded a torn piece of gift wrapping paper around the tie and then haphazardly taped a chewed-up piece of ribbon to it. But by tea dragon standards, it was beautiful, a more than fitting gift for a tree-god! Gurgling with satisfaction, Franklin picked up the gift in his jaws and proudly trotted it over to the glittering tree-god.
Cassandra poked her head around the doorframe of Jenkins's study.
"Are you coming to bed soon, sweetie?" she asked. "It's Christmas Eve, you know; Santa won't leave you any presents if you're still awake when he gets here, you know!" Jenkins closed the book he'd been reading and set it aside on the sofa where he was sitting. He stood and stretched his long arms behind him, yawning at the same time.
"Yes, soon," he answered her. He walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. "I think I'd like to have a cup of tea first, though. May I bring you anything from the kitchen?" The Librarian shook her head.
"Nope, I'm good," she said, then pouted. "But hurry back, okay? It's almost midnight, and I've been waiting all day to cuddle up with my great big handsome teddy-bear knight!" Jenkins chuckled at the mushy sentiment, but secretly he was very pleased that his pretty young wife would so look forward to cuddling with him. He bent to kiss her again.
"I'll be back in two shakes of a reindeer's tail!" he assured her, then hurried off to the kitchen for his tea.
As the Caretaker drew closer to the workroom, his ears caught the sound of a strange, somewhat high-pitched, sing-song whining coming from the large space. Thinking that an intruder had somehow broken into the Annex again, he slowed his step and quietly approached the workroom from the corridor. When he reached the doorway, he peered slowly around the corner to see if he could spot the source of the sound, and he was astonished to see only Franklin, in front of the large Christmas tree, its lights left on for Christmas Eve.
Jenkins watched, puzzled, as the little tea dragon sat up on his haunches, then dropped onto his forepaws, then lowered his head three times all the way to floor. He repeated this process two more times, all the while producing the strange song-like sound and chattering softly to himself. The bowing action was vaguely familiar to the immortal, and he had to think for a few minutes before he remembered: Franklin was kow-towing, a very formal form of showing respect and honor that was common in pre-revolutionary China. But who or what on earth was the tea dragon kow-towing to? Jenkins carefully craned his neck past the doorframe in an effort to try and see what it could be.
But all the Caretaker could see was Franklin, the tree…and a small, ratty-looking package on the floor in front of the little kow-towing dragon. Jenkins cocked his head, aware now that he had stumbled on something unusual, but not quite knowing what it was. He kept silent and merely watched.
When Franklin was finished bowing to the tree, he gently pushed the raggedy package—which Jenkins realized was "wrapped" with Christmas paper—toward the tree. Franklin then repeated the bowing ritual again, still chattering and singing. When the bowing was done, the tea dragon gave a sharp, joyous-sounding yelp, then scurried off up the spiral staircase toward the mezzanine and disappeared.
Jenkins waited a few moments to make sure Franklin wasn't going to return, then stepped into the workroom and headed straight for the Christmas tree. He stooped to pick up Franklin's "gift", lifted a loose flap of paper and peeked inside. He recognized the tie inside as the one that he'd misplaced weeks ago and had been looking for ever since. Franklin obviously had found it someplace and carried it off to who knew where for who knew what reason—but why did the dragon try to wrap it up and put it beneath the Christmas tree?
The immortal stood, his arms crossed and brows knit together, and pondered the questions for a long time. He studied the Christmas tree and then the package in his hand, trying to find the link between them. All of the other gifts under the tree were for specific people; presumably, Franklin, intelligent little beast that he was, had been watching everyone over the last few weeks and had gotten the idea to contribute a gift of his own. But who was it for? And the kowtowing, what was that all about?
Jenkins carried the gift over to his desk and sat down, still trying to puzzle things out. He looked over at the Christmas tree again, replayed in his mind the scene he had just witnessed. The last time the immortal had seen anyone perform the kowtowing ritual was well over a hundred years ago, in China, when Jenkins himself had been presented to the Daoguang Emperor. The immortal mused for a moment on all of the rulers he had known through the centuries, how most of them had been regarded as semi- or fully-divine beings by their subjects—and suddenly everything fell into place. Franklin had been offering his gift to the tree itself! To the little Eastern dragon who had never seen a Christmas tree before, he must've mistaken it for some sort of deity, and the presents he had seen everyone placing beneath the tree had been mistaken for offerings to said deity. And Franklin had wanted to make an "offering" as well, had selected Jenkins's pilfered tie as the most best gift he could offer.
Jenkins was momentarily stunned by the realization, not by Franklin's wanting to offer a gift to something he thought was a god, but by the knowledge that his little reptilian companion had valued something of Jenkins's so much that Franklin thought it the only thing worthy to offer to a god. It meant that Franklin valued Jenkins very highly, and that touched the old Caretaker's heart very deeply. He felt a lump in his throat form as he contemplated that thought.
A wonderful idea came to Jenkins. He stood up and took the tattered little gift with him as he hurried back to the bedroom, mentally going through Cassandra's inventory of Christmas decor items as he went.
Two hours later Jenkins and Cassandra were crouched behind the Caretaker's desk in the darkened workroom. When he told his wife about Franklin and his gift to the tree, and of his plan to make Franklin's very first Christmas one that the little reptile would never forget, the tender-hearted Librarian had almost burst into tears.
It was almost three o'clock in the morning now, and Jenkins had just solidly struck the ancient Chinese temple bell three times before dashing over to duck behind his desk with his wife. He checked again to make sure that the gift was in position, then settled back anxiously to wait. The immortal suspected that Franklin's nest was somewhere around the mezzanine area, but he wasn't sure where, exactly. Wherever the dragon was, he hoped Franklin could hear the temple bell. After a few minutes, however, he was relieved to hear the tell-tale skittering of tiny claws.
Franklin ran down the staircase and skidded to a stop on the wooden floor. He looked around, eyes wide, for the source of the bell that had awoken him. As he scanned the room, his eyes fell on a strange object that hadn't been here before, right on the spot where he had left his offering to the tree-god just a few hours ago. Only it wasn't his gift now.
The tea dragon was astonished to see, not his gift, but rather a miniature pine tree about twelve inches stall, colorfully decorated just like the giant one that was standing in front of him this very minute. The only difference was that this small tree was now had Bái Shān's bow tie, the very same one Franklin had given to the tree-god, neatly tied around it's top half! As he made a low 'moo-ing' sound of wonder, the little dragon cautiously approached the tiny tree and stretched a tentative paw out to touch it. As soon as he did, the tree lit up with tiny little lights that blinked merrily. Franklin squawked in alarm and jumped backward as the tree began to wiggle back and forth in a simple dance, while the lively strains of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" played. After a few seconds, the music stopped, the tree became still, and the lights went out.
Franklin sat and stared in shock at the tree for several minutes, not even daring to blink. He slowly reached out again to touch it, and it again sprang to life, singing and dancing as the dragon quickly snatched his paw away. Behind Jenkins's desk, Cassandra covered her mouth with both hands to keep from bursting into laughter as she and the Caretaker watched everything.
The small dragon pondered what all of this could possibly mean, and came up with only one logical conclusion: The tree-god had not only accepted Franklin's humble gift, but had given Franklin one in return, this miniature replica of itself wearing Bái Shān's tie, that miraculously danced and sang with happiness in greeting whenever the tea dragon approached it. And it was just the right size for Franklin's nest, which had to mean that he was meant to keep it there as a reminder that he was now also under the protection of the tree-god that guarded Bái Shān and everyone else who lived in the patriarch's magical house and kept them safe!
Franklin was ecstatic, and began to leap and jump about as he shrieked piercingly with happiness. His long tail accidentally brushed the small tree, and it began to dance and sing again, its lights blinking cheerily along with the tinny-sounding music. The dragon was absolutely beside himself with joy as the tree-god danced with him. He had to show his gift to his friend, Chac, and share with him the good news right away! Franklin carefully took the wriggling, singing tree between his jaws and then took off as fast as he could go up the stairs, disappearing into the mezzanine stacks, the tree's music fading gradually away into silence.
As soon as they thought it was safe to come out of hiding, the Librarian and the Caretaker stood up stiffly from behind the desk. Cassandra immediately gave in to her pent-up laughter, and even Jenkins couldn't help grinning in amusement at what they had just witnessed.
"Oh my God, Jenkins!" she exclaimed. "I think that was the cutest thing I have ever seen!"
"Yes, I think your gift idea was rather will-received, my dear!" he chuckled, walking out from behind his desk and gazing up into the mezzanine area of the Annex. "And the best part is that tomorrow, all I have to do is follow the sound of that music and I'll finally know where Franklin has set up his nest." Cassandra came out to stand next to her husband, linking her arm around his as she looked up at him.
"Do you think the batteries will last that long?" she asked, giving his arm a squeeze. Jenkins smiled and nodded his head.
"Oh, yes; I used a little enhancement spell to lengthen their life a bit," he said, unconcerned. "They'll eventually drain completely in a few days' time, but by then I'll have him located, I hope!"
"You really think that he thinks the Christmas tree is a god of some kind?" she asked, still incredulous. Jenkins nodded and smiled down at her.
"Based on what I saw earlier this evening, I'm almost one hundred percent certain," he replied.
"But a Christmas tree? A god?"
"He's a very intelligent creature, my dear," the immortal said thoughtfully. "But you have to keep in mind that he can only interpret his current surroundings and experiences through the lens of his previous surroundings and life experiences, as is true with all of us. He's a magical being from a land of great antiquity, filled with magic, so he naturally expects magic wherever he goes. It's not that great of a stretch for him to see something like a Christmas tree as some sort of magical being, especially when he sees us decorating it and seeming to give it presents!" Jenkins draped his long arm around his wife's shoulders and gave her a hug. A nearby clock softly chimed half-past three.
"I think we'd better get some sleep, my dear," he said. "Everyone will be arriving in a few hours to open presents and begin feasting!" He leaned over and kissed her head.
"Merry Christmas, my love!" Cassandra smiled and leaned against the tall Caretaker as they began slowly walking back to their bedroom.
"Merry Christmas, sweetheart!" she echoed, yawning sleepily.
Later in the morning, everyone else arrived for the Annex's Christmas celebrations. Franklin was there, also, even more hyper and excited than usual as the day's events unfolded. Presents were eagerly exchanged and unwrapped (Cassandra gave Jenkins a set of gold cufflinks that she had specially made to look like blossoms from their Tree of Love); a veritable medieval banquet of food and drink was shared (Eve, Cassandra and Jake did most of the cooking, so everyone else pitched in on cleanup afterwards so that the three of them could finally relax for a while); stories and memories of the past year were told and relived (except for those pertaining to "The Alternate Timeline That Must Never Be Mentioned Again").
Late in the afternoon, everyone piled a plate high with leftovers and headed for the theater to watch the Christmas Eve football game between the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos; knowing that they were all going to be too busy to watch it on television, Jake had recorded it. As they watched the game, Flynn, Jake and Eve got into an argument about one of the more obscure NFL rules regarding gameplay. Everyone had left their phones upstairs—except Ezekiel, of course, but he was now sleeping off his Christmas dinner and no one had the heart to disturb him. So Flynn jumped up and dashed off to the Annex to look the answer up in a book. After several minutes he finally returned, a perplexed, slightly concerned look on his face.
"What's wrong, Flynn?" asked Eve. Flynn looked around at the others.
"I'm...not sure," he said slowly, cocking his head as tough listening for something. "I don't hear anything now, but all the time I was in the stacks looking for this book, I could've sworn I kept hearing 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' playing over and over and over..."
"Ooookay, I think it's time to cut off your eggnog supply, babe," laughed Eve, getting up to give her bemused husband a hug and peck on his cheek. "Sounds like you've had just a liiitle too much Christmas cheer!"
Cassandra and Jenkins exchanged knowing looks, but remained silent, each one quickly shoving a large forkful of mincemeat pie into their mouths to keep from laughing.
A/N: This marks the end of "Christmas Fluff 2018". I hope you all enjoyed the fics, and I'm looking forward to writing more adventures for our heroes in 2019, especially for Jenkins and Cassandra (and Franklin, too!). I wish all of my readers a very happy, prosperous and peaceful New Year!