Gemralts: Merry Christmas to you Christians!

Prim: And a happy Yule to you Pagans out there! If you get offended by any of the Pagan traditions we have made up, we are really sorry.

Gemralts: A few announcements to make: You can now check the chapter progress on my profile!

Prim: You can see him procrastinate in real time! Next, the next translated book of Spice and Wolf is up! Yay

Gemralts: Lastly, I will be redoing chapter one, as per a review. Now, onto the Wolf and Transformation Yule Special!

Ch. 9: Yule

I walk out of my tent to see the ground covered in snow. I resist the urge to jump into it. Instead, I admire the clearing powers of the white powder. Everywhere I look, I see the snow has turned the entire landscape into a blank canvas. Of in the distance, the walls of Leonia blend into the white world around it. Prim walks up to admire the scenery with me.

"So pretty!" she says. Being the childlike part of me she is, Prim jumps into the snow and starts throwing it up in the air. "Whee!"

I feel like I am forgetting something...

Prim looks at me, head slightly tilted. "Is something important supposed to happen, today?"

I think so...

"I wonder what it is."

I feel a pair of arms wrap around me. Instinctively, I flip over my assailant.

"Holo! Why did you do that?" Lawrence asks, rubbing his head.

"Sorry," I apologize while pulling him up.

"It was a good thing the snow has broken my fall. Moving on, I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas."

I figure out what today is. I respond, "Today is Yule!"

I grab Lawrence's hand. "Holo, what is Yul-!"

'We' make our way towards the main meeting field.

~S&W~

The preparations are almost done when we get there. The air is filled with the smells of the feast. A certain smell fills my nostrils. Honey pickled peaches! I think. My eyes dart back and forth across the plethora of food. On the far side of the line of tables, I see it. I run towards the peaches with Lawrence in tow.

"Holo! Still haven't told me what Yule is!"

"Later! Right now, I must get those honey pickled peaches I always wanted," I respond.

A figure moves out to block my path. I say, "How dare you deny Holo the Wise-Wolf her food!"

Norah replies, "Holo the Glutton must wait like everyone else for her food."

I glare at her challengingly; she returns the look.

I say, "Do you know who this feast is for?"

She replies, slyly, "No one if I let you at it."

Without at retort, I turn back in defeat. "Let us go play in the snow, Prim..."

"I wanna play with Norah!" she whines.

Lawrence takes my hand. He says, "We'll find something to do by ourselves."

I explain, "I suppose you would like to know what is Yule. It is a harvest festival celebrating the winter solstice. There is a big feast made in honor of the harvest deity. It has music, food, and alcohol. Yule has always been cheerful for me."

He remarks, "It was the food, was it not?"

"I enjoy the company of food," I joke.

A hooded figure walks towards us... hissing at the snow?

"Verrater?"

"Die you evil flakes!" he yells. Verrater notices us staring at him. "I- I can explain. I have only been here for a few Yules, but I have grown to hate it. As the only deity, if I am seen with tail and ears out, I will surely get glomped."

"Glomped?" I ask.

"Yes glomped!" he yells. His hood falls down from the sudden movement. "Oh, no..." he whispers.

Suddenly, Verrater gets pounced by a woman. They both fall to the floor, with Verrater groaning.

Lawrence and I look at eachother nervously, putting our hoods up. Slowly, we back away from Verrater before we become victims, too. I hear the very slight crunch of snow being stepped on coming from behind us. I do a quick roll to avoid my would be assailant and yell, "Run!"

While we are running away from our previous location, I look past my shoulder. An entire stampede is following us and is gaining ground.

"Don't look back," I tell Lawrence.

He asks, "Why?"

"Just don't."

I lead us through a haphazard route circling around our encampment. Taking a sharp right here, a u-turn there, I try to confuse the people, to no avail.

I see a snow drift in front of me. With the mob too far away to see, I pull Lawrence and myself into a hole in the mound. The aforementioned mound's entrance proceeds to collapse, hiding us from view. At the same time, it traps us in a compromising position.

From on top of me, Lawrence sees my developing blush, despite my best efforts.

Taking advantage of my state of mind, Lawrence says, "Is Holo the Wise-Wolf flustered from being close to her mate?"

I smile, "What do you mean by mate? Don't get any ideas..."

He laughs and gives me a kiss on the mouth.

I tell him, "Wolves kiss by touching noses."

Realizing what I am expecting, he kisses me like a wolf.

We dig ourselves out of the snow mound when I think we are safe.

Suddenly, an external force makes me feel the urge to throw a ball of snow at Lawrence. Then, I laugh. After a brief period of surprise, Lawrence chucks snow back at me. A feeling of competitiveness takes over me. The weird force dissipates, but I ignore its absence. I throw two chunks of snow at Lawrence. He retaliates with a barrage of snowballs.

Verrater comes by, only to get hit in the face with the cold precipitate. To get revenge, he picks up the snow and throws it at Lawrence and me. This only causes us to retaliate with more force.

Norah finds us to tell us the feast is almost beginning, only to fall to the same fate as Verrater. Like the said wolf, Norah sends a flurry of snowballs in all directions. Soon, the world turns bright white from our artificial blizzard.

There is an oddly shaped, slowly moving ball of snow heading towards me. Only, it is not snow, but the white tail of Prim, come to help me in my time of need.

Together, we force the surrender of Verrater and Norah. Lawrence, however, is entrenched in his impromptu fort made from snow and the side of a tree. Prim attacks him head on, drawing his fire. From behind, I try to sneak up on him. To my surprise, he turns around, smiles, and hits the trunk of the tree. I stand dumbly, wondering, what did he do?

I feel a trickle of snow fall on top of my head, making me look up. Right before it hits me, I see it, a ton of snow falling from the branch disturbed by my mate.

With me out of the way, Lawrence easily gets Prim's surrender.

I am filled with glee from this little game. On the other hand, I feel childish, and I would not have acted this way on my own.

I approach Prim with a question, "Did you instill your will upon me?"

Laughing, Prim answers, "Yes! It was really fun! I bet you liked it!"

Trying to keep a strait face, I say, "You made me act like a child!"

"Only for the first snowball; after that, your own ego took over."

I am left speechless.

~S&W~

Our little battle has left us late for the feast, but no matter, the honey pickled peaches are waiting there for me...

"What do you mean you ate all of them!" I yell at a unfortunate, or fortunate, guest.

Shrinking into his seat, he says, "You were gone for so long... I couldn't just not eat them, that would insult the cooks."

I sigh, "Yet another day gone by without tasting those honey pickled peaches."

At the head table, Verrater is sitting in the middle. To his left is Lawrence and myself. To his right, Prim. Other than the peaches, the other foods are still in high supply. Being the guest of honor I am, I take a large helping of each dish, and then some.

There is plenty of talk and laughter going around; everyone is having a good time. I am having a heated battle of the wits with Lawrence, of which I will surely win. Verrater is busy looking in every direction, checking for potential 'glompers'. Norah has come over to Prim. They are having a fun conversation.

To lighten up the mood further, a band starts playing festive music.

"May I have this dance?" Lawrence asks.

"Of course."

Taking my hand, Lawrence brings us to the center of the circle of tables. We start doing a vibrant dance. From the outside, it may seem we are dancing in unison. However, Lawrence and I are in a heated battle, each doing a flashier move than the last, waiting for one of us to mess up. A crowd forms around us. I do a flip in the air.

He can not top that, I think.

Lawrence jumps into the air, does two spins, lands, and does a flip over my head.

Unable to beat him, I leap into his arms. I whisper into his ear, "You win, and I am happy you can make use of your new body."

The crowd disperses, because slower music starts playing. We start slow dancing.

Other couples follow our lead into the middle area. Norah takes Prim to dance. Verrater is taken, forcefully, to dance with an unknown girl. He mouths to me, "Help!"

With the music playing, I rest my head on my mate's shoulder and say, "I wish I could taste those honey pickled peaches."

Gemralts: Here's a shout-out to Waffl3z0wnu. Thanks for the constructive feedback, I will definitely use it! Also, I feel like I haven't given Prim enough focus ever since I gave her a body. That's going to be my new priority one, find somewhere to fit Prim in. The next chapter will focus on Prim, most likely.

Prim: Yay! You really strayed away from the whole 'alternate personality' thing. I hope you go back to it.

Gemralts: Me, too. Although, I have something planned for you in the far future... *Shows script*

Prim: That's going to surprise a lot of people!

Both: Merry Christmas and a happy Yuletide!