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Idris stood watching the beginning of the sunset when I stepped off the stairs He was dressed to the nines as well, in black jeans, a crisp white tailored shirt, and a grey silk and wool blend jacket It was a good look for him Even his hair had been tamed A bit

"Hey, Idris," I said, "do you knohat this is about?"

"No clue," he replied with a s fired," I said, "for being si with me "Somehow I don’t think that would come with a fancy invite Did the faas dress you too?"

Grinning, I looked down and ranor I’d have shown up in workout clothing"

A soft scrape of sound alerted us, and we turned to see Mzatal step into the atriu the dark Ar over his shoulder wound with extra strands of silver cord, and he looked sharp as all hell

"This way," he said with an enigmatic smile He turned and headed down stairs I’d yet to explore With a glance at Idris, I followed, curious and puzzled After a couple of turns of the spiral stair, we stepped out into a rooht and color As everywhere else, a wall of glass faced the sea and sunset, but here, the waterfall cascaded before it, spectacular rays of the setting sun strea part

Mzatal strode to the head of a dining table elaborately laid with crystal, silver, and fine china He glanced at us and gestured to the chairs on each side of the table Gestamar came in behind us and moved to crouch near Mzatal

Idris slid a look at ht back I moved to a chair, pulled it out, and sank into it, utterly mystified Idris sat across froot that we’d apparently been invited to a meal, but that in itself eird I’d eaten plenty of times around Mzatal, but apart from wine and tunjen, I rarely saw him eat, and had certainly never shared a meal with hi his lips "You have both worked very hard," he said, "and are away from your holasses, then drew a breath as though delaying a moment more to choose his words "With the fullness of your schedules, you have lost track of your Earth time," he continued "This is a day that each of you typically celebrate with your family and with your friends I cannot offer those, but I can offer the recognition and so of the celebration Happy Christmas, Idris Palatino and Kara Gillian"

A weird jolt went through e combination of dishtly furrowed

I’htened in preparation for a lovely bout of feeling sorry for myself But Idris is away from his family, too, I reh Katashi, they’d been told he was in Japan Now that Katashi proved hi, Idris’s fa told Ruthlessly I shoved the self-pity down

Mzatal lifted his glass, s the muddled elass and took a sip of the really good dark wine "Merry Christ"

Idris cleared his throat, see to have recovered a bit from his initial shock "Yeah, ulass

The doubt seeer in Mzatal’s eyes, and I realized it had to run fairly deep if it was actually showing Da for us, even if it did sting Sure, I could get into a big pity party about having to miss Christuarantee that my Christmas here would suck shit Truth was, I couldn’t find it inht me here, then Rhyzkahl certainly would’ve carried out his plans, and there wouldn’t have been anyone to rescue hten the h "This isn’t at all like the Christrinned "Tessa can’t cook for shit, and neither can I"

Some of the uncertainty faded frolass of wine, his other hand resting on the back of the chair "The faas have prepared a meal that they assure me contains your favorites fro his head slightly "It is unlikely anything will be burnt unless I specifically asked for it, and then it would be under protest"

"No, that’s quite all right" I shook ood tosmile "Mzatal, sit the hell down so we can all relax, okay?"

He gave a slight nod and pulled the chair out Finally

With that the ht conversation while aited for the food I told the others how Tessa and I alent to Lake o’ Butter pancake house thethe stores for the day-after-Christmas sales Idris told us about how his faether on Christ turns at verses of Christrinned sohis rendition of a snortingly funny verse of Silent Night--that I knew he really considered theh they’d adopted hilass aside to be speedily refilled by Faruk He reached into his pockets and pulled out two little boxes of delicately carved wood, then placed one before each of us "I do greatly appreciate your work and your efforts"

I set lass down, hesitated, then reached for the box and opened it Inside was a ring Uh oh I slid a glance to Idris With relief, I saw he had a ring, too, and with that the weirdness factor evaporated

Intrigued, I lifted the ring out of the box Silver and gold interwove to form an intricate yet solid band, and a rich blue stone sparkled in the setting I exhaled and lifted"Thank you"