My mom joined us not too long after and with her help, we quickly finish decorating the tree. The only thing remaining is to put the angel at the top of the tree, but for some reason, there is no angel in the decoration box. “Did anyone take the angel?” I ask.

“Oh yeah, I did. Hold on,” Emily says before dashing away. Not too long after she returns with three small boxes and smiles. “We’ve been using that angel for too long so I decided we should try something new this Christmas. Pick one.”

“How do we know what to pick when we can’t even see what’s inside the boxes?” mom asks.

“Angels, but different variants. Just pick one already.”

Mom and I share a look before mom shrugs and points at a random box, a second later I point at the exact same box. Smiling widely Emily opens the box to reveal an oddly familiar eldritch monstrosity in doll form.

“What the hell is that demonic-looking thing?” Mom asks an incredulous look on her face.

“A biblically accurate angel. I made three but since you guys chose this one it’s what is going up on the tree.”

“What do you mean biblically accurate?”

“Well, the mainstream angel appearance is not actually what angels look like so I decided to change that. According to the bible, there are…”

As Emily rambles on about angels and how they actually look, I move closer to inspect the doll in her hand. A moment later I remember where I recognize it from. It is the All-Seeing Eye. The giant eye at the center, the wings, even the tentacles. The only difference between this one and the real thing is that this one has eyes stickered all over its tentacles.

Feeling a bit suspicious I asked Emily, “This isn’t entirely accurate. It’s meant to be rings, not tentacles.”

She shrugs carelessly. “A friend told me the rings part was a misinterpretation. It’s actually meant to be tentacles. Even the eyes on the tentacles are overkill but I thought it would look cuter this way.”

“Cuter?” Mom asks. “It looks like a demonic creature. You’re not putting that thing on top of the tree.”

Meanwhile, my suspicion keeps growing. “Which friend is that?” For that person to know exactly what the All-Seeing Eye looks like, that person must be a magician, and a pretty knowledgeable one too. But whether or not the person is a Laen I can’t know until I meet them.

“You don’t her. Mom, you’re the one who chose this so why can’t I put it on the tree?”

“I’m not going to let visitors walk into our house just to be greeted with that!”

Emily continues trying to persuade our mom while I wonder whether or not to keep pressing her about her friend. The fact that she is friends with a magician worries me, especially since I don’t know whether that friend of ours is a Laen or not. What if one day she gets unintentionally pulled into danger? In the end, however, I decided to stay silent. I’ll find out more about this friend later, for now, I am just going to enjoy my Christmas.

In the end, Emily prevails over my mother and the abomination gets put on top of the tree, and after that, we have breakfast.

The rest of the day is spent cooking, something which is mostly done by my mother and Emily, with me lending a helping hand every once in a while. By the time we are done we - well they, I can endure worse - are tired. We spend the rest of the day watching Christmas movies on the TV. It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve done something like this together, and as we laugh and converse, I can’t help but feel a strong sense of peace within me. We go to bed early that night.

Very early the next morning I woke up feeling very uneasy. I get up and walk to my window, pushing it wide open. Outside nothing seems unusual. There is some activity but it’s Christmas so that isn’t too unusual. After some seconds I turn on second sight.

Outside is crawling with Fasurus. As I watch them prowl the street I can’t help but get goosebumps, remembering the way they gathered during the fire at the concert. Strangely, unlike then, they are calm today and seem almost as though they are waiting for something. Also, quite a lot of them are gathered around Tahku’s house.

As I watch I notice one looking right back at me with a grin on its face. It is ‘Taur. It smiles wider as I notice it, and motions for me to wait before vanishing. The next moment all the Fasurus on the street turn to look at me.

Heart pounding I step back from the window as contingency plans begin flashing through my mind. The noer for summoning Luoi, activating the Laen mark, and also preparing to fight. The Fasurus on the street seem calm but who knows how they’ll react to the presence of a Laen so close to them.

I hear footsteps behind me and my heart almost flies out of my chest. I turn around to see Tahku standing behind me. Letting out a small moan, I sink to the ground as my hand clutches my chest. For a brief moment, I had imagined that the Fasurus had decided to mob me.

Tahku stares at me bemused. “Merry Christmas to you too.”

“Yeah, Merry Christmas,” I say between pants. “Sorry, I thought you were one of them.”

“No problem.”

“Can you please stop teleporting into my room? At least not without asking me first.”

“I thought ‘Taur told me we were coming?”

“He didn’t. He just motioned for me to wait and disappeared and then poof, you’re here.”

I have no idea why I am currently so relaxed around Tahku. Maybe it’s because he’s helped me a few times but either way I’m not as suspicious as when I first met him. I still don’t fully trust him though.

He turns to look at ‘Taur. He is silent for a moment before turning back to me. “It won’t happen again.”

I nod. “So, what is it? What did you come here for? Did you have something to tell me?”

He shakes his head. “I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, nothing more”

“Oh. Actually, I have a question but I don’t know if you’ll feel comfortable answering it. If you don’t want to you can just ignore me.”

A curious look appears on his face. “Ask.”

“Those Ascendants that attacked a Laen… why did they do it?”

He is silent for a moment as he studies my face. “You know, there are times I almost forget you are a Laen. Why are you asking me this? Planning on telling? Well, it doesn’t matter. They were looking for the keys to the Abyss. Obviously, they failed.”

“Why did they want the key?”

“Why else? To free the ones trapped within. With the Eldest gone and the Laen still somewhat recovering from the previous war, now is the best time to change things in our favor.”