Bonus: "Santa, Lucia"

It being cold outside didn’t matter to Maks. He didn’t have to go outside. He could stay inside the home, lounging by the holo-fireplace in his pajama pants. Until dinnertime, anyway.

Nizka, Otis, and Nisa could all do the same if they’d enjoyed the finer things, of course. Instead they were all occupied with other things at the moment, elsewhere in the house. Maks imagined that they were reading, doing laundry, and plotting something, respectively. He wasn’t sure, because he’d have to give up his hard-won command of all three seats on the couch to find out. And there was no actual need to move until something disturbed him.

Something did, eventually. A Knock at the door.

Now that the old door chime was working again, very few people knocked on the door of the home. Only those who’d known the place before the chime had been of any use.

There was a knock now. That was how the kids knew it was Ashley visiting.

But when they got to the door, she looked a little different from how they’d expected. Ashley was wearing her jacket and gloves because it was a cold evening, but over that was a white gown with a length of red fabric at the waist. It was a little unusual.

Also, there were candles on Ashley’s head. That was a lot unusual. A whole crown of them were up there, flickering away. Most were woven into a kind of wreath so they stuck up straight, but the two affixed to her horns really lit up her face, as well as her customary smile.

“Hi, guys!” she said, waving at the other kids as energetically as she could without upsetting the covered basket she held in her other hand too much. They didn’t keep her waiting long. Her oldest friends all coalesced at the door to find out what was up.

“Nice to see you. Uh, hey, how come you’re on fire?” Nisa found it hard to look away, but glancing over Ashley’s shoulder, she noticed Ken and Christa standing not far away. Ashley’s adopted parents were carrying candles, although not using any as fashion statements. That kept everyone’s attention firmly on Ashley.

“It’s Saint Lucia’s Day!” said Ashley, although this didn’t really explain much to the other children. Marion, their matron, took on a knowing look, but didn’t say anything. Clearly Ashley would enjoy doing the explaining.

“My mom and dad have ancestors from um, Planet Sweden, so I get to dress like this tonight! We were gonna use diode candles. But it turned out we could do it the traditional way, because I’m not flammable like most kids.” Ashley almost beamed with pride.

“Another way you’re a most suitable adoptee,” Nizka observed, though her attention was split. Her fingers were already typing in queries about the holiday into her data-slab while she spoke. School had made her very good at questioning a person while simultaneously investigating written resources, because Nizka was never satisfied unless she was learning more than she was being told. “Now, isn’t this custom traditionally part of a parade?”

This was when Ashley moved to open her basket. “Well, nobody else really knows about it around here. Yet. But I like it, and we spent all day in the kitchen, baking some stuff…”

“You have my attention,” Maks said, tenting his fingers and drawing closer to the door, even though there was cold air outside, and he preferred the warm everything else that was inside.

“… and first we made all these ginger snaps so we can give out food to our neighbors, like Saint Lucia did I guess. I can even do it in the dark, ‘cause of my flamey crown of niceness!”

Ashley handed her friends each a cookie in turn. They were a bit uneven in size, certainly homemade, but Maks in particular thought the spices did something about the unpleasant chill. There was one for Marion, and for her Helper, as well, even if that one was symbolic.

Normally, Ashley’s visits to the home where she’d grown up lasted a long time. But this time she didn’t even set foot inside. “I want to get to everybody, and then we go home and eat these buns that are in the oven. Mom and Dad said you should join us to have them while they’re fresh, if you want to!”

Maks did want to, but his interest in food demanded that he first ask, “What kind of buns?”

From not far away, Ken said, “They’ve got saffron, cardamom, and butter.”

The nod the boy returned to him was almost solemn. “Saffron? Indulgent. I will be there.”

“Okay, I gotta go to more doors,” said Ashley, turning on her heel very eagerly, just managing not to slip in the snow. “See you soon! You can dress up too, if you want! But don’t burn to death, though.”

She was off down the street in a moment, her mom dissuading her from hopping with excitement and splattering wax on her gown.

“Lussekatter,” Nizka recited as she read, “Are traditional golden-hued Scandinavian saffron buns, eaten during advent and St. Lucia’s Day, also known as the Festival of Light and Renewal. They are traditionally served by an eldest daughter dressed as St. Lucia--”

“Okay, okay, there’s goodies, I’m already getting prepped to go out in the cold,” Maks assured her, picking up his boots. He also opened the cubby full of gloves for Otis, who always kept bundled up anyway. “I don’t need the whole story.”

Nizka’s eyes kept reading, of course, soaking up information because it was second nature to her. But she still had something to say, in a pleased voice that went slower than her usual urgent way of talking. “Our dearest friend… has implemented a tradition new to her, and nevertheless worked to include us. It’s precisely what I’d hoped to receive for the holidays. I simply didn’t know it.”

“I’ve got a new tradition too!” said Nisa. Her excitement at the prospect of wearing some form of dangerous light show had overridden her other considerations. She’d already quietly raided the emergency winter supplies box by the doorway to get on with it.

Five adjustable laser flashlights with their colors randomized were crammed into her hatband. She looked, for a moment, like a queen wearing a rainbow crown, one that extended all the way to the ceiling. The dignity of it was somewhat spoiled by her smirk and the way she was pointing to herself. “Eh? I think I deserve some extra sweets for inventing LASER LUCIA!”

Nizka blinked. “You don’t think it would be a tad uncouth to alter their customs and then demand adulation?”

Nisa didn’t know all those words, but it didn’t matter. “NOT IF LASER LUCIA COMMANDS IT SO!” she proclaimed with a dramatic raise of a clenched fist.

That made one of the flashlights shake loose and fall down in her face, which temporarily blinded Nisa in one eye.

But it was still a pretty good St. Lucia’s day.