The supper hall was mostly full, but it managed to seat everyone in Sanctuary. It looked like we were going to have to expand it again. Large pillars of untouched rock and some steel beams supported the big ceiling.
Led lights were in abundance on the ceiling and hooked up to the main solar panel system. Smaller LED string lights gently illuminated the place if someone turned off the main switch. It was bright at mealtime and gently lit the rest of the time.
Three big meals were served each day although soup, bread, boiled eggs, and greens were available all day and night for those with odder shifts. Today was our Christmas meal and there were fewer turkeys and other animals in the pens now.
Everyone was here today for the feast, even the far-flung Messengers had returned with letters for various people and news from all over. They called themselves Messengers of Sanctuary, but most towns tended to call them the blue eyed messengers in reference to the stunning blue eyes that all of them seemed to have.
Everyone was in high spirits over supper and I really enjoyed the food. The cooks had gone all out on it. After supper, Diane headed towards the ladder closest to our home. I followed with a grin, knowing what she was planning to do. Ace followed with slight suspicion and amusement as he likely guessed the same thing.
Diane ducked inside the house and went to our room. I went into the office and collected the two presents I had stashed there. Ace came down the hallway and paused in the doorway to the office as he watched me extract the two hidden presents.
Diane appeared in her doorway and tossed a present to him. Ace shook his head, "You didn't have to get me anything you know."
Diane shrugged, "I got quite a few people small odds and ends. I figured that you would like that one."
He went down the hall to his room and returned moments later with two wrapped boxes of his own. He gave one to me and he passed the other to Diane. She grinned at him as she took it, "Isn't this the pot calling the kettle black?"
He chuckled as he set his two gifts on the desk and started to unwrap them. I sat down on the throw rug in the middle of the office as I started to unwrap my presents. I opened the box Diane had gotten me first. It took a bit to get into it, but it wasn't as tricky as some she had wrapped in the past.
I squealed in excitement at the pair of binoculars, "Thank you!"
Diane grinned at me as she inspected the clock I had gotten her. It had numerous pieces of purple and blue mirror glass around the frame. It flashed with a blue and purple light from our glowing eyes. I glanced over to see Ace smiling at the picture frame I had given him. It had a picture of Diane and me in it that Joel had taken this autumn. The red and yellow leaves in the background made a stunning contrast to our bright blue eyes.
I unwrapped Ace's gift and found it to be a couple of small card and dice games. I looked up at him, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." He turned his attention back to the box Diane had given him. It took him a bit to get the lid off. He paused before slowly lifting out the dagger. It was similar to Diane's sword and was also an extremely high quality blade made from folded Japanese steel. He carefully unsheathed it and inspected the blade, "I don't even want to know what you paid for this."
Diane chuckled, "Good, because it isn't as much as you are thinking. It is similar to my sword."
He nodded as he continued to inspect it thoroughly. Ace tended to favor a dagger over a sword and Diane had undoubtedly noticed that detail. He seemed quite impressed with it. I knew that Diane had asked Roland to pick it up from a store she had once seen.
Ace gingerly ran his thumb along the blade and didn't seem surprised when it parted his skin easily. A drop of blood beaded to the surface before turning a turquoise color as his Heartfire reacted to the tiny injury. His Heartfire had turned out to be a turquoise color. It was a really pretty color.
I put my presents in my backpack, but left my backpack near the front door since we rarely wore our packs inside the meadow. There just wasn't a need for it. Ace removed his sword and replaced it with his dagger. He now wore two daggers. I pitied the person who ever decided that he was at a disadvantage without a sword. He could still beat most on the training field even if he was unarmed.
As we went outside, I could hear the band starting to warm up. Dave's musically gifted group was taking the first swing at the evening of dance and relaxation. The snow on the ground below had been trampled flat and hard by countless people coming and going. It would make a good impromptu dancefloor.
I was grinning in excitement as I glanced back at Diane. She was watching the group with bright eyes. Ace seemed to be getting nervous though. Diane grinned at me as she snagged my hand and twirled me like a ballerina.
I giggled as Diane slowly spun on the spot as I tried to keep twirling. It was harder than it looked. Diane let go of my hand and my momentum took me towards Ace. My hands were up and Ace caught them before spinning me like Diane had done. He sent me spinning back to Diane.
I started laughing as I began to get dizzy. Diane slowly spun me around her as I continued to twirl around. Diane went to send me back to Ace, but the instant she let go of my hand I fell backwards in the snow. I was laughing, but I was too dizzy to stand back up. Diane chuckled as she realized that I had gotten dizzy.
It didn't take more than a few seconds for my head to stop spinning. I regained my feet and grinned at them before grabbing both of their hands and towing them towards the playground. There were other children there already playing, but it was much more fun if we could get Diane and Ace to join us. They were quite athletic in their attempts to escape us on the jungle gym.
Hours later Diane asked, "Ready to go for our evening run?"
I looked around and realized that over half of those who were fired had already left. I nodded, "Sure, I didn't realize how late it was getting."
She shrugged with a grin as she started jogging towards the distant gate. Ace followed us. He had relaxed a bit as the evening went on, but I now recalled that he didn't like dancing. He had no problems with tag or other games though. I realized that Diane hadn't danced tonight either, choosing to play with me and the other children instead.
We ran in silence, simply enjoying the quiet night after the noise of the music. It was peaceful. Before long, I was yawning and Diane turned back towards Sanctuary.
I followed Diane as we woke up and left our room, a glance down the hallway showed that Ace's rug was pinned back, indicating he was out. We grabbed our coats and headed outside. Once we got outside, it didn't take long to spot Ace leaning back against the cliff beside the door watching the people below heading out to feed the chickens.
"Good morning."
He glanced over at Diane's greeting with a smile, "Good morning." He noticed the letter in Diane's hand, "Heading over to find a Messenger?"
We had spent some time the other day writing new letters in response to the ones we had received back. The Messengers were getting more letters from many settlements as they proved their reliability. I saw a letter in Ace's hands too.
Diane nodded, "Yeah. I think either John or Steph's group is heading towards Wainwright next so I am going to track them down. I see John from here and I think I might have glimpsed Steph heading into the kitchen."
I suppressed a giggle. Those were two of the newly authorized Messengers and Diane was going to see if they would accept payment. I highly doubted it though, it was like an undercover conspiracy that each Messenger readily joined. I was beginning to think that some did it just to get a rise out of Diane.
We caught John pretty easily and he was indeed heading to Wainwright shortly. He was more than happy to deliver our letters. He accepted Ace's payment easily, but shook his head with a grin as Diane tried to hand him some small objects. He grinned at her, "You should just give up already. No Messenger is going to accept payment from you for letters."
Yep, this was one more member of the non-payment gang. Diane shook her head in exasperation, "I am going to hand my letters and payment to someone else and let them pay for me one day."
He chuckled and shook his head, "Won't work. We were actually waiting for you to do something like that. You are the only person who sends an envelope to Matthew in Wainwright and your writing is pretty unique."
Ace looked amused as the messenger once more foiled Diane's attempt to pay. Then again, anyone within hearing range was amused, including the Messenger and myself.
Diane narrowed her eyes at John, "Are you saying my handwriting is bad?"
I hated to break it to Diane, but if she didn't take care when printing, I couldn't read her writing despite numerous attempts. I could tell the tracks of our rooster apart from the hens, but some of her writing was truly indecipherable chicken scratch.
John's eyes widened as he backtracked, "What? No, no. It's just, uh, easy to recognize. Umm... I am going to put these letters in my pack so I don't misplace them. Bye!"
I started giggling and Diane burst out laughing at his quick exit. John threw a grin over his shoulder as he jogged away. He had known Diane was teasing him, but he didn't want to stick around just in case she was serious. Ace was chuckling and found it quite hilarious.
We headed off for our morning run. Diane was back to square one with her attempts to pay any Messenger.