Page 11 of Dreaming of an Earth Christmas

“Mia! You’re here!” Kat shouted as soon as L’xat led them through the entrance to a smaller walled garden.

Mia waved as she adjusted the device case beneath her other arm. “Merry Christmas!” she called back. The others turned to greet them then, too. She recognized all of the women present—Kat, Carlie, Marta, Alice, and Alexis, but some of their mates were missing. She didn’t see red robes on anyone besides her own husband and N’xalith, so Sseith wasn’t here currently. She knew that L’xat had been looking forward to speaking with the other priest, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

She got caught up in a round of hugs before she could do anything else, and Mia laughed, enjoying the sudden sense of familiarity. It didn’t feel like it’d only been a few years since she’d first met all of these women, and she’d never expected them to feel like family, but they did.

“Where are the children?” she asked loudly, pretending to look all around as if she didn’t see them. A pale green-scaled, winged little boy was peeking out from behind Alexis’ leg. Mia hadn’t gotten to know the woman as well as the others since she and her mate had lived in one of the Lisseethi forests for the majority of Mia’s time on Xithilene, but hopefully she’d have a chance to rectify that soon.

The boy slowly stepped to the side, his red-tipped crown feathers flaring up as he dared a glance at her. “Althiss, this is Lady Mia. It looks like she’s brought a surprise for us,” said Alexis. The dark haired woman smiled at her and then looked down at the case in Mia’s arms. “Do you need help with anything? Kat didn’t tell me what you’d brought, just that it was a surprise for the children.”

“No, thank you. N’xalith and I can handle the setup, but I appreciate the offer,” Mia replied. She scanned the garden, looking for a spot that was large enough to accommodate her device. “I will need a water source. I’m assuming that’s not a problem in a garden,” she said.

“That’s right—there are two in this garden. Let me show you and you can decide which you’d prefer to use,” said Kat as she walked back over towards Mia.

She ended up selecting the second hookup, and she waved N’xalith over so they could begin setting things up. Her stepson frowned as he pulled out the contents of the first container. “What is this?” he asked.

“Xithilene flexi-shield treated for transparency. One of my work buddies helped me alter it. Bring it out here to this open space. Once I get everything connected, it will fill quickly,” she said.

Mia could hear Christmas music playing in the background, and someone had given Althiss a bell, so the air was filled with happy ringing that was slightly out of time with the song. It didn’t take long to get all of the parts of her surprise connected and double checked. Now it was time for the big reveal. As soon as she hit the activation button and turned on the water source, it would only be a matter of minutes before everything was ready to go.

“Kat, could you please get everyone together? And whoever’s doing the music, you might want to change the song—maybe try “Winter Wonderland”—that should hit the right note.” Mia grinned at her atrocious pun and prepared to give the group their Christmas gift. “Are you ready?” she asked.

“Yes,” N’xalith replied very seriously from her side. Not quite the reaction she’d been hoping for, but she’d take it.

Mia pressed down on the activation button and stepped back. “Let’s go watch with the others,” she said as she took N’xalith’s arm. He immediately turned his forearm and settled hers into position to escort her towards the crowd in the Xithilene manner. She was still missing Justin and John something fierce, but spending time with N’xalith again made her realize how much she’d grown to love the young man as well.

“What is it?”

Mia turned behind her and saw that some of the men were filing in from the garden’s narrow side entrance. The one who’d spoken had colorful wings in shades of lime green, red, gold, and blue that reminded her of parrots she’d seen in edu-vids. She’d forgotten his name, but she recognized him as Marta’s mate. Marta was part of the archaeologist contingent of their group, and right now, she was dragging her husband further inside the garden for a better view.

Before she could answer his question herself, Marta chimed in, her pale blue eyes bright with excitement. “A giant snow globe!” she shouted. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed having a white Christmas. Thank you, Mia!” she added as she looked over her shoulder and smiled. “I’m not going to even ask how it works—I’m just glad it does.”

“Once its activation cycle is complete, we can enter it,” Mia told the others. “Kat knew in advance, so she has gloves and jackets.”

“Blankets,” Kat amended, “I have blankets. I figured that would be simpler than trying to find that many actual jackets in the correct cuts and sizes for this crowd.”

“That’ll work, too,” Mia replied. “The kids back home never even bothered with jackets. It’s not that cold, but if they want to play in the snow, the gloves are probably a good idea.”

“Play in it?” If a voice could cut glass, that silky, seething masculine one would’ve.

Mia looked away from her almost ready life-size snow globe to glance at High Priest Sseith of Ka’alaniss. In her humble opinion, L’xat would always be the most majestic priest of the Lady, but Sseith came pretty close. His pristine red robes were even more elaborate than L’xat’s, with embroidery embellishing the outer edges from his shoulders all the way down to the ground where the fabric flared out around him like a train.

“Yes,” Mia replied. “I made it mostly for the children. They can make snowmen, or snow angels, or just throw the snow in the air.”

“You expect my daughter to go inside that thing?” Sseith’s crown feathers were fully erect around his face, and she heard low hisses and higher-pitched rattles emanating from behind her.

Mia looked back and saw that several of her friends’ other Xithilene mates were eyeing her snow globe with hostile glares. L’xat simply looked concerned, but at least he didn’t seem quite as disturbed.

“It doesn’t seem very safe, my Mia,” he said as his brow wrinkled.

“Nonsense. I played in the snow all winter when I was a kid,” said Marta. “If you’re all that concerned about it, you should just go inside and then you’ll see it’s not that bad. I doubt it’s like being caught in a blizzard, right, Mia?”

“Exactly. I’ll go in first, if you like. Marta, do you want to come with me?” she asked.

“Sure,” the other woman replied with a grin. “I’d be happy to.” She walked up to Mia and the two women approached the snow globe. “Seriously though, this is amazing. A twenty foot tall snow globe—wow.”

“Do you want blankets?” asked Kat.

“Nah, I think we’re good. Unless you want one,” Marta added with a quick look at Mia.

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