Thankfully, Rika knew a lot about the Yuwen brothers since she grew up with them. According to her, Joel loved sweet southern wine, Jack was really into gambling, though not as good as his brother William, who apparently is really into riddles and puzzles. As for Janus, the only thing he seemed to care about was chess and swinging his sword around.
So, the next day, Rika and I met up to do a definitely not Christmas shopping tour. It took us quite a long time to convince Janus to just let me go. But we managed, though we had to agree to take Collin along. The Young Squire was equally as annoyed by this as Rika and me, but he managed to hide his displeasure with good old, practiced stoicism.
When we were finally allowed to go shopping, the tour went without a hitch, and many of the Roots townfolk eagerly greeted me. At the end, Rika and I actually got all the presents we wanted. Even so, it took all day because so many aunties had made it their mission to chew my ear off. It seems my pregnancy and engagement were the hottest topics, so in every shop we went into, several ladies wanted to know more. Some even followed us from store to store. Collin tried to shoo them away, but I stopped him. They weren’t saying anything nasty or disrespectful, so I just let it go.
For her father, Rika got a massive piece of smoked ham from the south. And even though that was the only present she bought, she still carried more than I, who bought thirteen presents.
For Benjamin, I bought a brand-new holy scripture with illustrations, gold leaf, and gilded edges.
Otto told me the new priest loved dried dates, so I bought a bunch for him.
While Otto himself would get some new moose for his moustache, which was, according to the clerk, the king’s favorite.
For Janus’ father, Willhelm Yuwen, I got a couple of cigars from the burning isles. A highly active volcanic island chain in the southern sea.
For my four male students, I had honestly no idea, so I just went ahead and baked some cookies. Though I wasn’t allowed to even go near the hot oven. In the end, everything except the recipe was handled by the fort’s cooks. At first, they were skeptical, but after their first bite, they all wrote down the recipe for themselves.
For Jack, I got a new deck of cards with some… “raunchy” illustrations of women on their backs. Why would I give my fiancés brothers such a deck? Because the clerk told me Jack had been eyeing this deck for a while but always chickened out of buying it. And because I think it would be funny.
Joel would get from me an original bottle of half-foot wine smuggled straight from the halfling territory. A half-island deep in the south that, over the years, had become the kingdom’s breadbasket. Though they were more famous for their wine than their wheat, at least according to the shady guy I bought it from. Much to the dismay of some racist nobles who pressured some of the halflings to sell their wine to them dirt cheap so they could resell it in their own bottles.
William would get a book full of text riddles from me in one of these cool wooden puzzle boxes.
As for Averall, he really was into poetry. And even though he wasn’t very “good”, Julia would still clap at every poem he recited as if it were the greatest masterpiece. So, I bought him a book about poetry with some of the corniest poems I ever had the displeasure of reading.
And finally, for Janus, I got a new chessboard with red and white figures carved from monster bones, as well as a red sword tassel.
When we were on our way back, it was already dark outside, and my wallet was way lighter, and Collin was a little out of breath from carrying all of our bags. In the past few days, the people of Roots have begun with their own preparations for the festival. Banners and small paper moons were hanging from the roofs, as well as moons made of transparent paper that had been put on the inside of windows. There were many big metal cages in the form of moons that had been placed on the town’s candle streetlights. Wherever I looked, I saw the town covered in blue, black, and silver.
We made our way through the quiet, snow-covered town.
When we got home, I put the presents in the big chest in my room and got ready for bed. I undid my hair, changed into my nightgown, and lay down, trying my best to sleep. When I heard footsteps approaching from the outside, slowly getting closer to my door. Whoever it was stopped right in front of my door, just standing there, until they turned around and entered… Janus Room? Was that him just now?
