It was nearing dawn essence, and Tellhus - Mercurian of Trade in service to Lightning - hadn't finished his Christmas shopping.

This was, to him, a little unsettling; oh, he'd picked up some stuff for his friends (A gift certificate to Coffee Central for Ellone in research and testing; some doodads for the three Creationers in ideas and development; a pair of earrings for Yvonne, testing's token Bright), and had even managed to find a little gift for Marc, which he'd leave at the Tower when he got around to it.

What he didn't have was a gift for his girlfriend.

He wandered through Commerce Park, through the bustle of last minute buying and selling - sure, not everyone followed a religion, but most people were willing to accept this time of year as an excuse to give presents to the people they loved.

A booth, selling little dolls, had a Kyriotate Trader manning it that he vaguely remembered having a tent near his. He stopped and leaned over.

"Bet'geral...?"

"Mmhmm! ...Tellhus, isn't it?"

"Yeah... okay, I need advice."

Bet'geral chuckled, body resettling. "Sure. No cost."

"What does one get a Kyriotate for Christmas?"

Bet'geral's body spinned in amusement for a moment before settling. "Depends on the Kyriotate?"

"Seriously." He threw his hands up. "Jewelry and clothing's out, most belongings stay in her office when she goes out - the only things I see her with regularly is coffee, and she's already *got* a million mugs."

"Difficult," Bet'geral agreed. "Can I suggest getting her something to do instead of a material possession?"

"Like? I swear, she's played every game known to God, and..." He trailed off and sighed. "Sorry to bother you. Thanks."

Bet'geral spread a few hands. "Good luck."

Tell nodded, gave him a smile, and trudged on.

The trouble was, he decided, that she was always busy. She spent so much time at her work station, doing data entry and playing games, that the only time he ever saw her *not* doing work was when she was taking a break and chatting in the lounge, or when they were spending private time. He was just as guilty, he knew - it was easy to work, and easy to work a *lot*; Lightning was good for that, but sometimes, one just had to get out and do stuff. When was the last time he and Mahi had just gone out somewhere? he asked himself.

He couldn't remember, and that gave him pause; he stopped, crowd moving around him, as he thought back over it. They spent all their time in the Lounge or in his or her office. They hadn't gone *out* anywhere since... well, since shortly after he started doing work for Lightning.

***

Mahiirah was at what Tell referred to as her WorkStation when he peered into her office - a giant console, keyboards and screens all around her as she typed, imputting data on five keyboards at once while sipping coffee. She clearly heard the door, several eyes forming on the side facing him, and another hand emerged to give him a wave as he trudged over.

He looked at her, shining and blue and utterly absorbed in her work, and smiled, waiting for her to find a good point to break.

Minutes passed before she triumphantly announced, "There!", compiling her work, several eyes and mouth swivelling to face him. She was smiling brightly.

"Hey," he said. "Merry Christmas."

"Um," she said. Eyes widened and she flushed a dark violet, body losing its shape for a moment. "Oh! I forgot!"

He grinned, pointing to his Santa hat. "Yeah."

After a moment, she giggled in several tones, emerging from her WorkStation to go rummage in her desk, pulling out a box and floating back over to him with it. "Um, Merry Christmas, then. I'm glad I got this beforehand!"

Tellhus took it and, at her prompting, unwrapped it to pull out a book of 14th century angel prints. He blinked, then grinned - he collected them. "You know me too well."

"Never too well."

His smile gentled. "True." He paused, then said, "Mahi... I almost didn't get you anything."

"Oh, that's okay," she said, giggling. "I wasn't *expecting*-"

"But then," he said, holding up a hand and winking at her. She quieted. "But then I got this." He dug an envelope out of his lab coat pocket and handed it to her.

Mahiirah hmmed, opening it carefully, pulling out what was inside. She looked it over, all eyes wide, and he mentally checked off each thing as she pulled it out - tickets to an opera being held at the Halls of Creation to celebrate the new year, a note of the time of a poetry reading at the Library... plays, performances, all sort of events, scattered throughout the upcoming months.

He watched her carefully and saw her spin, surprised, parts appearing and disappearing, colour shading from her normal blue into the dark violet of a blush, and her form resettled, eyes gentling, lips curving up.

It was the right gift, he knew, and smiling, unable to keep from smiling if he'd *wanted* to, said, "I love you."

"I love you too," she said, and the next thing he knew, he had an armful of Kyriotate.

He hardly protested. That was the real gift, after all, so he held her close, burying his smile against her as he murmured, again, "Merry Christmas."