#suntpm

Christmas comes in many forms throughout the planes, traditions and names for the day varying wildly. But to everyone, those who celebrate and those who don’t, the day is still seen as one of rest and day for being home. This tradition is no different in the eternal winters of the unseelie court, a place where hearth and home are values above all. 

The tradition of a large and towering pine tree stems from this court, where the abundance of evergreen trees means easy access and represents hope of life in the eternal frost. The town square boasts  the largest tree many have ever seen. Strung with lights that dance along the branches like pixies in the snow, with dried oranges and fruits that bring the smell of home throughout the town, with bells that sound like the laughter of far away pixies. A tree that brings all of the snow fae home.

It is under this tree a small family gathers to celebrate their first yule together, a small girl and her adoptee. The child, Sylvie, stares up at the tree with the awe and wonder of any small child; the tree too large for her to comprehend, and the magic being so wonderful it continues to draw her eye. She tugs on Sun’s hand attempting to get his attention while she gestures wildly at the branches. He looks down at her in confusion, unsure what the small hexblood is trying to tell him. 

“Birdie I don’t know what you’re seeing” he says genty, Glancing at the tree she's gesturing at in confusion. The young girl stares at him, her blood red eyes showing hurt and confusion, but she doesn’t say a word. 

Confused sun crouches down to her level and follows where she is pointing from her level. That's when he sees what she sees as a small sprite, waving at the girl wings glinting in the tree lights. He aves back politely and leans closer to Sylvie whispering in her ear “did you make a friend birdie? Want to go say hello?”. 

The little girl, who Sun still isn’t even sure speaks sylvan, seems to think for a second then slowly nods at him. She's quickly scooped up into suns arms as he approaches the tree with her, quickly telling her to be kind to the sprite as he walks towards the tree. The small sprite seeing the girl approaching with her father seems delighted, smile growing larger and she hops through the branches to the lowest boughs of the tree. The small sprite sits on the lowest branch she can, about a foot above suns head as she waves at the small hexblood. Sylvie looks at Sun before waving at her new friend. When the sprite smiles back and does a small magic trick for her, sun watches as her face lights up in pure joy as her small hands reach out to touch the magic.

Sun can’t help but smile at her and then the sprite in turn, this is the first time he's seen her light up like this. The poor girl only came into his possession a few weeks ago, and her walls have been hard to slowly break down. The only other time he's seen her even close to happy is when his mother came over with cookies. The girl had been hesitant then, clearly wary of strangers and gifts; but, when she realized robin was no threat and the cookies clearly tasted better then they smelled she ate some with a small smile and nodded thanks. He can’t help the smile that creeps on to his face recalling the memory, this small girl deserves all the joy in her life he can find for her. 

Unlike all the other children he’s helped before he has yet to find her home. The little hexblood has yet to utter a word to him, and other than they fae he “dispatched” to get her no one seems to know where she's from. That had frightened him for the first few days, unsure what to do with the small girl with no home. Surely she couldn’t stay with him, most children found his armour frightening, found him frightening. And yet this one didn’t, despite her first memories of him being in his dark armour covered in blood smelling of death and magic, she didn’t hesitate to run into his arms like all the other children. No this strange little hexblood ran straight to him and never let go, and maybe after these few weeks sun was willing to admit he wasn’t willing to let go of her either.