Have Yourself a Merry Little. . .Peldor?
by Fleur Le Marc
71213.3
Soundtrack: Petit Papa Noël
Just before "Count Me In" by Jariel Camen
-=In the Galley aboard the Alchemy=-
"I think that everyone has forgotten about the Festival entirely." Lair Arie complained, plopping into a chair and swinging her feet slowly to and fro. "It doesn't even feel like Peldor season."
"They've had a lot on their minds, Arie. Sometimes grown ups have to put their celebrations aside and see to their duties first."
"That's what Father says."
"That doesn't mean that the celebrations don't matter."
"That's what Mother says."
"What is your favorite part about the Gratitude Festival?" Fleur asked leading questions, trying to draw the child out.
"I think the sound of the Temple bells, and the music." Arie replied. "The singing is so beautiful. Do you sing songs about any of your celebrations on Earth, Fleur?"
"Yes, we do. In fact, there are many songs about Father Christmas. Or as we say in France, Papa Noel. He brings gifts to all the children for Christmas."
"That sounds nice. What does he look like?"
Fleur gestured toward the computer panel nearby, and she accessed the unsecured database and brought up an image.
Arie hopped up and skipped over, regarded it, and blinked slowly several times as she took it in. "How does it work?"
"What work?"
"The giving of the gifts?"
Fleur directed Arie to sit down again and over the next several minutes, she told the story of Christmas Eve and Santa's deliveries as she replicated a container of ice cream and began to dish it out in mountainous scoops, filling two tall drinking glasses.
"Impossible." Arie concluded, when Fleur had finished giving her explanation. "And I do not believe there are really songs about this fabrication."
"There really are songs, I am telling you the truth."
"Sing one, then!"
The challenge was issued and accepted, and Fleur rolled her eyes up toward the ceiling and tried to remember the words exactly.
Fleur started and stopped suddenly, haunted by the ghost of Christmas Eves long past when she was a good little girl, kneeling and saying her own prayers beside her bed.
She continued saying them for years after she'd stopped believing that anyone was listening.
She turned her attention back to the waiting, wide-eyed child. "There, see? There are many, many songs about this man."
Arie burst out in a fit of laughter, which betrayed the fact that her Bajoran heritage still frequently won out over the Vulcan.
"You just cannot be serious!" She giggled wildly, as Fleur poured rootbeer over top of the ice cream in the glasses and inserted long drinking straws into each float.
Fleur was so glad to hear Arie laugh, regardless of the reason. The child had been wandering the halls aimlessly, and Fleur felt bad for her. It was obvious that she was lonely, only having had Lt. Grace's cat for company during the majority of her waking hours the past few days.
She was wise beyond her years, but still, she was small. Fleur's heart went out to her, and she hoped that since she had made such a problem for Salvek by coming along uninvited, that perhaps by keeping his daughter company now she could, in some backward fashion, atone for her sins.
"I most certainly am serious!" Fleur laughed now too, just because Arie's laughter was so contagious.
"An elderly. . .bearded. . . um. . .stout. . . man," Arie chose her words carefully, "In a red suit, gives toys to all the children on Earth in one night?"
"Oui."
"He delivers them while riding upon a, what was it, a chariot pulled by antlered mammals?"
"Sleigh! Reindeer!" Fleur's laughter rose in volume, surprising even her. She hadn't thought she could smile tonight, let alone laugh. Perhaps she was getting the better end of this 'atonement', after all.
She considered the girl's line of reasoning and agreed, as an adult, how silly the premise really was. Still, something in her wished that Arie were still naive enough, at barely eight years of age, to believe it.
"And Rudolf, his nose was, how do you say," Fleur wiggled her fingers rapidly before her face, trying to indicate the reindeer's nose flashing red. "It was like this, you see?"
Arie shook her head, she did not see at all.
"It was shiny! Bright! This color," she pointed to the bright red shirt Arie wore, the word for it momentarily escaping her. "Rouge. And it did the flashing thing like this. To lead through the snow that was," Fleur made a 'blowing wind' noise and Arie laughed as her bangs were brushed back by Fleur's breath as she exhaled. "To pull the sleigh for Papa Noel."
"Father Christmas," Arie repeated, suddenly all Vulcan seriousness that reminded Fleur so much of Salvek that she could hardly believe it. "Delivers gifts to all the children of the Christian faith that reside on Earth in one night, while traveling on a sled pulled by horned animals with mystically illuminated facial features."
She wanted to be sure she had the story straight.
Fleur collapsed into her chair and grabbed her own float. She took a bit of the foam billowing at the top of the glass with her finger and dabbed it on the tip of Arie's nose. "Yes, yes, somehow when you say it like that, it seems a lot less magical."
"I have many questions concerning this observance," Arie announced. "Do all children get an equal distribution of gifts or is this some sort of positive reinforcement reward system, with gifts given on the basis of credits earned for meritorious behavior accrued during the previous eleven months of the lunar year?"
She barely paused to draw a breath in between sentences.
"What about the children who do not share this faith-based belief structure? Who decides on the scale of compensation for their behavior, good or bad, if not Father Christmas?"
"Good grief, Arie." Fleur shook her head, "You think too much!"
Arie continued, undeterred. "What about the children who may share Christian beliefs but do not dwell on Earth? Or even in the Alpha Quadrant? What about families who serve on starships, like mine? How does Papa Noel find them all?"
"I have really never-"
"Does he have a transwarp engine on that sleigh? If not, I do not believe it is at all possible that one man could accomplish such a task in such a short span of time as the one between sunset and sunrise. I am basing that assumption, of course, upon a twenty-four hour per day time zone model. Conversely, if he does have transwarp capability, do the shields protect the reindeer? Because I'm pretty sure that if he tried to leave Earth's atmosphere with the animals still pulling the sled and without shields in place, they would all be instantly incinerated."
Fleur rested her head on the table a moment and pretended to bang it against the surface. "Again, I tell you, Arie, you think too much."
"I am only trying to understand the problem logically to arrive at a conclusion as to whether or not it is plausible." Arie accepted the spoon that Fleur held out to her, and much to Fleur's relief, began shoveling ice cream into her mouth. The bombardment of questions appeared, at least for the moment, to be preempted by the serious business of consuming sweets.
"Some things we understand with logic, other things we must just believe with the heart, yes? I don't know all the answers." Fleur drew a deep breath and sighed. "Sometimes you just need to believe in something that you cannot explain."
Fleur remembered believing in many things during her own childhood. Her life was one of. . .simplicity, to choose a polite word. When there were celebrations of Christmas at all, gifts were something that was truly needed, like a hand-me-down coat from one of her older cousins, and definitely nothing as "frivolous" in her mother's eyes as a toy.
"I do know that most of the good little children do get gifts from Papa Noel. But the important thing to remember is the reason for the holiday. For some, it is religiously significant. For others, it is about being with the people that you love. In all instances, it is about remembering peace and feeling closer to our fellow man."
"All are important things to celebrate." Arie decided. "Even if some of the lore accompanying the custom is not logically sound."
"Oui. There are other observances, too, around the same time of year on my homeworld. Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice just to name a few. There are still very many different faiths and each has its own customs."
"Like the Bajorans and the Vulcans do." Arie interjected between bites. "Sometimes. . ."
She had a perplexed expression on her face now, and Fleur wondered what she was thinking, really. "Sometimes what, Arie?"
"Sometimes it's hard. To be both. Bajoran, and Vulcan."
Not knowing quite what to say, Fleur just gave in to impulse and kissed Arie on top of her head. "It will get easier, when you are older. Most things do." Fleur wondered if she sounded as much a hypocrite as she felt in this moment, as the last three words echoed in her mind again. *Most things do.*
"Sing the rest of the Christmas song please? I want to hear it."
"Only if you will sing me a Peldor hymn when I finish?"
"Okay."
Fleur started to draw another breath, but stopped. "My singing it is not so pretty good, Apologies." She inhaled again and started to sing, standing up and choreographing a little dance to go with it to make the child laugh once more.
She paused, haunted again, and took a bite of the ice cream with the spoon she'd been waving around like a magic wand.
Arie shook her head. "A big, round guy in a red suit. How does he get in and out of the houses without being discovered?"
Fleur knew that Arie was going to love the next part. "Down the chimney." She whispered.
"NO WAY!" Arie shouted, and the two began their giggle-fit all over again.
Before she could say anything else, Fleur noticed that Arie had stopped laughing and her attention was directed toward the door. "Good evening, esteemed Vedek."
Fleur's expression changed completely, as she avoided looking into his eyes for fear of what she would see there. "Oh. Vedek Jariel. "
"They've had a lot on their minds, Arie. Sometimes grown ups have to put their celebrations aside and see to their duties first."
"That's what Father says."
"That doesn't mean that the celebrations don't matter."
"That's what Mother says."
"What is your favorite part about the Gratitude Festival?" Fleur asked leading questions, trying to draw the child out.
"I think the sound of the Temple bells, and the music." Arie replied. "The singing is so beautiful. Do you sing songs about any of your celebrations on Earth, Fleur?"
"Yes, we do. In fact, there are many songs about Father Christmas. Or as we say in France, Papa Noel. He brings gifts to all the children for Christmas."
"That sounds nice. What does he look like?"
Fleur gestured toward the computer panel nearby, and she accessed the unsecured database and brought up an image.
Arie hopped up and skipped over, regarded it, and blinked slowly several times as she took it in. "How does it work?"
"What work?"
"The giving of the gifts?"
Fleur directed Arie to sit down again and over the next several minutes, she told the story of Christmas Eve and Santa's deliveries as she replicated a container of ice cream and began to dish it out in mountainous scoops, filling two tall drinking glasses.
"Impossible." Arie concluded, when Fleur had finished giving her explanation. "And I do not believe there are really songs about this fabrication."
"There really are songs, I am telling you the truth."
"Sing one, then!"
The challenge was issued and accepted, and Fleur rolled her eyes up toward the ceiling and tried to remember the words exactly.
Fleur started and stopped suddenly, haunted by the ghost of Christmas Eves long past when she was a good little girl, kneeling and saying her own prayers beside her bed.
She continued saying them for years after she'd stopped believing that anyone was listening.
She turned her attention back to the waiting, wide-eyed child. "There, see? There are many, many songs about this man."
Arie burst out in a fit of laughter, which betrayed the fact that her Bajoran heritage still frequently won out over the Vulcan.
"You just cannot be serious!" She giggled wildly, as Fleur poured rootbeer over top of the ice cream in the glasses and inserted long drinking straws into each float.
Fleur was so glad to hear Arie laugh, regardless of the reason. The child had been wandering the halls aimlessly, and Fleur felt bad for her. It was obvious that she was lonely, only having had Lt. Grace's cat for company during the majority of her waking hours the past few days.
She was wise beyond her years, but still, she was small. Fleur's heart went out to her, and she hoped that since she had made such a problem for Salvek by coming along uninvited, that perhaps by keeping his daughter company now she could, in some backward fashion, atone for her sins.
"I most certainly am serious!" Fleur laughed now too, just because Arie's laughter was so contagious.
"An elderly. . .bearded. . . um. . .stout. . . man," Arie chose her words carefully, "In a red suit, gives toys to all the children on Earth in one night?"
"Oui."
"He delivers them while riding upon a, what was it, a chariot pulled by antlered mammals?"
"Sleigh! Reindeer!" Fleur's laughter rose in volume, surprising even her. She hadn't thought she could smile tonight, let alone laugh. Perhaps she was getting the better end of this 'atonement', after all.
She considered the girl's line of reasoning and agreed, as an adult, how silly the premise really was. Still, something in her wished that Arie were still naive enough, at barely eight years of age, to believe it.
"And Rudolf, his nose was, how do you say," Fleur wiggled her fingers rapidly before her face, trying to indicate the reindeer's nose flashing red. "It was like this, you see?"
Arie shook her head, she did not see at all.
"It was shiny! Bright! This color," she pointed to the bright red shirt Arie wore, the word for it momentarily escaping her. "Rouge. And it did the flashing thing like this. To lead through the snow that was," Fleur made a 'blowing wind' noise and Arie laughed as her bangs were brushed back by Fleur's breath as she exhaled. "To pull the sleigh for Papa Noel."
"Father Christmas," Arie repeated, suddenly all Vulcan seriousness that reminded Fleur so much of Salvek that she could hardly believe it. "Delivers gifts to all the children of the Christian faith that reside on Earth in one night, while traveling on a sled pulled by horned animals with mystically illuminated facial features."
She wanted to be sure she had the story straight.
Fleur collapsed into her chair and grabbed her own float. She took a bit of the foam billowing at the top of the glass with her finger and dabbed it on the tip of Arie's nose. "Yes, yes, somehow when you say it like that, it seems a lot less magical."
"I have many questions concerning this observance," Arie announced. "Do all children get an equal distribution of gifts or is this some sort of positive reinforcement reward system, with gifts given on the basis of credits earned for meritorious behavior accrued during the previous eleven months of the lunar year?"
She barely paused to draw a breath in between sentences.
"What about the children who do not share this faith-based belief structure? Who decides on the scale of compensation for their behavior, good or bad, if not Father Christmas?"
"Good grief, Arie." Fleur shook her head, "You think too much!"
Arie continued, undeterred. "What about the children who may share Christian beliefs but do not dwell on Earth? Or even in the Alpha Quadrant? What about families who serve on starships, like mine? How does Papa Noel find them all?"
"I have really never-"
"Does he have a transwarp engine on that sleigh? If not, I do not believe it is at all possible that one man could accomplish such a task in such a short span of time as the one between sunset and sunrise. I am basing that assumption, of course, upon a twenty-four hour per day time zone model. Conversely, if he does have transwarp capability, do the shields protect the reindeer? Because I'm pretty sure that if he tried to leave Earth's atmosphere with the animals still pulling the sled and without shields in place, they would all be instantly incinerated."
Fleur rested her head on the table a moment and pretended to bang it against the surface. "Again, I tell you, Arie, you think too much."
"I am only trying to understand the problem logically to arrive at a conclusion as to whether or not it is plausible." Arie accepted the spoon that Fleur held out to her, and much to Fleur's relief, began shoveling ice cream into her mouth. The bombardment of questions appeared, at least for the moment, to be preempted by the serious business of consuming sweets.
"Some things we understand with logic, other things we must just believe with the heart, yes? I don't know all the answers." Fleur drew a deep breath and sighed. "Sometimes you just need to believe in something that you cannot explain."
Fleur remembered believing in many things during her own childhood. Her life was one of. . .simplicity, to choose a polite word. When there were celebrations of Christmas at all, gifts were something that was truly needed, like a hand-me-down coat from one of her older cousins, and definitely nothing as "frivolous" in her mother's eyes as a toy.
"I do know that most of the good little children do get gifts from Papa Noel. But the important thing to remember is the reason for the holiday. For some, it is religiously significant. For others, it is about being with the people that you love. In all instances, it is about remembering peace and feeling closer to our fellow man."
"All are important things to celebrate." Arie decided. "Even if some of the lore accompanying the custom is not logically sound."
"Oui. There are other observances, too, around the same time of year on my homeworld. Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice just to name a few. There are still very many different faiths and each has its own customs."
"Like the Bajorans and the Vulcans do." Arie interjected between bites. "Sometimes. . ."
She had a perplexed expression on her face now, and Fleur wondered what she was thinking, really. "Sometimes what, Arie?"
"Sometimes it's hard. To be both. Bajoran, and Vulcan."
Not knowing quite what to say, Fleur just gave in to impulse and kissed Arie on top of her head. "It will get easier, when you are older. Most things do." Fleur wondered if she sounded as much a hypocrite as she felt in this moment, as the last three words echoed in her mind again. *Most things do.*
"Sing the rest of the Christmas song please? I want to hear it."
"Only if you will sing me a Peldor hymn when I finish?"
"Okay."
Fleur started to draw another breath, but stopped. "My singing it is not so pretty good, Apologies." She inhaled again and started to sing, standing up and choreographing a little dance to go with it to make the child laugh once more.
She paused, haunted again, and took a bite of the ice cream with the spoon she'd been waving around like a magic wand.
Arie shook her head. "A big, round guy in a red suit. How does he get in and out of the houses without being discovered?"
Fleur knew that Arie was going to love the next part. "Down the chimney." She whispered.
"NO WAY!" Arie shouted, and the two began their giggle-fit all over again.
Before she could say anything else, Fleur noticed that Arie had stopped laughing and her attention was directed toward the door. "Good evening, esteemed Vedek."
Fleur's expression changed completely, as she avoided looking into his eyes for fear of what she would see there. "Oh. Vedek Jariel. "
Fleur Le Marc
Civilian Stow away
USS Alchemy
Civilian Stow away
USS Alchemy