‘Twas The Night Before Saturnalia (Issy)

 ‘Twas the night before Saturnalia and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  …Actually, no, I lied, I was up running all around the house the whole night. Saturnalia is an interesting holiday, outside of High Rock it’s also called the New Life Festival, and occurs around the 25th of Evening Star each year, with some sort of festivities occurring until the new year. The true origins of it are unknown, but it’s thought to be a festival originally dedicated to a forgotten Breton god of debauchery, though now we simply use it as a holiday to have a good time, no religion attached.   Over the course of the month I’d slowly gathered up a small pile of gifts, but due to my unfortunate habit of procrastination it’s now the night before and I’ve yet to wrap most of them. Running through the house I look for things to use, leftover bags, boxes, ribbons and paper, and eventually I do. Packing goes quickly once I get into a rhythm, find, wrap, cut, mark, and place into a separate pile over and over until each gift is wrapped.   Now comes the more difficult part, dropping them off. Grabbing a coat, my boots, and a hat I grab the first set of presents and set off, first to Bruma. Conjuring a portal I step right on through and now that I’ve answered the question of where I’m going, the question now is to who?   Quietly traversing the streets by night I exit the city and the temple comes into sight. Trudging through the snow is just a bit tough, but it will be worth it in the end, even if I huff and puff.   Once inside Cloud Ruler temple I find most of the blades asleep, Baurus takes a box for Martin and I hide another for Baurus himself to find later, Jauffre instead gets a note saying we’ll keep out of trouble, left on his night table, next to a bottle.  With the Blades taken care of I turn my sights south, to the little town of Cheydinhal and a particular abandoned house. Hopping from building to building I arrive at the house, climbing down the stairs, and placing gifts at the head of each bed. Or, in the case of Vicente…Coffin. While in the area there’s one more place to stop, a converted old fort, that sits up on a hilltop.   Opening the hatch and climbing down the ladder I place a small box right next to a dagger. Lucien lays sound asleep tucked in his bed, thoughts of murder and sweet rolls probably stirring in his head. With a tap of the box marked “To Lucien, From Issy” I scurry back to the surface in a bit of a hurry.   My last stop is none but the imperial city itself, where a certain Dunmer I heard is taking a break from mischief. To the market district I go, two packages left in hand, one for Valan and his mother, neither a member of the black hand.  Running up the stairs of the apartment building I drop the packages at the door, knock softly, and quietly flee the scene. Once back home I quickly fall into bed, tired from all the running around. Tomorrow I’ll pay visits to my friends, while they’re awake, that is, and enjoy the holiday. But for now I attempt to sleep as the fire dies, smoldering and turning to ash. I have one last thought before I fall asleep.  …Happy Saturnalia to all, and to all a good night.