An EFC Christmas: Part Seven "Here We Come A-Caroling"

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



Author's Note:   Please tell me you like the insertion of "Silent Night" into this.

********** 



"Carolers?" Lili said, sitting up abruptly. Augur, sitting in the corner, dropped his book and ran over to the door. Zo'or, slightly irritated at the interruption, put down his magazine and walked over.

"Uh huh," Liam announced, a smile creeping across his face. "They're singing 'I Saw Three Ships.'"

"What are you waiting for?" Lili said, getting up and going to the door. "Open up so we can hear them!"

Liam wrenched the door open, and light poured out onto the porch as a few snowflakes left over from the storm wafted it, catching in his dark hair. Doors and Sandoval made their way over to the door, listening as the half-dozen carolers sang through the frosty air.

Da'an stood near the closet, leaning against the wall and listening to the words with a faint smile. Liam started to speak to him, but caught a glimpse of Zo'or, as the song shifted to "The First Noel."

"The first Noel

The angels did say

Was that certain poor shepherds

In fields as they lay..."

The Taelon Synod leader was listening as well, head cocked to one side as the song ended. His blue eyes seemed far away, then snapped back to their usual laser status. He shook himself and quickly began to flip through "Cooking For Scrooges."

"Merry Christmas!" Doors shouted, waving out the door.

"Merry Christmas!" Lili echoed, sticking her head out, then quickly pulling back in and slamming the door. "Whoo, it's cold!"

"Why don't we do that?" Suzanne asked drowsily, still slumped in a beanbag by the fire.

"Do what?" Liam asked.

"Go caroling." Suzanne shifted and slowly rolled up into a sitting position. "I haven't done it since I was a little girl, and there are some houses up the hill that we could easily hike to."

"Good idea," Lili exclaimed.

"Bad idea," Augur intoned desperately, his voice lowering to a growl. Under his shaggy bangs, his brown eyes pleaded to Lili to not make him go.

"Oh, don't be such a stick, Au... Professor," Liam said, slapping Augur on the back, then rushing into the next room. "I'll go get coats!"

"I will remain here," Zo'or announced, his hands locking onto the magazine.

"Oh no you don't," Suzanne grinned, sitting down beside him and pulling the magazine from his fingers. "You don't have to sing, but we're all stuck here for Christmas. We're all going caroling, then we're all going back here for the Christmas Eve you only read about..."

She glanced longingly at a small piece of mistletoe, hung on a red ribbon over the fireplace.

****

Several wool-clad figures trundled out into the deep snow. Liam felt the tangy cold biting at his exposed skin and his ears, and burning his lungs as he breathed. Still, he felt amazing, and the smile on his scarf-wrapped face seemed a permanent part of his features.

Da'an and Zo'or were wearing oversized ski caps, with bells and tassels sewn on the ends. Their pale faces were so encased in wool that if Liam had not seen their inhumanely-blue eyes, he would not have known them to be Taelon.

"Jingle bells," Lili called suddenly. "Jingle bells."

"Jingle all the way," Doors rumbled. Liam felt a laugh rising within him at the idea of the usually-stony Resistance icon singing.

"Oh what fun it is to ride," Suzanne picked up.

"In a one-horse open-" Augur continued.

"Sleigh," Liam finished in a high-pitched squeak that sent Suzanne into helpless laughter.

****

"Dashing through the snow

In a one-horse open sleigh

O'er the streets we go

Laughing all the way!"

The voices were mismatched, slightly off-key. Da'an was holding a flashlight, which he shone on the songbooks. Zo'or, standing to the read, was reading over Liam's shoulder.

The small group was standing in front of another large house, where a tearful elderly couple were waving happily. There were only two more houses down the road, and Liam could feel his feet slowly beginning to freeze. But he was having the time of his life.

"What do we sing next?" Lili asked, trying to rub her eyes with a mittened hand.

"'Little Town of Bethlehem,'" Augur offered.

"'White Christmas,'" Sandoval added.

"We've sung both of those," Lili said, raising one booted foot and rubbing it gingerly. "Any others?"

"How about 'Silent Night'?" Suzanne asked suddenly. Her voice was calm and laced with a mixture of sadness and joy. "That song is so beautiful, it makes me cry."

There was a brief silence. Then Doors's deep voice rose above the faint crunching in the snow.

"Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright..."

Liam's voice rose along with him, and soon Lili and Suzanne joined, their blend of vocals now perfect and harmonious. Hesitantly, Sandoval and Augur joined it. And though none were sure later on, it sounded as if two Taelon voices joined them, in spirit if not in sound...

TO BE CONTINUED