[Each year, I post a short piece of Fading Suns fiction to celebrate the holidays. For more info on Fading Suns, see the links in the menu.]

From the journals of Guiseppe Alustro, December 24^th, 5023, Holy Terra:

As the glowing embers in the nearby grate warm my study and I prepare to record recent events, I am reminded of that pilgrim I encountered those many years ago on Nowhere. We had joined a caravan to journey to the Gargoyle and encountered, late in the evening, a similar caravan returning from that goliath’s site. Among them was an old hesychast named Martina. I could see in her eyes a certain light, which I deduced to be a fervor evoked by an encounter with Urzenkai. I asked to join her by the fire. Young and impertinent, I intruded upon her hospitality by asking what I later learned was considered to be a terribly rude question on Nowhere. I asked her what the Gargoyle had shown her.

She stared at me for a while, judging me. Perhaps my sincerity shone through, as she eventually gave a curt nod and gazed into the fire. “Gifts. So many gifts. We are told that the Pancreator’s grace is tiring, like the light in the dying embers of this fire. We are fools, like children on Lux Splendor who have opened all our presents and complain that there are no more to unwrap. The Pancreator’s creation is endless. Are there not always more presents when Lux Splendor comes around again? So it is with the universe.”

I nodded. It was a heartwarming message, but not the thunderous prophecy I expected from the Gargoyle. As I rose to rejoin my companions, she spoke again. “Worry not, young Alustro. Urzenkai has a message for you.” This halted me. I had not given her my family name, only my first name. I opened my mouth to speak but she had pulled the hood over her head, signaling that she was done speaking.

She spoke truly, of course. The Gargoyle did give my lady and I a vision of great import. Yet, only now, as I think back upon it, do I believe that her message of grace and gifts was the more important one.