‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the city
Everyone in Talionis was all in a tizzy;
No stockings were hung, ‘cuz Laban would be a bear,
If presents were given here or there;

The recruits did their training, some willing, some not,
while all of them understood this now was their lot;
Early morning trainings, Sergeants yelling in her face,
All Bria expected for Christmas was to be called a disgrace,

Ari’s gift to herself of course would be
better marks in every area — easy as one, two, three
Shay listened to Trill, believing every word
While others watched their instructor thinking she looked like a bird

Every soldier in Talionis made one thing sure
No recruit would think of Christmas, no not any more
So the exercises grew harder and recruits became exhausted
While the weather turned colder making their fingers feel frosted

Commander Ark lounged in his office, his plans coming together
No one would stop him now, or they’d regret it forever
He called for his officers to hear their report,
“Valarius, Vasco, and Mandeville, you have shown great support.

“And now as the recruits continue to grow stronger
the time for our rise will be not much longer.
Take care to continue my plans to employ
And ensure no recruits find any Christmas joy.”

“Yes, sir!” The soldiers chanted and off they went
to make sure every recruit would end the day spent.
But one thing they didn’t plan for, you see
was that Cai would keep them in the Ruins, busy.

And as the soldiers attempted to put out fires
Some recruits were able to rise above the Sergeant’s ire
Nika began remembering Christmases from before
and realized what mattered was not gifts galore

Cade reflected on the birth of his Savior, the Christ
And determined that no matter what he’d follow Him with his life
Bria couldn’t understand how her friends could be happy
But she was thankful they were with her, even if it was sappy

As the darkness of evening started to close in
Matthias jumped up and said with a grin,
“Talionis might not be the best in the land
but I say Merry Christmas — because with my friends it’s grand.”

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