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[She's not Padmé Amidala. Nor is she Jane Foster. It's just Ariadne, sitting on the wooden floor of her home, in front of an enormous, four-poster bed with a canopy of sheer, white fabric. Splashes of color occasionally hit her face and the background, as her homemade mobiles, flitting with broken pieces of colorful glass, catch whatever sunlight there is. Her long, long, long brown hair is hanging loose over her left shoulder, crinkled to show that it's just come undone from its braid.]

I...I've noticed that a lot of important holidays seem to be in the middle of the winter. And I guess it makes sense. The days are short, the nights are long, and everyone is cold and missing fresh fruits and vegetables. It raises the spirit to have something to celebrate and people to celebrate it with.

[There's a small smile. A memory or two from her days in Valeria.]

Back home, the New Year was the most important holiday. There would be parties and feasts and masked balls. Presents. Lots of music...

[And she misses that music. But Ariadne won't let herself stay sentimental for long.]

Last year, I learned about an Earth holiday. The one where the fat man breaks into people homes and leaves them gifts, instead of stealing stuff. Christmas!

[Makes no sense, but it's a lovely sentiment.]

I was hoping to maybe learn about some other holidays from this time of year. What do your cultures celebrate? Maybe we can find a way to all celebrate together. I'm still convinced that togetherness is the only way we're going to survive this place. And I...I know I'm not alone, feeling that way.

[A small shrug.]

So let's talk to each other more. When there isn't an emergency. Talk about some of the happy things, maybe. Tell me about the good stuff.

[Ariadne doesn't really know where to go from here, so she shrugs again.]

Anyway, that's all. Sorry to interrupt anything.

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You were killed?

[The horror on her face is genuine. Even if she's been through the woes of Deerington, that doesn't make them any less awful.]

How terrible! I'm so sorry, my lady.

[More than killed, killed and brought back as one of them. But Winter didn't want to elaborate further, with how she'd been forced to attack her own sister and her friend.]

It was a risk of the position and responsibility that I've taken upon myself as a huntress. But I'm fine now, and I'm better prepared now so there is no need for concern.

It's a reality of this world, and the one that I come from, that there are those who will fall in order to protect others.

A reality, yes. But that can't make it easier.

[Her eyes are filled with sympathy. But not pity. Ariadne knows there's nothing worse.]

I hope you'll take some time for yourself. To celebrate...being alive.

I will, and even if I forget I have a partner that will ensure I take some time and remember to celebrate. As well as several others I've come gotten to know here.

One of the good things about this world, are those who have been pulled here.

Oh yes. I so enjoy meeting all these new people. People we were never supposed to meet.

[She grins.]

[And those who who have been lost.]

You mentioned the New Year, but were there any other holidays which you celebrated during Winter?

Well, last year, Jack and the Doctor taught me about the holiday with the fat man and the presents.

I guess...well, I assume that there are others from other worlds.

Santa clause. Ruby heard about him last year and in turn, so did I. It seemed like a rather strange tradition of leaving food out in exchange for presents from a stranger.

From what I've seen there are over a dozen worlds that we have all been pulled from. Some are strangely similar to one another and have the same holiday, others no one else has heard of. Such as the Vital festival.

[She leans in slightly.]

The Vital festival?

Please, tell me about that.

The Vytal Festival was created to serve as a celebration of peace between the Kingdoms. Every two years, a Kingdom was chosen to open its doors to the world, allowing citizens from every corner of Remnant to meet and indulge in one another's cultures. During the festival, the various cultures of the world were celebrated with dances, parades, and a combat tournament between each Kingdom's top Huntsman academy.

Unfortunately, that's what it used to be. Now, it will be remembered for entirely different reasons.

I'm...sorry to hear that. The part about entirely different reasons.

[That really can't be good.]

But perhaps some day, we can do something like that here? We do have a lot of different cultures to share.

It does sound like a good idea, and would be a way for each of us to better understand one another. But it would take a lot of organization and effort to pull it off.

Quite a lot, I imagine.

And a willingness to participate.

I have found that given that someone else is doing the bulk of the work, volunteers are relatively easy to find around here. There wouldn't be a shortage of those wishing to participate.

That's encouraging!

For some.

...not for you?

Let's just say that most of the time I would rather take care of anything that comes up myself.

So...you're a leader, then?

I was the second in command. I'm not really sure that I have what is needed to be an effective leader.

I find that's usually a sign of great leadership...not wanting to be a leader.

Perhaps, but confidence and and decisiveness are important when it comes to dealing with emergencies.

I don't mean to be rude, but you seem to me like the sort who possesses both.

Just...based on our conversation.

Perhaps at one point, I was. But there's a lot that I have come to question and doubts that have made me second guess that.

Because of Trench?

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