The sky had a soft purple tint with no sign of clouds. The cold air nip at Kya's nose as she glanced down at her roughly drawn map. She had placed the stall with the candied rats' tails in the far corner of the grounds between the main house and the indoor garden. She didn't think there would be much demand for them. But she had promised the owner of the little shop a spot.

"Hi Kya." Alexander greeted her with a wave of his hand as he stepped out of the smallish building that was going to be the clinic for the village. It would be so nice not to have to travel just to get healed. Kya spotted Kandense right behind him. They had been going everywhere together. Kya wondered when she would finally have grandchildren. She shook herself out of her little daydream. Focus! There is going to be a holiday festival here three days from now.

"Just the two I was looking for." Kya motioned for them to get closer. Alexander and Kadense took the hint and were beside Kya in a couple of bounds leaving behind big holes in the snow where they had touched down.

"As you two know. There is going to be a festival here in a couple of days. I need you to tell the others to gather here when the first sun sets. I have an announcement to make." Kya said, indicating the spot they were standing in.

Alexander and Kadense looked at each other and smiled. "We can do that." Alexander said quickly.

"I suggest maybe finding Thomas and Shasta. They live the farthest out." Kya said before turning her attention back to her map. Maybe she could see if Shasta would provide some of her famous fish flavored snacks at the festival.

Alexander and Kadense ran off to find Thomas and Shasta. They bounded through the snow. Alexander stopped and gathered snow and made it into a ball. He threw it at Kandense and narrowly missed her as she danced out of the way. (Kadense and Alexander danced and bounded through the snow-covered evergreen trees. It was much easier to move under them as the snow below them was not nearly so deep.)

They both were having so much fun that they did not realize they had made it to the small lake Thomas and Shasta shared. ((Alexander spotted something pink floating above the clear crystal waters. The white snow covered all the green grass, only the tallest of green grass blades stuck out the shimmering snow.)

"Hey, Shasta!" Alexander shouted while dodging the latest snow ball thrown by Kadense.

The pink blob dove under water only to come up much closer to land. "Hey Alexander. Fancy seeing you way out here."

"Well Kya sent us out here. She says to come to the main courtyard at first sun set. She has an announcement that she wants to tell everyone. " Alexander answered.

"Oh I already know about the festival. Kya has one every year." Shasta said dismissively.

"I know. But you know Kya, she wants everyone there." Kadense said, sidling up to Alexander.

"Alright, Alright. I will be there at least. Don't know about Thomas. He is off doing whatever he does. He brings home some weird stuff though." Shasta said before she slipped back into the warm clear waters of her lake.

"Well I guess we go back to the village and start going door to door. " Alexander said as he moved quickly back under the trees.

"Race you!" Kadance said. She took off running. Laughing as Alexander ran after her.

They made it back to the village in record time. Kadance bounded into the center of the village with a spray of snow. "I win!"

"You win." Alexander conceded his sides heaving. He had not realized before how fast Kadense was.

They spotted Kya talking to Bunsen.

"Hi Kya. We talked to Shasta. She says she will be here." Kadense said seeing that Alexander was too out of breath to talk.

"Oh That's great! I talked to Jermaul earlier and just told Bunsen just now. She says she would make her famous chocolate brownies."

"I don't know about famous." Bunsen said. "It's not like colonists come from miles just to eat one."

"Oh you never know, It might happen." Kya half joked.

Kya waved to Bunsen as she left to go about her errands.

"Alright you two. Here is a list of the colonists who still need to be invited." Kya handed them a piece of paper with two columns of hastily written names.

"I've already talked to the others." Kya said. "Now sho, get out of here. I have more planning to do."

Kadense and Alexander ran to do as Kya said. It took them most of the rest of the day to knock on all the doors and search out the villagers to make sure they all knew to come at the first sunset.

Villagers started to gather in the town square just as the first sun began to set. Kya stood on top of a large wooden box.

Kya watched all the stragglers come in and she waited till everyone was settled.

"Thank you all for coming." Kya said, raising the volume on her voice so that all could hear her.

"As you all know the winter festival is coming in three days. I spoke to quite a few of you about having a booth with your wares. There are new colonists that were found deep in the bunker. Some of them have come to the surface. I have been sending out runners to invite them to our winter festival to make them feel welcome. But to do that I will need a lot of help." Kya could see Kadense and Alexander in the crowd; they seemed to be listening with rapt attention.

"If you want to help, please stay here and I will assign you a job. That is all. Thank you for coming."

Kya stepped down. Kadense and Alexander pushed their way through the crowd.

"New colonists?" Kadense asked bright eyed with excitement.

"Where do you want me?" Alexander asked. It had been so long since new colonists had come to the planet. He was most curious to see what they looked like.

"Oh good. You two can help me find jobs for everyone. Here is a list of what needs to be done." Kya handed them a piece of paper. Kadense recognized the hastily written words.

"Sure. We are always here to help." Alexander took the paper. He and Kadense moved to the side of the box and as villagers came up to express their willingness to help he and Kadense assigned them jobs.