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Shadow was doing catnappery, sprawled across the papers on His Human’s desk. His Human and Spare Human had been gone for hours, and it was late enough that Shadow didn’t expect them to come back tonight. Still, his rooms were warm and the she-humans who came and went everyday made sure he was fed, so he didn’t mind being alone.
One ear swiveled to catch a sound from the hearth. When the sound- a soft clatter, like small rocks falling- repeated itself, Shadow rose, stretched in the way that made Spare Human say “biiiiiiiiiig stretch”, and strolled over to the fireplace to investigate. As he watched, a few more chunks of soot clattered down the chimney. The stuff was as black as he was, but not as glossy. An old man followed the rain of soot. He had long white face-fur, and must have been a Bard like Spare Human, because he was dressed all in red.
For a moment, Shadow was distracted by the mystery. He was used to humans doing odd things, so one actually coming down the chimney didn’t seem especially unusual. However, this human was clearly a good hunter- he was very well-fed. So much so that Shadow doubted he would fit comfortably down that small chimney. Shadow had climbed it once, and it was plenty big for him, but he doubted even His Human (whose lack of flesh marked him as a very poor hunter) would have been able to fit inside, let alone climb it.
These questions were pushed to the back of Shadow’s mind almost immediately. He usually didn’t permit strange humans to touch him, but when this one reached down to scratch his ears, it felt… right. This was an acceptable human. His purring filled the room as the new human moved to scratch under his chin.
All too soon, the human straightened up, then moved to His Human’s desk. He blew away all the black fur Shadow had so carefully arranged on His Human’s papers (rude!), and placed a small box wrapped in colorful paper on the desk. Then, he turned to Spare Human’s desk and left a long, flat box in shiny paper there as well.
Shadow jumped up to sniff at the box on His Human’s desk. It smelled of pine needles and strange deer, like the new human. Shadow suddenly realized that the new human didn’t smell like a human at all. He smelled of nothing, in himself, but had traces of other places and creatures clinging to him.
The new human chuckled, then scooped Shadow up off the desk (RUDE!), placing him on the floor near the hearth. Before Shadow could voice his objections, the new human made it up by putting a huge platter down on the hearth next to Shadow. On that platter was the largest fish Shadow had ever seen. It was lightly cooked, with butter and flavor-leaves rubbed into it. And clearly, the new human intended it all for Shadow!
***
Shadow had eaten half his fish when he realized that he was alone in his rooms again. He would have noticed if the door or windows had opened, so the new human must have left the way he came- back up the chimney. Maybe it had been enlarged since he last climbed it? No matter.
As he munched, Shadow considered the idea of gifts. His Human and Spare Human gave Shadow gifts all the time. And the little she-humans that cleaned his rooms and fed him, they brought him gifts as well. It was only his due, after all. But in the last few days, Shadow had noticed many of the humans giving each other gifts- gifts that had nothing to do with himself! Maybe, just maybe, giving gifts was a nice as receiving gifts. The humans all seemed happy when they did it, after all.
Shadow decided to test his theory. Stashing the rest of his fish in His Human’s boot for safekeeping, Shadow slipped out of his special entrance and onto the Palace grounds. After some consideration, he headed for the stables. Not the White-Horse stables where His Human’s White-Horse lived, the Other Horse stables.
It was usually quiet in there this time of night, but tonight there were a bunch of humans gathered there. They had music-makers, and some of them were dancing. Shadow watched as the clumsy humans spun in circles. When that was over, one of them began to sing, with the rest following along:
"When rose the pole star bright, the world was filled with light,
"And in the killing cold, a song breathed through the night…."
Shadow didn’t understand the words, but he associated singing with Spare Human, warm laps, and other good things.
The presence of all the extra humans made his search for the perfect gift a little more difficult, but Shadow was nothing if not persistent. The noisy humans covered his movements, and their scent washed out his, even to himself. He worked his way into the darkest corner of the stable where the straw was thick, and….
Shadow left the stable, gift firmly clenched between his teeth. Getting back into his rooms with his burden was a little more difficult than getting out, but the effort was worth it to test out this gift-giving idea. His Human and Spare Human weren’t back yet, but the air had that pre-dawn scent, and Shadow thought they might be home soon. He had to hurry.
Shadow leapt up onto the bed His Human shared with Spare Human. The she-humans had put fresh fabric on all the soft parts of the bed earlier in the day, so there was only a thin layer of black fur on everything. That was easily remedied, though. Shadow carefully placed the dead mouse in the center of His Human’s pillow. He studied his handiwork, then nudged the body into a more life-like position. Perfect.
His Human would be pleased with Shadow’s Midwinter gift, he was certain. And maybe it would even encourage His Human to become a better hunter himself?
Shadow went back to his catnappery, filled with an unexpectedly warm feeling. As much as receiving gifts was Shadow’s due as a cat, sometimes it was nice to give as well.