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The week before The Feast of the Winter Star, you got your letter in the mail with your secret friend. To your delight, you had gotten your best friend, Emily. You’d begged Mayor Lewis to involve Qi this year. He’d been slowly integrating himself into the community since you were married in the spring. You didn’t want him to have to sit at home alone during the holiday while you were out enjoying yourself with your friends. He had tried to assure you he was used to spending the holiday season by himself, but you wouldn’t hear it. Eventually, he agreed to participate, and all that was left to do was convince Lewis to let him have a secret friend too.
The mayor had put on a show of denying the acceptance of Qi at the event. He quickly changed his tune when you insinuated that you could easily loosen your lips about where you found his lucky purple shorts and the existence of the golden statue in his backyard. He then made an announcement on the town bulletin board about how Pelican Town would be honored to welcome a new guest at the town’s holiday event. After that, excitement grew about who Qi would get for his first Feast of the Winter Star celebration.
You happily told Qi who you’d gotten as your secret friend and began listing all the different ideas you had for her. You asked Qi who he got, and he responded by happily showing you the letter Mayor Lewis had sent. Reading just the end bit revealed he was paired with Leo.
“This feels incredibly fitting,” he had told you. “I spent a lot of my time on Ginger Island looking after him before you convinced him to move to the valley.”
You smiled at him, congratulating him on his first friend. Qi seemed happy to be joining you. The entire week leading up to the feast, he would ask questions about what typically happened at the holiday event. You warned him of Gus’s long-winded candy cane explanation that makes it difficult to stay awake. You also inform him Willy usually tells a tale about the history of the Feast of the Winter Star while Pam quietly grumbles about losing the ice fishing tournament. You had decided to keep the decor and how someone always spikes the eggnog or spiced cider a secret.
Now the morning of the event is here, and Qi is in the kitchen making his present for Leo while you are finishing staging Emily’s gift in a beautiful origami box. After you’ve both put the final preparations on everything, you get dressed up for the event. You’re wearing something with a little sparkle to it to match Qi’s coat. He’s gotten a new fleece-lined coat since moving to the valley and experiencing its harsh winter. It looks similar to his typical coat, but it’s ever so slightly more radiant with clusters of stars embroidered onto it. When it’s time to head out, you walk hand in hand to the town square, carrying your gifts in the other hand.
When you arrive at the town square, you feel Qi pause for just a moment. Festive music is playing; the tree in the center is as gorgeous and green as ever, decorated to the nines. You can tell he’s taking in the scenery. It’s cute to see the outline of his eyes behind his dark glasses looking at everything while the lights dance and shine brilliantly in their reflection. The two of you begin saying your hellos to everyone. Eventually, you feel Qi loosen up and come out of his shell a bit. He’s still oddly nervous around the townsfolk, but you can tell he’s been slowly opening up and allowing them to see the version of him you fell in love with.
As the event continues, the two of you are separated as different people demand your attentions and stories are shared. You do manage to keep an eye out for Qi in case he needs anything, though. Everything is going without a hitch, and eventually it comes time for the exchange of gifts. You hand your gift to Emily, who squeals in excitement when she sees you got her. She compliments your skills in making the origami box and opens it to reveal a matching earring and necklace set. Its metal parts and chain are made of iridium that you collected in the Skull Cavern, and the stone is polished topaz that you found while mining. She thanks you profusely, telling you she couldn’t ask for a better gift.
A little later, Elliott approaches you with a wrapped gift. He wishes you a happy Feast of the Winter Star and tells you he’s happy both you and your husband could be present this year. You thank him for the kind words and open the wrapped box. Inside is a lovely, ornate tea set. It’s absolutely beautiful and looks so delicately made. You thank Elliott as much as you can before he assures you it was no problem. He bids you farewell, and you are free to mingle as you see fit once again.
Though the event ends at 2 pm, you are caught up with people until well after the sun sets. Eventually, everyone remaining at the event moves to the community center, seeking warmth by the large fireplace. Everyone is full, so no food is made, but you, Evelyn, and Gus begin making warm beverages to hand out to others. You brew a pot of coffee, Gus makes a rich hot chocolate, and Evelyn warms a delicious apple cider she made a few days ago. Everyone is in good spirits as the festivities continue indoors.
Once it hits around nine o’clock, Qi finds you as you are bidding everyone a good night. The two of you make your way back to the farmhouse in the quiet night. When you step out of the community center, you see that snow has started to drift down, blanketing the town and its lights. You pass by Marlon, Willy, Lewis, and Robin, who are cleaning everything up from the feast. Qi’s hand finds yours on the way home, slightly calloused, warm, and reassuring.
Part of you wants to immediately go to sleep once you arrive home, but you have other plans you need to see through first. You stop Qi in the living room, telling him to get comfy on the couch while you get something. Pulling out a thermos of still-steaming hot chocolate, you go into the kitchen to pour it into mugs. You put the mugs on the coffee table in front of the roaring fireplace. You can feel Qi watching you with an amused expression. After setting the hot chocolate down, you march into the bedroom and begin rifling through your drawer of the dresser. It doesn’t take long to find what you’re looking for.
When you return to the living room, Qi has taken off his coat, hat, and glasses. You’re suddenly breathless as you take in the sight of him half-illuminated by the fire. He’s turned to you, looking at you with love and adoration. Your heart skips a beat before racing as you think about how lucky you are to have this man in your life.
“What do you have, my love?” he asks quietly.
The timbre of his voice is smooth and deep. It makes you feel at home and safe. You sit on the couch beside him, turned to face the man. He adjusts so he’s facing you as well. “I have something for you,” you whisper, like you’re trying to keep a secret.
Qi looks at you softly, the adoration shining fiercely in his eyes now. You hand him a small wrapped parcel with a bow on top. Qi’s eyes widen as you hand him the gift. “Lovely, you didn’t have to get me anything,” he protests weakly.
“I know, but you’re always giving me gifts and leaving me treasures in the mines despite literally being married to me,” you say. “I wanted to do something nice for you too, to thank you for being the best part of moving to the valley.”
He undoes the ribbon gently, and carefully pries open the gift box. Inside is an iridium charm bracelet with various meaningful charms attached. There are model replicas of the chests found in the mines and volcano dungeon, golden mystery boxes, miniatures of your wedding rings interlocked with each other, and a little hat that matches the one he wears. You hear Qi’s breath catch as he looks over each charm.
“This is perfect, my love,” he utters.
He puts the bracelet on immediately, looking at it reverently as he rotates his wrist to see each charm on him. You see as the iridium chain glistens in the firelight, complementing his skin tone perfectly. He turns his attention back to you. Scooting closer to you on the couch, he raises his bracelet-clad hand to your cheek. He gently pulls you in for a kiss. His lips are warm and just a little chapped from the cold, but you couldn’t ask for anything better than this.
When you finally part, Qi admits, “I may have gotten something for you as well.”
You gasp in shock as Qi pulls a gift from behind one of the throw pillows. He presents the present to you, looking at you happily. You unwrap it and find a coat that looks eerily similar to the one hanging up on the coatrack, but in your size. The stars are a different color than the ones on Qi’s coat, but it’s undeniable that they would complement each other perfectly.
“It may be a bit cliché to match all the time, but I wanted you to have something that would be useful and show how much I care for you,” your husband explains.
You look up at him with watery eyes. “I love it.”
The two of you fall into a comfortable silence after exchanging your gifts. You curl into Qi as the two of you sip on your hot chocolate. He has an arm wrapped around you as you nestle into him. In the warmth and comfort of both Qi and the fire, you set your mug down and drift off to sleep. The snow falling outside makes the world feel like a snow globe with time standing still in the perfect holiday spent with Qi.