The Purple Haired Craze

In Which The Celebrations Begin

I am really sorry for taking forever, but here you guys go... I hope you are still reading... :)

It was clear that Joy could barely contain her excitement as they all settled down, the presents laid in the middle of the floor.

"Joy, you know your job," Aura prompted the small girl.

She gave a little squeal as she grabbed the nearest present, turning the label over to read it. "This is for Dexter!" she said, waddling over to the light haired boy, who accepted the present gracefully.

"Now, who is it from?" Dexter wondered out loud, looking at the name printed on the neat packaging. "Anton! Alright!" The blond gave Anton a cheerful smile, before tearing the wrapping open.

The expression of delight turned to one of bemusement.

"What is it?" Valkyrie asked, as they all crowded round to see.

"Umm, lavender oils?"

Everyone turned to Anton, who stared back at them deadpanned. "He does stink sometimes."

"So do you," Dexter shot back, but he was smiling. "Thanks anyways, Mr Grumpy."

All of Anton's presents were hilarious. Nobody could prevent the huge grins spreading across their faces whenever Joy announced a present from Anton.

Surprisingly, his present to Valkyrie was fairly sweet; a little snow globe of London (old London town) that painfully reminded her again of Tanith, but at the same time brought back fond memories of the time when the English wall walker took her on a weekend to London and went shopping. "Thanks Anton," Valkyrie said, placing it carefully onto the side table, trying not to let people see the tears beginning to well in her eyes. She shuffled a little closer to Skulduggery on the sofa, hiding her face slightly in his shoulder. Skulduggery wrapped his arm around her, shifting slightly to sit them both more comfortably together.

The next round of presents were from Saracen. All of his were some sort of jewellery; rings, necklaces, bracelets, anything that he thought suited them. Valkyrie got a simple wrap around bracelet made from silver with small rubies and jade interspersed along the length of the thin silver chain. It had clearly been thought about and Valkyrie was touched by how Saracen had paid attention to the colours she liked and suited her.

Dexter had gone with shoes. "I really like shoes," was his explanation. "It's also something that Ghastly and Savage haven't learnt to make yet."

"We're tailors. Not cobblers," Ghastly reminded them.

"Fair enough."

Joy got the most adorable pair of snow boots, a shade of brown leather that looked almost red, lined with black fur. She squealed, pulling them on immediately and charging about the living room in them.

"I love them so much!" she shrieked.

Aura chuckled. "I can see that sweetie. But other people are still waiting for their presents. What do you say to Dexter?"

"Thank you, Dexy!" she said, flinging her arms around the blond boy before returning to the present pile to dish out the last couple of Dexter's presents.

Valkyrie also got a pair of boots. They were pitch black leather, came up to the middle of her calf, but the leather wasn't stiff to the point she couldn't move her leg to swing a kick at someone.

"Thanks, Dex! They're perfect."

"That's okay, Val."

Ghastly predictably had made them all clothes.

"Father helped," he said as everyone clamoured over their new outfits. "He did quite a lot of them."

Savage, who was sitting on the other side of the living room, chatting with the other adults, frowned at his son. "But Ghastly, all of the personal additions to the clothes were your ideas, and you did a lot of the designs."