Homeless (a Hetalia Fanfic, Book Three)

An Unlikely Gift

~The Christmas Party~

"Dani, hey, there you are," Vale said as she strolled up the Williams' nanny. Dani wasn't accompanied by any of her charges because they were all running around and amusing themselves in various ways; Sarah had yet to leave Santa's side since he burst into the playroom and announced that everyone was invited to the Christmas party.

"Mistress Scribe," Dani replied quietly with a tiny dip of her head. It would be odd, and maybe even suspicious, to perform a real bow. "Merry Christmas to you."

"Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you as well," Vale answered with a beaming smile. She held out a small envelope sealed with a luminescent gold wax and stamped with a yin-yang symbol. The sign of the High Council?

What could this be?

Suddenly Dani felt the bottom of his stomach drop as she accepted the letter. Was she being called back early? Would she have to leave Sarah and her brothers and sisters before her allotted time? Oh, no...!

Vale saw the trepidation on Dani's face and shook her head. "Don't worry, Dani. Just open it! It's my Christmas gift to you."

She used her thumb to carefully break the seal, and then slid the cream-colored sheet of delicate paper free from its envelope. It made a quiet noise as she unfolded it, and then Dani began to read the shimmering words inscribed there with gold ink the same color as the wax.

Suddenly, she felt like she was going to cry tears of happiness. Dani's vision blurred for a moment and made the words disappear, but she wiped that saltwater away so she could read the decree over once more. "Is this... Is this for real?" she whispered.

The Scribe nodded, looking incredibly pleased that Dani was happy with her gift. "Until the summer solstice after Sarah's thirteenth birthday. And what the letter doesn't include is that you can also be on emergency call for the kids after that, so you can still protect them even after your time is up."

"Oh, Mistress Scribe...!" Dani choked out before throwing her arms around Vale, who returned the hug. "Words can't express my gratitude to you!"

"It's alright, I think I get the gist of it," Vale laughed.

Then she looked over Dani's shoulder and noticed that someone rather quiet and invisible was standing there, waiting patiently for the most polite moment to speak up. "Hi, Matthew."

Dani pulled back from the embrace and smiled at her employer while brushing a tear away from her eye. "Hi, Mr. Williams."

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing," Canada apologized quickly in that soft voice of his. "Dani, you get to stay longer?"

She nodded emphatically and was grinning ear to ear. "I do! Until the solstice after Sarah's thirteenth birthday."

"That's wonderful!" he agreed completely.

For once, the Scribe was lost on the topic of what was going on. "Wait... Matthew, you know about her?"

"U-Uh, yes, well..." Matthew began sheepishly.

"He caught me using magic once and asked me about it, so I told him what I really was," Dani admitted. "Thankfully, he didn't mind that I wasn't exactly human."

"It makes sense, seeing how you haven't aged a day since you came to our family," Matthew said with a mirthful smile. "And honestly, I can only be grateful for everything you've done to help us out, Dani. I'm glad you won't have to leave Sarah's side for a while longer."

"Me, too, Mr. Williams."

~~

~An Undisclosed Location~