It had been an hour, and both sides had failed horribly, one side had burnt their cookies to a crisp, and the other side had made it too sweet-and disfigured.

In the end, the beast trio just decided to go to Zach’s dorm room, with just their gifts in hand, and Hazel went to get some cookies from the canteen bakery. 

The door to Zach’s room opened a few seconds after they knocked, “Hazel, are you back with the- Oh, it’s you guys. Is it really that late?” 

Ryoto shrugged, carrying a few boxes, "Certainly seems like it."

Zach shook his head and moved away from the door, inviting them into the room, "Come in."

The smell of cookie dough and slightly burnt sugar assaulted their nostrils as they walked in.

“Why does it smell like-”

“Nevermind that now,” Ryla was interrupted by Zach, who sent a gust of wind through his room, successfully removing the smell of burned cookies. ”Just take a spot on the couch and we’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

Ryla raised an eyebrow at Zach’s behavior, but let it slide as it was a holiday. 

A few minutes passed as Zach passed around the kitchen looking worried and waiting when Hazel finally entered the room with Deyah. 

“We got the cookies! You think they’ll notice we bought the… m…” Hazel started to become quiet as she noticed the group was already there.

“I don’t think we’ll notice, go right ahead.” Ryoto suppressed a grin from splitting his face as he watched Hazel start panicking.

Ryla thumped his head, making him double up, chuckling all the while, “We messed up our cookies too doofus.”

“Wait, you guys tried making cookies too?” Zach asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“Yeah, we burnt ours too,” Regulus whispered back.

“We didn’t really burn ours, it was something else that caused ours to not be that good.” Zach clarified, shooting Hazel a look, who laughed nervously at his stare.

“Am I supposed to apologize for that? I still think they’re absolutely amazing. You simply lack taste.” 

Another laugh got their attention, “They weren’t that bad.”

Zach shook his head, “No, they were inedible. Who eats cookies that sweet?”

Hazel raised an arm, “I do-”

“Other than Hazel.” Zach said quickly, cutting Hazel off.

Ryoto raised his own hand, snickering at Zach’s annoyed expression, “What’s wrong with overly sweet cookies?”

“Exactly!” Hazel exclaims, “Ryan gets it!”

Zach facepalmed, “Why meeee?”

“I guess you’re just an easy target for this idiot’s jokes.” Ryla told Zach.

Zach pouted, “That’s mean.”

“So Hazel, who’s this guy?” Ryoto asked her. 

“He’s a guy who sits next to me in class, why do you ask?” Hazel responded back to him.

“Nah, I just wanted to know who was the guy that walked over to my room, told us to come over here around 5 with no explanation, asked to arm wrestle me, and then left.” Ryoto told her, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Don’t insult my love for arm wrestling!” Deyah protested playfully, “Seriously though, can I have another round?”

“...” Ryoto deadpanned at him, “No.”

“Aww man.”

“Well then,” Ryla says looking determined, “Are you guys ready for the exchange of gifts?”

“I guess we might as well. I wasn’t really prepared for gift giving so I don’t have anything.” Deyah told the group while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

“It’s fine, you don’t need to.” Zach smiled at him, reassuring him.

“I’ll go first then,” Ryoto announced, brandishing the rectangular box in his hand.

“There you go,” He pushed the box towards Ryla, who looked at it with surprise visible on her face.

“Me? I thought you would have given the gift to Regulus.”

Ryoto shrugged, “No one else is suitable for this.”

“What is this anyway?” She asked, gingerly accepting the box.

“Open it and you’ll know.”

She proceeded to do just that and was left even more surprised at what lay inside.

A dagger, red and silver with golden accents, sat snugly on a velvet indent. Upon closer inspection, the pommel seemed to be detachable. A vial of clear liquid was placed beside it.

“The hilt contains a vial of a hemlock-derived poison, and the blade has narrow channels that connect the vial to the edge. Be careful not to cut yourself with it. The other vial is an antidote for emergencies, take good care of it.” 

“I-I can’t take this.” She tried to give it back, but Ryoto moved away.

“Don’t worry, I have loads of those.” Ryoto answered somewhat truthfully. While he didn’t have ‘loads of’ them, he had a fair amount.

Ryla still hesitated, knowing just how valuable this gift was, but she knew Ryoto wouldn’t back down. So she took it, promising herself that she would repay his kindness someday. 

Regulus quietly got up after that, walking over to Zach, and handing him a tome, “That has an A class earth spell in it, use it wisely.”

“Thanks Regulus! I’ve got something for you as well.” Zach pulls a wrapped box out of his bag and hands it to Regulus.

“H-how to Socialize 101?” Regulus says confused while reading out the title of the book.

“I got everyone else a book as well.” Zach states with a grin as he passes them out to the others.

“The War of 834 and if it went differently…Interesting.” Ryoto muttered, reading the title of the book.

“500 Years of Archery, Past, Present, and Future.” Hazel recited, “Thanks Zach.”

“The Rise and Fall of Oswen? This is new, thanks Zach.” Ryla told him.

“I didn’t get a gift that was too big, but I think that you’ll like it Ryo-Ryan.” Ryla says, catching herself at the end. 

Ryla hands Ryoto a box that has a little bit of weight to it.

As Ryoto opens it he’s left in awe.

“A dragon scale bracelet? This is incredible!” Ryoto tells her with genuine excitement. 

“I-I’m glad you like it.” Ryla tells him, blushing slightly. “It lets you store a little extra mana in there so you don’t run out in an emergency.”

“That will help a lot! Thanks Ryla.” Ryoto replies back.

“My turn!” Hazel jumped in excitedly, bringing out 4 small boxes.”Zach, you open it first.”

“Oooookay?” Zach was curious, because Hazel rarely acted this excited. He opened it.

“Woah,” said Ryoto. “Did you get me something like that too?”

“Of course not, you doofus, I spent half my life savings on this.” She snatched the bracelet Zach was holding, and held it up for Regulus and Ryla to see.

“Thanks Hazel!” Zach told her thankfully. “Now you guys are kind of making my gifts seem lackluster.” He said playfully.

"My master plan all along!" Hazel replied. “Here’s yours Ryoto.” She said handing him a cylindrically shaped box.

“A jar of sugar… This seems like more of the kind of gift I would expect from you.” Ryoto tells her honestly. 

“And here’s something small for you Regulus.” Hazel then hands him a decently large sized box.

“W-what's this?” Regulus says while opening the package. He pulls out a decently large sized cloak that would be able to almost perfectly fit his size and stature. 

“It’s a cloak I got at the small market town close to here. It has a small stealth effect and is decently durable. It’s made from a Class C Nemean Lion. I thought you might like it.” Hazel tells him.

“T-thank you so much!” Regulus tells her.

“So this guy gets a C class cloak and I get a jar of sugar… I think I'm seeing some favoritism here!" Ryoto tells them.

"Be thankful you got something Ryoto," Hazel retorted, "Moving on." Hazel told him, then turned to Ryla. "And here's something I thought you would like, Ryla."

Ryoto stared at her neutrally, and chucked the jar of sugar over his shoulder, sending it tumbling towards the trash can, getting caught by Ryla at the last minute.

"Hey! That was a perfectly nice jar of sugar!" She said, offended by Ryotos action.

“…” Ryoto just sat there, staring at Hazel.

“Just because of that, I may not even give you your real present!” Hazel told him, then she turned back towards Ryla, handing her a small package. “Here Ryla, it’s nothing too big but I hope you’ll like it.” 

As Ryla begins to open the wrapping paper, she sees that inside of it there is a small case. As she opens the case she sees that inside of it are a pair goggles 

“I thought you may like these, I saw that you would get wind in your eyes when you were flying so I hope these help!” Hazel tells her as Ryla looks at them in awe.

“Th-thank you! I never had anyone notice that before!” Ryla told her, genuinely surprised that Hazel had noticed.

“It’s no problem Ryla, I’m glad you like them.” Hazel tells her. “And here’s your real gift Ryoto.” Hazel says, pulling a box out of her pocket.

As Hazel hands the wrapped box to Ryoto, a knock sounds on the door.

“Should I get it?” Deyah asks them.

“It’s alright, I’ll get it.” Zach tells him. 

As Zach opens the door, he sees Master Grey standing in the doorway holding a few wrapped packages.

“H-hello Master Grey.” Zach tells him, bowing in place almost 90 degrees. ”What brings you here today?” 

“My former disciple Batenda made a request to give something to this year's group. I already have an idea of what it's, but I decided to go through with his request as it was a holiday.”

As Master Grey passes the packages out to the group, he notices Deyah, but decides to ignore him for now. 

“That is all for now. You can return next Monday for the regularly scheduled training.” Grey tells them as he walks out of the room.

“I wonder what a former disciple of Master Grey would send us.” Ryla tells the group.

“I already know what it is.” Ryoto tells them as he conjures flames to engulf the package he was handed. It reveals a book that was not at all harmed by the flames Ryoto used on them.

“So he went as far as to make sure I got a fireproof version this time huh. I guess he learned a little bit from last time." Ryoto says, smirking.

“The Book of Tessera?” Regulus reads out.

“Isn’t that a small religious sect among the elves?” Zach asks no one in particular.

“Yeah, it's, and Batenda was a fanatic among their followers. Trying to convert every person he sees.” Ryoto tells him, smiling even more now.

“Well, it’s probably time for me to go.” Deyah tells them. “I still have to study a little bit for my test. I’m a little behind.” Deyah says while rubbing the back of his head a little. 

“Maybe you could study with me or Hazel sometime.” Zach tells him.

“Thanks, that would help a lot. Now I’m gonna go. See you guys later!” Deyah tells them before walking out of the room. 

“We should probably get going too. Thanks for letting us come over! The cookies we’re pretty good.” Ryla tells them.

Ryla and the others start to leave Zach’s room, all saying their own farewells as they leave.

________________________

As Ryoto prepares to sleep for the new days ahead, he notices something in his pocket that he forgot.

“I never did open that gift, did I?” Ryoto murmurs to himself.

As he opens the package he sees a carefully carven wooden grip for a knife. It looked like it was just big enough for one of the dual daggers he used normally. It even had his initials carved on it.

As he felt the grip of it he started to smile. It had the perfect weight for a hilt, but was a tad bit too long, like it was for a two handed weapon. 

Staring at the opening on its pommel, which led to multiple paths for poison to pass through, he realized he could use it for a bulkier dagger-closer to a sword, and smiled.

“I’m going to have to thank her later.” He says to himself as he puts the grip into its case and gets ready to sleep.