Finally, after all that wound down and they were all tired, just about around midnight, Janus’s parents disappeared for a moment, only to come back with their hands full of gifts. Mostly for Janus and Aimi, but there were two for him, surprisingly enough. Starr pressed the smaller of the two into his hands, giving him a warm smile. “I wanted to thank you for coming over. It’s been a while since we had such a lively Spring Festival’s eve.”

Gently, he unwrapped the box— making sure to hold it up above Aimi’s reach, of course. It was a jade token of some sort. He inspected it carefully, but couldn’t feel any qi. If Janus’s sharp inhalation was any clue, though, it was clearly something important. “You’d give that to him?”

His mother smiled sadly. “We have plenty of them, and friends are worth more than jade. Carry that token well, Mingtian. We were never one of the big clans in Beixian, and our departure left us much diminished… but we are, if only by technicality, the last and main branch of our lineage. All which is to say, it’s well within our rights to give out that token.”

A cultural artefact, then… he focused on it carefully, reading its aura and— after a second—- marveling at its great age. It had to be at least af few hundred years old. He offered a bow to the two of them, sincerely deep. “Thank you. I’ll treasure it.” Then, with a wave of his hand, he summoned the two ribbons he’d made earlier. Now he felt a little bad at making them what amounted to trinkets on the fly. “A bookmark for you— enchanted to help you remember your page even if it falls out—” at least Janus looked pretty happy at that— “and a bow for you. It’ll do your hair for you if you tell it to.”

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Aimi gasped and smiled. “Do it do it—” and perhaps more importantly her intent, mortal as it was, brushed against the ribbon she was holding, bidding it to life. The golden formations-thread flowed, running along the sinuous lines of the dragons and mythical animals as it fluttered up her arm and wound around her hair, tying it neatly into a little ponytail. She untied it, beaming as she held it out. “Again, again—”

“It can only do it once a day or so.” Which was something he totally could have done otherwise, but this, at least, wasn’t the sort of thing that would attract jealousy from the wealthy. Aimi was better off without literally

wearing a fortune. “It should help you out in the morning, though.” Aimi pouted, but put the ribbon away regardless.

One by one, they opened their gifts, and kept snacking, and laughed with each other and joked with each other and—

Last of all, Janus handed him his second gift. It was a book, obviously, and as he unwrapped it, and read the title… “A Comprehensive Guide to Aurelian History?”

Janus blushed a bit. “I know it’s not your strongest suit, and I don’t want to rub it in or anything, but I thought that this could be a pretty interesting first foray into the topic…”

“I like it.” And that was really all he had to say.

It was a good night— and come midnight, together, they raised a toast and said their festival blessings, and—

What a strange camaraderie, despite it all.

Friendship, or the closest thing to it.

He could not but smile.