Winter has descended upon the streets of Xanthic Cross, and with it comes the looming chaos of the holiday season. For Nefarioun, the "most wonderful time of the year" is a tide of community involvement she'd desperately rather avoid. But between a high-stakes tree run for a local school and the relentless curiosity of her genie companion, Disco, she is finding it harder than ever to remain a festive hermit.
While Nefarioun attempts to navigate the complexities of human traditions and her own dark family history, her ward and former bodyguard, the child soldier Pico, has her own way of "celebrating". Whether it's rigging high explosives at a tree lot or landing a lead role in a school nativity play that she's re-imagined with military-grade demands, Pico is proving that you can take the girl out of the war zone, but you can't take the tactical planning out of the girl in the end.
