NAVIDAD is a slightly different piece then you are
used to seeing as GW fanfic.   It focuses primarily on
original characters, but provides a good background
for Dorothy, and maybe some reasons why she is the way
she is.  Dorothy herself doesn�t enter until the
fourth act; however, Duke Dermail (who we named Leon
Catalonia, the Senior) is in the first part as well as
the fourth.

This piece was written by Gerald Tarrant, and serves
as part of the Sainan no Kekka universe background,
but is a definite stand-alone novella.
Gundam Wing is property of Sotsu Agency, Bandai
Studios, and TV Asahi. Sainan no Kekka and all
original characters and plot copyright 2000 by
Quicksilver and Gerald Tarrant. Please ask permission
before reposting. 
 
SHIN KIDOU SENKI GUNDAM WING 
SAINAN NO KEKKA
Navidad 
I. UNA LUZ BRILL� EN LA NOCHE
[Una luz brill� en la noche, Un �ngel canta en el
Cielo
Ha nacido de Mar�a, Jes�s, el Dios verdadero] 
*********************************************************************************************************
Are you going to Scarborough Fair? // Parsley, sage,
rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there // She once was a
true love of mine 
*********************************************************************************************************
 
"Pap�? I'm home." 

She stepped gingerly into the study to see the leather
chair turned away, the back of her father's head
facing her as he watched the flames in the fireplace.
The room smelled of cinnamon and cider and some
unnamed musky fragrance that reminded her of the
Spanish roses which her mother had loved. 

Her father turned slowly in his chair and she couldn't
help feeling a pang of disappointment that there
wasn't more of a welcoming expression in his face.
Then again, she hadn't been expecting one. 

Le�n Catalonia, Duke Dermail, was dressed in his usual
silk dressing gown, the same kind he had been wearing
at home ever since she could remember. Though now he
was wearing silver-rimmed glasses, which he hadn't
needed before when she had lived here, and as he stood
up, she noticed that he had been reading. She
struggled to make out the title of the book, but it
was too far away and she didn't want him to notice her
trying to make it out. 

"Welcome home, hija," he said, reaching out both arms.
Obediently, she crossed to the desk and let him kiss
both her cheeks gently. As if everything was all
right. "I trust you had a good trip?" 

"Yes, father," Alicia Catalonia said. The Spanish that
she had not used in almost eight years sounded awkward
to her ears, like child's Spanish. 

He released her. "Good. The servants should have
brought up your things by now. I suggest you go rest."


She stood uncomfortably for a moment, hoping he'd say
something else, but he merely put took up the book
again and settled himself back in his chair. Slowly,
she walked to the gilt-gold edged double doors and
slipped out between then, closing them softly. 

She still remembered her way around the manor, making
her way absent-mindedly to the front doors and then
out to the front porch of the house, a massive
stone-fenced structure with slim stone pillar
supports, Spanish moss draped in flowing arcs from the
old iron hooks that had once been used to hold hanging
flowerpots. The manor itself was over ninety years
old, built by her great-grandfather whom she had never
met. Her father talked about him sometimes, though she
had never really listened. She'd never cared to. 

The air was bitterly cold, but she didn't mind,
staring off into the dusky sky and at the winking
lights of Santiago de Compestela across the river.
There would be a festival tonight, a continuation of
the holiday festival that had been going on for the
past two weeks before her arrival. Tonight would be a
big one. She remembered the celebrations from her
childhood: the folk costumes, the dancing, the
storytelling and the food. So much food. Usually it
snowed, but tonight there was no snow, though last
week's snow still hugged the ground. It wouldn't melt
till the spring. 

"Alicia?" 

One of the front doors creaked open and she heard the
step of a boot on the stone patio. Knew who it was
even though she had not seen him in eight years. 

"Hello, Le�n," she said. 

Her brother didn't say a word as he came up to join
her, leaning on the balcony with his arms crossed in
front of him. She stared at the city lights for a
while longer, then turned her head to look at him.
He'd grown, she noted absently. A lot. His broad
shoulders filled out his overcoat and the elegant
riding jacket and pants under it. He'd grown his hair
out since she'd seen him, and it hung curling and dark
just brushing his shoulders, longer than their father
had ever had his. For two men who bore the same name,
they shared nothing else in common. 

She was glad. 

"Eight years and you don't have any more words for
me?" he said, teasingly. 

She couldn't tear her eyes away as he turned his head
to look at her and then she was wrapping her arms
around him, feeling her tears spill onto the slightly
scratchy material of his coat, and she felt his arms
around her. 

"Alicia�" he murmured. "Alicia, welcome home." 

"I've missed you," she said fiercely. "You don't know
how much I've missed you�" 

"I've missed you too," he intoned softly, breaking her
tight embrace to hold her at arms' length and look at
her. His dark eyes were soft in the fading light.
"You're still as beautiful as ever, little sister�and
as rebellious, I assume." 

She turned away from him and he caught her arm.
"Sorry. It was a joke." 

"I�I saw Pap� before I came out here. He didn't say a
thing." 

Le�n raised an eyebrow. "No?" 

Alicia scuffed one toe of her book along the railing.
"Not a damn thing�not that he missed me, not if I've
had a good twelve years away from home. As if I'd
never left." 

"Well," her brother reasoned, "at least you two didn't
argue." 

She didn't reply to that, and after a moment he placed
one hand on her shoulder. "Come on. It's cold out here
and you don't have a coat on�you'll freeze. I'll help
you unpack." 

Alicia hesitated a moment, then nodded and let him
lead her back through the doors, up the spiral
staircase and through the long corridor of the first
floor to the room which she'd occupied as a child,
before she'd made up her mind to go to the Academy.
Her father hadn't liked that. It had been a bad
parting. 

The servants had piled her trunks in a neat little
pile by her canopied bed, which had been freshly made
before she had arrived., and she lifted the first one
onto the feather-down quilt, snapping it open. Bras
and underwear spilled out and she glanced at her
brother, but he didn't seem fazed as she began folding
them. 

"You're really quiet," Le�n remarked, watching her
throw her things into the open drawers of the boudoir
by the bed. "You didn't used to be like this." 

"Yes, well, things change," Alicia said. "Sometimes I
don't know why I agreed to come back for Christmas.
It's too quiet here." 

"What did make you come back?" 

Something in his voice made her stop and turn around.
"What do you mean?" 

His dark, clear gaze was penetrating. "You know what I
mean. You've been avoiding us for twelve years and
then suddenly you call and say you're coming home for
Christmas? You and Pap� don't even talk, for goodness'
sake." 

"Things change, Le�n," she said softly. "More than you
think." 

"What's that around your neck?" he asked suddenly. 

"What? Oh�this?" She drew out the ring that hung heavy
on a thin gold chain nestled close to her skin. Its
amethyst stone sparkled in the light, and she held it
out to him so he could read it. She already knew the
raised lettering by heart. 

LAKE VICTORIA ACADEMY CLASS OF '66 

"Boyfriend?" he asked. 

She stuffed the ring back inside the neck of her
dress, turning away. "I don't want to talk about it." 

He sighed explosively. "We don't seem to be starting
it off on the right foot, do we?" 

"Look Le�n," she said, pulling out a long scarf from
her pack. "It's been eight years since I've seen you
and twelve since I've been home. Things change. We've
both grown up. All right? I just need�.I just need a
little time, that's all, to adjust, then I'll be
fine." 

"A little time, Alicia, and you'll be gone back to
Britain. We don't have that. Who knows when I'll see
you again?" 

The raw hurt in his voice surprised her and the scarf
in her hands trembled a bit. "I didn't know you missed
me that much," she murmured. 

"You're all I've got," he said. "With the colonies in
such a mess after Yuy's death�I don't want to lose
you." 

"Don't be stupid, Le�n." 

"I'm being melodramatic again, aren't I?" His voice
was rueful. "Too much time around those old Federation
fogies, I guess." 

"Le�n," she said suddenly, "the Dermail Duchy won't be
yours until both Pap� and Uncle Sergio die, will it?" 

"Why do you care?" 

"I thought you wanted it," she said, carefully folding
and smoothing the scarf and placing it beside the
clothes on the bed. "You always talked about it
before." 

"That was a long time ago," he said. "Before I
realized that it wasn't all fun and games." 

"Le�n-" 

"This conversation is way too serious for my taste,"
he said, and she felt his hand on her arm, felt him
pull her around. She made a surprised yelp in her
throat. "Come on, let's go downstairs. Pap� won't be
out yet until the guests are all here, but the first
ones will be arriving any minute." 

"Christmas Eve," she said. "Noche Buena. What's so
good about it?" 

He came forward a few steps and hugged her. "Alicia,
if there's something you want to talk about�" 

"No," she said into his chest, feeling the ring around
her neck digging into her collarbone. "Nothing." 

"Let's go downstairs," he said. 

"I think I'd rather stay here�" 

Le�n frowned at her. "Alicia-" 

"I'll be down in ten minutes," she said. "Ten. Give me
time to put the rest of my things up and change. This
dress isn't suitable for the party." 

"I'll be waiting," he said, just as a knock sounded on
her door. Le�n opened it. The servant standing outside
bowed politely. 

"Se�or, the Estancios are here." 

"I'll be right down," Le�n said, easing the door
closed. "Alicia, are you sure-" 

"I'm fine," she said angrily. "Fine. Leave it, all
right?" 

He still didn't look convinced as he left, and she sat
down on her bed, a sock in her hands, staring at the
wall. When they had been children it had always been
her asking why, asking to bend the rules, and her
brother the solemn one who would restrain her, hold
her back. It was much the same now. 

Le�n said that she had changed, but it was he that had
changed. He'd always been solid and quiet, but now he
seemed burdened with a sense of responsibility that
hadn't been there when they had parted ways twelve
years ago. He had been the spoiled heir to the Dermail
estates, the firstborn male child, the family prodigy
at only fifteen years old. Anything Le�n did was
great. Anything that she did was frowned upon, because
she was the girl child, useful only for marriage. 

At age thirteen, she'd rebelled. 

Her father hadn't liked it. In fact, he'd hated it.
He'd threatened to cut her off, leave her on her own
without a penny to her name. But Le�n had stepped in,
intervened, and the elder Catalonia had let her go.
She hated her brother for that sometimes. It had been
her one great act of rebellion, and even that had to
be marred by his perfection. 

Le�n loved her. He loved her too much to let her truly
be free. After she had graduated from the Academy and
had been stationed in Germany he'd shown up at her
flat in Rammstein one day unannounced, and she had no
choice but to let him in, let him fuss over her and
reassure her that she was welcome at home any time.
She'd wondered at first how he had even gotten on
base, but later realized that the names Catalonia and
Dermail were powerful tools. 

She never mentioned her ties to her family if she
could help it, but she knew Le�n reveled in the
political scene, the intrigue and the gossip and the
scandals. He was always on the news regarding some new
development in the political arena�.he along with
Mayer and Georg Khushrenada and Corwin Peacecraft. It
wasn't entirely his fault. He had been groomed for
this since birth, and she had not. 

Alicia sighed, got up, slid the dress that she'd
brought for the party off the hangar and changed
quickly. Reaching for a brush for her hair, her hand
brushed the edges of the silken scarf and she picked
it up. The fabric was woven in a gypsy pattern, wide
bands of color swirling in dizzying patterns that made
her lightheaded if she stared at it for too long. On a
whim, she draped it over her shoulders, which were
left bare by the elegant evening gown. She had
forgotten how she hated parties. 

The tinkling music of the harpsichord in the music
room downstairs drifted through the wood of her closed
door, which meant that the Khushrenadas were here and
that Marie was showing off again. No matter that no
one played the harpsichord anymore, because if it was
refined, no matter how old fashioned, Marie would do
it. Alicia had never liked Marie. Or her sister�Emily?


It had been a while. 

The scarf was soft and cool on her warm skin and she
touched it gently, remembering his touch, so long ago
before she had pushed him away, frightened of her own
humanity. No one had ever�loved her like he had. Not
even Le�n. 

"Alicia! Are you coming?" 

That was her brother. She reluctantly opened the door
and hurried to the stairs, placing one gloved hand on
the railing and taking careful steps down. There were
already quite a few people milling about, holding
drinks and dainty pastries in their hands, talking,
laughing. Marie was still playing the harpsichord in
the other room. 

"My, my, Se�orita Catalonia�still as lovely as ever." 

"Hello, Emily," she said calmly in English, ignoring
the mocking words and taking the other woman's gloved
hand. Emily Khushrenada was a lovely woman, but in a
cold kind of a way that Alicia found nauseating rather
than captivating. Then again, she was aware that Emily
had had her eye on Le�n for a while now. "It's been a
long time." 

Emily smiled graciously, though Alicia wasn't sure
what lay behind those blank, beautiful eyes. "Alicia,
meet my fianc�, the Comte d'Alsace, Jalbert Allaire." 

So maybe Emily's designs on Le�n hadn't worked out
after all. Jalbert was a rather heavyset man with a
broad face and a thin mouth. He bowed and took her
hand, and Alicia murmured something that she hoped was
polite and slipped away. She couldn't see Le�n
anywhere; he was probably in the music room with
Marie. She was actually rather impressed that the
whole Khushrenada extended family had come all the way
from France and Germany to visit. Was there some
special occasion? 

The night air was as chilly as ever and she drew the
shawl around her, shivering as she stepped onto the
front porch again. It was too crowded in there, too
many people drinking and talking about their
meaningless engagements and gossip. She suddenly
missed her mobile suit and her desk at the airbase. If
she was going to take the holiday off, she wanted to
enjoy it, and this was not her idea of enjoyment. She
should never have come back. 

"I'm a soldier," she said to the night air, "not a
noblewoman." 

"There's no reason you can't be both," said a voice
behind her. Le�n assumed his usual position beside her
on the railing. "Aren't you cold?" 

"Why do you have to be looking after me all the time?"
she asked irritably. 

"I�m your older brother," Le�n said. "I have a certain
resp-" 

"Damn you!" Alicia shouted suddenly, ripping the scarf
off her shoulders and flinging it at him. He caught
it, surprised. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" 

She stormed into the house, not waiting to hear his
reply, brushing by startled guests and running back up
the stairs to her room, kicking off her high heels and
flinging herself on the bed to stare at the ceiling. A
tight ball of anger pulsed inside her and she grasped
the ring around her neck, tugging hard on the chain,
willing the room to melt away and to find herself back
at her comfortable flat in Britain, with the roar of
mobile suit testing on the Mildenhall airfields nearby
and the fire crackling and a pot of coffee warming
itself in the small kitchen. 

This wealth�it sickened her, really. She'd forgotten
what it was like, and now that she remembered, she had
no desire to go back. 

She gave an especially hard tug on the chain and it
tensed, broke. Her hand hit the quilt, holding the
ring with the loose chain crumpling around it. 

There was a knock on the door. 

"I don't want to talk to you!" she shouted, but the
door opened anyway as she cursed herself for not
having locked it, and, as she expected, Le�n came into
the room, closing the door behind him and locking it
this time. 

"Alicia, why are you avoiding me?" 

"Because you're a nosy pest, that's why," she bit out.
"You know, maybe I wouldn't be like this if you would
leave me alone." 

She expected him to give a pacifying answer to that,
expected to become more angry at the answer, and
looked for something to throw at him. But instead he
held out a folded piece of cloth to her. She blinked,
recognized her scarf. 

"You forgot something." 

She sat up, still clutching the ring, and took the
scarf from him with her free hand, laying it in her
lap. "Le�n. Please, just�leave me alone." 

"I'm engaged to Marie," he said suddenly. 

Alicia blinked. 

"I was going to write to you�but then I heard from
Pap� that you were coming home for Christmas and I
figured I'd wait. It really didn't turn out the way I
hoped, though�I thought you'd be happy to be here." 

So that was why the whole Khushrenada clan was here
tonight. She laughed scornfully. "Me? Happy here? I
was perfectly happy until I got here." 

"Then why did you come home?" 

She laid the ring on top of the scarf carefully,
cupping her hand on top of it. Le�n, why are you
making this so hard? "I�I wanted to make sure�I still
had a home," she whispered, hoping that he wouldn't
try to comfort her, because the last thing she wanted
was comfort from him. It didn't mean a thing. 

"Alicia, you'll always have a home," Le�n said. "If
not here, then wherever I am. You're always welcome." 

"Well, you don't need me anymore, do you?" she said.
"I mean, you have Marie now, and-" 

In two steps he was there, kneeling at the side of the
bed. "Marie and I are an arranged marriage. Pap�
arranged it. I have nothing to do with it. I don't
even like Marie." 

"Then why-" 

"Sometimes you don't have a choice, do you?" She was
surprised to hear a current of rough bitterness in his
voice, and he got up, his back to her. "Sometimes you
have to do what's expected of you. Even if you hate
it." 

Alicia could hardly keep from gaping at him. "Le�n?" 

"You had the right idea," he said. "You got away. I�I
can't." 

She slid off the bed, wrapping her arms around his
waist. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's just that I
can't�I don't belong here." 

"Neither do I," he said sadly. "That's the crux, isn't
it?" 

"Thank you for bringing my scarf back." 

"It's an interesting pattern," he remarked, putting
his large hands on hers. "Gypsy pattern, correct?" 

She nodded against his back. "How did you guess?" 

"It's a distinctive pattern. Who gave it to you?" 

"Someone very special," she whispered, letting go of
him. "A long time ago." 

He didn't question her. "If I'm making you
uncomfortable, Alicia�" 

"No," she said, smiling faintly up at him. "No, you
could never do that. I'm just�not the same girl you
knew when we were children. It's been too long." 

"I understand," he said. "Believe me, I tried to get
Father to change his mind�at least he didn't disown
you like he had planned." 

I'd rather he had, Alicia said silently, but she
didn't speak her thoughts out loud, simply gathered
the loose chain and ring and the scarf and handed them
to her brother. "Can you keep these for me? They'll
get misplaced if they stay with me." 

The ring flashed a bright gold as Le�n took it,
tumbling from her hands to his in the loose embrace of
the scarf. He gave her a quizzical look. "Why? You
don't want them anymore? Bad memories?" 

She shook her head. "No�good memories. Too good�I
don't deserve them." I don't deserve him. 

Again, he didn't press her. Twelve, even eight years
ago, he would have, valiantly striving for the side of
right, urging her to question her reasons. But he
didn't do that now. "Alicia? Are you all right?" 

She straightened and gave her brother as genuine a
smile as she could manage. "I will be," she said.
"When I have things all figured out." 

"And when will that be?" 

She shrugged. "Who knows? As you said, who knows how
much time I have? I want to have things figured
out�before it's too late." 

"Now you're being melodramatic," Le�n said chidingly.
"You know I'll always love you, no matter who you are.
And I don't know who gave these things to you�but I�m
sure he always will, as well." 

"How do you know it's a he?" she challenged. 

"I don't," he said. "But who else would give a scarf
and a ring to a lady?" 

Alicia stared up at him, her gaze intense. "Le�n.
Promise me that you'll keep them for me. And when�when
you find the woman you truly love, promise me you'll
give them to her." 

He looked confused. "What? I don't-" 

"Promise." Gripping his hands. "Please. It's
important." 

She sensed him tense, then relax, and his eyes were
clear and honest as he looked at her. "I promise, mi
hermana. If it's that important to you. I'll promise
you anything." 

"Thank you," she whispered, then released his hands.
"Come on, put them in your room and let's go down.
We're missing the party." 


END I


=====
"No matter what the bible says, the battle always goes to
the strong. And I am strong. I don't need to prove that to
anyone anymore."
-Excerpt from Sainan no Kekka- Act Seven, Scene VII

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quicksilver/
http://www.midnightrevolution.org/gundam

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