I watched the snow falling lightly. The worst of the snowstorm had passed. One woman hailed us, "Hey Diane! Taver just came back! He has something for Ninette and is asking if you can take it to her."

I followed Diane to stables. Taver's cloak was caked with ice and snow. Diane commented, "Did the snow storm yesterday try to eat you alive?"

He turned around with a chuckle, "It spat me out and told me I was too old and stringy to be out in such weather. Now I am covered in icicles. Please tell me that there is a good fire in that stove in the lab to dry out these frozen clothes."

Diane grinned at the old trader, "Indeed, it has quite the fire since it has to heat a few rooms. I split lots of wood to keep that thing running all day and night. Want me to pack something for you?"

He pointed to a surprising large wooden box, "You can pack that, it is for Ninette and I advise against dropping it. It is fragile and irreplaceable."

I opened the doors for Diane as she carried it back. Taver followed in our tracks. No one had shovelled to the lab yet. The snow was already knee-deep off the walking paths. It was hard to believe that it was almost Christmas already.

The three of us went to the main lab room where Ninette had been working earlier. Ninette was happy to see him back, "Oh! Taver, you returned already! What a nice surprise. Would you care to join us for some tea? I think I have some cheese rolls around here somewhere as well."

Taver turned to Ninette with a smile, "Tea and honey would be welcome. I wouldn't say no to any real food either. Jerky and trail rations get tiring real fast."

Diane dug some apples and cheese rolls out of a cupboard as we all sat down to visit. Taver rummaged around in his backpack, "Ah, and this big thing is for you."

Diane's eyes glowed slightly in excitement as she took the fat plastic envelope. Diane opened it up and glanced at the smaller envelopes inside. She pulled out a few and handed them to me. I took them excitedly, scanning the fronts. Everyone had responded! Diane put hers in her backpack for safekeeping until we had time to read it. It was hard, but I put mine in my backpack as well.

Taver took another sip of tea before continuing, "Matthew and several others came to find me quietly. All were hoping that I might have had more details than what were in those letters. They were very glad to hear you found this place before the snow hit. Had a nice chat with them. I am fairly sure that all of them wrote a letter or two to send back. Someone higher up did send three homing pigeons along in case Bethany Fort runs into a huge problem, such as a wildfire. The birds are being kept in that coop up on the ridge with the messenger pigeons from other settlements so they don't bond with the ones we have in the town. They had some nice trade goods. I will definitely have to go back there next summer."

Taver hung around and visited for a while before heading off to his room for some sleep. Diane headed to her room and I quickly followed since I was sure she was going to bring out the letters. She sat on the bed and used her belt knife to cut through the waterproof plastic envelope to dump the smaller ones out.

We sifted through the pile. Most were for Diane, from those she sparred lots with in the past, her group members, and even one from Nancy and Nancine. Four were for me. One was from Rick and his son, another was from Trish and Nathan, and two were from the two kids I had wrote to.

I flopped down on the bed to start reading them. Wow, Donovan's printing was worse than mine. Rick and Donovan were glad that we had found this rumored place. They were even happier that people didn't have any problem with us being here.

They asked how Diane was doing, so I got out more paper and a pen to write a response. I made sure that I wrote much neater than Donovan did. I also wrote responses to the others. I was almost done by the time Diane simply finished reading her huge pile.

Taver wasn't going back there soon, but he knew a small chain of traders who could be counted on to get letters back and forth if the package was carefully labeled and appropriately bagged. Each bag would go to a certain person in a town with a small trade item inside. The person would open it to get his or her trade supply, and the bag inside that one was addressed to another person further away with its own trade item inside. It would hop through a dozen towns and take a while, but it would get there.

Diane still had a lot of trade goods hidden in various corners of the room. I knew that Diane would be sending the mailing details to Matthew so that he could send the letters back. I craned my head as Diane was reading a four page letter. I was startled when I saw Ace's name on it. That guy didn't speak much, how had he written eight pages? Whatever he had written, Diane was reading it intently, so it was probably important news and updates from the Fort.

Diane rolled onto her back and chuckled. I glanced at her in curiosity, she saw my glance and explained, "Ace is in hiding. My old sparring partners had gotten used to a challenge and now they want a good workout on a constant basis. They keep trying to get him onto the practice mats since he is the top fighter in the base."

I pitied Ace. Those Guard Group Leaders were really persistent when they wanted to be. Diane grinned, "Looks like Trish's brother pulled a prank on her and tried to blame Nathan. He apparently forgot that Nathan is a Raider when he tried to lock himself into the room since Nathan simply climbed in the window behind him."

Diane started laughing, "Oh, this is good. Nancy and Nancine intercepted Ace's morning walk as Nancy tried to teach Nancine how to flirt. He ran away as soon as possible."

I started giggling uncontrollably, those two women made most men uneasy, but Ace was nervous around most women. Which I found weird since none of them could beat him in a fight. He was especially uneasy around ones that wanted to dance or get close. Diane had once said that he was fine with casual friendship, but anything more put him outside of his comfort level. Perhaps he was just scared of catching cooties.

Diane grabbed some paper and I passed her my pen. She rolled onto her stomach to compose a response to all of her pen pals. Considering how many letters she had, she was going to take some time. I got changed and climbed into bed. I knew that Diane would ensure that Taver got our letters before he left. He probably wouldn't return until close to spring.

I was asleep before she even finished writing her first letter.

I yawned and wandered down the hallway. I was pretty sure that I would find Diane in the lab, she usually hung out there in the morning with Ninette until I woke up. I quietly padded into the room. I couldn't hear my footsteps, but Diane could. She glanced over with a grin, "Good morning sleepy head."

I paused in the doorway and yawned. I paused at the sight of two boxes wrapped in brightly colored paper sitting on the counter. I smiled at Diane as I pulled two presents out from behind my back, "Merry Christmas!"

I handed one to Ninette and one to Diane. Diane passed me a larger box while Ninette gave me a smaller one. "Thank you," I sat down to open my Christmas presents.

Diane held up the elastic hair combs I managed to get her without her finding out, "These are great. Thank you!"

I opened up Ninette's gift, saving Diane's for last. Ninette had given me fuzzy winter snow boots, "Thank you for the boots! How did you know I was outgrowing my current pair? My feet will never get cold in these!"

Ninette chuckled at my excitement and energy, "Diane mentioned it when I couldn't think of anything to get you."

I turned to my other present. I quickly unwrapped the paper, but Diane had ensured that I would have to work to get into the box that held my present. She had somehow woven string around the entire box in an elaborate pattern.

There were several loose strings and I started slowly unraveling the oddly familiar pattern while the two women watched in amusement. It looked a lot like the weave in my hammock where each string looped into its two neighbors in an alternating pattern, but it wasn't quite the same.

This must have taken Diane hours to do. I tilted my head, I couldn't see Diane sitting this long, it simply wasn't logical for her to do so when she needed to move so much. It wasn't adding up. I turned the box over to pull the string through another loop and paused. I turned the box to examine the one corner better.

The pattern was a bit different here and now I knew why I recognized it. It was one of the quickest and easiest weaves used to make a fishing net. I peered closely at the pattern in a few key spots. Ah, there. With a grin, I undid a knot and two different strings separated. I glanced over to see Diane grinning widely. Ninette just looked confused.

Like any crochet or knit pattern, once unknotted, it came apart by simply pulling on it steadily. Diane chuckled as I pulled on the string and the elaborate pattern came undone easily. Ninette stared in amazement at how it was coming undone.

I piled the string neatly to the side, someone was sure to use it later for something. I opened up the box and pulled out some wadded up paper on top. I paused as I finally saw what was inside. I glanced at Diane with wide surprised eyes before pulling the backpack out of the box. I examined it from every angle. My own school backpack was wearing out, it had never been designed for a cross country hike and 24/7 use.

This one was made from leather and was a very close copy of Diane's backpack, but built for my size. I would outgrow it before I could possibly wear it out. The shoulder straps, sides, and flap had fancy leather tooling in the shape of vines, flowers, and even a few birds. It was obviously custom-made for me.

I quickly adjusted the straps until it fit perfectly. I stood up and spun like a ballerina to ensure it wouldn't slide. It didn't even shift. I ran to Diane to give her a hug, "Thank you! I love it!"

She bent down to kiss the top of my head, "You're welcome."

I started taking things from my old backpack and putting them in my new one. I decided to try and organize it like Diane organized hers. She knew how to make the best use of the pockets and slots, as well as which things someone needed to grab most often.

It didn't take long for me to finish and sit on my chair to eat the plate of food that Diane had sitting there for me. Ninette and Diane discussed possible plans for today. Since it was Christmas, there weren't any chores other than the essentials like feeding the animals.

I dipped my bread into my soup, "Can we go for a ride?"

If everyone was at loose ends, there were going to be a couple hundred strangers with nothing to do. Most of them knew us on sight – it was impossible not to in such a small place, but many hadn't had a chance to talk with us lately. I wanted to be outside the palisade before they decided they wanted to talk.

Ninette nodded, "That sounds good, it has been months since I have ridden a horse."

Diane was always up for anything that involved activity. She grabbed her cloak and Ninette eyed up the lighter cloak, "Just how you don't freeze in that light cloak is beyond me."

Diane shrugged, "I can tell it is cold outside, but it doesn't bother me. I don't feel cold and I don't have any goosebumps. I think I could probably go out in a light autumn jacket and still be fine."

Ninette nodded slowly with a thoughtful look on her face, "Your body is burning the excess energy for warmth. You will probably notice the cold less than others." Diane shrugged to indicate that she had no clue.

We headed to the stables, but we didn't have to do anything since people had already finished tending the animals. One man suggested that I use a certain mare since she was a bit smaller. Diane saddled her up for me while Ninette saddled up another horse.

A handful of other young adults nearby noticed, one guy called out, "Heading out for a ride?"

Ninette looked over, "Yes, just going to head up to the highway and back."

The guy grinned, "Sounds like fun, mind if we join you?"

Ninette nodded, "Sure, we would welcome the company."

The four men and three women swiftly saddled horses. All of the horses were fresh and eager to get outside. The people joining us reminded me a lot of the younger group when we travelled with the Traders. Diane had to hold the reins for my mount since she wanted to frisk around.

It wasn't long until we hit the trail and Diane released my horse, who seemed to take the hint that she had to behave. One of women commented, "Aren't you going to ride?"

Diane chuckled, "Nope, I am training for endurance running."

Diane was well known for being unable to sit still. After so many months here, everyone knew that she had some different sort of virus that made her immune to the zombie virus. Ninette had reassured them that it wasn't contagious, as she had done numerous tests in various samples. Like diabetes, it affected only her. They didn't know the finer details.

This group undoubtedly knew that she had the virus, but didn't care. Ninette pushed her horse to a trot and the other horses eagerly followed her. They were all quite fresh and enjoying the snow.