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It was Christmas Eve in The Server, and Mistress Kou had set the weather to frosty. A brisk snow was falling, the tiny flakes scurrying across the Great Piazza in unique billions, clouding Yancey's view with specular rainbows refracted from the neon lights of the Niziiro Casino. His stake-out position had become untenable. He stamped his chilled feet suddenly, rattlingly; the convulsive dance threw a mini avalanche from the brim of his hat.

*Fucc this for a game of soldiers,* he thought, clapped his gloved hands, and abandoned his post. The bulk of the Scarlet Cathedral offered shelter from the storm. The frozen detective dove through the wicket door into relative warmth. Midnight Mass was long over and the worshippers had all departed. Their votive candles burned low, adding meagre heat to the vasty space. He stopped to thumb some Coins into a collection box, lit several new dips, and took a pew nearby, to consider his options.

The gloom stretched out, filled with many spiritual appurtenances but there was not a single member evident. Everyone had gone home, or maybe to a cool bar like the Nanashi, or an all-night diner.

*You got to be mad or on a mission to hang around this late on Christmas Eve... Goddess, I miss Moon,* he moped. *She would tell me what I should do.*

He was about to consult The Oracle for a clew when a rattle behind him announced another unlikely late night visitor. Startled, Yancey turned to see. It was a girl, a petite, choppy blonde pixie, in a tight-fitting, miniskirt green tunic, red and white hoop striped holdup stockings and a long, pointy red hat with a catbell on the end of the bag. He coughed to announce his presence.

"Voi herra!" she exclaimed, and advanced hesitantly into the pool of light cast by the throng of tapers. Yancey stood to show himself clearly.

"Sorry to startle you, Mizz. I was just, uh, resting for a spell to gather my thoughts."

"En ymmärrä englantia."

"Nihon-go wakaru ka? Parlez Francaise? Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" Yancey quickly exhausted his meagre stock of foreign languages. The girl's rapid tinkling head shakes revealed unusually long, pointy ears. She let sag a small red sack to the flagstones, crouched on her haunches and covered her face in her hands, and mumbled.

"Minulla on kaksi viimeistä lahjaa toimitettavana, mutta en tiedä minne mennä..."

Yancey advanced, his hand outstretched. "Hey kiddo, it's okay, you're gonna be okay." He knelt on one knee, the skirts of his trench coat pooling around him, and set his frosted hat on the floor, a drab knight offering some kind of chivalry. The girl reached into a pouch, brought out a smartphone which she thrust at him. The screen was battery dead blank. Not even the tiny light which tells you it's power thirsty would spark. He sympathised.

"We've all been there. I guess you need the SPS to find your way. Where you tryna get to anyhow? Maybe I can take you." He gave the handset back.

"Sir, saanko lainata puhelintasi? Minun täytyy vain mennä tänne. Se ei voi olla kaukana. Palaan heti." The blondette's eyes, wobbling with tears, caught at Yancey's. She waved her dead phone and pointed at him, tugged her sack to show him the label. There was a familiar name on it: 'Maddy the Freckle' and a cartoon of a mermaid. A long dotted quint specified the exact co-ordinates.

"Awright!" He smiled. "I know Maddy. I caint gib you my phone but I can lend it you if we go together." He tapped the co-ords into his own handset. The address was in The Deep, a murky channel where Yancey's agency office was situated because members go there who've got troubles and they want certain kinds of help, often more to do with justice than the strict letter of the law. Yancey and Moon provided it at 100 clams an hour plus expenses, but it was a kuudere principle to do some pro bono work. He laid the phone in the girl's hand. Her eyes shone and she smiled, wrapped the unit in her fingers and sudden shook it like a charm. She picked up her swag bag and held it out to Yancey.

"Kiitos. Kiitos. Kannatko tätä, kiitos?"

He took the sack, swung it over his shoulder and grasped her free hand.

The pair leapt from the Cathedral and ran through the snow, dancing with the swirling flakes and gravity left them, the sky gripped and they flew, the Elf's heels shaking off the sullen clutch of Earth. Yancey gasped as the abyss yawned hungrily and reached for him; he squeezed his suddenly watering eyes tight shut and held for life to a small warm hand. The moment lasted a second and forever and his heels hit solid ground, the pavement outside the apartment block where his landlady lived, and hosted her niece Maddy on occasion. The Elf smiled and handed Yancey his phone back. She took the sack of presents from him.

"Kiitos avusta. Nimeni on Pihla," She pressed a hand to her heart. "Pihla. Soita minulle, jos tarvitset minua. Teen mitä voin."

She strode confidently inside. Yancey waited. A minute later he saw Pihla strike out from the rooftop, empty sack in one hand. She soared in the sky, the storm, her farewell wave lost to sight in seconds. He mock saluted her, gathered his scarf close around his neck, flipped up the lapels of his trenchcoat, and bent his steps towards Sadies's Diner.

(Apologies to any Finnish readers. I used Google Translate.)