[h3]Alexander[/h3]

There was a sudden release of tension as the fog seemed to shift while not actually moving. The cry of birds and the gentle blowing of the inviting wind faded away, but was soon replaced by something else. The sound of jingling bells made Alexander go from simply keeping a hand on his knife to fully drawing it and looking around nervously. 

"Aw crap, not here, not NOW you one-eyed bearded bastard..." he said through a clenched jaw.

Kris Kringle was not a jolly old man on Sylvent. He was actually quite well built, very physically fit, and at some point had something happen to his right eye as evidenced by the eyepatch he wore over it. He still delivered gifts, but any ship he visited with them had to nominate somebody to fight him for the gifts. Not to the death or mortally, but you had to impress the old man before he would open the sack. And Alexander had some bad memories of the one time he'd been nominated. And all of that was precisely why he was so on guard with the sound of those infernal bells.