Mechanical Mistletoe

Foreword

Christmas in Arcvale

On the upper levels of this beautiful steam-powered metropolis, Christmas did not begin with the first snow, or even with the first wreath hung upon a door.

It began with the “Turning of the Green.”

Every December, the members of the Council of Wardens gathered in the Grand Atrium, surrounded by some of the machines whose production they oversaw all year.

They carefully straightened their starched collars and smoothed their silk cuffs and then made a great performance of throwing a single lever.

After all that fuss and bother, the resultant cheers and the loud applause had died down, the Holly Maker would wake first, dutiful as ever, softly chugging and hissing, and spooling out dark garlands thick with pointed leaves and shining scarlet berries.

Loud cheers would welcome this exciting and brilliant display, and the children would jump up and down, waving red and green ribbons with bells on the ends.

Customarily, the Mistletoe Machine had answered a heartbeat later, weaving its own distinct pale strands and white berries that were fed into the same overhead tracks as the holly.

Together, the twin streams of foliage poured down through the city’s shafts and galleries, draping this multi-level metropolis in decorative Christmas garlands.

As this waterfall of familiar greenery began to festoon the lower levels, a small snow-maker puffed out glittering snowflakes, adding to any already fallen, and completing the glorious scenario. Christmas had formally begun.

But this year, things might be quite dreadfully different...