Just a warning for anyone about to read this: it's very random. It's also completely AU. It's not meant to have anything to do with the plots of the original books; it's just the Seven acting rather silly. This was inspired by a tinsel fight I had with my sister last year (I won, naturally!).

Welcome to the strangeness that goes on in my brain, people! Happy Christmas!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Seven, but I might be responsible for the strange moods they're all in...

Listening to Saraneth and Dyrim squabbling, Belgaer regretted asking that particular question; she should have known that it would be impossible for them to agree. All she had asked was 'what colour tinsel should we have in here?' A perfectly innocent question, seeing as it was almost Christmas, but it didn't look like an agreement would be reached any time soon. Belgaer herself had, rather wisely, decided not to take part in this argument, as she felt that she had done enough damage by causing it in the first place, and everyone else had taken to watching from a safe distance.

'I still say that purple and gold is the best combination,' Dyrim insisted for the fourth time.

'No,' Saraneth retorted. 'As I've already said, blue and gold would look so much better.'

'It would not,' exclaimed Dyrim. 'Purple!'

'Blue!'

'Purple!'

'Blue!'

'Red?' suggested Ranna, making the mistake of joining in the debate. 'Red and gold is a very festive combination.'

'Purple is a mix of red and blue,' Dyrim pointed out. 'Purple it is, then.' She reached for a piece of purple tinsel on the floor.

'I hate purple!' Belgaer complained from the corner where she had been sitting, infusing baubles with a Charter spell. 'Anyway, wouldn't silver be more appropriate than gold, seeing as it's a similar colour to ice?'

'Silver's too cold,' Dyrim sighed. 'And we've already decided on gold.'

'And blue,' Saraneth added.

'Purple!' Dyrim growled back.

'What about green?' Kibeth suggested, standing in the doorway of the room. She had only just come in, but had already picked up on the subject of the argument. 'Green and gold would look nice.'

'Not green!' Dyrim protested. 'If we used green, it would look like someone had sneezed all over the walls.'

'It would not,' Kibeth retorted. 'It would remind us of holly and Christmas trees, and the gold would look like Charter marks.'

'Green and silver would be better,' interjected Mosrael from the other side of the room. 'That would look like holly with frost on it.'

'We're having gold,' Saraneth insisted. 'As Dyrim said, we've already decided that.'

'You decided, you mean,' grumbled Belgaer.

'I agree with Mosrael,' Astarael added, straightening up from leaning against one of the walls. 'Silver would definitely look better, and we should use blue to keep with the icy colours.'

Saraneth sighed. 'That would look too cold. Blue and gold looks so much warmer. If you want cold colours, go and sit outside. There's plenty of snow and ice out there.'

'Silver would reflect the light better in here, so the room would look lighter,' Astarael persisted. 'And blue looks good with silver.'

'It doesn't look as good as it does with gold,' Saraneth snapped.

Astarael sighed. 'No, it looks better.'

'I still think red and gold is the best combination,' said Ranna.

'But blue and silver is more appropriate.'

'Red and gold is more festive.'

'Look,' Saraneth interrupted. 'You two are never going to agree, so let's just combine your ideas. We can have gold for you, Ranna, and blue for Astarael.' She gave a satisfied smile. 'There, we're sorted.'

Ranna and Astarael were about to agree with Saraneth's apparent compromise, but then Dyrim noticed something.

'Hold on a minute,' she said, folding her arms across her chest. 'They're the colours you wanted.'

'So what?' Saraneth answered. 'It's still a compromise.'

'As was my suggestion about combining the red and blue to make purple, but you wouldn't hear anything about that.'

'That's because you were changing the colours. I was merely taking half of Ranna's suggestion and half of Astarael's, and putting them together.'

'It's the same sort of thing!' Dyrim protested. 'You're just trying to make sure you get your own way again.'

'So are you!' Saraneth replied.

'Would you both, please, just shut up?' Belgaer shouted over the top of them. She took two baubles from the pile in front of her and threw one at Dyrim and one at Saraneth. Both baubles hit their targets smartly on the backs of their heads.

'Ow! What was that for?' Dyrim asked, rubbing her head.

'For having such a silly argument,' Belgaer answered.

'You didn't need to throw things at us,' Saraneth added. She picked up the bauble that had hit her and examined the Charter marks that swarmed over its smooth surface. 'What are these things anyway?'

Belgaer sighed and took it off her, then returned it to the pile. 'Homing baubles,' she replied, shooting an irritated glare at Saraneth and Dyrim. 'They home in on annoying beings, like you two.'

'Can I break them?' Dyrim asked innocently.

'What do you think?' Belgaer asked sarcastically. 'Actually, no, don't answer that. No, you can't break them.'

Dyrim sighed and bent down to pick up the nearest piece of tinsel, and saw that most of the silver tinsel was no longer on the ground. Confused, she looked around the room, and saw Astarael carefully arranging lengths of silver on one of the walls.

'What do you think you're doing?' Dyrim exclaimed loudly, making Astarael jump and drop the piece of tinsel she was holding.

'Um... Decorating?' she answered, trying her best to look innocent.

'You're using the wrong colours,' Dyrim told her.

'No, I'm not!'

'Yes, you are.'

'I'm not.'

'You are.'

This exchange continued for a while until Saraneth grew far too irritated with listening to them and decided to discreetly sketch a few Charter marks, making all of Astarael's tinsel fall off the wall and onto her head.

Astarael gave a small squeak of surprise, then glared at Saraneth. 'That took me ages to put up,' she said in as sulky a voice as she could manage, and then tried to remove the tinsel. This was made a little difficult, as one piece ended up tangled in her long hair. 'Can you help me get this out?' she pleaded to Saraneth, but got no response, because Saraneth was now laughing so hard that she had to lean on Ranna's shoulder to stop herself falling over.

'Come here,' Kibeth sighed, walking over to Astarael and trying not to laugh herself. She carefully untangled the tinsel from Astarael's hair, and then turned to Belgaer. 'Could I borrow one of your baubles?'

'If you're going to throw it in that direction,' Belgaer replied, glancing over at Saraneth and Dyrim, 'take as many as you want.'

Kibeth grinned and helped herself to as many baubles as she could carry in one arm. 'Why don't you join me?' she asked, and Belgaer grinned back.

'Gladly.'

Kibeth handed a few baubles to Astarael, and the three prepared to throw them. Unfortunately for them, Saraneth noticed just in time and cast a quick protective Charter spell so that all the baubles hit either Dyrim or Ranna when they bounced off her shield. Neither Dyrim nor Ranna was best pleased at that and, in response, they began to throw the baubles back across the room, Saraneth soon joining in.

Mosrael stayed where she was, just out of the way of the bauble-fight. She didn't intend to get involved but, when a bauble bounced off Saraneth's Charter shield and hit her instead, she couldn't resist throwing it back. Within seconds, the room was filled with baubles flying in all directions, bouncing off the walls and various Charter shields, and always hitting someone other than the intended target. The fight only ended when Ranna got fed up with the immaturity of the situation and decided to throw the baubles out of the room, and then they all collapsed on the floor in fits of laughter.

'Now that's over,' Dyrim said, trying to get her breath back from laughing too hard, 'can someone help me put the decorations up?'

'I'll start on this wall,' Saraneth answered, grinning and patting the wall closest to her.

'And I'll have this one,' Mosrael added, standing by the wall opposite to the one Saraneth had chosen.

'I've got this one!' Dyrim chimed in, picking another wall.

'This one's mine!' announced Kibeth eagerly, making a quick dash across the room to stand by the wall Astarael had been eyeing.

Astarael scowled at her, and then declared that the wall next to it was hers. Then, Saraneth, Mosrael, Dyrim, Kibeth and Astarael simultaneously dived for their favourite coloured tinsel.

Ranna looked at Belgaer with raised eyebrows. 'This is going to be one interestingly decorated room,' she commented, watching Mosrael and Kibeth fight over a particularly thick piece of green tinsel.

'Yes,' Belgaer agreed. 'Who do you think is going to win?'

Ranna observed the speed at which each wall was being decorated. 'Dyrim or Saraneth, I think. They're the fastest at the moment, and they'll probably sabotage everyone else's efforts.'

Belgaer nodded. 'Whatever happens, this won't be finished any time soon.'

* * * * * * *

By the evening, it looked like a large box of tinsel had exploded in the room. Each wall was covered in a different combination of colours, and even the ceiling sported a mixture of blue, purple and gold tinsel – Saraneth and Dyrim hadn't been content with decorating just one wall. Once every available piece of tinsel had been attached to one wall or another, they all stood back to admire their efforts.

'We should just leave it like this,' Saraneth decided. 'After all, there isn't any more tinsel.'

'This is the last time I ask for your opinions on colour schemes,' Belgaer sighed, rolling her eyes.

'What colours did you want?' Astarael asked, suddenly remembering that Belgaer hadn't joined in the debate, other than when she had expressed her dislike of purple tinsel.

'To be honest, I didn't really mind,' Belgaer answered. 'I only asked for your opinions so I would have some idea of what colours to use, but now you lot have done the decorating for me.'

'It was good entertainment, though,' added Ranna. 'Now, can we go to another room, please? This one's making my eyes hurt.'

The others agreed to this suggestion and they slowly left the room, each of them casting another eye over their handiwork. Saraneth considered casting a sneaky Charter spell that would turn all the tinsel to blue and gold, but then decided that the decorations looked a lot funnier as they were.

'Can we go carol singing again this year?' Astarael asked, once they had all filed into an undecorated room.

The others exchanged glances, remembering all too well what had happened the previous year when Astarael had sung her rendition of 'Silent Night' to the inhabitants of a now-deserted village.

'Definitely not,' Saraneth replied firmly. 'I think we should just stick to decorating this year. Which room should we do next?'

'We need to find more tinsel first,' Kibeth pointed out.

'There's some in Belgaer's room,' Dyrim announced. 'She keeps it underneath her bed.'

Belgaer stared at her. 'How the... How did you know that?'

Dyrim just smirked and started towards Belgaer's room with Saraneth close behind. Soon, only Belgaer and Ranna were left in the room. Ranna looked sideways at Belgaer and saw that she was struggling to hide her laughter.

'What is it?'

Belgaer smirked. 'I took the tinsel out of my room earlier. I had a feeling Dyrim knew where I kept it, so it's hidden somewhere else now.'

Ranna snorted with laughter. 'They're not going to be very happy when they find out.'

'No, they're not,' answered Belgaer. 'That's why we should hide. I think we should go and decorate the Christmas tree first, though, while they're out of the way. I've made some strings of Charter lights that we can use too. And,' she added, 'let's not tell them where I've put the tree either. We don't need that stupid argument all over again.'

You may have been able to tell, I had eaten a little too much sugar when I wrote this. Hope you enjoyed reading it! Please review!