Breathing a sigh of relief as the final curtain came down, Niamh tapped the button on the side of her headset and whispered, “Good show, guys. Now let’s get them back out for final bows.”

Making shooing motions with her hands, she herded her actors back to the stage and waited in the wings as they took their places. Once satisfied, she signed for the curtains to be opened and basked in the cheers and applause as her motley crew bowed and waved. She allowed the actors a few more moments to really soak in the applause before nodding to the man at the curtain ropes. As nice as it was to be appreciated, it was late and they all had things to do and places to be. Listening carefully as the actors filed offstage, she could hear the rustling and swishing that meant that a large crowd was moving.

Excellent. Heading back to the greenroom, she took her headset off and hung it on its peg by the door. Then, sweeping into the room dramatically, she threw her arms out wide and grinned.

“Good job, my lovelies! My precious babies! You were all, every one of you, marvelous!”

Was it overly effusive? Yes. Was it absolutely sincere? Also yes. But in the time since purifying and changing from Melian to Niamh, she’d made a conscious effort to not be quite so sociopathic. It had been hard. Was still hard. But, she had to think it was worth it. Especially in times like these when her actors and crew looked so very pleased. If she had any potted plants around, she was certain that they would have had a growth spurt from all the happy glowing going on.

“Right! Out of those costumes and let's get everything cleaned up and put away. I have a surprise for all of you, but you shan’t see it until things are spit spot!”

This hadn’t been her first time doing stage management or assistant directing. It wouldn’t be the last. And she knew her troupe. Give them a promise of a reward and they’d work well and quickly to get to it. Nodding in satisfaction, Niamh lent a hand with the costumes. She was too small to do much about the heavier set pieces and props, but costumes? Oh, she would take care of those single-handedly if need be. And she had a system that hadn’t failed her yet.

Once the Victorian costumes were safely stowed, she decided that she could take a moment to change out of her all black ensemble that she wore for every show. Running her fingers through her shoulder length, teal streaked silver hair, she rather thought the new style suited her. And it looked Festive AF since it was Christmas Eve and her surprise was also Extremely Christmasy.

Tossing the dusty black clothes into her bag to wash later, she changed into a deliciously dark green velvet pencil skirt with a deep red ruffled blouse. Humming to herself as she added a wide, black patent leather belt and heeled Mary Janes to the look, she studied herself in the mirror. Adding in a small set of gold holly leaf earrings and a little velvet capelet that matched her skirt, she gave a nod. Perfect.

It had taken so many called in favors, but her troupe was going to be treated royally tonight. A text coming in from the carriages she’d hired gave her an extra burst of speed. Everything was done. It was time to have fun.

“Right! Outside and into the carriages, my doves! We’re going to see the lights in style! And then dinner at the Grande! Now move!”

Laughingly, she shooed her people outside and watched as they loaded up into the carriages. Locking the theater up for the night, she breathed in the cold, dark winter air. The timing had to be just right to ensure that her Faire friends setting out little place cards and gifts at the Grande had time to finish playing Elf before the troupe arrived. But it was all so worth it.

With a smile, she shook herself from her musings and ran to hop into the last carriage. She was going to give her people the merriest Christmas she could.

Word Count = 715