Happy Holidays to all! This was a fine little Christmas for me, especially with it being the first one in a few years where we were able to have a somewhat large gathering to celebrate! And to hopefully spread some further joy, how about one more chapter to end 2022 on? :)

Believe it or not, when outlining this story out, I thought I'd be able to squeeze all of what's in this chapter into maybe half a chapter. This is why I always underestimate how long a fic will be; a synopsis makes certain plot points out to be way quicker than they'd actually play out. But I'm glad I gave this its own chapter, as it serves as the proper buildup to the first sequence where all three of our main hedgehogs are together. It took some rearranging of scenes and even single paragraphs to smoothly have the multiple character paths weave together, but the job's done and now we can start the next chapter with the action right off the bat!

I really doubt I'll have another chapter out by the end of the year, so I'll say Happy New Year's to everyone now! Thank you for another fun year of support and excitement!