Christmas for Juliet was normally a relatively calm period. The temperatures were often cold enough that grape vines would be in their dormant period and there wouldn't be that much work for the vineyard staff, and that let her look more being able to provide for her students and essentially provide a Christmas that they would enjoy and remember. Some of it was often to include driving them to their family homes if they wished to have Christmas with their parents, or to bring the parents to her Chateau so that the family could be together. While her school for those that were mentally challenged, as her brother had been, was private and separate from the French government, a lot of its year mirrored the schedules for the French public school system, which worked out well for things that related to giving the children the chance to be with their families.
Of course, Animalia ultimately changed things in some ways. Juliet was now a Red Fox Animalian, though with that animal's Silver Phase as her coloration, and her original students all joined as well. They had parental consent and Juliet had made sure that they WANTED to be Animalians when that idea was floated, and they did take on the change and became Animalians as well. Fifi, Mia, Josephine, Eloise, Marie, Olympe, and Gigi were all Animalians now too. It came with an interesting variety for them with them all representing a Domestic House Cat, a Striped Skunk, a Cow, a Sheep, a Rabbit, a Horse, and a Dog... all with their respective breeds. Juliet hoped that they would all be able to move forward and grow into the people they'd want to be while not being limited by what had held them back before becoming Animalians.
In time that led to her school expanding to include some male students, many of which had the same issues that had brought Fifi, Mia, Josephine, Eloise, Marie, Olympe, and Gigi into her care. Though, there had been some issues that came as a result of other parts of Juliet's school expanding. For one thing, Juliet had hired and was paying for a Golden Island Fox Animalian named Juan to learn France's standards in the special education field and start over. Though, because Silver and Gold worked well together as colors, the girls had tried to set Juliet up with Juan, not realizing that the Golden Island Fox was a hybrid species, which so far as Animalia's edicts allowed for, could only breed with another Golden Island Fox Animalian, and some private discussions did indicate that both Juliet and Juan did want children of their own, which meant that even if there was interest between them, their differing species made it impossible. That created some embarrassment when a lot of the attempts by the girls had blown up and created the potential loss of support from those that Juliet depended on to keep her school running. Though, thankfully, Juliet did manage to get through things and she had help with Raoul Renée, who worked for France's Education Department, and had often been a supervisor to her school, though as some romance between her and Raoul began to form, there were other hurdles and the potential that Raoul's daughter might have interest in Jaun added to things, but Juliet's school managed to stay afloat and the male students were accepted, though the permission for conversion wasn't there for all the male students.
In fact, only two male students got parental permission to become Animalians, though only a single dose. One, Charles, became a Spanish Fighting Bull Animalian, and while he didn't have the full horns, yet he did seek to stand out as Juliet's knight and stood guard as Juliet checked them all in. Josephine stood by and was careful to make sure he didn't get too excited or curious as the "fishier" scents that dominated Mieni Atoll. The other, Renaud, became a Eurasian Cave Lion Animalian. He tended more to stand guard over the other male students. Though, most of the other male students did go "home" for Christmas, which Juliet was not going to reject them having. Her goals as an instructor were to provide as much knowledge as she could and give those who she felt were left to fall through the cracks of society because of some learning disability, and things like this trip to Mieni helped serve that purpose. But she also stood firmly for wanting her students to be able to make their own choices and live with those choices. Thus, those wanting to stay with family for at least the Christmas break was taken as something of a victory in Juliet's eyes, as it represented those students setting their OWN path.
"We don't normally get a lot of people coming in for Christmas," Rapier commented, "particularly a sort of school group..."
"In a way, this is a bit of a way for my students to relax and learn at the same time, including how many other parts of Animalia's colonies may celebrate the holiday," Juliet answered.
"He wasn't trying to be mean, was he?" came a snort from Charles, making Juliet turn to see Josephine put her hands on his shoulders, acting sort of like a big sister, even though the two of them were different breeds of Cattle Animalian, "I'll defend you if he's being mean!"
"Of course not, my young man," Rapier answered, "just making an observation... Mr..."
"Sir Charles, Lady Renard-Argente's knight guardian... until I can grow to be a policeman, who serve like the knights of old," Charles declared and puffed out his chest. "I am to make sure no one does her harm so that she may return safe and sound and tell Mr. Renee about the adventure."
"Well, you needn't worry," Rapier told him, "Things are pretty safe here. The biggest excitement we've ever had that would relate to what you're getting at would be when the Giant Squid came out of the depths when we were first examining the sunken USS Pennsylvania. The squid's body is in the science and natural history museum we have here... They may have a day or two open between Christmas and New Years."
Charles gave a sort of nod and then smiled while Rapier turned back to Juliet.
"And there's a lot that goes on here that won't be too different from Christmas back home in America for you," Rapier spoked, "though some of the restaurants that we have that are new will have more open hours to help..."
"We are French," Juliet answered.
"Oh, pardon me... we don't get a lot of tourists from France here, so welcome to Mieni," Rapier answered, "are you interested in the Olympics?"
"I am," Olympe commented as she came forward, "Blancher and I have tickets for some of the track and field events. It will be fun to watch."
"You won't be wrestling with these bug issues I've seen on the news?" Rapier wondered.
"That, I believe is more with the areas around where the Olympic village will be..." Juliet commented, "should Olympe and Blancher need to stay a night or two in Paris, they would not be there... and my Chateau and Animalia's French colony is not in Paris. We are actually closer to Reims than Paris."
"All part of the Champagne region," Olympe smiled, "I was thinking on studying on things related to that at university to ultimately help run the Vineyards there... and be there to help one who is like a second mom."
Juliet gave a small smile as Rapier finished with all the check-ins and then offered the key cards to Juliet.
“These will be the key cards for the rooms, and they should all be next to each other,” Rapier spoke, “and Merry Christmas.”
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And much of the Christmas break did go fairly well and provided lessons for all in some ways. Charles took some interest in the main museums on the main island and voiced amazement at seeing the preserved body of the Giant Squid that had come out of the depths for reasons that no one knew. Charles was also heavily interested in the story on how the squid was fought off, which left him saying to Juliet that the Animalians that fought the squid were like the knights fighting dragons in old stories. The museum on World War 2 in the Pacific, and particularly Mieni's role in it didn't hold as much interest, though he was curious and that did lead to an interesting exchange with one of the docents there that was working at the museum.
"Well... in a way, one could compare the sending out of ships to the Medieval knights on land, particularly when noting that battleships like the USS Pennsylvania were well armored against weapons of its day," the docent spoke in response to a question Charles had asked, "though... it'd be different in some ways as well. As there were navies in the Medieval period, and I don't think that those who ran those fleets were classified as "knights," though, that's a bit beyond my specialty."
"But weren't knights like policemen?" Charles wondered.
"On some levels, yes, as knights would be involved in law enforcement, particularly if the area didn't have anyone that would be a sheriff or specifically involved in enforcing the law at that time," the docent spoke, "but knights were primarily military figures in the Medieval world. It's why so many of the records, even at their most basic levels, had them battling other knights... which did create issues of embarrassment when non-knights were on the winning sides of battles, as was the case at Agincourt. The comparison to police might fit more in the modern sense... as after wars like both World War One and World War Two where millions died, and economic abilities ruined by the war... many began to lose interest in the sorts of military adventures that were a part of history that led back to the knights of the Medieval period. Thus, the bigger conflict in most places today would be in enforcing the law... which is often something that's been there for even longer in history."
Some things went over Charles' head a bit, but he did seem intrigued by what the docent had said. Juliet took some pride in that.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Of course, not all the students followed all those sorts of paths, as Mieni had multiple tourist related sights, and while the group was on Christmas break, and Juliet had made sure that some gifts and sweets were available, along with scheduling teleconference meetings so that everyone could at least wish their families a Merry Christmas at a good time. There were a lot of calculations for this, but it was managed. This allowed the group to see some of the other sites on Mieni and even pick up on some other things. For Renaud, the thing that drew the most of his attention was some of the more terrain and other parts of Mieni that weren't part of France. Mostly because of what he remembered from where he grew up...
Renaud's family lived in a small village in the French Alps with his father working for a ski lodge and his mother at a restaurant that made and sold hot chocolate. They had been happy when he was born, though surprised when he was found to have a learning disability and one that while the village's school tried, it's small size limited things. Though, up until Madame Renard-Argente expanded her school, Renaud could still remember seeing the mountains and their snow-covered sides in the winter, and it was something that he often was most fascinated by. A lot of that was in part why he chose to become a Eurasian Cave Lion when the option was presented for converting, as these Pleistocene big cats were at times found in mountain caves, hence their name. That journey had come more from Juliet's online ads in providing for both an education and some measure of help, which his parents happily accepted, including the permission to become an Animalian. And he'd found some of the flatter and greener parts of the Champagne region where Juliet's chateau was to be very interesting and different from the mountains, and now Mieni was even more different from that.
For the moment, he was taking some pictures that he would be able to show his parents about all the amazing places that weren't like their home. The view was from a specially constructed platform on the southside of the main island and Fifi and Mia with him for the moment. It was a relatively nice view that showed a rather narrow, but still sandy beach that went down into the sea. There were some tropical plants that provided some shade over the beach and a sign that read "Leatherback Sea Turtle Nesting Area, Stay Off." This intrigued some of Renaud's curiosity and he asked to the one presently providing the tour, Topanga.
"Do the turtles mind the plants?" Renaud asked to the Leatherback Sea Turtle Animalian, who was presently returning to some of her normal duties while Turquesa was still adjusting to Mieni and learning a bit of English, though slowly.
"So long as they don't mess up the beach, the turtles won't mind," Topanga answered, "some of the plants here are likely native to all these islands... but for the turtles, they're not going to care all that much. Leatherbacks generally spend all their time at sea, and after hatching, a male will not return to the land, unless he's died and washes up on shore. Females will only return to lay their eggs at specific points in the year... and they will only prefer the sandy spots here on the outer edge. It would then be easier for them to dig with their flippers."
"Wouldn't they have stubby claws like freshwater turtles have?" Mia wondered.
"No, all sea turtles have flippers," Topanga answered, "which is why my fingers and toes are all webbed after my uplifting. This limits them to areas that are soft and sandy rather than things that would be rockier in nature. And this would ultimately go to more than just Leatherback Sea Turtles."
"And all the turtles come to this beach?" Renaud asked.
"Well, not ALL of them," Topanga answered, "but Mieni has proven to be one of the beaches that the Pacific population of Leatherback Sea Turtles comes to, which is why I put a lot of my work into making sure this area is clean and largely free of traffic. And even some of the others here will put in some work to serve the same purpose. As all of it then serves to help the environment and trying to work for a healthier Earth."
"What about Christmas?" Renaud asked.
"We have Christmas," Topanga answered, "but in some ways... the work and knowledge that I may help unuplifted sea turtles is enough of a gift for me that I feel good with. That's good for all."
"Have you seen any?" Renaud asked, "any I could take a picture of?"
"When it's closer to the nesting season, yes," Topanga answered, "particularly as some of the work can keep me busy during the late hours that Leatherback Sea Turtles will be up to lay their eggs. And that won't be for a month or two."
"Oh," Renaud gave a soft groan, that came off as a half groan and half growl.
"But we have plenty of spots where you could get pictures of fish and other sights," Topanga spoke, "perfect if you're looking for photos to share with family back in France."
"That would be good for my parents who live in the mountains," Renaud commented.
"It would be fun," Fifi agreed and patted Renaud's back and hoped there would be something worth taking a picture of before Christmas passed and they would soon have to return to Juliet's chateau and resumed the main part of their studies and the post Christmas/New Year's semester.