"In the past couple years I've worked the puppet invisible from beneath the shroud. It does wonders for alarming people who try to peek. But you can certainly come along and sing with us, the children would love it."

He's quiet for a moment, then adds: "The Mari Lwyd is a creature of the season. She exists to remind the safe and comfortable and living about the outcast and vicious. They who seem corrupt have put on holiness. They who seem holy have put on corruption. A lot of Winter celebrations do that, turn the tables utterly on their heads."

"It used to be the custom, on Midgard, for humans of the lower classes to go caroling at the door of their noble betters and demand gifts. Fruit, drink, coins, whatever they could get. And the nobles hated it, but if you buck that kind of tradition once a year, eventually you get a full scale rebellion. Mari Lwyd is a reminder not to get too comfortable. And I am very comfortable with my life right now, which means I need her more than ever."