there was something truly spiritual about this story, without being blatant about it

I'm truly glad to hear that, and that the undertones were noticeable without being too heavy-handed. It actually started out as a reference to Chanukkah, but took a left turn when I was researching pagan myths. I'm very glad to hear that it works well.
And, yes, Radek. He's not part of the team, but he still belongs to the family.