Year Ten

News spreads fast in Elfsburg. Even faster when it's Bernard related. It hadn't even been a day, and most of the elves already knew that Bernard had quit. They were blown away; they couldn't believe he had actually done it! And two weeks before Christmas, no less.

The elves watched in stunned silence the next day as Bernard marched back into the Workshop, a crisp official letter of resignation in his hands. He handed in his two-week's notice and spent them making sure Curtis was trained proper. His last official act as Head Elf was to call an all-staff meeting. Every single elf in the North Pole—working, not working, in Time Out, whatever their status—would gather in one place, so Bernard could clear the air and explain everything that had happened, and how they would all move forward. Things were about to change, big time.

And boy, did they ever change!

While B-Man couldn't stop the overnight package from happening, he knew he could prevent the "personal elves" from being a part of it. He made Jack an offer he couldn't refuse, and just like that, the idea was scrapped. The overnight package got the green light, without personal elves. They would be okay.

And that was that. The project was passed over to Curtis, Bernard washing his hands of it. And though Curtis wouldn't have been able to stop the personal elves the way Bernard had been able to, he had an excellent contribution of his own. I'd say it was one of, if not the last helpful things he did before the Resort ate him up. He was fairly good at compromise, and was able to convince Santa that it would be better to have the human visitors closer to the Resort, in a designated space, instead of all over the Pole, sharing homes with elves. The apartments surrounding the Workshop and homes closest to the square would be best suited for this, and it would be much easier to relocate the elves living in the apartments then the ones spread around town and near the outskirts.

So that's what happened. The elves living closest to the Workshop headed out, staying at the inn for the time being. That's where Bernard stepped in, with this crazy new idea: he was going to set up a new village for them to live in, where they could get to work right away on finding a way to set things right with magic.

Because you see, reader, magic was in flux. You couldn't feel it directly yet, but the Council could feel it. I could feel it, too. And the Elves sure as heck could feel it—it was their magic that was being threatened, after all. Belief was hanging in a precarious balance. And while it was a solid belief people held, it wasn't that definitive belief that all children have. That even though they can't see it, they believe it, and that's the real magic, folks. It's like Charlie says literally all the damn time: seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing. And you don't need to properly see something to believe it. There was a balance between both types of belief, and the Resort threatened that balance.

Balance that the elves decided to right. With a little help from Crystal Springs, The Council of Legendary Figures and their Legates, Bernard and the elves were able to put a little something together to right that balance!

But we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Before the displacing and the decision to try and save magic and Christmas and all of that funky stuff I mentioned, Bernard broke down.

I mean, how could he not? This wasn't just a career for him. This was his life! It was his home, and the elves were his family. He knew every single one of them by name, and cared very much about them all! He had worked very hard to see their Christmas legacy through, year after year, century after century, Santa after Santa, from the moment he became an elf. Seeing it all be destroyed by a Santa who should not have been? And not being able to do anything about it? Everything, all of those centuries of working tirelessly and spreading joy and all that slush, were ruined within ten years. Honestly, I'm surprised he made it this far. I was done by like, year three.

So, yeah, he broke down a bit. And you know, he had been there for me for my entire life, and seeing him realize what had happened moments after he quit? I had never seen him so upset. It made me want to commit (more) crime (than usual). It was about damn time I returned the favour. It was my turn to be there for him, and help him however I could in the next little while! And that's exactly what I did.

I think that's where we'll start. After all, I don't wanna give away too much. So let's get into it, right where we left off. The moments after Bernard quit, a little bit before the New Year. Because that's where this tenth year really began. And it's kind of where this year will end, too. Right before the next one, with another really big. Thing.

Because you see, dear reader, as the year went on and I spent less time up North and more time with Bernard in Elfsburg Valley, I began to realize that something was very, very wrong with yours truly. I didn't want to acknowledge it; but without someone to put the blame on, and with some of the things I did throughout the year? I couldn't deny it anymore.

And when I finally realized what had happened to me, it was too late.

"Dude, you just lost your top dog!" I said, moments after Bernard had left the room. "Bernard just frostbitten quit on your butt, Jack! Oh my goddess!"

"No, no, no, there's no way he'll stick to this. Just you wait, Jacqueline. He'll come crawling back tomorrow," Jack said, switching out his ties and straightening the coat, fussing in the mirrors. "And when he does, I'll be here with open arms!" he said, opening his arms and grinning at his reflection.

I was laughing. "Oh my gods, we'll see about that one. I gotta," I took a moment to breath, and stifle the laughs, but I couldn't stop. "I gotta go!"

Before Jack could say anything, I raced out of the dressing room, laughing all the way. (That was very jingle bells-y). My eyes stung. I went to wipe the tears, only to find none. Looking back at it now, that was a huge warning sign! HUGE! But at the time, the fact that I was laughing at the absurdity of the situation (laughing, hysterics, what's the difference, really?) had dulled whatever warning my laugh fit could have been. I had only begun taking deep breaths and easing down the laughter when I caught up to Bernard, who had already wound his way through the old workshop and towards the back doors.

"He thinks you're going to come crawling back, Bernard!" I said, unable to stop another bout of laughter. "Can you believe? The audacity!"

I grabbed his shoulder. Bernard turned around to look at me, and immediately the laughter died.

I had never ever seen him look this way. He looked broken. He was ghoulishly pale, and looked to be in a state of disbelief. My face fell.

"Oh, Bernard. Oh no."

"Jacqueline…what the elf have I done?"

"Don't worry. It's going to be okay."

"How can you even say that?! I think I just doomed everyone. Silver BELLS, what did I just DO?!"

"Okay, take a breather B-Man. And watch where you wave those arms! I'm in the splash zone. C'mon, let's get you home, alright? I'll make some dinner, and you can go off and I'll listen and we'll see what we can do, okay?" I gently grabbed his shoulders and began steering him towards the exit.

"I just quit! I can't believe I did that! I mean, if I didn't quit, I would have been fired. There was no way I was going to let the overnight package happen. Oh man, now that I've quit, he can still do it! He'll go through with it! The elves will become nothing better than butlers! My elves! My workers, my family—"

"That won't happen right away. Santa's convinced you'll come crawling back tomorrow, so he won't be making any moves any time soon. What an insufferable—" I spluttered for a bit as we approached the back doors. "I don't even have a word for him."

"That doesn't mean that it won't happen!" Bernard snapped. "What am I gonna do? What are we gonna do? What're the elves gonna do? Oh boy, we're really in it now, Jacqueline."

I squeezed his shoulder and didn't press. He looked very far away, and had grown uncannily silent. It wasn't long before we got to his house. Muscle memory kicked in, and he walked up to the door and unlocked it, walking in and throwing off his coat and bag. He then beelined to the sofa and sat down, looking absolutely deflated.

I closed the front door behind me and stood in the living room archway for a moment, scrutinizing Bernard. He still had that faraway look, and had become eerily silent. With a small sigh, I grabbed a blanket and threw it on him, then made my way to the kitchen to throw something together.

There was some leftover chicken in the fridge. I took it out, some veggies as well, and chopped it all up. Everything prepped, I thought of things that may be comforting. Blanket, yep, got that. If it were me, I thought, what would I want?

"Timbits," I said out loud. "I'll be right back."

I poofed out for some Timmies. A quick glamour and a short line later, I had some Timbits, an iced cappuccino (made with chocolate milk) for myself, and a tall hot chocolate for Bernard. I poofed back into his house. He still sat on the couch, staring at nothing.

I placed the hot chocolate and Timbits down. "Timbits are my favourite breakdown sweet, so I figured I'd grab some. Help yourself, I got the sweet ones—chocolate and birthday cake, specifically. With a few honey dips sprinkled in."

He moved, finally, and grabbed the hot chocolate. He held it tightly, still staring unblinkingly. I frowned.

"I'm gonna whip up some stir-fry. You sit tight. Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

A nod. It was small, but something. He popped open the lid and sipped the hot chocolate.

"Nice chocolate to hot water balance," he said. "Very rich. Not as good as here, though."

"Tim Horton's has nothing on the North Pole," I said, gesturing with the frying pan I had pulled out. "Aside from being a Canadian institution, of course." Glad to have gotten a few words out from him, I searched his cupboards until I found the seasonings. A little bit of this, a bit of that, a game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo to see if I should go with tabasco or siracha, and soon enough a delicious stir-fry was just about ready. I warmed up some leftover rice and plated, bringing it over to the coffee table.

"Here you go, Bernard. Hopefully it's seasoned alright. My go to for seasoning is basically throw on everything that smells good with chicken and veggies and choose a hot thing."

"Thanks," Bernard said, tucking in. I watched him make a nice dent in his bowl before I spoke up.

"So, where we at?"

"Well, we've skipped right over bargaining and are definitely approaching acceptance," Bernard began. "I know one thing for certain: I will go back tomorrow. But not to ask for my job back. I'm gonna hand in a proper two week notice and make sure Curtis is ready for this."

"You're really doing it then, huh?"

Bernard nodded. "I can't believe it myself, but it was either quit or be fired. Take the job was never an option. Curtis once said that his elfin pride was often his downfall. He's not the only one with elfin pride. I was not gonna let Santa fire me. Especially not this one. If I ever leave this job, it'll be on my terms." He paused, pushing the chicken around in his bowl. "I just didn't think it would be so soon."

I bit back a comment about how sixteen hundred years wasn't really soon. Now wasn't the time, and why on Earth had that been my first thought? I was trying to be SUPPORTIVE, I reminded myself. That meant no snippiness, Jacqueline.

"I feel that." I said, grabbing a Timbit and continuing with my mouth half full. "You know, I always knew I'd be Jack Frost one day. I just never thought it'd be so soon." I finished the timbit, and sighed. "Everything about this is so wrong!"

"And it seems like every time we try to do something to stop it, it never works. If I didn't know any better I'd say that some bigger force was at play here, preventing us from fixing this mess for whatever reason. Maybe the real Santa has a lesson to learn."

I snorted. "I'd almost believe that if I didn't know about my brother using some kind of loophole to get into this position," I replied.

"Loophole…you know, that almost rings a bell. Almost. I can't figure out why," Bernard said, looking into his rice like it would tell him why that was tickling his brain.

"The rice won't give you answers," I said. So much for avoiding sassy, at the least. "But it will give you protein! So stop playing with it."

"Yeesh, no need to Mom me that hard."

I blew a raspberry.

We ate in silence for a bit before I piped up again.

"Listen, Bernard. I don't mean to be blunt but, are you sure you're okay? I think you went through the five stages of grief in like. An hour. And maybe skipped two. That seems pretty small for an event this major."

"I'm absolutely not okay," Bernard said, voice heavy. "But I don't have time to break down, Jacqueline. We have work to do! I've got a plan."

"You do? Wait, we do?"

He nodded, finishing off the rest of his meal. "First, I'm gonna write that letter. Then, I'm gonna make sure Curtis is ready for this, and call an all-staff meeting for January. I'll explain what's going on to the other elves as I'm sure by now news has spread all over Elfsburg. We'll set the record straight, and by then I'll have figured out a way to stop the elves from gaining some unwanted roommates. And I'm definitely not letting my house get used. I'll be locking it up real nice and tight. I'm talking, magical seals," he said, making his way over to the stove for seconds. "Maybe I'll make it invisible, who knows!"

"But then how will you find it?"

"Well I know where it is. I live in it. But I don't plan on sticking around once I get things sorted."

"You're gonna leave the Pole?" I asked as Bernard sat back down.

He nodded. "I can't stay here and watch the Resort get any worse, knowing my part in it, and not being able to do anything to stop it!"

"Where will you go?" I asked.

"No idea! I'm sure I'll find somewhere."

"Come live with me," I blurted out very suddenly, surprising myself.

"Hmm?" Bernard said, looking up from his food, a pepper sticking out of his mouth.

"That is not how I wanted to say that. I mean. Gosh, okay, look," I said, my spoon clattering into the bowl. "My family has a big house and my parents already consider you one of their own so I was thinking, what if you stayed with us? For the time being, at least. I mean, I know that may not be the best course of action considering we're the family of the guy who destroyed your home but—"

"Jacqueline, shut up."

I looked up, too shocked to speak.

"You're family to me too, you know. Like cousins," he said, with a wink. "I'll happily stay if your folks don't mind."

"They'll love it," I replied.

"I think I might too," Bernard said.

"I mean, the Northern Province is fairly similar to your climate here," I began. "And sparsely populated which will be a nice break from here."

"Pretty sparsely populated, right?"

"Yeah, decently so. I mean, it's a frozen wasteland for nine out of twelve months of the year, what'd you expect?"

"Huh," Bernard said, tapping his mouth with his cutlery thoughtfully. "Oh. There's a thought."

"What?"

Bernard turned and grinned at me, his curls bouncing. "I think I just figured out a way to save the elves."

The very next day, bright and early, Bernard headed back to the Workshop, much to Jack's short-lived delight.

"There he is! Good morning, Bernie! All better after last night's little incident? You know, discussing things on an empty stomach is never a good thing. You're not you when you're hungry," Jack said, sitting down at his desk and surveying Bernard with what I imagine was a very smug I knew it kind of grin.

"Something we can agree on there," Bernard said, placing an envelope on Jack's desk.

"What's this?"

"See for yourself," Bernard replied, shifting his weight and folding his hands behind his back.

Jack grabbed the envelope and ripped it open, reading what was, in fact, Bernard's official two weeks' notice. Imagining Jack's face as he read the letter gave me a very good laugh when Bernard recounted later. I could just picture his smug grin falling into a regular grin, and then dropping into a whole entire frown as he read it.

"Still think I'm bluffing, Santa?" Bernard said, determined.

"There's no way this is happening. You can't be serious!"

"Oh, but I am," Bernard said. "I'll be taking two weeks to train Curtis as my replacement, as you designated. Once I'm sure he's got everything under control I'll be out of your hair. Completely, in fact. I'll be leaving the North Pole."

Jack shot up. "Now that's too good to be true! You're training your replacement and then leaving? Forever?" He pinched himself. "OW! Definitely not dreaming. So, what's the catch? What's in it for you, hmm? There must be something in it for you. There always is with these things."

"There is, in fact. I'll happily leave the Pole, and you and I will thankfully never have to see each other again. So long as the elves don't become the personal staff of the humans staying over. No assistants, no live-in elves, no valets or anything like that!"

Jack sat back down, crossing one leg over the other, thinking. "You know, Bernard, regular hotels do have a handful of staff to keep the place running."

"You want a front desk person? Fine. Cleaning staff? Hospitality can take care of that, easy. They're already working on some magical solutions, for minimal interaction with the guests, just in case you try anything. But if you want me, the one person who's been fighting tooth and nail against everything you've been trying to do, out of here for good, no live-in elves. So, do we have a deal, Santa?"

Jack thought for a moment. "Wow, Bernard. I must say, I am impressed! There really is no drawback here for me, is there? Regardless of if you stay or go, I get to offer an overnight package! Sure, it won't be anything first class, but that's a little sacrifice I'd happily make to have you out of my hair."

"The feeling is mutual," Bernard said with a glare, hands behind his back as he waited to get that sweet, sweet, yes.

"Alright, Bernard. You've got yourself a deal."

The two of them shook on it, and that was that.

"And then you got it in writing, right?" I asked later.

"Yes, I also got it in writing. I made sure to cover all my bases."

"Nice," I replied. "So what next?"

Bernard sighed. "There's only one thing left to do. Jacqueline, I'm gonna get every single displaced elf out of here, even if it kills me."

I grimaced into my cocoa. "Let's hope it doesn't."

The next two weeks passed in a blur. Bernard went over everything he could think of with Curtis, and I hovered, keeping an eye on him. I didn't think that he was okay, and expected him to break down at any moment. But that didn't happen. Bernard threw himself into his last two weeks of work, and suddenly it was New Year's Day, and every elf was gathering in the main ballroom of the Winter Wonderland for the all-staff meeting.

The chatter was all over the place, the atmosphere nervous and frenzied. Curtis stood by the stage, waiting for Bernard, and looking very nervous. Elves trickled in, most of them giving me a double take and a wide berth. Some of them gave me a respectful nod, looking a little bit weary. Like I said, one third of the population had no idea what my real intentions were. The second third didn't mind so much, so long as I was bugging Santa. That didn't make them any less frightened of me, of course—after all, I had been turning their friends and family and loved ones and such into ice statues (or so the majority of them thought). I wouldn't be surprised if they thought Santa sent me in as a spy, really.

That was about to change, I realized, as everyone took a seat wherever they could, sitting on the floor as the sheer amount of chairs they would've needed would've made even less space for everyone.

I was leaning on one of the bars, waiting for my signal. The tunnels we had used had stretched all over the Pole, and one of the exits was right under Winter Wonderland. Soon enough, I heard the three loud knocks from the floor of the bar. I moved behind it, kicked over the rug and pulled the trap door up.

"Hullo Jacqueline!" Quintin said, taking my outstretched hand and hopping out of the floor. "Quite the turnout, eh?"

I nodded. "Almost everyone is here," I said, kicking the carpet aside as Quintin reached down to pull up the next elf behind him.

"And I made sure to rally all of us Time Out-ers," Mason said, as Quintin pulled him up.

"Should I get a ladder or something?"

"We don't want to alert Santa," Quintin reminded me.

I shrugged. "I won't. Mind telling whoever's down there to step back?"

"Sure!" Mason said, and, instead of grabbing the next arm, yelled into the tunnels, "BACK UP EVERYONE! JACQUELINE'S GONNA DO A THING!"

A crowd of elves had started to watch the activity behind the bar, interest piqued. I cracked my knuckles, shook out my hands, aimed down the hatch and fired. The snow I made twirled down the shaft, hitting the floor with a sharp schtick and freezing over almost instantly. The now icy poles began to crack, and several rods shot out of one pole, embedding themselves into the other. Ice chips poofed up into the air, showering the countertop of the bar and making it sparkle. I shooed away the snowy dust and made sure to reinforce the ladder that now stood below us with a hint of ice and a crunchy layer of snow, to hopefully avoid slips.

"Careful, guys! It's slippery," I said, frowning at the chuckles I heard. "No, it's actually slippery. It's ice."

"That won't stop us from enjoying a good pun—especially unintentional!" Quintin said with a friendly elbow.

"I frostbitten hate puns," I murmured under my breath.

"Thanks Jacqueline!" said the next elf to climb on up, grabbing Mason and Quintin's outstretched hands to steady himself.

"It was nothing," I said. I stepped out around the bar and watched.

It was heartwarming. All of these elves who had been in the tunnels, hiding to convince Jack that they had, in fact, been turned into nifty art installations, were back up top, and their friends and family were glowing with happiness. There were a lot of shouts of names and hugs, a few tears of joy here and there. As the Time Outers explained what had happened to their friends who didn't know they had been okay the entire time, some pointing in my direction with a wave and or a gesture, and a grin, the air of unease began to disappear.

Could you imagine? Seeing someone you thought gone forever reappear, and your heart just gets all warm and you run to hug them and you feel oh so happy? At that moment I couldn't. Looking back now, it does make me do a bit of a smile and feel all warm and fuzzy. But at the time?

I felt nothing.

Before I could think on it further, the last elf hopped out of the tunnel, dusting off his pants and readjusting his beret. "Nice touch with the ladder, Jacquie."

"Thanks, B-Man."

"Found all the stragglers?" Quintin asked.

Bernard nodded. "And took care of the house," he added. He handed a set of keys over to his friend. "Just in case."

"Everyone's accounted for, Bernard!" Judy said, rushing to the counter. "We're ready when you are."

"Or when Curtis is," Abby said, joining Judy's side. "Look how sweaty he is," she giggled, watching Curtis pace below the stage.

"Abby! Be nice," Judy said, with a hint of a smile.

"I am!"

"Give the two of us a moment, then we'll get started," Bernard said. "Jacqueline, you're with me."

"I am?"

"Yep. Let's move."

Bernard headed towards the stage, gesturing forwards with his head. I caught up to him and followed him through the crowd until we finally got to the base of the stage.

"Bernard! Where'd you go?"

"Last minute business to take care of," he replied. "But everything's done now, no need to worry. Now we just have to brief the masses. Are you ready for this?"

"I really don't think I am."

"Well it's too late for that," Bernard said.

Curtis straight up squawked.

"Hey," Bernard said, his posture softening. He placed a hand on Number Two's shoulder. "Don't worry Curtis. It's going to be okay! You've been training for this for a very long time," he added.

"I know! And I thought maybe one day I'd be head elf. But I didn't think it'd be so soon."

"That seems to be the theme of the year," Bernard said, glancing my way.

"You're telling me," I replied, looking away.

"Look Curtis. You already know more about the Resort than me. Santa's had you keeping track of things since the start!"

"But that's not necessarily a good thing, it's—it's a theme park, Bernard!"

"And for now, it's the new normal." He squeezed Curtis's shoulder, then straightened up. "Look. I believe in you, alright? You'll be great."

"I've been waiting to hear that for seven hundred years."

Bernard laughed. "That's the spirit. C'mon, let's get started. And pay close attention to what I do—you'll want to know the best way to placate panicking crowds."

"But they aren't panicking right now?"

"Key words being right now," Bernard replied, pulling himself up onto the stage and standing up.

The change in atmosphere was instantaneous. Everyone immediately started shouting at once; even with advanced hearing like us fae had, you couldn't make heads or tails of what anyone was saying. The crowd was, in fact, panicking.

Bernard stood for a minute, hands clasped in front of him, and waited a beat. He seemed to be listening to what everyone was saying, which was an incredibly impressive feat because everyone was saying everything all at once. It tapered off, and that's when Bernard spoke.

"I know that things right now are uncertain, and there's a lot of things going on that don't make sense," Bernard began. "I've heard all of your concerns, and that's why we're here today." He paused for a moment as the last few words turned into silence, and every elf watched him closely.

"It's time to set the record straight." Bernard sighed, and sat down on the stage, legs dangling over the edge. "I quit before Santa could fire me."

The elves gasped on cue, hands fluttering to mouths, heads turning to look at friends and family members.

"Good on ya! Show the boss man who's really the boss!" Mason shouted in the back, a few voices yelling in solidarity.

Bernard chuckled. "I guess that's one way of putting it. This place is my life, and so are all of you. I wasn't going to let Santa kick me out, and leave you all to fend for yourselves. If I ever left, it'd be on my terms. I just don't think any of us expected it to be so soon," he said, with another chuckle. A sadder one.

"So what happens now?" someone else shouted from the crowd.

"I won't mince words or beat around the bush for you guys. It's going to be a hard road ahead, and it's only going to get worse. Curtis is now officially your new Head Elf. He's been trained meticulously by me for the past two weeks—"

"I'll say," Curtis interrupted quietly, garnering a few chuckles from elves within hearing range.

"—and has been working closely with Santa since he started planning this crazy Resort. Curtis knows all of the ins and outs of the job and specifically, of what the job entails under this new normal. I trust him to do this right, and I expect all of you to do the same."

Bernard stopped, and gave all of the elves his best "teacher with high expectations" kind of look. It's sort of stern, but also soft? I can't explain it very well, but it makes you want to do your best. It worked on me all the time as a kid (It sometimes still works on me, today!). All of the elves straightened, trying to look their bravest. Curtis looked like he was holding back tears.

"I've been working very hard with many of you to try and stop Santa from doing this," Bernard continued. "If it wasn't for the valiant efforts of all of us, we would've found ourselves in this situation a lot earlier. But you guys, you all stuck it out and helped keep the spirit of Christmas alive for as long as you could!" Bernard said, with a hearty fist pump. "And we're going to keep on doing that!"

"How?" Someone from the middle of the crowd asked.

Bernard bit his lip, choosing his words wisely. "I'll be leaving Elfsburg for Crystal Springs," he began. More hushed gasps and small cries of "No!" and "Bernard's LEAVING leaving?" sprinkled through the crowd.

"I'll be leaving a liaison for you all," Bernard continued, plowing forwards before everyone could start up again. "There is only one person who is able to freely go back and forth that isn't Santa. That would be Jacqueline," Bernard said, gesturing to me.

I could feel everyone's heads turn to look at me all at once. I cleared my throat and looked away.

"I'm sorry, but WHAT?!" said someone near the front. "Hasn't she been like, working with Santa?"

"No! She's been working against Santa and causing trouble for him!" said someone else.

"And for us, by proxy! She's gotten a lot of our friends and family members frozen!"

"She froze them!"

"Yes, that's what I said!"

"Except that we're all right here!" Mason yelled, standing up. "Literally all of us who were put in Time Out are here and very not frozen! Look, Joey, feel my arm, I'm toasty, right?"

"Can confirm, he is toasty!"

"It's been fake," I said, which I totally didn't expect my me to do. "I've been, uh, faking it."

"It's true," Bernard said. "Jacqueline's been on our side from the get-go. She found out about Santa's plans and tried to nip them in the bud ages ago. Unfortunately, for every step forward we've taken, it seems Santa has been two steps ahead of us. So we've had to improvise a little bit. Jacqueline freezing the elves is a cover, so that Santa doesn't see me teleport our friends out."

The elves looked perplexed. Murmuring began to start up.

"Before everyone asks, let me explain!" The crowd hushed, all eyes on Curtis now. "How have we been keeping everyone who's been frozen safe? Well, you see, as it turns out, the North Pole has a massive system of tunnels right underneath us! It stretches all over the Pole, almost to the Dome. From what we've gathered, the tunnels were used when the Kringle Elves first moved here and began to study what would eventually come to be known as Christmas magic. They used the tunnels to safely observe, until they were able to start construction of the Dome and ease the magic out safely, allowing them to build Elfsburg as we know it today!" There was a scattering of oohs and ahs and a handful of woahs from the crowd. "Bernard, Quintin and I have been using the tunnels to our advantage: that's where everyone who's been put in time out has been safely hiding."

"Thanks, Curtis." Bernard stood up again, hands behind his back.

"But the lockdown!" someone shouted, from the middle front. "How are you getting around that?"

"Let me explain," Bernard began. "Each and every elf who was put in Time Out has been safely living down in the tunnels during active hours. They've also been hard at work expanding those tunnels to go under the Dome. The Dome acts as the boundary for the lockdown. Anything outside of the Dome is free from the lockdown limits. We finally made it to the edge, and with a lot of Legendary help, we've made an escape route that is clear of the lockdown at the very end, so that if it came to it we could get everyone out safely. That's how we're getting around the lockdown. Everyone with me?"

There was a unanimous yes, surprisingly enough.

"Awesome," Bernard said, with his lopsided grin. "I may not be working with you all onsite, but my main priority has always been your safety above all else. And that's exactly what I'll be doing now that I'm finding myself in a sudden, very early retirement."

A few of the older elves chuckled at that.

"I'll let you know via our liaison when I've ironed things out. But for now, I'm going to ask you all to do something I did not want to have to do, for however long this Santa's tenure lasts." He inhaled before continuing. "I want you to do exactly as he says."

The elves gasped, outraged this time.

"I know, I know," Bernard said. "I've been fighting so hard to prevent this from happening. But like I said, above all else, everyone's safety is my priority. If we keep fighting him, who knows what will happen to all of us! For now, this is the only way I can keep you all safe," he said, his voice cracking on the final few words. He cleared his throat. "Listen to what Santa says. Do the jobs he gives you, and don't do anything that could get you put in Time Out. Now that I've got to leave the Pole, we don't have a way to sneak you out of time out. And if Jacqueline doesn't follow Santa's instructions, she'll be kicked out too, and her free lockdown pass revoked, and then our liaison is gone and I won't be able to help you guys, period."

"But why do you have to leave?" A little elf in the front asked, quietly. "Why can't you stay hidden, like all the Time Outers?"

Bernard's face fell. He looked just as hurt as he had the day he quit. "I'm leaving because it was the only way to save you guys from the worst part of Santa's next phase of the plan," Bernard said. "He's going full Resort. The humans will be staying overnight, Elfsburg opened up as part of the attraction. One of the perks of this package was an authentic Elfsburg experience—complete with a live-in elf."

The elves all gasped. None of them needed to voice what that would've meant for them.

"Yeah, exactly," Bernard said. "It's not good! So, I promised Santa that I'd leave, if he made sure to scratch that off of the overnight package. I'm relieved to tell you all that he agreed."

There was a rush of surprise, and shock. And some skepticism, too.

"So it's honour system rules? For humans?" Came a shout.

"Not quite!" Curtis spoke up, loudly. "We've been working with hospitality and elfin resources to figure out a couple of creative magical solutions to keep things neat and tidy, without any of us having to clean up after the humans. I've also been working on some creative relocating. Santa's left the project in my hands, and like Bernard said, your safety is our number one priority. With a specific number of rooms closer to the Workshop itself, we can keep the humans in one center and hopefully keep our town clean. We all know how tourists can be," Curtis said, looking over his glasses at everyone with a little smile. A few people chuckled. "Best case scenario: we don't have to baby the humans and local businesses get a nice boost from the exploring tourists."

"We've been working really closely with Curtis on this, and I think it'll work out exactly like the best case scenario," Judy said, standing up and speaking on behalf of her department.

"See? Would I steer you all wrong?" Bernard asked, sitting back down on the edge of the stage. "I'm leaving you all in good hands. Everything is going to be okay, alright guys? We will get through this, all of us. Together!" Bernard said, raising his fist in the air.

"YEAH!" everyone cried at once, raising their fists up as well, tossing hats and whooping.

And with that, the brunt of the meeting was adjourned. Archie set up a mic, and Bernard and Curtis fielded a Q and A period, alongside the other department heads. By the time the meeting ended, late had become very early and everyone was more or less reassured.

I stood off to the side as Bernard said bye to the last few elves leaving the Winter Wonderland. The air was quiet, a light snow beginning to fall.

"So uh, this plan of yours," Curtis finally said once it was just the three of us. "Do you have any other details yet? I'm sure we'll start getting questions about it in the next week."

"I've gotta do some administrative business first, but once I've met with everyone I need to meet with and gotten the official okay from Crystal Springs, I'll be able to give you more details. I'll send Jacqueline along once I've got everything worked out."

Curtis nodded. "In the meantime, I'll finish relocating everyone and ironing out the details over here. Are you thinking of moving the Time Outers out of the Pole as well?"

"You picked up on that fast," Bernard said.

"Well, duh. I mean, Santa thinks they're frozen and now that the tunnels are done, they don't really have a place in the new hierarchy. That's a poor choice of words, but the only one I could think of to explain, well, all of this," Curtis said, turning around and gesturing to the Workshop in the distance, lit up in all sorts of bright lights and flashy signs, the tall, Santa tube men waving in the distance.

Bernard snorted. "You're a quick one, Curtis."

"Two compliments in one day? Are you okay, Bernard?"

"Don't make me answer that," he said, seriously.

"I know I may not be the first person you'd want to go to, but if you ever need to talk just let me know."

"I'll keep that in mind, Curtis. You should go get some rest. You have a big day coming up! Number One," Bernard finished, with a wink.

"You're right!" Curtis said, perking up. "I do! I'll get this all squared up ASAP, Bernard," he said over his shoulder as he turned away. "I won't let you down!"

"We'll see about that," Bernard said quietly as Curtis ran off towards his home.

That was my cue. I joined Bernard, the two of us staring off into the distance, the borealis dancing on the Dome, bright in the dark. He sighed, and his shoulders slumped, the weariness I could only begin to imagine he must have been putting off all day hitting him full force.

"So, what next? Meeting's adjourned, it's already January second, and you're officially done here."

"My work here is never done," Bernard said.

"Dude. You gotta sleep, I mean, look at you!"

Bernard looked offended. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means BAG CHECK ON BERNARD'S EYES!" I yelled into the night.

"Your attempts at humour are meaningless," Bernard said.

"Then why are you laughing?"

Bernard rolled his eyes, waving his hand. A set of bags appeared beside him as he pulled his coat out of his satchel and threw it on. "Shall we head home?"

"You already packed?"

"I work fast. Besides, I made a deal with Jack. And I always keep my promises. So it's time for me to get the elf out," Bernard said, shaking his sleeves out and grabbing his satchel from my outstretched hand.

"Want me to poof us?"

"Let's play it safe. In theory, with my employment ended and Santa knowing I'm leaving the Pole, I should be exempt from the lockdown. But in practise? Hmm."

"Especially with this Santa," I added, grabbing one of his bags. "He'd probably think it hilarious to watch you attempt to teleport only to be thrown into the Dome, or something. Let's head over to the teleportation point then. Whenever you're ready, of course."

Bernard stared off into the distance, looking at the Workshop one last time. He sighed, turning his back on the place. "Yeah. I'm ready. Let's head out," and, grabbing the bags I hadn't grabbed, we set out towards the Dome.

Mom and Dad were up waiting for us when we arrived.

It was just about dawn in Crystal Springs, so it wasn't too surprising that they were up. What was surprising was how quiet it was. I glanced at my parents, quizzically.

"They're staying with Summer tonight," Winter answered.

I nodded.

"How did everything go?" Blaise asked.

Bernard shrugged. "I guess we'll have to see how the first week goes."

My parents looked concerned. They gazed past Bernard, who had busied himself with taking off his shoes and hanging his jacket, and looked over at me. I shrugged, and sighed.

"Here, let me take those bags," Blaise said, grabbing the suitcase from my hand and the two that Bernard had put down.

"Oh, thanks, Blaise."

"We'll set you up on the third floor," Winter said. "I thought the cooler temperature would feel a bit homier for you."

"Thanks, Winter."

"It's no problem, dear."

"Well, let's head on up, shall we? You two need sleep and your room won't magic itself, Bernard," Blaise said, heading up the stairs, a suitcase in each hand and one on his shoulder.

Though Frost Mansion isn't really a mansion, by traditional standards, it is a magical dwelling. So even though we only had about twenty-four ish rooms (and mansions are known for having a bit more than that), we could easily add rooms if we needed to. Which is one of the reasons it was still called Frost Mansion—or Manor, given that the grounds my parents built it on were large. One of the perks to living in the most sparsely populated province! Lots of unused space!

Anyway, adding a room can be a bit of a challenge. A lot of magibeans would call it a high-level magical technique. Thankfully, Blaise was trained in all the magics, so for him? It was easy peasy.

Once we got upstairs, Blaise stopped by the wall facing the front of the house, his back to my room. He placed the suitcases down, and scratched his chin. He looked over at Bernard, then back at the wall. Then over and back again. "Alright," he finally said, shaking the sleeves of his suit jacket back with a snap. "I think I've got it," he said, lifting his hands.

The wall in front of us began to shimmer, two whole new walls bursting out from the right of the balcony door and about four meters away from the wall that was part of my bathroom. They shot forwards, a loud clunking sound following as the walls grew longer and longer. They stopped about five meters away from the staircase and abruptly turned, the two ends meeting each other with a solid wooden thunk. It looked very gelatinous, and kept wobbling like it was made of jelly before finally settling. Orange sparks fell to the ground like dust, dissipating once they hit the floor. Blaise shoved one hand in his pocket, looking satisfied with his handywork. He trailed the knuckle of his pointer finger along the wall, and tapped it twice dead center. A shimmer and more gelatinousness later, and a cherrywood door appeared.

"There we go," Blaise said. "You should be all set up in there, and if not, let me know! I'll magic whatever odds and ends are missing right up."

"Thanks Blaise," Bernard said, looking relived. "But I think I can manage to magic any odds and ends I may be missing myself."

"Ah, but what kind of host would I be if I didn't offer?"

"Point taken. Now about that business I said I wanted to discuss—"

"Ah, ah, ah! No business talk before six am," Blaise said with a smirk. "I'm off the clock and you need rest. Once you've had a good sleep, you can head on down to city hall and we'll talk then, when I'm on the clock," he said with a wink. "And I don't get into work until noon today! It's the first time in a while the twins have been staying with family, and I am gonna cuddle the snow right out of my wife all morning," Blaise finished, rounding the landing and heading down the stairs. "Ciao kids," he said with a careless wave over his shoulder. "And get some rest! You too, Jacqueline."

"Alright, alright, we will! Chill out."

"Not my forte," Blaise shouted up the stairs with a chuckle.

"Dad jokes," I grimaced.

"I thought it was a good one," Bernard said, opening the door to his room.

"You would," I replied, peeking in.

It was very cozy. Blaise had done a good job replicating the rooms at the Pole—it was very Christmassy in there, and everything looked soft enough to sink into. It looked like there was also a small walk-in closet and a decent sized bathroom. The suite was well suited for Bernard. "Is that going to be okay for you? Or would you rather I made the décor less Christmas, more winter?"

"I think it'll do just nicely for now. That bed looks really tempting."

"Then get in it. If you don't rest, Blaise and Winter will know. Trust me. They've basically adopted you now, so prepare yourself for a ton of unnecessary parental concern."

Bernard laughed, throwing himself down on the bed face first. "I'll take your word for it."

He looked like he was about to doze off. Good, I thought, heading over to my room. "Tell me how your meeting with Blaise goes," I said over my shoulder quickly.

"No need to," Bernard replied, sleepily. "You're coming with."

"I am?"

"Liaison," Bernard said. "You start tomorrow. It's hourly."

"I'm already salaried," I replied.

"Seriously though," Bernard said, lifting his head up off the bed and looking at me hopefully. "You'll come with me, right?"

I blinked, taken aback. "Yeah, sure. I mean, if you really want me to."

"Of course I do."

"Alright then. Just, feel free to come on into my room whenever you're ready to go. I'll sleep with the door open. And I won't even complain about the hourly rates," I added.

Bernard laughed. "Thanks, Jacquie. I 'ppreciate it."

"No problem, B-Man," I said, heading back to my room and feeling nearly normal.

I mean really, nothing about the situation was normal at all. Bernard was practically my roommate, right across the hall from me! My brother was the current reigning Santa Claus! I was Jack Frost! Curtis was now Head Elf and everything about that made my fae senses weary.

And now, we were walking through the bustling city center of the city of Crystal Springs, winding through the magibeans out and about on business as Bernard beelined towards the lovely limestone building that was city hall, for an official appointment with the governor of the city himself.

And it hadn't even been like, twelve hours. God, what a weird day.

"Why Blaise?" I asked, as we weaved through a group of sorcerers.

"Whaddaya mean?"

"I mean," I said, pivoting around a group of fairies, "If you're planning on doing what I think you're planning on doing, why are we going to see Governor Frost first?" I said, emphasising the governor bit with a very posh accent. "Wouldn't you start at the base level? With the provincial moots?"

"Because, if you want to get stuff done, Blaise is the guy. Everything that happens in Crystal Springs only happens if he gives it the go ahead."

I frowned. "No it doesn't. The Assembly decides on things together, and it's majority rules. The monarchy was abolished eons ago!"

"In theory, yes, but old habits die hard. Things may make it up through the moots and the city leaders right to the Assembly, but Blaise is the yes man, the final say guy. Everyone seems to really value his opinion, even if the monarchy hasn't been around for eons. He's been Governor of the city for like four thousand years. Obviously there's a reason he keeps getting voted in."

"The last election was pretty close."

"Are you kidding me?" Bernard said, stepping around a few Brownies. "That kid lost it the moment he suggested cars in Crystal Springs."

"Lady of the Springs, it never would've gone through! You should've heard Blaise go off about it. Mother Nature was fuming!"

"Exactly! You see my point?"

Okay, fine. Maybe he had a little bit of a point. I hummed in agreement. "So we're talking to the final say guy first to make sure that your plan is good to go."

"Exactly! I've done my research and this is the fastest way to get things going. And the route with the least amount of paperwork."

I snorted. "Of course. So, what's the plan B-Man?"

"Jacqueline, it is high time we took Christmas back. We'll need a base of operations, first and foremost, and that is why we're meeting with Blaise today. I'll need a decent swath of uninhabited land to start the Elfsburg Relocation Project." He stopped on the top of the steps, waiting for me to join his side. "I'm bringing the Workshop here, and we're going to do things the way they should be done."

"Wow. That's a big project. How're you going to pull it off?"

"Not me. We. Once we've gotten all the elves settled over here, out of harm's way, we're gonna balance the Christmas magic before things get any worse!"

And with that, Bernard marched into City Hall with renewed purpose.

"So tell me, Bernard. What's so important that we had to meet here so officially?"

We sat in Blaise's office in City Hall. Tucked away in the back of the upper level, the sunlight poured into the room. It was a lot brighter than his home office. Blaise rounded his desk and took a seat, one leg over the other, looking at Bernard expectantly.

"It's the Christmas magic, sir. It's…it's fading," Bernard said. He looked completely crestfallen. "With each passing day, it gets weaker, and weaker, and I can't let it get any worse. You know how important Christmas magic is. How dangerous it is, too, like any other magic, if anything were to happen."

"Of course," Blaise said, shifting in his seat and sitting upright.

Bernard moved forwards in his seat, frowning. "Since the North Pole was exposed to the world, belief in general is at an all-time midpoint. It's making the magic of us elves fluctuate something fierce. People who go to the resort are seeing it, and believing it because they can see it. Which would be great! Except for the fact that with the Resort came the suspension of the gift delivery around the world on Christmas Eve. There's a reason we do things the way we do—build and make toys, and send them out to be delivered, inciting the spirit of giving and such. It helps keep the belief alive, without people having to see to believe. But those kids who can't make it up to the resort? Who can't come and see it? They're not getting gifts on Christmas Eve. Because of that, they're losing their belief—and not just in Christmas, but in all kinds of magic. It's affecting everyone and everything negatively, and I expect if we don't do something about it soon, it'll start spreading to the other Legendary Figures, their magic, and that belief."

"Belief is the one magic that unites us all," Blaise said, sitting back and looking thoughtful. "We need to act, then. Before this starts affecting other types of magic," he added, with a quick glance over at me. "What did you have in mind, Bernard?"

"I call it, the Elfsburg Relocation Project! The ERP for short."

"That's a funky little sound," I said.

"Indeed," Blaise replied. "So how does this funky little sound work?"

"We've reached critical status here, Governor Frost. If I don't act now, there's no way things can stay balanced. And who knows what that'll do to all of the other magic that makes our world run!"

"It'll also give Mother Nature a nasty headache," I thought out loud.

"Things would be unbalanced, and that's never good," Blaise agreed. "How would we go about fixing this? Because I can assure you, Bernard, you will have my support, and the full support of the Assembly. And I suspect that the Council of Legendary Figures will support you in a heartbeat. Though that's not my area of expertise?" Blaise questioned, raising an eyebrow in my direction.

"Council support depends on what B-Man's got up his big ol' sleeves."

"I need a large swath of uninhabited land, if that's possible," Bernard said. "Preferably in the Northern Province. The Winter Magic there will be good for the elves, and for phase two of ERP." Bernard stood up, slamming his hands on Blaise's desk. "I'm going to relocate Elfsburg, here, in Crystal Springs. Once I've got that sorted, with a proper space for us all, I'll bring over the displaced elves, and we'll get to work on building New Elfsburg!"

I laughed. "New Elfsburg? Really?"

"Got any better suggestions?" Bernard snapped.

I cleared my throat. "Nope. Sorry. So you relocate here…and then what?"

"Then we move on the phase two: saving Christmas. Curtis and I have worked together to make sure Santa is none the wiser. We have a group of Elves who'll be staying up North, making sure that Santa's little theme park runs smoothly so that he doesn't notice a little over half the elven population leaving. With all of the renos and changes in place, it shouldn't be too hard to grab what we need from the Workshop, from right under Santa's nose."

"Let me see if I'm following," Blaise said, leaning forward in his seat. "You relocate the elves here to save them from Santa's house of horrors. Then, once you're all here, you begin preparations to save Christmas. Bernard, am I right in assuming that you and the other elves are going to find a way to deliver the gifts the traditional way?"

"Oh yes. That's exactly what we're doing."

"The Council will definitely support you there!" I said, excited. "How are you going to do it?"

"It'll be a lot of work, but with the right minds and enough magic—which we should have, being in the continent where the source resides—we can make the toys, check the list, prep the gifts and ship them off to arrive right under the trees on Christmas Eve, for all the kids who can't come to the Pole. If we succeed in this, we should be able to stabilize the magic. Which is the first step in fixing the damage: preventing it from becoming irreparable. So what do you think, Governor?"

"I think it's excellent! How do you plan on getting everything you need, though?"

"That's where Jacqueline comes in. She has a free pass in and out of the Pole. I've made her my liaison. She'll be the one ferrying over what we need, along with the elves who'll be moving over here."

"I will?"

"We've managed to circumvent the lockdown, enough to get all the elves out. Winter and Jacqueline worked something out with the Dome. I don't know the particulars, or how much longer the Dome can last with all the stress it's under, so if we could get this done as fast as possible, that'd be great."

"Maybe that's why I'm so cranky," I mussed. "Dome stress."

"All the better to get this done lickety-split," Blaise added.

"Before all of this, though, I'll need to make sure we have a place here. Do we, Governor Frost?"

Blaise got up, staring out the window, hands in his pockets. "When Gaia shared Crystal Springs with the magibeans, she meant for it to be a place of refuge. A place for us to be safe, all of us, away from mortals who would want to gain from our magic, and magibeans who wanted to control it all." Blaise turned around, surveying Bernard. "Of course you and your elves are welcome here. After all, it's where the Kringles used to live. And we'd be more than happy to welcome them back with open arms," Blaise said with a grin, opening his arms.

"Really? That's, that's great! This is excellent, thank you Blaise!"

"Don't thank me yet. We'll still have to secure a place and run this by the assembly and the provincial sect. We haven't had a good old moot in a while!"

"I, ah, have a proposal and everything here," Bernard said, pulling out a large binder.

"Wow, you came prepared," I said.

"Are you kidding me? This was the hardest part of the plan! I made sure to cover all my bases, especially with paperwork. You know how bureaucrats are."

"Don't get me started," Blaise said, grabbing the binder and sitting back down. He flipped through it, scanning the pages. "Looks good to me!" He finally said. He placed the binder on the desk and grabbed a lump of wax. It warmed in his hand, bleeding out and onto the page. Papers shuffled, things were shoved aside, until Blaise found the stamp he was looking for and squished it into the wax. "There we go! An official seal of approval." He stood up and blew on the wax, the insignia solidifying.

Bernard elbowed me and grinned. "What did I tell ya, Jacquie? He runs the show."

"You flatter me, Bernard. I'll call an Assembly, and I'll contact Winter so she can call for a moot, and see where we can allocate space for the Kringle Elves. It shouldn't be hard; this continent is huge and the North is so sparsely populated. I imagine it'll be close to the base of the Northern Mountains. Would that work?"

"Yes, absolutely!" Bernard said. He hadn't looked this happy in…a while, actually, now that I thought about it.

"Excellent. I'll let you know when each meeting is called. You'll have to attend them, of course, and present your plans, but the Assembly will agree easily. I imagine the Legendary Council will, as well. Could I leave that in your hands, Jacqueline?"

I blinked. "Yeah, sure. I can go see Mother Nature and work that out."

"Excellent! Bernard chose his Liaison wisely, I think," Blaise said, winking at me.

"Please, her ego's big enough as is, Governor Frost."

I laughed. "It could be bigger, I think." I stood up. "This Jack Frost has some work to do, it seems. Can I go get things sorted, or do you two still need me here?"

"I think we've just about wrapped up."

I nodded.

"Thanks for the time, Governor Frost."

"You're most welcome, Bernard. Now please, let's drop the formalities. They're making me queasy."

The Assembly met next. Their weekly meeting was the very next day (and I'm convinced Bernard knew that, and factored it in to his grand plan). Since Blaise had already okayed the project, there wasn't much to discuss—he explained the details, the members of assembly all agreed, and BOOM, motion for New Elfsburg to be a thing carried, easily and with no fuss! Of course, there was still the moot to consider. If the citizens of the Northern Province all objected, it wouldn't go through. It was all conditional, given that Bernard went backwards. There wasn't any need to worry, though! The citizens of the North were more than happy to welcome the Kringles back, and even suggested the perfect location for them! I think we were all surprised at how well the moot went—all of the representatives for the different folks in the northern province were delighted to welcome the elves into the fold! The motion was carried and work began in earnest to clear the space and get the elves some extra help.

The locals of the mountain towns were more than happy to lend a hand. Northern Folk are quite cherry. I think it's the cold. It makes us warmer! Of course, a little bit of Legendary help would go a long way, too. Since Mother Nature was one of the Assembly Members, AND on the Council of Legendary Figures, appealing to the other Legends for help was easy as can be. We presented B-Man's plan to them, and they were ecstatic, I sleet you not. Everyone was happy to hear that efforts were being made to right the magic levels on the Christmas side of things, and put things back to rights in the human world. Santa's legacy would live on, even if it were through untraditional means.

What I didn't expect was for the Council meeting (of all things!) to bring up a very good point I hadn't even thought of.

"So once they've made all the toys, how do they plan on delivering the gifts? I don't mind pitching in with deliveries, if they need the help," Tooth Fairy said, after the first two phases of the plan had been discussed, and muted celebrations about the potential restoration of Christmas tradition had died down.

"Likewise! I mean, how hard can it be to throw a couple a gifts under a tree while shooting folks in the butt?" Cupid said with a shrug.

"Oh! I could lend a hand too!" EB said, ears perky. "I've got more than enough chocolate to supplement any gift shortages! And my egg delivery system is flawless. Those kids of mine are brilliant! Blossom keeps them on their toes," EB added, with a chortle.

"Actual chocolate?" Cupid asked.

A couple of us laughed, myself included. That was a good one. EB's ears went back, his nose doing a little twitch.

"Cupid," Mother Nature warned, gently.

"We're all thinking it, I'm just saying it!"

Mother Nature rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Bernard will appreciate the offers, but I believe they'll be able to take care of delivery themselves," Mother Nature said. "There's still a third phase we have yet to discuss, after all."

"Could we get a sneak peek before getting into it?" Sandman asked, stifling a yawn.

"I don't see why not. Jacqueline, would you happen to know off hand how they plan on delivering the gifts?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but words died in my throat. I racked my memory, trying to recall if Bernard had said anything about delivery details.

He hadn't.

"I…actually don't know," I said, frowning. "B-Man was really prepared, you should see how big the binder is. I'm assuming he covered all the bases? Although, that is part of phase three, and maybe there's still finer details to work out? Currently, the main focus is plotting the land, then bringing over the materials and workforce to start getting everything ready. Admittedly that's all I've been paying attention to. I haven't read ahead at all."

"Well, in the meantime, we can absolutely help with phase one." Mother Nature interjected. "Once you have the details of what groups need to be ferried over and when, let me know and we'll all take shifts."

"Legates may be helpful with this one, too," Tooth said, thoughtfully. "If they wanna have everything up and running by spring, we're gonna need some fast flyers. Myles is the fastest in his class!"

"And Dite is speedy as ever," Cupid added. "I don't know where she gets her energy from, honestly."

"And I'm sure Olivia would lvoe to help out too, if needed," Tooth added.

"That's not a bad idea," Mother Nature said. She glanced at Father Time.

"It would be very beneficial for the development process," he said.

"I'll talk to Spring, and we'll assign Legates and Legends to the different tasks once Jacqueline brings us the New Elfsburg itinerary."

"Sounds good to me. I'll let Bernard know and get those details sent your way as soon as I can, Mother Nature."

"You'll find him in the very edge of the Northern Valley once we finish here, on the other side of the river." Father Time said. "You'll want to go talk to him right away."

I eyeballed him, and made a mental note to ask Bernard about delivery right after the meeting. "Noted," I said.

"Let us know how it goes," Mother Nature added. "I'm making this our number one priority," she continued, addressing the entire Council. "Righting the balance of magic is critical right now. If it gets any worse, it'll start spreading, and our magic will start taking a toll, if it hasn't already," she finished, gravely. "If it wasn't already obvious, if any part of this project needs help from us Legendaries, it becomes our number one priority. I'm deeming it important enough as well to involve the Legates not just with transport, but in any way as we see fit. Anyone opposed?"

Everyone looked at everyone. Nobody made any move to object.

"All in favour?"

The shouts and hands going up were unanimous.

Mother Nature smiled, slamming the gavel down. "Motion carried!" There was scattered applause and a few murmurs here and there. "Now then, I think that about covers everything on the agenda for today's meeting. Anyone else have any last minute comments or concerns?"

Everyone looked at everyone once again. There were no objections, snide comments, cheap shots, or crappy jokes.

"Excellent. We'll follow up next week, if that works for everyone, to work out who will help Jacqueline guide the elves and materials out of the North Pole on what days, with further details about any part of the Elfsburg Relocation Project to be discussed on an as needed basis. Keep your bells close, Legends." The gavel slammed. "Meeting adjourned!"

The Valley in the North was gorgeous, as most valleys are, I find. The Northern River was a little more to the North West of us, and the Eastern one a little more North East, placing the valley at the very top of a fork, small streams trickling down from the mountains and off from the two rivers. A small bridge had already been built facing the center of the fork, which would soon become New Elfsburg. Already Bernard and the locals had made a dent in the plans. It was the first thing I noticed when I materialized just before the bridge, moments after Mother Nature ended the meeting.

You could kind of see the shape of a town square appearing. A large, rectangular building had been lined out, nestled between two hills a fair distance away from the bridge. Around it were two or three smaller buildings, and in the hills around these main buildings, I could see the dwarves working hard on digging out spaces for homes to go. There didn't appear to be many markings closer to the bridge, aside from pathways. At least, not yet. But the open concept was kind of nice, and I knew the elves would probably love the open space.

Past the bridge towards the center of the valley, the mountain magibeans were scattered about, lifting materials and hammering in stakes, reading various sketches and blueprints. Let me tell you, you haven't seen anything until you walk into a large valley filled to the brim with the gruffiest looking magibeans you could ever IMAGINE, and in the center of it all a Kringle Elf and a Season, of all magibeans, pouring over a tabletop covered in plans and maps and such.

And the pièce de résistance: brownies and halflings running about with food and drinks, making sure everyone was hydrated and fed. Laughter and jolly conversation permeated the air, along with the telltale sounds of hammering and heavy lifting.

Needless to say, it was really coming along, I thought, as I walked through the chaos and approached center command.

"Hello, Jacqueline," Winter said without looking up as I approached. "How'd the meeting go?"

"Oh, it went alright. No bickering, for once."

Both of them looked up, surprised.

"Really?"

"Well I mean, Cupid got a really great burn on Easter Bunny, but it didn't turn into a big fight or anything."

"That's impressive," Mom said.

"So what did they think of the plan?"

"Oh, they love it! Yeah. Everyone readily agreed to help out with migration efforts. Mother Nature officially enlisted the Legates for help, too, to get materials over here faster. We have a lot of fast flyers.

"And what else?" Winter asked, eyebrow raised.

"Hmm?"

"You have the same deep thought face as your father."

"I don't know if I want to take that as a compliment."

"I would. I love his thinking face."

"You love all of his faces."

"So what's bugging you?" Bernard asked, looking up from a blueprint.

"They actually brought up a really good question at the meeting. Well, sort of. Um, Tooth Fairy and Cupid volunteered to help deliver gifts, and EB offered to help with supply and delivery, if need be. I didn't accept the offers or anything yet, because it occurred to me that I actually don't know what your delivery plans are? I mean, you've said it before yourself. You're just an elf. You can't really. Y'know. Do the whole, sleigh thing and stuff. I assumed that phase three has those details, and bought myself a bit of time since we're focusing on phase one. That is, The Council. Phase two seems to be going pretty well," I said, wincing as a two by four sent a dwarf sprawling on his back, his fellow dwarves laughing loudly while helping him up. The giant who had knocked him over was very apologetic.

"That's what we're looking at right now, actually," Bernard said. "How much do you know about ley lines?"

I laughed. "You mean the threads from the source of magic? That non-magibeans call, oh man, what is it, it makes me laugh…oh yeah! Rivers of supernatural energy."

"It's not far off the mark," said Winter, with the smallest of smiles.

"I know, but they make it sound so like. Ooo, spooky, you know? It's just magic."

"Exactly," Bernard said. "It's just magic! And it connects all sorts of buildings and landmarks together, because they act as—"

"Control points, right. What do ley lines have to do with gift delivery?"

"They connect control points," Bernard began. "And the North Pole, all of the Workshop, everything under the Dome is a—no, the control point for Christmas magic."

"So you're hoping to connect New Elfsburg to the North Pole via ley lines?"

"Yep."

"What does this have to do with delivering the gifts?"

"Santa's bag."

I stared at him. "That tells me even less."

"Because I haven't begun to explain it," Bernard retorted. "Have some patience, Jacqueline."

"Bernard, there's a such thing as too much patience, which I imagine you're all too familiar with." I replied. Winter glanced my way. "Sorry, it's been...a long day."

"Don't get me started," Bernard said, as glass broke and a group of dwarves burst out into laughter. "Santa's bag is ancient, and is brimming with Christmas magic. It also always knows which gifts are for which houses, and is able to compact them and conjure them at will, so that the sleigh isn't over weight limits and Santa doesn't strain his back. If we load all of the gifts into the bag, it will know which gifts are for which homes. However, without Santa to deliver the gifts, it gets a little tricky. Hence the ley lines. If I can find the right ley line, or thread, that runs from here to the North Pole, we can use that line to reprogram the sack. In theory, it should be old enough and magic enough to tap into the network of Christmas ley lines using the main branch. It just needs a little something to connect it."

"There's a NETWORK of them?"

"Oh yeah! Only around Christmas, though. The Christmas trees act as smaller control points, and since they tend to be clustered in neighbourhoods, they all connect to each other via Christmas magic, making a huge network of exclusive Christmas ley lines. Limited time only," Bernard joked.

"The Christmas trees act as the landmarks that connect those supernatural pools together," Winter supplied. "And that's how the bag knows which houses get which gifts. Bernard's hoping that if we place the bag on the ley lines, and give it a different set of commands, the bag will simply send the presents down the ley lines and they should appear right under the correct trees. It adjusts to changes on an as needed basis, after all."

"Exactly," Bernard said.

"Oh, that's, that's clever."

"And hopefully, it'll work. This area is right on the ley line that comes from the North Pole. It's right on the main branch, and our new Workshop should be able to function as a control point."

"How did you find the proper thread?"

"It's easy to find the line that comes in from the North Pole. It's after the Springs that it got a little tricky, with all the magical interference from the mist. Check this out," Bernard said, moving out from the table and walking a couple of meters to the left of it. He bent down, his hand glowing, and touched the ground.

A bright line popped right into existence, with smaller threads branching out all over the place, stretching on and on well past the horizon. They didn't glow as much as the line directly below Bernard's hand did, though. And it was thick.

"Ta-da!" he said, with a grin.

"Neat," I replied.

"And we can confirm that it is Christmas magic," Winter said, coming out from behind the table as well. She too bent down, hand glowing white, and hovered over the golden ley line. A hazy white glow immediately popped into existence, surrounding the golden line. "Winter magic, conducting the Christmas magic. Well, for the Northern hemisphere, at least. Summer magic works better in the Southern hemisphere."

"Really neat," I said, squatting down. "Can I do that?"

"Give it a go," Winter said, removing her hand.

Sure enough, when I summoned some magic and hovered over the golden line, a light blue haze popped into existence.

"That's cool," I said.

"Is it?" Winter asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, duh. Why, you don't think it's cool?"

"Well, I've been able to do this for centuries, so it's not as new to me as it is to you," she said, standing up and brushing out her heavy skirt. "You're usually a lot more excited when you learn a new trick, dear. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes?"

"You don't sound convinced," Bernard said. The glowing line went away as he stood up and crossed his arms.

"I've had a long day, what with the meeting and such." He was right, I didn't really sound convincing. Which was a really big bummer, because I had hoped saying that out loud would make me a little less weary of how meh I was feeling. (Convincing yourself of something is always extra-hard, isn't it?)

Bernard and Winter shared a look, and I did not like that one bit.

"I'm fine!" I said again, a bit more forceful. "Really, I promise. It's probably just Dome crankiness. I just need a good night's sleep, and I'll be right as snow. So, back on topic, your plan sounds great and all, but there's one tiny problem."

"We don't have Santa's bag."

"Right. How do you plan on getting that?"

"I don't plan on getting it," Bernard said, with a smirk I liked even less. "I plan on you getting it."

I should have seen that one coming from miles—no, kilometers—away.

"I thought you'd say that." I sighed, accepting my fate. "When do you need it by?"

"November the latest, after Thanksgiving. American Thanksgiving, that is."

I nodded. "Right. Any details that could be useful in my hunt for the bag?"

"Normally it's located in the closet in Santa's office. It's reserved for the suit, and that includes the bag. It's conditioned to preserve the suit. It is an antique, after all. However, given that the current reigning Santa is who he is, my bet is that it isn't in there anymore. I hate to be that elf, but you two know him better than I do. Any ideas?"

"He always liked to showboat," Winter said.

"Big time," I agreed. "Showboat, show off, garner attention. Though that's kinda obvious, given the resort and all."

"So chances are, the bag is being showed off somewhere."

"But not like in an exhibit," I supplied. "I can't see him being thoughtful enough to place the bag in a proper conditioned glass case for everyone to see."

"It's a thing he considers his now, so he'll want to show off, but not share," Winter clarified. "He'll want everyone to see it, but not be able to interact much with it. Bonus if they don't even realize what it is. Perhaps a plain sight sort of thing?"

Bernard rubbed his chin, elbow in his hand. "That's a good start. Do some scouting, see what you can dig up. Give Curtis the criteria you just gave me when you do your first check in, and he'll be able to give you ideas if he doesn't know where it is right off the bat."

I nodded. "Right. This should be simple enough then."

"Should be," Bernard said.

"He never was a simple child. Otherwise, you would've come a lot sooner, Jacqueline dear."

"I'm not sure I needed to know that Mom," I said, trying to ignore Bernard's poorly disguised snickering.

"But now you do," Winter teased.

"Cool. Well, I'm just gonna go attempt to find Santa's bag with what little we have to go on then."

Winter looked thoughtful. "I'll send you a thought if I think of anything else. I'm sure it'll be fine. You'll find it in no time!"

"Probably. Hopefully!" Bernard added.

Cool! Real promising! I thought, rolling my eyes. "Thanks for the votes of confidence, guys! I'm feeling really ready for this now."

Winter raised an eyebrow.

"You're welcome," said Bernard, as more glass broke behind us. "Alright, that's it! No more roaming! Time to make a water station like I originally suggested! We're trying to build a safe space here, folks! Glass shards aren't safe!"

Bernard and Curtis had settled on a once a week check in via me to update one another on the situations in Elfsburg and New Elfsburg. It had been nearly two weeks since Bernard had left the Pole, and I was well overdue for my first official check-in.

Closing time was just after the final show of the evening, which started at 10pm NPS and ended near 11:30. It was at this time that Curtis had said he'd meet me at the base of operations in the tunnels. He was nowhere in sight when I arrived, but the first group of elves ready to evacuate was set to go. There were about fifteen of them—nearly half of the displaced elves from construction. They were the first ones heading over. We planned on doing the first batch tonight, and depending on how hard it was to poof them over to New Elfsburg, the rest would follow ASAP tomorrow when Mother Nature would be around to help. I could only do about five at a time, but Mother Nature could do triple that!

"Where's Curtis?" I asked.

"He'll be around in a bit," said one of the elves, kicking a piece of ice off to the side. "He greets the humans on the way out. Something about it being good PR, or something? A few other elves who're sticking around to work at the Resort help him as well."

"Sounds like oodles of fun," I said.

A couple of the elves snickered. I frowned. "You all seem very tired. I know it's late but, in my experience, you elves can go for hours without getting exhausted or whatever."

"Yeah, we usually can!" One of the elves in the back said, shutting a toolbox and standing up, brushing snow off of her pants. "But all of us construction folks were in the shop today trying to grab everything we'd need, without being caught. I don't know how you do it, it's really hard. Especially with Mrs. Claus mucking about."

All fifteen elves groaned.

"She's so creepy!"

"And too chipper!"

"She just drains us! It's impossible to be around her!"

"Oh yeah," I said. "I forgot about that! I mentioned it to Mother Nature a little while ago. Dream sand should fix that no problem. I'll see if Sandman and Xander can whip something up for you guys down here."

"That would be appreciated!" A new voice approached the group. Curtis turned the corner, still decked out in his work clothes—those really awful jester-esque outfits they had fought so hard to overturn last year. His name was embroidered on it. That was new. "It's effecting everyone working in the Resort, and really bringing down productivity, not to mention, morale." He paused in front of me, catching his breath. "Hi, Jacqueline. Sorry I'm late, I was—"

"Reverse greeting guests. Yeah, I heard. I've no idea why you'd subject yourselves to that, honestly."

"It's good PR! And if the guests leave in a good mood, they're likely to be in an even better mood tomorrow, and they spend more money as a result. Or at least, Santa seems to think so. I mean, in terms of day-to-day profits, there is a slight difference from this week and last week when we weren't doing the greeting—"

The construction crew groaned, a few sharing eyerolls with one another. What a mood. I cleared my throat. "Okay, thank you, Curtis! Can we stay on task, please?"

"Right! Absolutely. How're we doing here, elves?"

"We've got the first batch of tools we'll need, and all the safety gear for the rest of the crew."

"Excellent. Jacqueline, you're set to take them all?"

"Yeah, we'll have to go in groups of five but it should be no problem. May be a bit nippy but it comes with the territory," I said with a shrug. "I'll have Mother Nature's help tomorrow before opening. So if you'd like to send more elves over, it shouldn't be a problem. There's plenty of space in the mountain towns. They have great inns," I added as an afterthought.

"Well, the elves who were living closer to the Workshop have moved into the suites over at the Winter Wonderland. We've made the areas closest to the Workshop designated overnight spots for the humans. Trying to keep everything central, and keep the humans from interacting with the elves outside of the shop. I think they'll be fine for a bit longer in the inn here, but I'll see if any of them would like to move shop tomorrow and bring them over as well. When can you get that dream sand?"

"When can you get me numbers?"

"As soon as tomorrow!"

"Then as soon as I get numbers, I can get the dream sand request rolling. It should stave off Chrys's whole. Draining thing."

"Excellent! Now, in terms of what you'll all need to run the traditional aspect of Christmas over in New E, I've got a schedule right here that should line up with the building schedule. I've matched up groups of elves with the buildings they'll be working in, so once those buildings have been put up, that group of elves can be ferried over and start setting up shop. If all goes according to plan, we should be in business by Easter! Here, I made two copies of everything."

"I'll get this to Bernard ASAP," I said.

"Right then. Group One, all set?"

"Yep," said the ice kicker.

"Time to get moving then. Jacqueline can show you guys where the exit is and have you up and out of here in no time at all!"

"Go on ahead! I'll catch up easy peasy," I said, waving the group forwards. "It's a straight shot ahead. Follow the draft and you'll be there in no time! There's one more thing, Curtis."

"Shoot," Curtis replied, as the elves headed down the tunnel.

"In order for Bernard and the other elves moving to New Elfsburg to be able to send out the gifts come Christmas Eve, they'll need Santa's bag."

Curtis exhaled. "That's a tall order, Jacqueline. Santa's sack is one of the most important pieces of the Santa identity!"

"Yeah, we know. That's why we need it. I'll grab it myself—"

"You're going to steal Santa's magical bag? Of toys?"

"Well duh. It's not like he'll just give it to me, and I like to think I know this particular Santa well enough to be very confident in that particular piece of info. Unless you want me to ask nicely? I'm sure that'd go over well."

"Woah. Chill out."

"Look who's talking!"

"Ou. Low blow, Jacqueline."

"Look, Curtis. If you want to save Christmas and keep the entirety of magic from going so out of whack it jeopardizes literally everything, we're going to need that bag. Bernard says that it's usually in a fancy closet, reserved just for Santa's outfit."

"Usually, yeah. I don't think he's touched it since that last Christmas Eve out, so in theory it should still be there."

"Yeah, but this Santa wouldn't just throw it in a corner and forget about it. It's Santa's magical bag, a huge part of his identity. Now that my brother is Santa, he's going to want to flaunt it for everyone to see, but without it being something they'd think is a Big Deal, if that makes sense. Maybe in plain sight?"

"Well, I haven't seen it out on the floor," Curtis said, rubbing his chin. I frowned as I watched him think. Something was weird. He seemed older…and taller? He totally was! Oh, wow, that was really weird.

Curtis finally spoke up (even his voice had changed, I noticed). "It's not on display anywhere, or we'd have a miniature available for purchase in the giftshop…which actually isn't a bad idea."

"Dude. I'm trying to plan a heist, not meet my goals for the next quarter."

"Right, sorry. Okay, um, if he wanted to show it off, he'd have kept it on him. But then he wouldn't be able to move around during his show with both hands freely, which would be very problematic…okay, so maybe he has it as a prop on the set! Or on display somewhere! That's the easiest way he could show it off, without sharing it."

"That makes a lot more sense than the way I said it."

"I'm very good with words. At least, I like to think so! Anyway, I'll look into bag location for you, Jacqueline."

"Thank you very much, Curtis," I said, genuinely relieved.

"No problem! Here's my report for Bernard, by the way. You've got the schedule? Everything else?"

I leafed through the paper stack he had given me. "Yep, I've got everything. A duo-tang would be nice, though. Or like a folder, or something."

Curtis pulled one out from thin air. "Here you go!"

"Thanks. Same time next week?"

"Yep! I'll try not to be as late as I was. Quintin will be around tomorrow to help with the groups going out in the morning. I'll make sure he has a headcount of who's staying, so we can get some dream sand. I'd join him but I have to open, and there's a lot of tills to count and gates to unlock and a quick maintenance check—"

"Okay, thank you Curtis! Look, I gotta run. After all, those elves won't teleport themselves. See you in a week!" I said with a wave, sliding into the tunnel like a freshly waxed toboggan down a very steep hill.

Everything moved very fast after that.

I dropped the schedule off with Bernard, who gave me the second copy of the migration schedule to bring over to Mother Nature and Aunt Spring. The two of them looked it over, and the very next day Mother Nature and I went over to start ferrying everyone and everything out.

On and on ferrying went, each Legend taking a turn. The Legates joined in every so often as well; we were taking all the help we could get. Dite and Myles joined their Legends for the material runs. The two of them could make it from the North Pole to Crystal Springs in less than thirty minutes, which was a little bit faster than both Cupid and Tooth Fairy, though neither of them would admit it. Sure, we could have transported the materials via teleportation, but with the amount of elves alongside all the materials, it could get a little bit fuzzy, and we didn't want anyone reappearing in the valley with tools for limbs—though I'm sure they would've seen it as an upgrade and been ecstatic about it. Kringles are the biggest optimists I know (most of the time!) so, better safe than sorry, right? Days with larger loads that could end in mishaps like that, Myles's sister Olivia joined the runs, too! Not only can she match her brother in speed, but she was also training to be a healer, which came in handy on busier days.

Anyway, by March, the moving had begun in earnest and buildings were popping up very fast. The Valley had a whole new feeling to it; the Christmas magic was building, and it showed. The snowfalls in the valley were always picturesque; the mountains around it could be blotted out by a blizzard, but the valley was always clear, with the littlest of flurries fluttering through the air as walls were painted, roofs were tiled, and bricks and mortar were placed in position.

Soon enough, a town square similar but not quite like the one in Elfsburg had formed. The main Workshop building was smack center, the domed ceiling sparkling in the sunshine. Other buildings sprung up alongside it, forming a sort of half circle in the centre of the valley. Pathways to each building branched out from one main path that led to the bridge over the river, where a cute little signpost reading "New Elfsburg" had been hammered in haphazardly. It was a little crooked, but it seemed to like being crooked as every time Winter righted it, it went right back to the slight slant it had been planted in. Nothing interrupted the path from the Workshop to the bridge, except for the rather large monument that the path circled around: The Tether.

Now, I know what you're thinking reader. What in the HECK is the Tether? That's a weird name for a monument! And you're right, it is! But that's because it wasn't quite a monument, in the traditional sense. The name was actually very literal.

It was a rather large plinth, placed carefully on a flat slab of stone directly in the center of the square, where the Christmas magic was strongest. The top of the plinth was a very big stone basin, instead of a flat square, that looked a lot like a birdbath. A giant birdbath. It glowed too, especially when Winter or I were near it. The stone was smooth, but the moment one of us was nearby and actively using magic, the stone would light up, the grey glowing with blue or white or, when Bernard was around, gold.

He and the older elves worked their butts off making this thing! They carved the most beautiful Christmas patterns and designs in the plinth. The long, rectangular base was not safe from the detail work, either. Curves and spirals and stars and snowflakes and gifts were carved into the base as well. It was a gorgeous centrepiece, and also, the most important part of what became known as Elfsburg Valley. It was a control point, one specifically made to tether the bag to the Christmas magic. And that's why it became known as the Tether, and the space around it remained clear of buildings. It would need a lot of space to do its thing, or so I was told.

By the time Easter rolled around that April, toy production had begun in earnest, a little bit ahead of schedule, to boot! As the elves worked to make the toys, passing from building to building in the complex, the square was always bustling. I could see now why they had kept the space empty. A few benches had been placed closer to the bridge; there was an ice rink, too, and a very small merry-go-round. The elves were smiling, laughing as they worked, their sparkles shinning nice and bright as they walked down the winding paths, baskets and wagons in hand and tow, filled with parts and tools and toys and all sorts of goodies. It felt good. It felt right. It felt like how the North Pole should have felt.

Well…almost right.

Walking the paths and seeing all the hard workers, I half expected to see the telltale green jacket Elle would wear in the crowd. But she wasn't there, of course. I didn't know where she was, and hadn't bothered to find out. I hadn't had the time, nor did I even know how to start searching. For all I knew, maybe she didn't exist anymore—and I didn't want to have to deal with that, no thank you.

But I felt her absence. Man, I'd have loved to have her around. It would've been nice to talk to her about all the nonsense, and she probably would've had the most amazing ideas for Elfsburg Valley. She'd have probably had a good laugh when I told her about how the sign had changed of its own accord, now reading "Elfsburg Valley" instead of "New Elfsburg". Bernard and I had seen it happen, actually. It was pretty funny; even funnier when Winter noticed and said, "Really? You'll change your name on a whim but goddess forbid you stand up tall!"

And Bernard. He was toiling away at the Tether, wiping sweat off his brow, so intensely focused that he didn't notice anything going on around him. He looked so lonely, and it only made me miss Elle more. It just wasn't the same anymore. There were one too many ghosts here now.

The Elves in the Valley were looking a lot better though. They had a spring in their step and their sparkles were bright as can be! And though the situation in Elfsburg was full Resort mode, the elves there were looking and feeling much better there, too. I had made good on my promise to Curtis, and had met up with Xander and Sandman. They had given a little pouch of dream dust to each elf that stayed put. So long as they had it on their person, it would absorb Mrs. Claus's rank energy and let them keep things running—after all, we didn't want Santa to notice what we were doing, so we needed to make sure output stayed more or less the same, and that meant keeping the elves staying put happy and healthy.

Though admittedly, I was beginning to think Santa wouldn't have even noticed what we were doing at this point! And if he had, I don't think he'd have cared all too much.

Between transport shifts and my usual duties, I had been scouting the Pole as best as I could with the horrendous amounts of crowds up North. I had yet to find Santa's bag anywhere in the Workshop. And as Summer rolled in, testing began on the Tether—testing that would eventually need the bag. Needless to say, the pressure to find the dang thing was on.

Once Curtis had confirmed it wasn't in the place it should have been (he had insisted on checking the conditioned closet even though we both knew it wasn't there), the hunt was afoot! I combed through the displays (saying you were part of Health and Safety went a long way with ordinary beings), ransacked the giftshop, got chased out of the giftshop by security, ransacked storage, got chased out of storage by security, and even ransacked Santa's personal quarters.

A terrible mistake, really, as I of course came face to face with Chrys and cited a social visit, making for a very awkward and tiring luncheon with her (I'd choose security over Chrys any day). She wouldn't stop talking about the recent changes, and how great they were—but in reality, they sucked.

Everything had been crammed into the Workshop, to make it easily accessible which was bull sleet, as I could barely move through the crowds myself! And I could be slippery if I wanted to! Literally! It did not help. I thought briefly of asking her about the bag, but chickened out. I didn't want to spend longer with her there than I had to, especially since I didn't have my own pouch of dream sand on me to counteract her energy slurping powers.

In all my snooping, I noticed that Jack wasn't as observant as usual. It was show after show, back-to-back, photo op, autographs—and it was all he was paying attention to. I don't think he'd have cared if he noticed that his staff of thousands had been reduced to hundreds, or that things had been disappearing! And I tested this theory, too. I stole odds and ends that had been forgotten or left behind from right under his nose at times. There was no reaction. He had thrown himself into the spotlight and attention he was getting with his Resort. Once I figured that out, I really didn't consider him a threat anymore, and got pretty bold.

Especially when I finally found where he had put the bag.

I stood at the other end of town square, a little bit after opening hours, watching the people trickle in. The stairs were cluttered, and we hadn't even gotten into winter proper! It was October.

My deadline was getting close. Sure, American Thanksgiving was still a little way away. But Canadian Thanksgiving was that weekend (hence the crowd! A long weekend!) and once that finished, it'd be Halloween in no time and suddenly, American Thanksgiving. I was running out of time. Meanwhile, over in New Elfsburg, most if not all of the elves set to live there had made the move. The Workshop was done, and surrounding important buildings had been completed too. Toymaking was in operation and the tether was ready to start doing its thing, and I didn't have the stinking bag.

I was getting frustrated. I had looked everywhere in the Workshop, and hadn't had ANY luck. Curtis also hadn't come through either. Though admittedly, I didn't think he was fully looking. He was really starting to grow into his, ah, managerial position. Our weekly meetings had become biweekly, and I heard more about the Resort than I did about the whole saving Christmas thing Bernard had been stressing about since June!

"Sorry for the lateness, but I have this week's report. Wrapping is heading over next," Curtis said, approaching me from the Workshop. "We've been doing a bit of redecorating and rearranging, and I've been a bit preoccupied supervising that. Santa was very specific about where everything would go."

"I was thinking that there was something different about this whole area," I said, gesturing to the stairs. "I thought maybe the noodle men had somehow gotten noodlier."

Curtis laughed. "An interesting idea, but no, not quite. We've switched up the set and moved a couple of props around various points of interest for photo opportunities. Lines at the ticket booth have been getting a little long, and Mrs. Claus thought some sort of entertainment would help calm down the last-minute buyers."

"You mean people come here without pre-ordering tickets? They fork over all that money for accommodations, the crazy insane FLIGHT, and don't get the tickets in a neat bundle?!"

"There's a last-minute special. It's twenty-five percent off the three-day pass if you buy at the door!"

"That's insane. This whole thing is insane, I'm losing it, and apparently everyone else here is losing it as well! And you know, I still haven't found that stinking bag!" I huffed.

"I'm sure it'll turn up. I didn't see it while rearranging the sets. I'm particularly proud of this one, actually! I never would've thought of putting the sleigh out for photos. It wasn't doing much in the stables, anyway, aside from looking pretty. Maintenance refuses to not maintain the sleigh, which can get pretty annoying when other things come up. Toilets don't unclog themselves, you know, not to mention the number of times the machinery over at build-a-toy gets jammed—"

"Sorry, hold on a sec. are you saying that that sleigh, right there, is the sleigh?"

"Yep! Complete with a bag of toys to make to ensemble complete! We were thinking of putting the reindeer out there, but they're being a little bit stubborn and we don't have the time to build mechanical ones, especially with the reduced workforce. There's enough of us to keep the Resort operational at Santa's current output, plus the stage cast and crew, and that's it. We've got some great standees, though! Those are apparently very popular at ordibeing amusement parks and tourist attractions."

"So that is the real sleigh right there?"

Curtis looked at me like I was the dumbest person he had seen all day. "Duh. It's what I said, isn't it?"

"So that bag, in the sleigh. Filled with those fakey presents—"

"Oh, they're real gifts, actually. Old toys we have for sale heavily discounted, since they're last season's models. The profit loss we'd incur if we just wrote it off was a little high for our liking. And we strive to be authentic here at the North Pole Resort. I mean, this is the real deal, after all."

"Is that the bag, Curtis?"

Whatever Curtis was going to say died in his throat. His face was blank for the briefest of seconds, before he went on an emotional journey that started with disbelief, a triple take, more disbelief, and then finally, realization.

"It could be! It's exactly where we suspected it would be—in plain sight—and you hadn't checked this area yet. It's brand spanking new!"

"You don't know for sure?"

"No! Mrs. Claus took care of sourcing the pieces, and the stage crew set everything up. I supervised. I have to deal with all sorts of nonsense in day-to-day operations. I didn't have time for scrutinizing props! Do I look like a theater elf to you?"

"That was rhetorical, right?

"Yes, it was. You know what though, something's weird. The bag should be absorbing the presents, even if they are old. That can't be good. You know, there's a whole section in the Handbook on maintenance and care of the bag—it's genuine leather—and—"

"Is there a way we can confirm that it is, in fact, the bane of my existence—I mean, the bag. Santa's bag. Santa's magical bag of toys."

Curtis raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, don't give me that look, I've been looking for this thing for months."

He shot his hands up in defense. "Fair enough. I can tell you right away if it's the bag once we get a closer look. And now's perfect, the line's gone—that happens every day about half an hour or so after opening. The briefest of lulls, and then the late breakfasters arrive."

"What the frost are we waiting for then?" I shouted over my shoulder, having left halfway through Curtis's spiel.

"Hey! Wait up!"

He caught up to me as I stopped at the base of the sleigh, pulling me down from the step.

"Hey! Watch it."

"You watch it! I have to check the bag for you," Curtis said, with another "uh, duh" kind of face. I rolled my eyes and stepped back, arms crossed as he hopped into the sleigh and began sizing up the bag.

"Well?"

"The material is correct, as is the size. The cord to tie it shut is the same…but it's dormant. That's definitely not good," Curtis said. He touched the bag, and a sudden magical thrum permeated the air. Not a sound, though. A feeling. A thread of magic seemed to be pulled from the blanket surrounding us; the bag had a slight glow where Curtis touched it.

"It's definitely the bag," Curtis said with a grimace.

"Finally! Out in the open as part of a photoshoot?"

"Yup. Right in plain sight, under everyone's noses."

"I thought we'd be right about where the bag was, but there's something about this that just feels. So icky. Yuck. Okay, let's not think about it too much," I said, stepping up onto the sleigh. "Mind moving to the side, Curtis? I need to grab that bag right now immediately, and like yesterday considering it's dormant."

"I'm going to need you to step back, Jacqueline."

"Excuse me?"

"We can't do this in broad daylight!"

"I've done everything else in broad daylight!"

Curtis nearly growled, face palming. "Look, Jacqueline. If you get into the display and prevent people from using it, it's destruction of property under the Resort's Code of Conduct, and I'll have to call security. If we want to do this, it'll have to be stealthily, and after closing hours because as you can see, the line is back!"

"What? I thought you said there was a lull!"

"It's like, a ten-minute lull!"

"There's no way that was ten minutes."

"Look, just please don't steal it now, okay?"

I crossed my arms and looked away.

"Jacqueline."

"Okay, your angry tone isn't going to work on me, Curtis. I have dresses older than you."

Curtis threw his arms up. "Fine! Whatever! Just. Don't grab it now, okay? Do it properly. You know that's what Bernard would want," Curtis added, hands on his hips as he surveyed me over the tops of his glasses.

Oh, clever boy, trying to invoke the name of Bernard. If I was a softer person, it may have worked. And normally, I was. But these circumstances were very different, and I nearly began to argue. But if I did that, Curtis would stand his ground and I'd never be able to get myself the heck out of there with magical bag and take a relieving mission accomplished nap.

"Alright, fine," I said, throwing my hands up and crossing my arms, turning away with a frown. "I'll be stealthy," I added, walking away from the sleigh. "But not because you asked me!" I shouted over my shoulder, stopping at the back of the photo op line that had appeared as we inspected the sleigh. "For Bernard."

"Thank you, Jacqueline," Curtis said, sounding relieved.

"You're not welcome," I replied, leaning against one of the banisters.

"You're just gonna stand there?"

"Yep."

"You're loitering!"

"Oh, I'm sorry! Is me standing here getting some polar day sunshine against the code of conduct?"

"Yes!" Curtis hissed.

"Even better! Now I really have nothing better to do!"

Curtis rolled his eyes and started stomping my way. He barely made it a couple of steps before suddenly, in the line, someone yelled.

"Excuse me! I was here first!"

"Excuse me, but my daughter was in line for us!"

"That's butting!"

"Yeah, my daughter's right! You guys butted!"

"Shoot," Curtis said, quiet enough for fae to hear but not for human ears. "Don't cause any trouble," he whisper yelled in my direction.

"Don't tell me what to do," I snapped back, as he sped over to the squabbling group. Like who did he think he was? Bernard?

"Please, please, there's no need to fight! Everyone will get a turn! We have several other photo ops along the way, some with real elves! Here, take this year's commemorative pen. It's multicolour!"

I rolled my eyes, watching as Curtis eased the tension and sent them on their ways, the next people in line behind the bickering adults hopping into the sleigh. Curtis made his way up the stairs, chatting with guests, and stopping for elf photos. He was a real live elf, folks! Who thought he could boss me, Jacqueline Frost, around! There are only a select few people who can do that, and Curtis the real live elf CERTAINLY WASN'T one of them!

God, I was SO annoyed. I needed that bag. Santa wasn't around, and Curtis had made his way to the top of the steps—I was out of his line of sight. the bag was right there. And you know, humans can be so gullible at times. I was a fed-up winter sprite, and everything was telling me to just go for it.

So I did.

"Sorry folks, that's the last photo op in the sleigh today," I said as I approached, the kids hopping out. The two next in line let out very long, disappointed awwhs.

"But my kids really wanted a picture in the sleigh!"

"Do your kids really want the flu?" I asked, hands on my hips. "Because a kid sneezed all over the place a few photos ago, and we need to sanitize this asap. Maybe even close it off for the day."

"And you are?" The husband said, looking irritated.

"Jacqueline Frost, North Pole Resort Health and Safety," I said, flashing them my Crystal Springs photo ID card. It looked pretty official, especially when you whooshed it up quickly and frosted it up a little bit. "Head of Health and Safety."

"EW! I don't wanna get sick," one of the kids said.

"Look, there's an elf in a Christmas tree costume! Let's take a picture with them," the Mom said, shooing the kids forwards. "Thanks for the heads up, ma'am," she said over her shoulder.

"Of course! You know, here at the North Pole Resort, your safety is our top priority," I said, hopping onto the sleigh with a very customer service smile. I gave them a chipper wave as they left, for good measure, just before turning my back and letting the customer service façade fall. "Alright, bag. Let's see what's up."

I didn't even need to touch the bag for a diagnosis. My hand was barely hovering over it, and I could feel the Christmas magic coming off of the thing, following the curve of my palm (Christmas magic sticks to winter magic like you wouldn't believe). Curtis was right, though. It was weak, and nearly felt dormant.

"Let's get you out of here, yeah? And let's get rid of these old gifts, while we're at it."

I started pulling the gifts out of the bag, throwing them behind me in all directions. A couple of heftier thunks told me that some of the presents had hit the stairs. I could hear the crowd beginning to murmur and stare as I yoinked each gift out of the bag and tossed it. There was no end in sight, and I had half a mind to try and pick up the very heavy bag and shake the gifts out.

"Excuse me, ma'am, could you be a bit more careful? That almost hit me!"

"My bad," I shouted over my shoulder, still tossing.

"Excuse me! Sir! There's someone causing some kind of commotion down by the sleigh—"

"She's head of health and safety," said the Mom from before.

"Well, she's certainly not being very safe!"

"Rest assured, I'll take care of it promptly. Sorry for the disturbance, folks. Here! Take this year's commemorative bag! It's reusable."

I stopped and stood up, rolling my eyes before turning to face the steps.

"Oh hey Curtis, it's been what, five minutes?"

"I thought we agreed you'd wait!" Curtis hissed under his breath, hoping the resort goers didn't hear him.

"Patience isn't my forte," I replied.

"You need to get out of there right now!"

"Or what? You'll call security on me? Oh please, I'll freeze them solid."

That seemed to be some kind of buzzword. The crowd instantly went from confused to intrigued, more of the people in line turning to watch the show.

Curtis smacked his forehead, sighed, and shouted for security. I grinned and cracked my knuckles as three men ran down the stairs, surrounding the sleigh.

"We don't want any trouble," said the first guard. "Just put the presents down, hop down from the sleigh, and come with us."

"Barry, right? You chased me out of storage the other day! I remember that, that was fun! How's your arm?"

"Sore. Still chilly, too. Look, I'm trying to be very polite right now, Ms. Frost."

"So am I! That's why I asked about your arm."

"Could you please come down from there? Please?"

"Yeah...no. I'm not budging."

"Don't make us pull you out of there!" Guard Two said. Barry looked panicked, and shook his head in Guard Two's general direction.

"I would strongly recommend you didn't do that," Guard Three whispered to Guard Two.

"That's it," Guard Two said. "It's time to come down, kid."

"Who are you calling a kid, kid?," I asked as he stepped towards the sleigh.

He tried really, really hard to make it to the sleigh. Really hard. But as he lurched forward, there was a squeak; his foot went sliding, the other one following as he stepped directly on a smooth patch of ice that had suddenly appeared beneath him. He tried even harder to not slip. But alas, his running man dance did not save him. He toppled over and landed right on his butt, slowly sliding back down the ice.

The kids in the lineup who had been watching howled with laughter. The parents clapped; more and more people began to watch Guard Two attempt to get up. He had managed to stick out his hands and prop himself up on all fours, still slip sliding away.

"Careful! Don't you know the North Pole is slippery? Here's a hot tip: if you pretend to be a penguin, and sorta waddle," I said, waddling in place from the sleigh, "like this, you probably won't fall!"

He managed to throw himself up, looking very, very red. He was practically shaking he was so angry!

"Aww, are you angry because you can't balance on ice? Well, you know what they say! Practise makes perfect," I said, sticking out my arms and twirling in a circle.

Ice crept out from beneath the sleigh, freezing the ground surrounding the sleigh instantly. All three guards began to slip as I stopped spinning, shaking the frost off of my hands with a grin.

Guard Three almost managed to stay upright, but Guard Two kept grabbing him for support, succeeding in knocking them both over. Repeatedly. It was hilarious! The two of them were constantly falling back down.

"No, like this!" I said, stance wide, shifting my weight back and forth. "The key is to keep your feet at an angle."

Barry meanwhile had managed to make it to the step, his knuckles white with how tightly he had been holding onto the rail.

"Come on down, Ms. Frost. We don't want any trouble," he said, one hand outstretched to help me down.

"Sorry Barry, but I have the high ground now," I said, grabbing the rail and freezing it solid. Barry tried to move his hand, but found he was stuck, frozen onto the sleigh. The outstretched hand swung back down, in a vain attempt to pull his other hand free from the ice.

The crowd on the stairs started clapping now. I turned around and looked up at them, surprised.

"I didn't realize the photo ops were live!"

"Is this like a pre-show? It's hilarious!"

"I've gotten some great shots—"

"Kids, get close together now! Hey, lady in the sleigh! Look over here!"

Something came over me, then. I have no idea what it was—maybe the absurdity of the situation. Maybe it was the building resentment towards Santa that possessed me to do what I did next. Whatever the case, something either clicked or snapped and I grinned, flashing peace signs as the man's camera flashed. Others whipped out their cameras, snapping as many pictures as they could. I turned for every shutter sound, made funny faces for every flash, stuck out my tongue at a group of kids that were shouting up a storm!

It was fun. It was so much fun. I had found the bag, was taking out some anger on security, all while stealing the show right out from Jack's nose! That's what it had become—a show. But you know, it had been AGES since I had had fun while on the job, so I wasn't about to correct them and had no intentions of stopping any time soon, that's for sure.

"Look out behind you!" one of the kids shouted.

I turned where the kid pointed to see that Guards Two and Three had managed to get up and grab the railing, holding on for dear life as they slowly slid around the sleigh. Two looked particularly proud as he lifted himself up onto the step.

"Alright Ms. Frost, I've got you now! Freeze!"

"I hate puns," I said, knocking Guard Two off of the sleigh and onto the ground. He lifted himself up, not noticing the snow quietly gather around his feet until he went to take a step forward and found himself frozen to the ground.

The crowd, apparently, loved puns, and howled with laughter, shutters clicking and flashes going off. Where were sunglasses when you needed them?

"Look on the bright side! At least now you won't slip," I said, the crowd laughing once more. Guard Three was even chuckling.

"Shuddup, Mike!" Two said to Three. "Why don't you grab her then, huh? Seeing as how you're able to move!"

"Oh, yeah, I should fix that," I said and, with maybe a little bit too much drama, lifted both of my arms high into the sky. Behind me, a large wave of snow came up out of the ground, towering over me and the sleigh. Mike panicked, turned to run, slipped on the ice, and was immediately covered with the giant pile of packing snow as the kids squealed in delight at the fallout fluttering about them.

The snow was on everything! Mike got the worst of it, of course. He seemed alright, so I went a little bit easy on him. As a treat. The packing snow was only a bit harder to get out of than the ice clasped around Two's boots, and the ice that still had Barry frozen to the rail. He was trying very hard to pull himself off of it.

The line was applauding! And I was laughing. The whole situation was hilarious, it was just, so looney toons and the guards were so dumb and the guests were even dumber thinking that this was part of the show. Jack would never let someone else steal his spotlight.

Which meant it was only a matter of time before he made an appearance.

"Thank you, thank you! You are all too kind! All of you kids are getting snow days! I mean, how else are you kids going to enjoy these FREE TOYS," I yelled, picking up the gifts and, with help from the winter winds, I threw them into the crowd.

The chaos I was causing was unbelievable. The kids were enjoying the show and trying to catch the presents, but some of the adults? Oh man, they were vicious. Pushing and pulling, some were running down the stairs to grab the gifts that had fallen around the sleigh.

"Hey, give me that!

"I caught it fair and square!"

"I looked at it first!"

I could almost see steam coming out of Curtis's ears as the humans jostled him about! Jack was gonna be so pissed when he saw this mess. I brightened at that thought; I wonder how much of his day would be wrecked after this little stunt?

I threw the gifts out to the crowd faster, aiming lower for the kids to catch the gifts themselves.

"Jacqueline! What do you think you're doing?"

Ah. Right on cue.

"Oh! Hi, Santa! Well, these kids are cheering for me. They're celebrating my victory," I said, gesturing to the guards. Mike had managed to pull his torso out of the snow, though his legs were still buried. Guard Two was so red trying to pull himself free, I think he had invented a new shade! Barry had resorted to trying to warm the ice around his hand enough to melt it. He was huddled against the rail, exhaling all over his hand.

"You snowed my guards!"

"They started it," I said. "And I finished it, which everyone seemed to like, hence the applause. Isn't it lovely? I think it's lovely! In fact, I think it's very nice and I thought, y'know, since these kids are being so nice to me, and we are at the North Pole, I may as well reward them! Nice kids get presents, after all, just for being nice! No additional charges or anything," I added as an afterthought.

It was so hard to not pat myself on the back for that rapid fast comeback. It was a good one! I had added the additional charges bit on the fly. I was getting really good at cheap shots! I could tell, Jack looked so disrespected. Excellent.

He recovered pretty fast though, letting go of the balcony railing and standing up straight again, picture ready and smirking behind the frozen beard.

"Well, that's silly."

"It's your job, isn't it? Give presents to the nice children?" I asked, tossing another gift into the crowd. "Santa, do you think your job is silly?

"Oooooooooo," the crowd rang out. Jack kept his mask on, but I could tell that I had hit a soft spot. Good, I thought.

"Cuz that's what I'm hearing, Santa!"

"Well," he said with a shrug, "You're right about one thing," he finished, posing for pictures to the left, and then the right, as though he couldn't be bothered with the chaos I was brewing. How rude, I thought.

"You think it's silly? You heard it here folks! Santa thinks his job is silly!" I said, eliciting a few laughs from the crowd.

"No, not that," Jack said with a frown. He cleared his throat. "The fact that it's my job—which I take quite seriously—is what we can both agree on. So, y'know, seeing as how I'm Santa, and you're just Jack Frost, why are you holding my bag?"

"Oooooooooo," the crowd rang out again, one person yelling, "Are you gonna take that?!" In my general direction. I rolled my eyes, placing a hand on the railing of the sleigh, the other one on my hip, clutching the bag.

"That wasn't rhetorical, Jacqueline. Why is it you're holding Santa's bag? Don't you have citrus to freeze? Noses to get all runny?"

"Not until 3," I said, to more laughter. "Thank you, thank you, that was a good one, wasn't it?" I said, nodding my head and twirling my hand in a sort of mock bow to scattered applause.

"Folks, please, don't encourage her," Curtis said.

"I can take it from here, Curtis," Santa said.

"But I—"

"No need, I've got it. Go on now, go have a cocoa! Some cookies, take a break! Put your feet up. I can take care of this."

Curtis looked confused, but obliged. He scuttled past Santa, who watched him go with a smile before turning back to me with a nasty glare. "Now what's going on here, seriously."

I raised an eyebrow, standing up straight. "Routine bag check, Santa. It's not feeling very good," I said, holding it up and patting it for emphasis. "I think the leather needs to be conditioned, or something, so I'm bringing this over to the elves in restoration. I needed to empty the gifts out though, of course, and I thought, you know, this crowd is full of such lovely kids, I may as well give them the gifts, right folks?"

The crowd roared, clapping and whooping and shouting various YEAHS!

"You—you put that back, right now Jacqueline, or so help me I'll—"

I cut off his reply with a gift to the face. The crowd quieted, the kids letting out a "you just got in trouble" kind of gasp, like when you sass your teacher in grade school—the glorious moment before you get sent down to the office or detention or to the yard to fight off the gremlins that have once again managed to dismantle the clocktower (though I think that last one is more of a magibean school punishment. Very therapeutic, though).

"You'll what? Give me coal?"

The audience snickered, a few people clapping here and there.

"It took the stagehands way too long to place those gifts! It almost ruined the first show because—"

"Whoops!" I said, another present interrupting him. "I'm so sorry, it's just, you know, slippery hands, being Jack Frost and all."

The crowd laughed, people once again applauding. I grinned.

"Oh please. You did that on purpose!"

"No, that was obviously an accident. These are on purpose though," I said, four presents flying Jack's way. He tried to catch the first one; succeeded, only to have the second one smack him in the face. He dropped the gift in his hands, putting up his arms to block three and four, backing up as he went, only to lose his footing and fall backwards, a poof of fake snow coming up from under him. I threw a couple more his way for good measure, hoping they'd make it a little bit harder to focus on getting up.

The crowd was once again hooting and hollering. Physical humour always gets 'em. Santa finally got up, slipping a bit on the way, throwing the presents in his arms to the side (much to the delight of the kiddos closest to him who grabbed them as fast as possible before giggling and scuttling off).

"Stop throwing those at me! For the love of Christmas!"

"Make me!" I said, shaking the bag. There was still a solid amount in the bag; I flipped it upside down.

"Don't!" Jack said from the stairs.

"Or what? You'll gift wrap me? Put me on the Naughty List?"

"You're already on there permanently!"

"Ou, does that cost extra? You gonna send me the bill?

"It's complimentary for you!"

"You can't do anything else," I said, nearly cackling. "I mean, all you've got are toys and decorations. What do I have?" I asked, shaking the bag. It was more than happy to barf out the rest of the gifts.

"SNOW!" some of the kids yelled.

"Exactly! I've got the snow, Santa."

And with that, the North Winds blew, the gifts launching up in the air and dispersing over the crowd, snow fluttering in their wake. (What can I say? I was beginning to like the little bits of pzazz that came with the job of "Santa's pain in the side"). One strong wind trail knocked right into Jack, pushing him back to the other side of the balcony. I grinned, and, gently folding the bag over my arm, raised my right one high in the air to the roaring applause the crowd was giving our little encounter.

"Thank you, thank you!" I said, bowing twice to the left flight of stairs (to the folks on the top and then on the bottom), then spinning and bowing to the line on the right flight (top down once more), before turning to the centre and bowing right at a very flustered Santa Jack. Still bowing, I glanced up at Jack. He had recovered fast from my little wind punch, and was glaring daggers at me, his knuckles turning white as he squeezed the railing. I smirked up at him; he shook his head, mouthing something that looked like a don't.

I winked. I straightened up, and snow began to billow around me, up and up and up in one big cloud. I raised both hands up in the air, the bag flopping against my left arm, and the cloud of snow exploded! A flurry rained down on everyone, joy and delight lighting up their faces as the snowflakes landed on them. They were going to love what I did next.

I brought my hands down, thinking of the biggest, flurriest, snowiest poof I could possibly do on my way out. I could picture it vividly in my head: near whiteout conditions and an explosion of my little light blue sparkles as I popped over to New Elfsburg, leaving nothing behind but a pile of snow nearly burying the sleigh.

And as I summoned my magic from deep within, that's exactly what happened. The snow billowed, the last thing I saw before disappearing a befuddled, angry Jack.

When the snow cleared, I was gone. The sleigh was as buried as the guards, covered in snow; only the very tippy top of the front and the portion of the sleigh that had held the bag were exposed. The bag was gone, only a few presents peaking out through the snow pilled inside the sled.

And the crowd, according to Jack, went wild.

When I inherited my title from my brother, I got a couple of perks, you see. Normally, an exit like that would've taken me five minutes of buffering, tops. But with the power boost that came with my present title? A simple thought would do the trick, and that it did—and then some!

My grand exit fast became a grand entrance. A little bit of everything followed me back. I reappeared in the square of New E, and snow burst out from around me, a hefty wind following. The snow spread out around the square, ruffling B-Man's hair and Mom's thick skirt. Winter lifted her hand without glancing back, and the snow simply blew right over them. It spread out around the Valley, the flakes dispersing and tickling the cheeks of the elves hard at work in the square. Some of them laughed; a few had to hold down hats and errant ribbons as the wind whooshed by them, disappearing up the mountain.

Toy testing and transporting had begun in earnest this month. The Workshop itself had been designed to be a bit smaller, to be ready in time for toy making. It felt a lot bigger on the inside thanks to some brilliant engineering on Quintin's end, but assembly and testing took place outside regardless. The outdoor space was filled with elves working away, assembling bigger toys and testing them. There were a lot of wheeled things out today. Small remote-controlled cars, those electric toy cars kids can drive up and down the sidewalk while parents stroll behind them, bikes, that sort of thing. Younger elves walked from building to building, wagons in tow, filled with finished toys to be tested and, once testing finished, sent them off to their final review and then in the queue for wrapping they went.

"Look what I got!" I yelled with a grin, holding up the bag.

Activity in the square stopped, the elves beaming and coming closer. I hadn't picked a location when I poofed out of the Resort, but I think at that point appearing wherever Bernard was had become muscle memory, since I hadn't appeared too far off from him.

"Jacqueline, that's awesome!" Bernard said, voice cracking on the final syllable. He stood by the tether with Winter, who was surveying the ground around me.

"Well done," Winter said, frowning at the little snow pile I stood in. And had apparently frosted up, I thought, as the ground crunched below me. "That must've been quite the exit," she added, shooing the frost away.

"Yeah, I may have gotten a little bit carried away. I hope this wasn't supposed to be a stealth mission because if it was, I failed spectacularly."

"At this point, I don't care how you got it. I'm just glad you got it." Bernard said, gently taking the bag off of my arm. His grin fell the moment he touched the bag. "Oh. Oh no," he said, frowning intensifying. "It's not doing so hot," he said, laying the bag on the ground by the tether.

"Yeah, about that. Curtis said something about it being dormant." I added, as elves began to notice what was going on. "And when I touched it, you could feel the Christmas magic like, bleeding all over the place."

"I hope he was wrong," Bernard said, kneeling down beside the tether and smoothing out the bag. Once he had lain it out nicely, he stretched out his palm, gently hovering over the bag, and managed to frown even harder.

"Bernard? What's wrong?" Winter asked, concerned.

"It may very well be…dormant," He replied, the elves closest to us gasping and whispering to one another.

"Dormant?"

"Oh no!"

"It shouldn't be dormant, should it?"

"No, I think it just, like, goes into like. Some kind of sleep mode? It's never been dormant before!"

"Well, it hasn't been used in a few years."

"That's true! Oh gosh, what are we going to do?"

"Guys," Bernard said, looking up. The chattering elves went silent, blinking down at Bernard expectantly. "It's going to be okay, alright? We'll figure it out! Anyone know where Quintin is? I'll need his expertise."

"He's here today! I'll go grab him," one of the elves said, rushing off to the tech building.

"Great. We'll take care of this, alright elves? Nothing to worry about here," he said, with a soft smile.

Mostly reassured, the surrounding elves glanced back and forth at one another, shrugged, and headed back to their tasks. Bernard breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nothing to worry about?" I prodded.

Bernard's voice cracked. "Hopefully. It's very low on magic. Very low." he looked up, his curls doing the smallest bounce. "Where was it?"

I grimaced. "Okay, so, you know how I was saying that everything had been like, moved to the Workshop for 'accessibility'?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. Right. So, the line to get in is on the front steps now, in the old square. And you know between the steps? By the lower door? Yeah? Right, well, they set up a sort of display, in front of the lower doors, for photo ops while people wait in line. They used the actual sleigh, and they had the actual bag in the actual sleigh."

"In the sleigh? Out in the open?"

"Yeah, just, totally exposed and stuffed with old gifts!"

"Silver bells," Bernard said quietly, nearly drowned out by the fast-approaching crunching that was Quintin absolutely booking it over to the Tether.

"I came as fast as I could, Bernard," he said, sliding into the snow and kneeling down. "What's wrong?"

"It's low on magic. Very low. I can barely sense any! It was out in the open with old gifts. Loaded way too early and who knows how long it had even been out there, not to mention, how it was stored when Santa got back from the last trip. I think it may be dormant. I hate when Curtis is right."

"Well then let's double check, shall we? Curtis has been known to jump to conclusions, after all," Quintin said, waving the handheld device he had brought with him in the air. "I'll run diagnostics."

Winter and I watched as Quintin staked the handle into the snow between the two elves, clicking a button on the back. The device straightened out, clicking in place. The display lit up; beneath it were a few buttons, blinking rapidly. Quintin tapped out a sequence and suddenly, the thing opened up, cords bursting out of the top. The tips of the cords had soft suction cups on them, and they worked in the exact same way. Bernard grabbed the several that had landed closer to him, and began sticking them on certain parts of the bag. Quintin mirrored his movement with the other cords, until all of them were on the bag.

"Ready?" Quintin asked.

"Ready," Bernard replied, and, in sync, both elves placed their hands on the bag, magic glowing around them

There was a hum, and a projection came out of the display. A graph appeared, multiple bars starting out high, and then dropping very, very low. The device started beeping; Winter and I glanced at each other, both of us equally confused.

"That's probably not good," Quintin said. He moved his hands toward the center of the bag; one of the bars went up, the teeniest tinniest littlest bit.

"But it could be worse," Bernard said, noticing the spike—if you could call it that.

"Well, boys? What's the verdict?" Winter asked.

"The bag is incredibly low on magic," Quintin began.

"Everything it's been through since the last trip has caused damage. But, according to the readings, it's not dead."

"The bag can die?" I asked.

"Everything dies eventually. Even us," Bernard pointed out.

"You must be fun at parties," I said, thrown off guard.

"Jacqueline," Winter chided gently.

"How else do you reply to something like that?"

Quintin chuckled. "These days it's a little dicey, but usually yes, he's the life of the party!"

"I'd like to see that," I replied.

"Thanks, Quintin," Bernard grumbled.

"Anytime!"

"Is there a way to help replenish the magic?" Winter asked, steering us back on topic. "I've no idea if winter magic would help at all, but I'm here if you need me. Or anyone else, for that matter. I can call my sisters, or Mother, maybe? I'm sure there's plenty of other magibeans who could assist."

"Well, if we've done it right, the tether should be able to charge the bag up. It'll need to replenish a bit, but I'm hoping we have enough time from now until Christmas for it to be..."

"Charged?" I offered.

"Healed?" Winter said.

"Rejuvenated!" Quintin said.

"Let's go with that, yeah. Rejuvenated. We made the tether with a magical source of energy at it's heart, and with the parameters of the bag's usual home in mind. I'm sure it'll be alright," Bernard said.

"You don't sound convinced," I said, frowning.

"Really? Darn. I was hoping I could convince myself."

This elf was far too relatable right now, I thought.

"Not to worry, Bernard," Winter said, kneeling down as well, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure it'll all work out just fine. You've come this far—it'll be okay."

"You think?" Bernard asked.

"Totally!" I said, plopping down in the snow as well. "And if worse comes to worse, I'm sure that the Springs have a pool specifically for magical items that have been depleted. We can always toss it in there!"

Both elves laughed.

"Not a bad plan B, Jacqueline," Quintin said, disengaging the sensor. "But for now, let's set the bag up on the tether and let the magic do its work."

"I'll prep the tether," Bernard said, standing up and heading around it.

"Excellent! Jacqueline and I will detach it down here and bring it over," Quintin said, clicking the purple button under the display. The projection vanished and with a small beep, the cups popping off of the bag. He set to work right away on his side, starting with the ones beside me.

"Good thing you found it during Canadian Thanksgiving," he said, quietly. "If it had been American Thanksgiving, I think Bernard would've exploded," he finished, gently taking the suction cups off of the top of the bag.

"Oh, he definitely would've," I agreed, handing Quintin the lengths that were closest to me.

For the next few months, the bag sat on the tether. Tendrils of magic were constantly swirling around it. Walking by, you could here the quietest wisps and whooshes coming from the golden strands.

October to November, and into December, the bag sat. It seemed to perk up in November; the base glowed brighter with each day, the carvings lit up all along the plinth and the stand.

As December rolled in, the ley lines below and around the tether began to glow. Turns out a LOT of people put up trees the MOMENT December hits, and the network of magic that stretched from tree to tree was STRONG. The square was always glowing then; walking through it, the magic tickled you. It made you feel all warm and fuzzy and it smelt like cookies (though that could've just been the bakery. It was the farthest building on the left of the square, and they cooked like there was no tomorrow!). There was a LOT of magic being funnelled into that bag the closer we got to Christmas Eve. Things seemed to be looking up; their plan seemed to be working.

Until it didn't.

It happened a few days before Christmas Eve. The bag had begun to inflate, almost sitting upright, ready to be loaded. Seeing this, the elves began to bring out the presents, stacking them around the tether in anticipation of loading day. The growth had been small but steady for the last few days.

But on the twentieth, it stopped.

Maybe it was a little hiccup, the elves thought. Maybe it was charging to grow all in one go.

But when the next day rolled around, there wasn't a single uptick in progress. Sure, the tether was still lit and the magic still flowed around it and through it, but the bag had like, paused or something. It looked really sad sitting on the plinth, slouched over. Even sadder as the days passed; still it slouched, surrounded by so much magic but looking so empty.

The tether technicians (which was actually the name they had given themselves during construction of the thing) were monitoring it 24/7. All sorts of magic tech surrounded it, with two or more elves looking at the stats at any given time. Bernard was almost always by the bag, jaw clenched as he recorded every single change—or lack there of.

"If you keep clenching your jaw like that, you're going to need a night guard," I pointed out on day three. He glanced up at me from under his hair, trying hard to glare. It would've been successful too if he hadn't blushed a bit.

"You already have one, don't you?"

"Shut up," he said, turning back to the tether.

I cackled, looping around the tether and stopping at his side. "You know, Mom did say she'd be happy to outsource some help."

"I know. But I don't think outsourcing would help. How many other people in Crystal Springs can wield Christmas magic, anyway? It's so specific it bunched together way north of the rest of the magic, and we're already pretty north."

"North northwest-ish, really."

Bernard hummed in agreement, absent mindedly scribbling in the log book. "I just wish we could pinpoint what was up. Does it need more power? Less power? We've checked the tether design up and down and all around and it's all working the way it should!"

"What if you just tried loading? I mean, all the gifts are ready. Half of them have been living in the square for a good few days now. And like, don't they have Christmas magic, being that they are Christmas gifts? Maybe the bag is hungry." I ducked behind the bag and yelled, "Feed me! Feed me!"

The logbook slammed shut. "The bag doesn't sound like that."

"What does it sound like then?" I said, popping back up, elbow on the base.

"It doesn't have a voice but if it did, it wouldn't sound like that. This isn't Little Shop of Horrors." He taped the butt of the pencil against his chin, looking thoughtful. He looked at the gifts surrounding the tether, all wrapped up nicely and ready to go. Tapped the pencil some more. Frowned a bit harder. Then, finally, he spoke.

"You know what though, you may have a point. If anything, it's at least worth a try."

"That's the spirit!" I said, ducking back down behind the bag and squeaking, "Oh thank you, Bernard! I am so HUNGRY!"

Bernard chuckled. "I think I liked the lower voice better."

The next day, the elves rallied together and began to load the bag. Everyone was a little apprehensive, of course. Between the bag being dormant, then stopping and slouching, and magic levels being so low so close to the date, they had no idea if it would work. But ever the optimists, they were determined to give it a go and get to the bottom of it. So, the first gift went in—your basic small, square present with a little bow. The Elves in the square held their breath as the gift was swallowed by the bag, eyes peeled to see if the shape of the gift inside the bag would stay, or go.

There was a second or two that passed, with nothing much happening. The silence was tense; elves were holding their breath, waiting. Finally, the bag made a weird sound. I'd call it a schlump, personally. It made me think of jelly. (Why is it that so much Christmas magic sounds jelly-y?) And with that schlump, the shape of the gift disappeared; the bag now sat upright, wide open. The silence thinned; whispers began to tickle my ears.

"Did it work?"

"I think it did!"

"It took the gift!"

"Did it really?"

"C'mon, double T's, what's the hang up!"

"Yeah! Did it work, or WHAT?" someone finally shouted, loud enough to reach the front.

There was some brief murmuring from the elves around the bag. Quintin pulled out a smaller sensor, the glow of the screen briefly illuminating his face. He showed it to Bernard, who rubbed his chin and nodded, turning to the elves with a grin. "It worked!"

Cheers erupted, all of the elves very, very relieved. They linked arms and spun around, throwing hats into the air. There was even some confetti, though whether or not that was because someone had confetti on hand, or was covered in it from their job, I couldn't say.

"Thank Christmas," Bernard said quietly, wiping his brow before turning towards the crowd. "Alright Elves! We've got a big night tomorrow! Let's get loading! You know the drill, large gifts first, then the smaller ones. And remember, do not put any live things into the bag! The pets and animals department will take care of that the night of! Buddy up if something is too heavy, and please, lift with your knees, not with your back!"

And with a cheer, scattered nods, and a spring in their steps, the elves got to work loading up the bag.

Have you ever seen the elves load the sleigh? Probably not. Not a lot of people, ordinary or magic, get to see that. Let me tell you, reader, it is amazing to watch. Even when there's no sleigh, and just the bag, like there was now. Gifts of all sizes, and I mean ALL SIZES, would go into the bag perfectly, their weight and mass and shape disappearing. I think it's like a pocket dimension in there, or a bag of holding, like in tabletop games. You can't say 'I've seen it all' until you've watched a couple of immortal children shove a flatscreen TV into a bag, only to have it disappear once it got in. Elves were picking gifts up and moving towards the bag, single file. And the bag happily absorbed the gifts, barely changing in size as it absorbed everything from toys and dolls, to bikes and kayaks, even an ATV! People at the Resort had no idea what they were missing out on. This was the authentic Christmas experience! Not the show or the crowds or the claustrophobic Workshop. And it was so, so nice to see something being done properly once again. It felt normal.

And it was so nice to feel normal. Especially considering what happened next.

You know, it's funny. The longer I go on writing about this year, the harder it gets to get to the end. It makes sense, when I think about it. It's kinda embarrassing for me, and Bernard does some dumb shit. I should've figured he would, given the warning signs: skipping over several parts of the stages of denial, dedicating every waking moment to creating New Elfsburg and bringing the elves to their new home, and Winter hovering as much as she was the entire year. that was a big one, actually. I can't eblieve that one went over my head! Winter is the most motherly of all her siblings, so naturally, she'd have noticed this way earlier on! It was no wonder she was hovering so much. Even if it was her civic responsibility to make sure things in New E were going smoothly.

See, every town, city, hamelt, and village in Crystal Springs in each province has a leader, of course. Each leader sits on the moot for each province—which is like a giant bimonthy meeting where the leaders come together with what's wrong or right with their settlement, what they need, that sort of thing. Moots can get messy, so there needed to be a neutral party to keep the peace and select the folks from the moot who would report to the Assembly. That responsibility fell on the shoulders of the seasons for each province. Naturally, too; I mean, they had a huge area of effect on each province, and their connection to Mother Nature was enough to make most of the magibeans choosing to live in Crystal Springs default to reporting issues to the Seasons.

Spring takes care of the eastern province, Summer the southern, Autumn the western, and Mom of course takes care of the north. Things in New E were going fine. Swimmingly, even. Winter could've stopped hovering after the bag was secured.

But she didn't.

And that should've been a huge warning sign for me, huge! And it wasn't. It went right over my snowy little head. In one ear, out the other. Whatever idiom takes your fancy.

Looking back, I wish I hadn't been so focused on everything else; maybe then I would've caught on to what had happened to me too. Like reading this over, there were so many hints and I missed every single one of them. Goddess, so embarrassing.

It makes me very glad that Bernard's dumb shit comes first! Gives me a moment to get over the first and secondhand embarassment of missing literally ALL the warning signs that were practically GLARING at me! Ugh. So let's get on with it, yeah? Onto the dumb shit Bernard did!

Launch usually happens at midnight on Christmas Eve. Leading up to that, the elves load up the sleigh; it takes the entire day, normally. It took even longer this year given that they were taking it slow. They watched the bag carefully after every gift, waiting a few seconds for the shape to disappear before putting in the next one. Shifts changed three or four times, the only constants being Bernard, Quintin, and Judy. I watched for most of the evening. I had my own job to do, of course, but it was a lighter night for snow. Most nights had been—it was strange, but snowfall in December had begun to dwindle in the past few years. Sure, I could've made my own storms, but (though it may not seem like it), we usually try to go along with what nature's telling us. And apparently, nature was telling us to sleep on the white Christmases.

Anyway, when I finished work for the day, I headed back to New E. I figured Mom would be there; she had mentioned that she was going to oversee the launch, just in case. I crossed the bridge and weaved through the crowd of elves until I saw her. She had front row seats; she was wearing her snowy cloak, which made it very easy to spot her. It sparkled like freshly fallen snow, the trim shimmering like fresh frost on a window.

"Hello, dear."

"Hi Mom."

"Everything set on our end for tonight?"

"Yeah. It's been really light the past few Decembers."

"I know," Winter said, frowning. "I fear that we've already begun to see damage from the unbalanced magic the Resort has caused. Belief is wavering; it makes sense it would start effecting us, since our magic seems to pair so well with Christmas magic. I do hope this works. I think I'd just about die if it just didn't snow in December anymore. Your Aunt Spring would never let me live it down, and she certainly wouldn't relinquish March fully. She's so bad at sharing."

"I mean, she can't say no if nature takes it's course," I said.

"Jacqueline dear, are you suggesting that we go against nature to make sure we keep our territory?"

"Mmm, perhaps."

"Why, we'd never!" she said with a wink.

I gave her a small smile, watching the elves slide a family size paddle board into the bag.

"I brought your cloak, just in case," she said, gesturing to the cloth draped over her arms.

"I'm good for now," I said, waving it away. "Have they finished yet?"

"Just about," Winter said, as several elves passed the pieces of a drum kit to one another, sliding them into the bag. "Oh, I hope this works. Bernard's been working non-stop," she said.

I glanced over at him. He looked tense, monitoring the magi-tech around the sack. His eyes matched; they had bags too, with very dark circles under them.

"Yuck. That elf needs some sleep."

"I've got your father on standby, just in case we need to drag him home and trap him in his blankets. The twins have a plan for it."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll pass out. Then we can just poof him home."

Winter snorted. "I wouldn't call it lucky, but I wouldn't be surprised, either."

We stood and watched as the last few gifts were loaded. The bag, for what it's worth, seemed to look decently full now; it was about the size you see in the usual depictions of Santa with his bag. The elves had begun to wind down, sitting in the snow to watch what would happen next. As the clock ticked and the seconds passed, the glow along the base of the tether intensified. Elves stepped back; Winter stepped forward. I could tell she was readying herself to jump in at any given moment; she was really, really on edge, I was realizing.

The light continued to intensify, until the tether was all white. You could no longer see the swirls and designs and patterns that had been so carefully carved into it. Everything was just bright, bright light. The elves started to step back, giving the tether space. I had no idea what was supposed to happen next; I'm not sure anyone did. Like, would the bag just know, or would the elves have to trigger it somehow?

"Alright everyone, step back!" Bernard said, as the magic emitted a single, loud, high-pitched whir. "Keep the ley lines clear. They're the glowing lines all around us. Let's give them some space, alright? We don't know how everything is going to react, so let's put safety first!"

Everyone stepped back, revealing the twirling gold lines that stretched off into the distance. Up by the tether, Bernard waved his hand; a trail of sparkles followed, revealing a sort of control panel that had seemingly appeared from the tether.

"Should we do a countdown?" Judy asked. "I think it'd be good for morale, don't you?"

"Excellent idea, Judy! I'll kick us off," Quintin said, checking his watch. "Ah! Good timing, too! We are fifteen seconds out from midnight CSST! Fourteen…thirteen…"

Twelve. Eleven.

Elves started to pick up on the countdown, their voices filling the air, nearly drowning out the sound of magic.

Ten seconds out and I could hear Winter quietly counting under her breath, her eyes trained on the tether.

Nine, eight, seven seconds and the ley lines began to glow as bright as the tether.

Six, five, four, and you could barely see what with the glow in the air.

Three seconds out, and that's when the hum of magic reached my ears.

Two…

One…

The bright light imploded. There was a POP, and the bag erupted, magic pouring out of it.

Everyone gasped, backing up and glancing up. It shot into the sky, a pillar of golden light that could be seen all over the country, I'm sure. The ley lines glowed, but there was no sign of any magic running down them.

"Something's wrong," Winter said.

"I can't see Bernard," I realized. The light was too bright. Even though we were barely a meter away from the tether, it was blinding. "Why is Christmas magic like this!" I shouted.

"Of course! That's it!" And, tossing my cloak on the ground, Winter took a step forward and planted herself firmly in fighting stance. She lifted up both hands and pushed forwards; the Christmas magic in front of us dispersed, clinging to the winter magic in the air and letting us see the center of the Tether. The bag was flat, once again; the three older elves watched it, too shocked to immediately move.

"Bernard! What's happening?!" I shouted.

"It's loosing magic!" he shouted back.

"We need to keep the magic in," Quintin began.

"Like a dome?" Judy asked.

"We don't have time for that," Bernard said and, did the dumbest shit I have ever seen this elf do.

He shot forwards, hands out; I could see the golden glow of his own personal magic on his hands. He slammed them down onto the glowing bag, and immediately crumpled.

"Bernard!" Quintin and Judy yelled, both running towards him. They each took an arm, and tried to pull him off. But he was sticking, reader. He had gone and thrown his own magic into the mix, and the sack, the magic explosion, whatever it was, was draining him dry. He fell to his knees; and no matter what Quintin and Judy tried, they could not pull him off. He was looking grey; his sparkles were dimming. And he wasn't doing anything to stop it. He seemed to be putting all of his energy into the bag, consequences be damned.

"Bernard!" I yelled, and I shot forwards, with a NO so loud it hurt my throat. I was furious; I did not listen to Winter scream my name as I launched myself forwards, a little airborne, and landed, palms out and magic up, on the bag.

"Jacqueline, what are you doing?"

"What the frost are you doing! This'll kill you, Bernard, and don't you dare say that everyone dies eventually, or I will make sure if you die to un-die you, just so I can kill you again!"

"I need to do something, Jacqueline! The world depends on it! Magic depends on it! Christmas depends on it! Everything is riding on this!" He said, standing up straighter.

I couldn't even reply, I was so mad. I screamed instead. It was loud. It came from deep, deep within my gut. It had everything in it; my anger, my fury, seeing my friend do this to himself, it was all in this scream. And in my anger, I was loosing control. I could feel it; the temperature was dropping and my hands were starting to look a little frosty under the light blue.

But something else was happening, too. Quintin was first to notice.

"Something's happening! Something's going…"

"…right," Judy finished.

I looked up, fury still all over my face, I'm sure. And above me, the Christmas magic was coming back down. Very slowly. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I snapped my head to the side, furious—only to see Winter, looking a bit angry but also, determined. Her other hand was above her; I could see the glow of winter magic settling around the column of Christmas magic, containing it. The gold was haloed by white, which was pushing it down. Flecks of light blue magic were in the gold, reigning it in. My magic. Winter's outstretched hand turned into a fist; the pillar of Christmas magic was forced down, deep thunks ringing out as the white barrier shoved the gold down, down, down, and back into the bag.

"It's just like Jacqueline said!" Winter shouted over the noise. "The bag was practically bleeding Christmas magic! It needed winter magic!"

"Of course!" Quintin said. "Jacqueline, when you jumped in, your winter magic stopped it from imploding! And with Winter's assistance—"

"It's being contained! You need to be more patient, Bernard. What were you thinking? This isn't all on you," Judy said, as Winter's barrier sat above us, the golden magic arcing through the white, the blue ushering it down and back into the bag. "You have us. We're here to help you," she finished, taking her hands off of Bernard and placing them on the bag.

"All of us," Quintin added, placing his hands down on it, too. Both of their palms lit up, their Christmas magic joining Bernard's. Now the gold was flecked with a rich purple and a cool red.

Instinct kicked in, then. Mom had the dome under control; but something needed to guide the Christmas magic down and out. I increased pressure, and the blue intensified; it raced up and down the purple and gold and red, and down into the tether. All of the Christmas magic began to follow, disappearing into the tether and racing around the ley lines; I could see the other magics following.

"All of us!" Judy said, loud enough for the elves to hear over the thrum of the magic.

"Yeah! All of us!"

"We'll do this together!"

"Yeah!"

"It's delivery time!"

"Ten!"

"Nine!

The elves began to place their hands down on the ley lines closest to them. New colours joined the bright magic flowing from the tether, and soon enough almost every elf in the square was helping the magic along.

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

"Six!"

The ley lines were filled with colour now, the blue and white haze of winter magic keeping it all contained. The square was covered with all sorts of rainbows dancing along the lines and reflecting in the snow all around us.

"Five!" I yelled, glancing over at Bernard. He still looked very, very drained.

"Four!" Judy yelled, her face furrowed in concentration.

"Three!" Quintin yelled, pushing down harder.

"Two!" Winter yelled, her voice as loud as the winter winds, the season herself echoing all around us.

I slid my hand across the bag, looking right into Bernard's dark eyes as my hand landed on top of his. "One?" I asked, softly.

"One," he replied with a small smile, then yelled, "It's delivery time!"

The bag glowed; it went from flat to GINORMOUS. It flung the five of us back as it grew, the elves sent backwards one way, and Winter and I the other. She stood her ground, her magic unwavering. I only needed to think of how I needed to stop my slide and stay put for a large wall of packing snow to spring up, stopping me in my tracks. I wasted no time in ducking under the fast expanding bag and throwing my hands back on the plinth.

The bag then began to deflate, and I could see bumps of magic heading down the plinth and through the ley lines. It was amazing; the gifts chased one another down the lines, like neon racing through the tubs of the bright, neon signs. The gifts flew through the lines with a vroom, disappearing off into the distance. The elves all dug in, the older ones holding the younger ones in place. Everyone stayed put as the magic blips increased in speed and amount, until finally, the bag deflated.

The last presents went down the lines, and once they had disappeared far over the horizons, the magic raced back towards us. It flowed in reverse, back into the plinth and up into the bag. The bag glowed, every single colour you could possibly imagine. It lifted itself up in the air and, with the jingling of thousands of bells, the magic shot out of the bag and over the heads of all of us. The square lit up; the magic dust it created billowed up and up, exploding like fireworks and raining down on us all.

This all happened within seconds. As the magic fell, there was the briefest of pauses as the bag drifted down, folding itself neatly and landing on the plinth. The moment it touched the stone base, everyone celebrated at once. The elves in the square cheered, catching the magic and whooping and hollering, dancing and singing and laughing; they had done it. They could tell. And as they celebrated, all around the world gifts were materializing underneath their designated trees, swirling into existence and shooting themselves into stockings. Tomorrow morning, the kids that had nearly stopped believing would wake up to see gifts under their trees. It'd be a large boost to the depleted magic of belief, and hopefully enough to start at least balancing the damage that had already been done.

Winter and I held our ground until all the magic had fallen. The moment she dropped hers, I let go of the plinth and threw myself over the tether, rushing over to the three elves.

Bernard was on the floor, eyes closed. Judy knelt beside him, hands in the snow as she caught her breath. Quintin was checking Bernard's vitals. He had some soot on his face as he listened to his friend's chest, and breathed a sigh of relief. I landed on my knees and slid the rest of the way, gently hitting Quintin's arm as I slowed to a stop.

"Is he okay?"

"I'm…fine," he grunted out, squeezing his eyes.

"Oh, good! Because that was the DUMBEST, stUPIDest thing I have ever seen someone do in their lives! What were you thinking, Bernard? You could've died! You almost did! Literally, what the frost!"

"Jacqueline, take it easy on him, dear," Winter said, dropping her skirts and kneeling in the snow.

"But Mom! He almost died. There are people who need him! I—" I closed my mouth and looked away, wiping my eyes and feeling no tears. I sure did feel the heat, though.

"I know, darling. I know," she said, kissing the top of my head. "Bernard? Can you sit up, dear?"

I could hear him grunting with effort. There was a rustle; I glanced over quickly. Judy and Quintin had helped him sit up, his arms around each of their necks.

"I know she wasn't very tactful, but Jacqueline's right," Judy said.

"But I needed to do something!"

"I know," Judy said, cutting him off before he could continue. "We know. But you're not alone, Bernard. We're here with you."

"Quite right!" Quintin said. "We would've figured that out easily enough, without you going ahead and nearly sacrificing yourself to save Christmas."

"What a way to go out," Bernard said, with a soft chuckle.

"What a way to—? Oh, my god, B-Man," I said, smacking his leg. He laughed, weakly, before sighing and almost falling back again. "Ouch," he said.

"No duh!" I said.

"Jacqueline."

"S'okay, Winter. She's right and I hate that I'm saying that. I'm sorry," he finally said, looking up. "I was reckless, and impatient. I just, couldn't have seen us come this far only to fail," he said. "Everything's so messed up," he added, wiping an eye. "I just. Wanted something to go right, you know?"

"We know," Judy said. "We all wanted it to work. It's been a very hard decade, hasn't it?"

"Seconded," Quintin said. "But look, Bernard! We did it! We all did it," he added, gesturing out to the square.

Bernard tried to get up, stumbling until Judy and Quintin lifted him. Once upright, and properly supported, he looked out at the crowd. The elves were popping cider now; more dancing had started, and hospitality had already begun to give out snacks.

"We sure did," Bernard said.

"And now we know we'll have to have some winter magic to keep everything together! And a little bit of help from all of us to get the gifts moving," Quintin said with a grin. "Next year will be even better!"

"And with no near-death experiences," Judy added.

"But for now, let's get you home, Bernard dear. Jacqueline, could you take a side?"

I traded places with Judy while Mom took over Quintin's side.

"Go get some rest Bernard," Judy said, with a gentle hug.

"Alright," he said. I could feel his arms tighten as he braced himself for the journey back to Frost Mansion.

"We'll keep things in order here," Quintin added.

"Absolutely!" Judy added. "We'll make sure everyone's okay and finish up here. I'm so glad it worked! It means I can go ahead and plan our Christmas Party!"

"I've a lot of faith in you being the life of the party, old friend. So make sure you get enough rest to come and prove Jacqueline wrong!"

"Knowing I'll prove Jacqueline wrong is all the motivation I need."

"I can drop you," I snapped.

"But you won't," Bernard replied.

"No she will not," Winter added, sternly.

"Only because you asked me so nicely, Mom," I said, sarcastically, as we carefully headed out of the square and towards the house.

Frost Mansion wasn't too far from New Elfsburg Valley. It was safer for us to slowly walk B-Man home than it would've been to teleport, so we walked. We made it eventually and got Bernard tucked away and patched up, and I was very good and did not yell at him anymore, I swear. I did make him sleep with his door open, just in case. I slept with mine open, too. This way if he needed anything or tried to do more dumb shit, I'd hear it!

"I'm not going to do anything else dumb, I swear," he said when I told him that.

"You'll have to prove it to me, because after that stunt? I don't know B-Man. You're like a loose canon, and absolute red herring, a total wild card—"

"Alright, point taken. I didn't think you'd be so upset. I mean, I didn't think I'd do what I did—"

"—but you did, and I am. Lots of people need you, Bernard. Even people that aren't quite here right now," I said, looking off to the side.

"People that—oh. Bubble girl?"

I winced. He didn't even remember her name. "Yeah. Bubble girl."

"I'm really sorry, Jacqueline. Really."

"I know," I said with a sigh. "Look, just rest up, okay? Shout if you need anything. And no going anywhere tomorrow!"

"But we have to go over the delivery, and how that went, and start planning next year—" A snowball hit him in the face, stopping him midsentence.

"Nope. Nope, no, nope. Quintin and Judy said they had it under control. You need to rest. You've surpassed bag check on your eyes, B-Man. There's a whole entire void under those things. Though granted, if you went places tomorrow you definitely wouldn't be well rested enough to be the life of the party and I'd be right, which I obviously am."

Bernard laughed, throwing the covers over his head. "Look, I'm resting! I'll prove you wrong, just you wait. Get out of my room."

"Goodnight to you too, B-Man," I said, turning on my heel and heading across the hall.

I was exhausted. Channelling that much Christmas magic had been a lot; I'm surprised I didn't look as bad as Bernard did. Or maybe I did; I didn't check a mirror when I got into my room. Way too tired to even bother with that. Instead, I threw on the closest pair of pajama pants from the floor and one of the shirts hanging off the edge of my bed and flopped in it, face down with a groan, before promptly passing out.

Bernard's recovery went well. He stayed in on the twenty-fourth and recuperated. In the evening, Quintin and Judy came by to check in, and make sure he had stayed in bed and gotten all the rest he needed. They looked a little sleepy but were otherwise fine. Party prep was well underway for the big Christmas bash, and events had been recorded for them to review in the New Year, to start tweaking the design and improving things for next Christmas. Things were both moving and grooving, and that seemed to lift a weight off of B-Man's shoulders.

The party did, too! I was only able to pop in for a little bit, given that it was Christmas Day, but Bernard was definitely living it up. I wish I could've stuck around! I bet he would've done a LOT of embarrassing things as the night went on. Many, many things that I'd have recorded hear to haunt him forever. But, we had our own Christmas celebrations, of course. Big dinner with the entire family in the evening, and late at night the traditional trip to the Springs would happen, where we'd give thanks to the Goddess for blessing us with Crystal Springs and all that jazz, then take a nice relaxing soak—and goddess knows I needed one, because snow business sure picked up that Christmas. And everything was sore.

The effect of the gifts being delivered was insane. Whatever it had done to the magic, however little, certainly showed in the weather! The light flurries predicted became full on snowfalls, the snowfalls that had been forecasted becoming storms. December was full of snow, and Mom and I were working overtime on overtime! I'd come home most days completely drenched and in need of several hot showers.

It was one of those days when I realized that something had changed. With my me, that is. All the warning signs I've been pointing out? The crabbiness? Other things that maybe you've noticed while reading, that I haven't? Yeah. The embarrassing thing that happens to me. Did you forget about it? I'm sure you didn't. I don't think I ever will. I keep talking a lot about how embarrassing it was. And don't get me wrong! Looking back now, yeah, hella embarrassing. But it was also terrifying. Completely terrifying. And at the time, that kind of cloaked the embarrassment; and it did a few years after Frostmas, too. But I'm getting ahead of myself, as per the usual.

So I got in on that fateful day, right? Drenched and full of sleet, and Lady KNOWS what else. My hair was a tangled mess; I had broken two or three elastics while ferrying a storm through Manitoba and over to Saskatchewan. My emergency one broke, and then my emergency emergency one broke shortly after. I have thick hair and storms can do a number to it. I plodded up to the top floor, pulling some ice out of my hair and waving it away as I walked into my room.

"Yeesh, you look like sleet."

"Nice to see you too B-Man," I said, walking past the couch in my sitting room. He lay down on it, his feet propped up on the armrest closest to me.

"What kind of storm did that?" he asked.

"All of them and then some," I replied. "And you can thank your Christmas explosion for this," I said, gesturing to all of me.

"I know you love it," Bernard said, looking down at the papers in his lap.

"I am beginning to have doubts. I think I'm more dirt than snow right now. Ugh, more paperwork?" I said, leaning over the couch by his head to see what he was working on. Graphs and charts, and some designs for tether improvements. "Good grief, you just don't stop, huh?"

"This is stopped. For me, at least. I'd much rather be down in New E working on the new design instead of reviewing it."

"Still sentenced to bedrest?"

"Yep. Judy'll kill me if I set foot onto the floor before the New Year. I mean, I feel fine! The dark circles are gone! I've been doing nothing BUT resting!"

"He said, laying on my couch with a swath of paperwork."

"She said, barely missing the throw pillow I lobbed at her head."

"Stop making my room a mess!" I said, grabbing the pillow he had thrown my way and throwing it back.

It hit the back of his hand, falling down and plopping on the floor behind the sofa. "Make me," he taunted.

"Once I shower, it's over for you, B-Man," I said, closing the door to my room and heading over to the washroom.

Now when I say hot shower, I need you to know it's a hot shower. Like, the bathroom becomes a sauna and I have on occasion set off the fire alarm. Winter sprites just run colder, so naturally we take hotter showers. Ice would not survive in my showers. It melts everything, instantly. Hair, clothes within the washroom, snow that was sticking to me and wouldn't come off. All of it gone the moment I stepped under the water. When I step out of the shower, everything is fogged up, completely. I can't even see a foggy outline of myself in the mirror.

It was a hot enough shower that when I got out and got dressed, my room got pretty toasty pretty fast. I cracked open a window, hoping the heat would escape, as I headed back out into the sitting room. Bernard had several designs on his chest now, staring at them intently and tapping his chin with the butt of his pencil.

"Oh my goddess. Bernard. You need to relax."

"I am relaxed!"

"No you're not."

"Sure I am! Look, no shoes. And my feet are on the couch," he added a sock-clad wiggle for good measure.

"And you look stiffer than Santa's freeze dried beard."

Bernard snorted and finally glanced up from the papers in his hands to look at me. His smile turned into a frown very fast, I noticed.

"What?"

"Didn't you just shower?"

"Yeah, why? Is the steam tempting? Maybe you should take a long, hot shower. Then maybe you'd be less stiff. Really helps the muscles, you know, especially at your age."

Bernard laughed. "Sure thing, grandma."

"Grandma?"

"You're older! Anyway, no, that's not what I was going to say. You just took a very hot shower. Hot enough that I can feel the warmth making it's way in here, yeah?"

"Well, yeah. I take really hot showers. You know how cold I am."

"So if you just took a really hot shower, what's up with your hair?"

"My hair?" I touched the top of my head. It was crunchy.

"Shouldn't it have melted by now? I mean, I can feel the steam from here, Jacqueline."

"You already said that," I said half-heartedly. I was far too preoccupied with grabbing my hair and dragging it over my head. Not only was it still frozen, but the waves seemed messier than usual. Almost like it was tangled. Which was wild as I had just brushed it—hence why it was waves. It's naturally wavey, after all. "What in the world?"

"And you're not blushing at all. You look real blue Jacqueline. Literally."

"Okay, now you're messing with me. The ice on my face had to have come off in the shower."

Bernard was really staring now. "No. In fact, I actually...can't see your blush at all?"

I was on the verge of panicking. At least, I should've been. I felt like I was panicking, but it was like I was removed from the panic. I clapped my hands together and spread them apart, a reflective piece of ice in hand. I stared at my reflection.

"What the frost? Why do I still look frozen?"

Bernard had gotten to his knees now, arms crossed on the top of the back of the couch. He was practically scrutinizing me. I tossed the icy mirror up in the air, where it poofed into a flutter of snowflakes. "What?"

"I don't mean to alarm you Jacqueline, but um." He paused, hand covering his mouth. He cleared his throat.

"Are you gonna spit it out or do I need to get the pillow again? Because I will, and I am a relentless pillow fighter."

"Your eyes are cold," he finally said, immediately covering his mouth again.

I paused, the breath caught in my throat. "Don't even joke about that, Bernard."

"I would never joke about that with you, Jacqueline."

I hated that he was right. I hated what that would mean. I didn't want to even think about it, but I couldn't ignore it any longer. Something was deeply wrong, and I had been ignoring it for a very long time. And now that someone else had pointed out, I had to face the cold, hard truth.

"Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen your hair thawed all week."

"Frostbitten slush."

"Yeesh, the language!"

I put my finger up; I wanted to say "Gimmie a sec, B-Man," but the words turned to air in my mouth and stayed in my mouth, cheeks puffing up. I turned on my heel, and instead of saying what I wanted to say, I yelled very loudly out into the hallway.

"MOOOOOOOOOOOO—" I ran down the stairs, turning right at the landing and pushing open the slightly ajar door to my parent's rooms, yelling the entire time. "—OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

She sat at one of the armchairs by the big window, hand on her chest, book abandoned in her lap. "Good heavens Jacqueline, you gave me a fright. No need to yell, I can hear you loud and clear, dear." She got up and placed her hands on my shoulder, calmly looking at me. "Whatever is the matter?"

I grimaced, trying very hard to make myself say the words I desperately didn't want to say. The words that would make it all very, very real; the words that would confirm everything I had ever feared.

"Am I frozen?" I asked, panic nearly setting in.

Winter's face fell, her hands sliding down my arms and landing in my hands. She squeezed them tightly, with a very small sigh, as she finally replied.

"I'm afraid so, dear."

A/N: Happy Easter, Jacqueline's Frozen!

Is what I WOULD HAVE SAID, had I updated on Easter or Easter Monday like I originally planned to! But nooo, I couldn't catch a break this Easter prepping with my parents for hosting, AND THEN when I FINALLY got home on Monday, I shit you not, a truck ran over my wifi. It came BARRELLING down our street, somehow managed to hook the cable for the internet and ripped it in half, taking it down the street with them. I really wanted to bookend the ANs with the bad things happening on holidays, especially since I had this finished a week and a HALF ago, and given how I ended the Last YEAR! It would've looked so fun. But I did update later than planned with the last chapter, so hey, we're still matching!

But yeah, the more I write the harder it gets to not say "well since Jacqueline's frozen" or any variation thereof, so super glad that's out in the open now! Makes it way easier to talk about Frostmas!Jacqueline now! You can also tell I started to write this during proper quarantine—sanitizing the sleigh, Jacqueline going to Timmie's (I had a MAD CRAVING a month into quarantine, and it SHOWS), Bernard using the dreaded phrase "new normal". I actually think the first two scenes were written during Easter prep two years ago!

I was hoping to have this out for you guys in 2021, but I called it in the last A/N when I said 2022 (even if it was a before. Better late than never!). After Easter last year a LOT of crappy stuff happened and then it got REALLY BAD in my household and then it got better and there was a very long amount of time during this stretch of time where I couldn't bring myself to write because I felt LOUSY AF!

And this chapter went through a lot of changes, holy crap. You should SEE all the subsections this chapter got in my Frostmas notebook. And the edits! I had to tweak certain scenes over and over—more on all that in the Y10 BTS which should be up soonily doodily on tumblr (maybe this weekend. We'll see!).

Did NOT expect B-Man to do THAT and did NOT expect the saving Christmas thing to happen. I had played with the idea (I was always planning to move the elves out of the Pole for Frostmas) but it wasn't until I got to Y10 that I was like "Yeah, no, gift making definitely happens." And planning it out! Heck! HUGE thanks to shittyelfwriter who let me chat at her about the ley lines and Christmas stuff to devise a system of gift delivering sans Santa like, a year and a half ago. Jacqueline especially thanks you for giving her a valid excuse to commit crime ;)

Do review! I'm excited to read what THIS chapter did to you :) Next chapter we're gonna have a LOT of Jacqueline centric-ness, as a heads up. After all, she's gotta come to terms with the fact she's frozen for real, and Winter's gonna give us a look at when it probably happened (I don't know exactly when it happened, but I think in my notes I wrote between years 4 and 6. she's getting there in 7 and solidly ice cold by year 8!). I know if you've made it THIS far in Frostmas, you're down for OCs. But if you aren't quite down for OCs and have been tolerating it for this long? Yeah, next chapter, very OC centric. I've got like. One and a HALF Jack scenes planned, at this present moment. We'll see how that looks once Y11 is finished in 2024 (maybe I'll be wrong this time and it'll be earlier! Who's to say!)

Also, a message from my cat, Cinnamon, who stomped across the keyboard as I was writing: -+/78+?:)

PS-32k words! Heck! This chapter's a story just on it's own!