Chapter 6: Expert Reindeer Trainer

A while quickly turned into weeks and now she had been there for a month. Judy had decided to just have a whole wardrobe made for her instead a couple outfits, so now her dresser was full. Noah's and Ben's too. Ben loved it there, he felt like he was finding a part of himself he didn't know existed, and a part of his mom. But, it made him wonder more and more who his father was, now that he knew this part of him from his mom he wanted to know the other part. But, he didn't ask, he gave up asking when he was a kid and his mom married Jack, who he considered his dad even though he knew he wasn't his father.

Ella was getting bored, she had been there long enough and hadn't done anything, except skate and cook every now and then. She decided to suck it up and go talk to the head elf about it. she found him making his rounds as usual.

"Ella."

"Can we talk?"

"Ok."

"Um, I was just wondering if you needed help with anything."

"Uh…I think I got it covered."

"I don't mean you personally, I know you wouldn't admit it even if you did need the help which you never do."

"Oh, hm, why do you ask?"

"I've been here for a month and I haven't done anything. I'm bored."

"You don't need to do anyting, you're a guest."

"This is me you're talking to, the daughter who actually worked, who knows this place as well as you do."

"True."

"So?"

"Ok, ok, I'll come up with something."

"Ok then." She said and kept going.

He was happy to see she was somewhat back to her old self. She was right that she knew this place as well as he did, the entire time she lived there since she was old enough to help out she did. She was always helping, especially with the reindeer. Then a thought hit him.

"Ella!" he called.

She stopped and turned.

"I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"Come with me."

He led her to the stables and he talked to the elf who was trying to train Chet.

"Hey Clay."

"Hi Bernard, Ella."

"How's it going with Chet?"

"Slow."

"Who's Chet?" Ella asked.

Bernard whistled and Chet came running, almost running them over. "This is Chet."

"Hi buddy." She said all excited and petted him. "He's adorable, you're just a baby."

"Yeah and Clay;s having trouble training him. I thought maybe with your expertise you could do it."

"Expertise?" Clay asked.

"Yeah, she's a wonderful trainer. She trained a few of the reindeer who pull the sleigh including Dasher and Cupid."

"I named Cupid."

"That too."

"Wow, you trained Dasher?"

"Yep, where is Dash?" She whistled her whistle for him. He came running over knowing that whistle better than any other, and landed in front of her and rubbed his head against her. "Hey Dash, how are you buddy?" she said hugging his neck. "I missed you." She said even though she came to see the reindeer everyday but he was her favorite. He told her he missed her too.

"Ok, I'll help you train Chet, no problem."

"Thanks." Clay said enthusiastically.

"Don't mention it, I love these guys."

"I'll leave you to it then." Bernard said and went on his way.

"Ok Dash, you're going to help me."

He nodded.

"What are you going to do?" Clay asked her.

"Have you ever tried tying him to another reindeer to run with?"

"No, he always went by himself."

"Well, if you hook him to another one and let them fly together it helps, trust me…come here Chet." She said and pulled him over behind Dash. Then she hooked them up and climbed onto Dasher. "Ready Dash?" he said yes. "Hah!" she said whipping the reigns a little. He took off with Chet behind him. Clay watched until they were no longer in sight.

They flew like that for about a half hour and she noticed Chet had a hard time staying focused but after a few minutes he fell in with Dasher and was fine. So when the half hour mark came she decided to try to fly him by himself. "Ok guys, I'm going to unhook you. But, Dash you stay right beside him." Dasher nodded. She turned around facing Chet and carefully leaned down to unhook them. Dasher carefully moved next to Chet so she could jump over to Chet. But like he was told he stayed close.

"OK Chet, let's go." She said and whipped the reigns a little and Chet took off faster. Once he did all his focus was gone again. "Focus Chet, stay focused." She told him. They were flying straight for a building and he was losing altitude. "Chet, up, go up." she told him pulling on his reigns and Dash nudged his head with his own to get him to pay attention and it worked and Chet pulled up just in time. "Thanks Dash." After that Chet stayed a little more focused. She flew with him for another half hour, so an hour total. "Ok, now the fun part, landing." She said as she brought him back towards the stables. Everyone below watched as they came in too fast. They were playing football. "Slow down Chet, slow down… Look out!" she yelled to everyone below and pulled hard on his reigns. She was able to get him to slow down enough so they didn't crash. She got him stopped on the ground. "Oh god Chet, don't do that to me again."

He apologized.

"It's ok, no one gets it perfect right away." She sighed and slowly got off. She hadn't done that in so long it made her butt sore. Clay ran over and so did everyone else including Scott.

"You ok?" Clay asked.

"Oh yeah I'm fine. We'll try again tomorrow…Good boys." She said and gave them each a cookie. And she started walking away saying "ow" with almost every step. She went straight to her bed and laid down.

"It's ok everybody." Scott said.

Noah found out and talked to Scott about it.

"So my sister's training one of the reindeer huh?"

"Looks like it, I didn't even know she could."

"Oh yeah, she's great with them. She trained Dasher."

"Really?" Scott said impressed.

"Yep, and some others. But Dasher's her favorite and he loves her to death."

"Anything else she's really good at?"

"A lot of things, she could so just about any job. When we were growing up she made a habit of helping out and working, no matter how much you told her she didn't have to she would help. That's how she got so close to him. Anyway, she spent most of her time either with the reindeer or in the kitchen."

"Ah."

"What about you?"

"Nah, I was more like dad's helper, making sure everything ran smoothly. If he was busy I would go check it out for him, that sort of thing. I guess you could say I did Bernard's job."

"Why?"

"Well, he did it, I just double checked."

"Uhuh."

When Bernard had some time he went to see Ella. Over the past two weeks or so they had warmed up to each other better, but there was still that wedge between them, and Noah. He knocked on her door.

"Come in." she said still laying on her bed with her eyes closed.

"Ella?"

She opened her eyes and looked over. "Bernard?"

"Sorry to intrude."

"It's ok. Something wrong?"

"No."

"Then what's up?"

"I just wanted to see if you were ok? I heard about the rough landing with Chet."

"Oh, I'm ok. I've had worse."

"Yeah." He said with a little laugh, he remembered some of the crash landings she had, one was bad enough that she had to jump off before they hit the ground and she broke an arm.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, I was thinking about the time you broke your arm."

"Oh, yeah, that was bad. Dad was not happy about that one, he told me I was reckless and he got mad at you for letting me fly by myself."

He smirked. "Um, you want to go somewhere?"

She looked at her confused and a little surprised.

"Stupid question."

"No, no, I'll go."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She slipped off the bed. "Ah." She whispered, she was still sore from riding.

"You ok?"

"I will be, it's just been a long time since I've been on a reindeer."

He smirked and opened the door for her and motioned his free hand for her to go ahead.

"Thanks."

Then he followed her closing the door behind them.

"So where are we going?"

"You'll see."