Part 2
About a week after Belle had spent the day in the Kitchen, as she twirled at her desk while working on a groundbreaking sketch of a new game that taught children how to multiply, she received a call on the horn, a bugle-shaped piece made of wood used in place of a telephone. As she had never received a horn call before, she picked it up with trembling fingers. "Hello, Belle speaking," she said timidly.
The person on the other end laughed, a familiar sound. "Good morning, Belle. This is Bernard, the Head Elf. I was wondering if you could meet me at the Kitchen in about… twenty-five minutes?"
Belle panicked. Was it about the conversation that she'd overheard? Was it about her critiquing the way he assigned demerits? "Sure," she managed to croak before hanging up.
Bernard was already sipping hot cocoa at one of the small wrought-iron tables when Belle slipped in, her eyes downcast and forlorn. Her hair had been left down, and today she had opted for a flared tan skirt and a navy blue sweater with a matching scarf, a black beret similar to the one Bernard wore perched on her head. He studied her as she looked around, his eyes wandering down to her feet. She'd kept the elves' signature shoes, black wool with pointed tips. Finally, he waved her over.
She smiled, and made her way through the dining room area, where many elves on their cocoa breaks sat with their friends, chatting about the upcoming festival in Elfsburg to reward the elves' hard work. Bernard nodded at her, and gestured to a chair.
She sat down, and smoothed her skirt nervously. "Good morning, sir."
"Good morning," Bernard said, stirring his cocoa. "Belle, is it?" Belle nodded. "I asked you here to discuss what happened last week." He glanced up at her; she had turned stark white. "You're not in trouble again, Belle. All I wanted to know was why you didn't correct me when I shouted at you about wearing regular clothes to work."
Belle studied him as he sipped his cocoa, waiting for her reply. "Er," she said slowly, "I didn't think it was really my place to correct you, sir."
Bernard raised his eyebrows. "Enough of the 'sir,' Belle, it's Bernard." Belle nodded. "And, since when is it not your place to assert your status as a member of the Sketching Squad?" Belle shrugged. Bernard sighed. "Anyway, I'd like to apologize for my rudeness. I'm slightly stressed out with Christmas in a week and a half, but that's no reason to downgrade anyone."
Belle nodded. "Yes, sir..er, Bernard. It's fine." She stood, as if to leave. "Thank you."
"Let me walk you," Bernard offered, tossing a couple of coins on the table and slipping his bag over his head. "I'm going the same way." Belle nodded, and began walking towards the door, holding it open for him before stepping out into the crisp snow.
They walked in silence, Bernard spending most of the time wondering what to say to her. He glanced over at her once, and she had been humming the tune of a Christmas song that Bernard knew had been playing in the Kitchen before they left. They turned right towards the workshop entrance, and Belle ducked instinctively, throwing an arm out and catching Bernard in the chest. This made him fall over, and as he was attempting to figure out what happened, saw the goofy face of Chet, the reindeer. He saw the reindeer's face being shoved out of the way, and Belle's face appeared, looking frightened and concerned.
"Are you all right, Bernard?" she was saying frantically, picking up his wrists and feeling for a pulse. "Oh, God, I killed the Head Elf!" Behind her, Chet was scampering off after a pair of elves with tinsel boas.
Despite the pain that was spreading to his arm, Bernard managed a small smile. "I'm okay, I'm okay." When he saw Belle's green eyes had filled with tears. "Hey, why the tears? I said I was fine." He struggled to sit up, accepting Belle's hand to steady himself. "See?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she cried, throwing her arms around him. Bernard was shocked. He knew that junior elves all around them were staring, and some laughing, but he felt something in the pit of his stomach that made it feel…all right.
That feeling didn't last very long, as Curtis, the young elf with an affection for the Handbook, was standing in front of them with an extremely stunned expression on his face.
"Bernard?" he ventured. "What are you doing!"
Belle, hearing Curtis' voice, stiffened, and let go of Bernard's neck. She tugged on her sweater, muttered an apology and hurried away, wiping the snow from her clothes as she went.
"What, Curtis?" Bernard sighed, looking down at the younger elf. What he hadn't expected was Curtis' knowing smirk.
"Interesting," the younger elf leered, tucking his cherished Handbook under his arm. "I always thought you had a thing for Judy or Anna." He glanced over his shoulder. "Though, I must say, she is pretty."
Bernard gaped at him. "Curtis! It was an accident! I do NOT have a 'thing,' as you so eloquently put it, for Belle!" He straightened his bag and walked ahead of Curtis pointedly.
"Belle, is it?" Curtis said, running to keep up with him. "You barely remember to call the elf at the café by his name, let alone an elf that you just so happened to 'accidentally' bump into."
Bernard rolled his eyes, and pushed the door to the workshop open. "For your information, Curtis, Belle saved me from decapitation. Chet was flying around the courtyard again. Any idea how that happened?"
Curtis gave him what he believed to be a winning smile. "Uh, he got into the candy again. And you know what that means." He waved his hand in front of his small nose pointedly.
"So you let him outside?" Bernard finished. He ran his hand through his dark hair. "Without supervision, might I add? He's just a baby, Curtis!"
Just then, a loud crash sounded from outside. Bernard spun around, and groaned when he saw Chet's toothy smile in the window. Behind the young reindeer, the elves he'd been chasing were rubbing their heads and attempting to disentangle themselves from the tinsel. They saw Bernard's grumpy face in the window, and gave him the thumbs-up sign.
Sighing, he turned back to Curtis. The younger elf was watching him with a blatant look of…fear? It wasn't that Bernard was intimidating, but his status on the chain of command was staggering. Fourth in command after Charlie, Santa's son? "Look, Curtis," he began.
"No need to thank me," Curtis smiled, puffing his chest out. "If Chet hadn't been loose, you would've kissed her or something." He laughed, seeing Bernard's pale face. Interrupting the spluttering noises coming from the older elf's mouth, he said, "I'm off to do checks. See ya!" He scampered off with a very old-looking clipboard, leaving Bernard with the heart attack he was extremely close to having.
"Now who could he have been referring to?" a voice said, directly behind Bernard.
He squeezed his eyes shut, and shook his head defiantly. "That is not Santa, that is not Santa behind me." He looked up, and, sure enough, saw the sparkling blue eyes of Santa himself, who was currently wearing a mischievous grin.
"Could it be," Santa said, moving around Bernard's chair to crouch in front of him, "that our young, misdirected young Curtis was referring to the lovely young elf in Sketching?" he tapped his forehead sarcastically. "What-what was her name? Belle?"
Bernard groaned. "Santa, please," he said, standing and picking his shoulder bag off the counter, "You aren't going to come to the same conclusions as Curtis, are you?" For a moment, Bernard really thought that his friend and boss was going to give in. Just for a moment. Santa smiled, and waved, as if he had a secret. Bernard obligingly leaned in. "What?"
"I was just in the stable," he said seriously, stroking his beard. "Talked to Chet. Want to know what he said?"
"I have a feeling you're going to tell me anyway," Bernard grumbled, beginning to pace.
"He said," Santa continued, pretending that he hadn't heard, "That he was sleeping in his stall when someone used magic to make him eat a pound of German chocolate. Then someone used magic to lift him in the air, and threw him outside." Santa surveyed Bernard carefully. "Your magical signature was on the trace."
Bernard stopped his pacing. "WHAT?"
Around him, the elves stopped, and the workshop went silent. Every tiny ear was listening in to their conversation. Mentally cursing, Bernard faced the crowd of attentive elves, and waved at them. "Nothing's wrong," he called gaily. "Please, go back to work."
He faced the elder elf again, and saw a slightly contemplative look on his face. It was as if he were trying to figure out whether or not he was lying about the magical signature, or if someone had managed to superimpose it. Bernard stared back at him, slightly impatient.
"I don't know what happened," Santa began, straightening his back and snapping his suspenders, "But I'll leave you alone now. But don't think I'm going to forget this conversation anytime soon. We have Judy's wedding reception to talk."
Bernard groaned. The last thing he wanted was to be alone with Santa for several hours, while the rest of the town was occupied with an event so monumental as Judy's wedding. He still thought that she and Andrew, the elf from Wrapping, should have waited until after Christmas to get married, but no, nobody listened to him. Santa had even encouraged the ceremony to be held the week before Christmas Eve.
"Yes, Santa," he muttered. "I'm going home."
"You do that," Santa said brightly. "Your outfit will be sent up with an assistant later."
"Oh, goody."
The first thing that came to Belle's mind when she saw her outfit for Judy's wedding was, And I have to wear this in public? She held it against her body in front of the mirror, hoping that it was a bad dream, that she would wake up and be able to coordinate her own outfit for the event rather than rely on the workshop's Wishing Well. The Wishing Well was a giant water well that the elves could use for personal use as long as it didn't break the three rules- no gaining power, no bringing people back from the dead, and no using the power to make people fall in or out of love. Apparently, judging by the tag, Judy had cooked up a little something for her big day.
The gown itself wasn't the problem. It was the way it was made. The bodice was made of ivory and inlaid with gold, with bits of emerald set into the corset. The skirt part was fashioned out of the finest emerald silk, and fell just above the floor. It wasn't that the gown wasn't pretty. Oh, no. It was the most gorgeous dress that she'd ever seen, but Belle was more worried about how Bernard would find the dress.
"Are you excited or what?"
Next to her, Judy was twirling around in a cloud of white and ivory. Her brown eyes glittered with excitement as she held the beginnings of her bouquet against the silk of her dress. In accordance with elven tradition, the bride's flowers and the groom's cufflinks have to be placed under the Happily Ever After spell. When they toss them after the ceremony, the magic woven around the items will seek out the two that meet the required qualifications to be "destined".
"I can't wait for Andrew to see me in this," Judy said excitedly. She gestured to her flowers, which were being carried away by a representative from the Rapunzel Room, the room in the Happily Ever After tower that specialised in enchantments for occasions such as these. "Do you think they'll seek you?"
Belle stared at her blankly. "The flowers?"
"Yes, of course the flowers!" She looked at Belle. "You don't think they will consider you? You're of age, and you're pretty, obviously intelligent, if you got into the Sketching Squad as early as you did…" She dropped her train and gasped. "You're the one Curtis was talking about! You're the one he saw with Bernard!"
Belle sighed, placing the dress back in it's proper box, nodding to the seamstress that whisked it away for delivery to her home. "I can't believe you, Judy, of all people, would be so frivolous as to suggest that Bernard and I… that we…er,…"
Judy giggled. "That you have a crush on him, or he you! Curtis was saying that Santa himself noticed how cozy you looked."
"This is crazy," Belle muttered, giving her friend and elder a light shove. "I'm going home. See you tomorrow."
She was barely through the door when Judy called, "Don't forget to meet here at nine o'clock, for the wedding party photographs!"
A/N: Sorry this took so long. Summer called, and college loomed. Time was spent with people, among other beings. Hope you enjoyed. Over and out! Flyinghawk