After a Thousand Years
Dependent
"Depends."
"Is the reason you've not married because you've not yet met the one, or is it for some other reason? Have you met them, and thus there's a reason why you've not?"
"What?" Patty stared at the enthusiastic young elf, the question had come out of the blue, yet the question coming out of thin air wasn't the only problem. "I'm not sure how she'll take to finding out it's her older brother."
"Well," Mindy said, turning her head, looking like she was on the verge of becoming distracted. "That's not how I wanted that to come out."
"Mindy, I'm not sure that kind of question could come out in a way that wasn't awkward." Patty brushed her hands across her skirt, taking a deep breath. "Definitely an awkward question."
"My friends and I don't gossip about your love life or lack of it," Mindy said, holding her hands. "That's your sisters!"
Patty looked at the girl sitting on the bench beside her, giving a half-smile. "Well, looks like that got a bit more awkward, didn't it?"
"I guess so," Mindy said, nodding her head. "But I think I've got it figured out."
Patty frowned. "Do you?" she said, thinking, " But if she knows it 's Bernard, she wouldn't be acting as if she were alright with it all, given how she still feels about him. She's still pretending to everyone he doesn't exist, including her friends Sammy and Cam. "
"The part I don't understand is," Mindy started saying, then changed what she was trying to say. "Well, I guess I'm just confused regarding why it's taken so long since you've known each other for, like, I don't know, a thousand years or more?"
Patty sighed, "What's one more day of waiting for them to realize after a thousand years for us elves?"
"Wait." Mindy frowned. "Is it actually possible for someone not to realize, to be oblivious, that someone is the one?"
"Yes," Patty sighed. "Definitely possible for someone to be oblivious. I mean, it's a feeling, right, that tells you the person is the one, but if you don't know how to recognize that feeling, knowing you've already come across the one could evade you, right?"
"For over a thousand years?" Mindy said, a look of doubt on her face.
"Yes, for a thousand years." Patty frowned, wondering if Bernard would still be oblivious after she'd taken a leave of absence to teach at the academy.
"Are you sure?" Mindy laughed. "I mean, I wouldn't think a super cool and super popular pop idol like Gan would be oblivious to who the one is."
Patty gave her a horrified look, but before she could correct the assumption—
Mindy's eyes widened, her hands shooting up again as her mouth twisted into a frown. "Sorry! I'm not saying it's one of those 'they're the one, but it's unrequited' kind of things."
"Unrequited," Patty said, her feelings stirring, a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Sorry!" Mindy laughed. "What would I know about that kind of thing?"
"Mindy!"
Mindy turned her head to see her friends Sammy and Cam standing there and waved. She turned back to Patty, who continued frowning. "Mindy, could you not repeat this conversation to anyone?"
"I—why would I?" Mindy asked. She brushed out the simple Christmas dress, the academy's standard uniform. "Just don't wait on him to make a move, right? If he's oblivious like you say."
And then she took off. Patty let out a deep breath, shaking her head. "What am I going to do with her? Or my sisters? Seeing them not get along over the years was so weird, particularly when Bernard and I get along so well." She frowned, looking at the ground. "Or we did. It's been a while since I've seen him, I admit."
She sighed, then got up and headed to a particular Fire Elf's music studio. The receptionist didn't look up, filing her nails, something that would have set a certain head elf off had he been a Christmas Elf doing that when they should be doing their job, and yet, "Look. Whoever you are, my older brother isn't interested in taking every single Elf-Fan out on a date, so…."
"Flicker?" Patty said. "You've grown up quite a bit since I last saw you? Didn't know you were holding down the front desk for Egan, but I heard Kenneth is going to be introduced to the council of elders soon?"
The young Fire Elf looked up, letting out a laugh. "Patty Lusleaf? Didn't you retire from the North Pole to teach at the academy?"
"I wouldn't say retired. More of a leave of absence for the time being. Your older brother knows the details, but could you tell him I'm here about Bernard Elfbright?"
"The weirdo Kenneth liked to get riled up, so he'd accidentally teleport places? Isn't that supposed not to be a common type of magic, whereas our fire magic runs through quite a few families?"
"Weirdo?" Patty said, watching Flicker run a hand through her hair and laugh awkwardly.
"I'll let Egan know," she said.
She'd expected to find herself waiting for Egan to finish recording or someone from his entourage to usher her back into an office, yet he came out, arms in the air, his hair that looked like flames sticking up every which way. "So, when's the date?"
"Date?" Patty asked, caught off guard.
"Of Bernard's retirement party," Egan's younger sister said, earning her a glare from the older two elves as she filed her nails.
"Flicker Aegnor," Egan said. "I was asking Patty what the date for their wedding is, not when the hell freezes over. Bernie's never going to retire."
"But you two did. Everyone does."
Egan sighed, shrugging his shoulders, "So? Wedding date?"
Patty gave him a look. "Really? Is anything that simple with Bernard, Egan?"
"Uh, no," he laughed, running his hand through his hair while his sister sat there, her similar-colored hair pulled into a ponytail that cascaded around her shoulders as she laughed.
"Never is, is it?" Flicker said.
"So, if that's not the news, what did Mr. Oblivious do this time?" Egan said.
"I haven't seen him," Patty said.
Egan's mouth twisted into a frown, his arms crossing his chest. "You haven't?" He sighed, closing his eyes. "Of course. Bernie never leaves the North Pole. Not for anything."
"I wouldn't say anything," Patty said. "Is Kenneth really going to be on the council? You might want to let Bernie know?"
"Why?" Flicker asked.
Egan laughed. "Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? I adore that elf, Patty, but I find it a rather amusing situation."
"So you're like you're older brother?" Patty asked, frowning.
Egan held up his fingers. "If it means Kenneth gets what's coming to him…."
"Come on, Egan," Flicker sighed, sending a smile Patty's way. "Kenneth wouldn't be allowed on the council if he was still an immature prat, so whatever the two of you are planning, leave him out of it."
"Ah," Egan shrugged his shoulders. "We can disagree on Kenneth no longer being an immature prat another time."
"He won't let you go with him if he knows you're plotting something."
"Yes, well, it's not so much plotting something, so much as knowing something he doesn't know and wanting to see the look on his face when he finds out, so you won't tell him I'm plotting something if you want me to tell you what goes down?"
"You're horrible," Patty said.
"It's not going to be for a few months, anyways," Egan said.
"And it's not what I came here to talk to you about," Patty said. "Well, there are quite a few things that you and I can talk about later on when Flicker's not around, but—well, what you said about Bernard never leaving the North Pole…."
"What happened?" Egan said. "What did his family do?"
"His family?" Patty said. "Outside of a very awkward conversation between his sister and her, thinking I was talking about you and not her older brother," she sighed. "I honestly don't know who in his family other than his aunt and sister knows he's in town. That," Patty took a deep breath. "He's being treated at the elf hospital, and…."
"You don't even have to ask," Egan said, heading to the door before glancing over his shoulder. "Flicker, if anyone asks, any appointments scheduled, tell them I'm busy."
"Doing what?" Flicker asked.
"Visiting a friend in the hospital, but don't tell anybody, particularly Kenneth, that it's Bernard. I'm not that cruel, and neither are you."