The Yule Clause

Chapter Two. The New Santa

When he returned to the shop, he couldn't find his sister anywhere. He turned to an elf wearing a princess hat sitting next to her boyfriend Kenny at the wrapping table. "Judy have you and Kenny seen Poinsettia?" she looked up at him. "No, not since you left." That concerned him though he didn't know why it did, because if she was upset, he knew that she would go talk to Quintin. He thanked Judy then went to find his sister.

After a long time, he finally found her in the stables sitting in the sleigh with Quintin. Bernard hopped in between them; Quintin gave him an 'Are you serious?'  look "Are you alright?" he asked in south elfish, it's the language they spoke at home, but when in the workshop they spoke north elfish to the others. She leaned against her brother's shoulder.  "Yeah...fine." She replied in the same language.  Bernard looked over at his friend, who gave him a shrug                                          "Settie, please tell me what's bothering you." She sighed.                                                                                                  "I don't know, maybe it's just the fact that the North elves talk about our people behind our backs." She said trying to contain herself.                                                                                                                                                                                                                "I know it upsets us too." Quintin responded, taking a hold of her hand. It was no secret that the South and North elves didn't get along, but it made sense, if you think about it. the elves from the North work to bring hope and joy to the children of the world, while the ones from the south do the opposite. "You would think that after father and mother got married, things would be different." Poinsettia muttered; Bernard and Quintin agreed.                                                                                 "They might be jealous." "Why's that?" she looked up at her brother "Because we can reach things on the high shelfs and they can't." Bernard joked. Poinsettia and Quintin laughed; she hugged her brother "Thank you, Bernie." She smiled, "Of course." He returned the smile; the three always knew how to cheer each other up.

Bernard didn't sleep a wink that night, he still couldn't stop worrying about his vision. He tried telling himself not to worry but it didn't seem to work. He got up and went to the kitchen for a late-night snack to set his mind at ease.                                            "Hello Bernard, what can I get you?" the cook asked once he was seated at the table.  "Can I have a black coffee?" Another thing that made the south and north pole elves different, were their preferred beverages, Santa's elves drank Cocoa, while Krampus's elves drank coffee. Sure Bernard, Poinsettia, Quintin, and Mrs. Claus drank cocoa.  They liked coffee a bit better. The cook rolled her eyes as she made the disgusting beverage.                                                                                                                         "Is everything okay?" she asked, setting his cup on the table.                                                                                                             "Yeah, fine." He didn't want to worry her with his vision, she wasn't sure if that was the truth or not, then again this was Santa's son, so why would he lie? "Duh he's also the son of a South Pole Elf, and everyone knows that they're liars, cheats, and downright mean." She thought to herself;                                                                                                                                   "Does it have something to do with your vision?" he didn't question how she knew about his vision because when he had one, the whole North Pole would know, even if they didn't know what it was about.                                                                    "Ginger, can I ask you something?" he looked at her, ignoring the question.                                                                                          "Sure." She didn't look at him, because she was mixing dough for some gingersnap cookies.                                             "Do you think an elf should go with Santa tonight?" She stopped needing the dough and turned around. "Oh, lords a leaping never!" she cried. Bernard snorted. "Yes, how silly of me for asking." He stood up. "Thanks for the coffee." He left; Ginger picked up the cup to see that it was still full.  "South Pole Elves." She murmured under her breath rolling her eyes once again as she poured it into the sink.