The Workshop: A "The Santa Clause" Fanfiction. (Bernard x Female OC)

The Board of Gnomes

"Uh-" Dad seemed to be as puzzled as the gnome, and I tried my best to catch everything Bernard had said, but copied about every other word in my notes.

The gnomes whispered to and from each other, Jormop muttering something in the leader's ear. Finally, he nodded slowly.

"We will continue to honor our agreement, so long as you..." The gnome leader looked around the room and finally pointed at something on one of the bookshelves. "Give me that!" He finished with a nod.

On the shelf was Dad's magic snow globe. He kept it there for council meeting purposes, but most of the time it was in his office.

His request shocked Bernard and puzzled Dad.

"They can't have that, can they?" Dad asked, which seemed to intrigue the little gnome.

"We can't- uh," Bernard took in a breath, a bit stressed looking, "Santa, a word. We will be back in a moment," He looked at Dad and summoned me over. The three of us walked through the side door that led into his office.

"I'm confused, I thought you were supposed to be negotiating terms and stuff... I can hardly follow what's going on." I whispered, just in case they were able to hear.

Bernard sighed, "Gnomes have bad memories... or more, they allow their wants to overwhelm their outrageously small brains, so they tend to forget details. Their king has been bringing up their whole "Want to be recognized" deal for the last hundred years. Most of the time, they just want something we have, and once he settles on what he wants he can get stubborn."

"Can't you just say no? Obviously we can't give him magic?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why do we have to do business with them anyway? Why not just do business with the Harpies like you mentioned?"

"There's no such thing as Harpies, they just don't know that." Bernard sighed. "They're our only way to get quality wood at a good price and quantity we need, hence why we put up with them."

"What would even happen if you gave him that?"

Bernard shook his head slowly, "Considering it has all of Santa's magic in a concentrated small little ball, probably nothing good. I didn't even think about how it was probably still there because of the meeting yesterday. We'll need to provide some sort of distraction."

"Great job, that's not something you thought would be important at all? What would happen if the gnomes got access to magic?" Dad asked.

"They'd probably in the most literal sense, actually try to enslave the whole world and take over everything." Bernard gave his tight-lipped grimace face. "Santa, you'll need to tell him that he can't have that snow globe without telling him about the magic inside. Can you manage that? You can? Great." He nodded without giving Dad a chance even to respond and paced to the side.

"That could happen if you gave them one of the snowglobes?" I gave him a curious look. "Charlie can only call Dad, and mine acts more as a large, slightly inconvenient, mood ring." 

"Only Santa, certain elves, and very specific humans are allowed to have snow globes. It's like... in the rule book, or, I don't know... but it wouldn't be good."

"Okay, so- You can't have the snowglobe," Dad announced once we walked back into the room. "But, if you are willing to compromise, then we can arrange for something else."

"Why, tell us, what is so special about your... little orb?" King Felpip tapped the tips of his fingers together in a scheming sense.

"It's... mine." Dad said awkwardly.

"It was his grandfather's." I added in, lying.

"I thought you wished for better wood products," King Felpip frowned. "I am set on my want. You can either give me the snow globe or,"