"Small group this year, Mr. Conductor." Ananya jumped as a deep voiced elf spoke to the Conductor.
"You know how it is, Simon," The train conductor shrugged. He took his hat off to run a hand across his balding head, before placing the hat back on. "They're getting harder and harder to find these days."
"I know," Simon said mournfully. He, much like all the other elves, wore a red shirt-dress-thing, with green leggings. Now that he was up close, Ananya could see he had a name tag that read, 'Simon: Wrapping Hall'. "We make less and less gifts everywhere because less and less children believe."
"That's so sad," Ananya cut in; the Conductor and elf didn't seem to mind. "What happens if no one believes anymore?"
"Well," The elf took a deep inhale and exhale, giving her a pondering look. "No one really knows for sure. The most agreed upon theory is that Santa, and by proxy the North Pole, would cease to exist."
"No!" Jolly Boy cried. "There can't be Christmas without Santa!"
Simon turned to him now, stroking his beard with long fingers. "It would certainly change Christmas. But you, children, have to understand that Christmas isn't about the gifts Santa brings. Or even about Santa himself. Christmas is about joy; joy that comes from being with the people you love, joy that comes from giving rather than receiving. Christmas is not reliant on Santa Claus, it's reliant on children. And people with good hearts."
The kids all dutifully nodded at Simon's words, and the elf smiled at them slightly. The Conductor tipped his hat towards him as he left before turning to the children.
"Important lessons, children." He said with a curt nod.
"Mr. Conductor, is there anything we can do to help?" Ananya asked, completely serious and genuine.
"You can't force other people to believe, child." The Conductor shook his head. "But, you can always make sure you never lose your belief. I've known Santa for many years, and I can say with utmost certainty, that as long as one child still believes, he'll be there for them."
Ananya was going to respond but she was cut off by the Know It All kid. "What's that sound?"
All of the children fell quiet to listen, and Ananya heard it. She knew almost immediately just what that sound was because it sounded like the joy of hearing Let It Snow by Frank Sinatra–her favorite Christmas song– being injected into her veins, warming her from head to toe, despite the falling snow.
"Jingle bells," She gasped, her breath visible in the cold. "They're so beautiful."
"I'll never forget the first time I heard that sound." The Conductor looked lost in his own memories, his brown eyes distant. "The best part of every year is being able to hear it on Christmas Eve."
"It's like angels singing," Jolly Boy added with a toothy smile and dreamy eyes.
And then it stopped.
"Wait, where'd it go?" Cheerful Girl asked.
"They're standing still, waiting for their cue to enter the Square." The Conductor explained. The reindeer come out first, and then the jingle bells. And then, of course, Santa Claus."
"We get to see the reindeer?!" Jolly Boy was quite literally bouncing on the balls of his feet.
The conductor nodded and the boy positively squealed with excitement. Ananya saw the Conductor give him an exasperated smile.
Ananya turned to a tap on her shoulder. Indian Howl Pendragon was standing there, his hand outstretched.
"I'm Aadrik Ahuja." Despite being caught off guard by the boy's abruptness, Ananaya turned to shake his hand.
"Hi, I'm Ananya, but you can just call me An or Nanya."
Before the boy could respond, Know It All was standing there with them. "I'm Harvey, but my moms just call me Harv."
"Your moms?" Ananya quirked an eyebrow. He visibly bristled at her words.
"You got a problem with that?"
"No!" She quickly held her hands up in defense. "I just don't have any friends that have two moms, but my mom says there's nothing wrong with having two moms."
"Good," Harv relaxed. "Otherwise I'd have to fight you."
Ananya considered making a comment about how his small arms wouldn't be able to do much but the Conductor had cut in: "No one will be fighting anyone for any reason."
"What about you two?" Aadrik had turned to the other two children.
"Johnny Kline, nice to meet you!" Jolly Boy waved eagerly. Cheerful Girl introduced herself as Trucy with an equally over exagerated wave. An awkward silence fell over the group, and searching for a way to ease the tension, Anaya asked, "What do you guys want for Christmas?"
"I want Batman cartoons!" Harvey was quick to answer. "They're the best, have you seen them?" When Ananya shook her head, he huffed. "You simply have to watch them."
Before long, it was no longer silent, the group of five bouncing between what they wanted for Chistmas and why everyone should see Batman cartoons at least once in their life.
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If Clove had a choice, she wouldn't have gotten in the shuttle. Out of everything she had gone through tonight, that was the worst part. She felt as if her cheeks were going to be ripped from her face, the pressure was so strong. Not to mention the trip itself; the shuttle tunnels were lined with bright lights that gave her a headache as they whizzed by, and she had a momentary heart attack when they were raced down a clear tunnel and could see the ground far below them. When they finally stopped, it was with a jolt, and her already throbbing head didn't appreciate her flying forward. Honestly, why were there no seatbelts?
She almost tripped as she tried to get out of the shuttle as fast as possible. She stepped out onto a black platform and was engulfed in the smell of pastries. "Where are we?"
"Not sure, but it smells good," Agnes said, in between taking big inhales. "Smells like my mom's almond bundt cake."
"I smell hot chocolate!" Clove says.
"Weird," Felix hummed. " I smell gingerbread cookies like my dad makes every year."
Agnes creeps over to the edge of the platform where there was a safety rail and a set of stairs. Clove follows her, slowly though– she's not overly eager after the shuttle ride. Unlike their last stop, there were no elves in this building. Just rows and roses of long tables. There were multiple fireplaces with cooking grates and thousands of cooking utensils were lined along the walls.
"It looks like an industrial bakery, but elf sized." Felix mused. "A confectionary, maybe?"
"What's a confectionary?" Clove asked, giving a confused look.
"A place that makes and sells confections."
"What are confections?"
Agnes cuts in before Felix can give another confusing answer, leading to an endless loop of questions and answers. "Confections are things like candy and cookies."
"Mmm," Clove hummed, rubbing her stomach. "Do you think they left any out? I'm kind of hungry."
"I don't know, but we really need to get going–"
Agnes turned to Felix, only to see him rubbing his stomach the same as Clove with begging brown eyes. "Please, Agnes? It won't take long just a couple of cookies and then we can leave."
Agnes huffed, but nodded regardless. The two gave a victory cheer before rushing down the stairs into the confectionery. Agnes followed behind, taking the time to glance around her surroundings.
Agnes had taken a school field trip to a commercial bakery one day, and she had been amazed by the size of the mixers. The mixes in this confectionary were big, but not nearly as big as the ones made for humans. All of the cooking materials were the size of the toys she had with her kitchen set at home. And it was incredibly clean; there wasn't even a speck of flour or sugar anywhere to be found.
"I think I found some!" Felix called, and Agnes looked over to him. He was standing next to a metal bakery rack with a few trays at the top. "I'm too short to reach though."
Agnes came to stand next to him. Even standing on her tiptoes, she couldn't quite grasp the metal trays. Her fingers simply brushed against the bottom of the trays. "There's no way the elves managed to get those up there, they're shorter than we are. Maybe they had a stool or step ladder." Agnes explained, looking around for something to climb on.
"I don't see anything that looks like it was meant for the rack," Felix starts, "But there's a bunch of stools over there."
He points to the rows of three legged wooden stools that were under the long white tables where the elves worked. Agnes thought about it and then nodded. "One of those should work."
Felix grabbed one of the stools and brought it over, placing it at the base of the rack. Agnes tentatively placed one foot on it and held onto the rack as she stepped up. The stool creaked under her weight, but didn't break. Still cautious, she put her other foot down and slowly began to reach for the cookies. Her fingers wrapped around the edge of the tray.
"I got it!" She said, smiling down at Clove and Felix. they gave a small cheer and she looked back up at the pan to begin slowly sliding it out from the rack, when she was suddenly falling backward.
One of the legs of the stool snapped, sending her careening backward, her arms flailing. She landed hard on the tile and a variety of iced cookies landed on top of her. Clove and Felix were standing above her instantly, worry written across their faces. For a moment, Agnes was silent and then she began to laugh.
She wasn't hurt, just a bit startled and she had to admit she probably looked a little funny with icing all over her face and even a bit on her clothes. Lulled into security knowing their friend was OK, Clove and Felix began to laugh as well, and the three sat together on the red and white tile, surrounded by cookies. They were near tears when they finally all caught their breath. They avoided each other's gaze, as eye contact seemed to make them start laughing all over again.
"I think you can still eat these," Agnes pointed at a few cookies that had survived the fall and were still sitting on the tray. "I'll clean this mess up."
She got to her feet, brushing what crumbs she could off of her clothes and onto the floor. She walked over to the sink where there was thankfully a rag that she wet with warm water to wipe the sticky icing from her face and clothes best she could. She had a couple of red stains on her face that likely wound't come off until she got a shower and was able to actually wash her face. Her clothes at least weren't stained.
She found a broom and paper towels rather quickly, and with the help of Clove and Felix, she swept up what she could and threw it away, before wiping up icing spots that were still on the tile.
"I kind of feel bad," Clove siad was Agnes put away the cleaning supplies. "I try not to waste food."
"It's OK, we didn't mean to," Agnes said, pulling her close to kiss the top of her head. "When we get back to the elves, we can apologize, OK?"
Clove nodded, seemingly OK with this idea.
"OK." Agnes said, partly to Clove and partly to herself as she tried to figure out where to go from here. There was a swing door at the front of the kitchen. "I wonder where that door leads."
Felix began walking towards it before her, and Clove and Agnes had to jog to catch up with them. They emerged into a place that looked like more of a shop; it had small tables and chairs spaced out across the same red and white tiles. There was a small counter that had glass display cases of cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. And, most importantly, there were floor to ceiling windows that showed a huge Christmas tree not that far away outside.
"Look!" Agnes said, eagerly pointing at the windows. "We're not that far! We can still make it."