My first task was putting Comet back in his stable, then I went to tell Dad that I was back.
"How was the trip?" He asked. "It was good. I totally embarrassed Charlie in front of Danielle. It was so much fun." I laughed. "Why must you torment your brother?" He asked. "Because that's what siblings do!" I replied. He rolled his eyes. "Lucy is dying to come up here, Dad. She asked me about three times." I said. He sighed, "She asks all the time. One of these days we'll get her up here." He said.
"Santa I- Seraphina. You're back!" Bernard said. I nodded and went to hug him, which he tightly returned. "I told you I would be." I said. "What is it, Bernard?" Dad asked. "Oh, Easter Bunny is here for the meeting. We've set him up in a nice place and he's eagerly awaiting a visit from you." Bernard said. Dad nodded and stood from his desk. "I'll go now. I could use a break." Dad said as he stood from his desk. "Sera, you wanna come meet the Easter Bunny?" Dad asked. "Words I never thought I'd hear in my life." I replied. "I actually need to unpack, but I'll catch up." I said. He nodded and walked out. Bernard moved to follow him, but I grabbed his wrist. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Nothing. I just wanted to see if you'd like to get some cocoa or something?" I asked. He nodded and we walked to the kitchens to get some.
"So how was it? Your trip?" He asked. "It was good. Lucy wants to meet you." I said. He chuckled, "You should bring her up here some time." He replied. I nodded, "I plan to. She really wants to see this place." I said, "So how were things here while I was gone?" I asked. "Normal. We had one frozen machine but nothing we couldn't handle." He said. "What is up with all of the machines freezing lately?" I asked. "I have a hunch." He said darkly. "You think Jack Frost is behind it? How is he getting around without us seeing him?" I asked. "One of his abilities. He can turn invisible when he wants to." Bernard said. I sighed, "Well that's just great." I said. Bernard finished his cocoa and nodded. "Yep... and yet he's still coming to the meeting." He said.
"Well, maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe he'll stick with a few frozen machines." I said. "How is a few frozen machines not that bad? We need those to-" I placed my hand on his and cut him off, "Don't get worked up. I just mean that it's not so bad because we know how to quickly and easily remove the ice." I said. "Jack Frost hasn't cared enough to physically show himself by now, I'm sure he's not going to be too big of a nuisance." I said.
"You don't know Frost like I do. The last time he was here, he set off a blizzard in the entire Workshop that set us back by three whole months!" he exclaimed. "Bernard, I'm sure my father will not let Jack Frost set us back like that again," I said, "Now let's get your mind off of Frost and on to something much more fun." I said. "Like what?" Bernard asked. "Well...I saw all of the new toy designs you're all working on. Those look amazing." I said. He nodded, "The elves have been hard at work to make some of the greatest toys we've seen in years." he said, unable to keep the smile off of his face.
Even though it seemed that Bernard was constantly stressed out, he loved his job. He loved the other elves and he loved the Workshop. He was immensely proud of all of them.
"I wish I knew how to show them I really do appreciate them." he said. "Why don't you just tell them?" I asked. He shrugged, "In case you haven't noticed, Phi, I'm not the best conversationalist when I get worked up. With everything going on lately, I don't know how well I'd be able to tell all of them without sounding harsh or... like I don't actually mean it." he said. I nodded, "I think they know that you appreciate their work. They know how much pressure you're under as Head Elf, which is why I think they work so hard. They love you, B, just as much as you do them." I said. "Really?" he asked. I nodded, "Definitely." I replied. He smiled as I poured him another mug of cocoa.
"No time for seconds," Curtis said, appearing next to us. "What is it, Curtis?" Bernard asked. "We need some help finding the decorations for the party. I thought it would help to have some taller pairs of eyes." he said. Bernard and I nodded, and followed him to the storage room. "This place reminds me, I need to see Dad about some renovations." I said. "What do you mean?" Bernard asked. "I just had a few ideas the days that I was doing your job." I said. "I need to put them in motion." I said. "You can do that later. Right now we're looking for a big box that has Christmas lights in it." Bernard said. "Well then wouldn't that be in L?" I asked. "You'd think but the last elves that worked down here weren't very organized." he replied, digging through another box.
I opened up boxes and climbed up on shelves until I finally found a box with a large wad of lights inside of it. "Is this it?" I called down to Bernard, holding up the tangled ball. "Of course it is." he grumbled. I tossed it down to him then slowly began to climb my way down the shelves.
"Be careful," Bernard said, "Here, let me help you." I felt his hands on my hips as I climbed down and he lifted me off of the shelf. "Thanks." I said, turning to face him. "You're welcome." He replied, and picked up the ball of lights.
We walked back up to the Workshop and went to Curtis' office so we could untangle the lights.
"Oh, I'll be right back. I need my book before I forget it again." I said. Bernard nodded and tried to find a place on the ball to start untangling. I ran up to my room and grabbed my sketchbook before heading back to Bernard. I ran into Dad and Curtis on my way there and asked them to follow me so I could show them as well.
"How are the lights coming?" Curtis asked. "How do they look like they're coming?" Bernard asked, holding up the ball, which only looked more tangled than when I left. "I'll finish these when work is over. Phi, what were you needing to show us?" Bernard asked. I opened up my sketchbook and flipped to the page I'd been working on. "So, this is just a rough draft, but this is a view of the storage room from the stairs." I said. "You drew this?" Curtis asked. I nodded. "Phi, that's really good." Bernard said. I smiled, "Thanks. So, um, when I was down there the days that I was Head Elf-" "Oh must we bring those days up?" Bernard asked. I jabbed at him with my elbow. "Ow! I was teasing!" He laughed, rubbing his ribs. "I had an idea that I think would help the mess down there and possibly speed up production." I said. "I already agree." Bernard said. I laughed as I pointed out my plan. "I was thinking, what if we added a conveyor belt or some delivery tubes down there? That way, whenever a station runs out of supplies, all the elves have to do is press a button and have it sent up to them." I said. "What do you mean a button?" Dad asked. I flipped the page and showed them a touch screen monitor. "I've already run this idea by Quinton and he says he can do it if we can get the storage room set up." I said. "How would it work?" Curtis asked.
"So, you know how the shelves are alphabetized? With this, all you do is press the letter of the object you need. For example, if I needed... wrapping paper-" "You would say wrapping paper." Bernard chuckled. I glared at him before turning back to the page. "If I needed some wrapping paper, I'd tap the 'W' then everything that starts with that letter would come up. I'd scroll until I saw wrapping paper and tap it, then it would shoot up to the station." I said. The three of them nodded. "Those are some good ideas." Dad said. "I would just need a few elves who are willing to help me clean up down there and get everything organized so we can put this stuff in." I said. "We'll start after the Council of Legendary Figures meeting. I'll be able to help more then and maybe get some of them to pitch in too." Dad said. I nodded, "That'd be great." I replied. "Alright, I'll run it by them. You guys keep up the good work." Dad said as he left. "Those really are some good ideas." Bernard said. "So you can compliment her ideas, but not mine?" Curtis asked as we walked. "Her ideas haven't tried to take over the Pole." Bernard replied with a laugh. Curtis walked off, leaving Bernard and I to walk alone.
"How did you come up with all of those ideas?" He asked. "They just kind of came to me while I was dying from exhaustion." I replied, making him laugh again. "Well, they're great. The Pole is lucky to have your mind around here." He said. I smiled and felt my face heat up as I blushed. "T-thanks." I said. "Well, I've gotta run. See you tomorrow tonight?" He asked. "Tomorrow night?" I asked. He nodded, "T-the party is tomorrow night." He said. I nodded, not realizing how off track I'd been. Tomorrow night!? Last I checked, I still had a week left!
Bernard gave me one last smile as he walked away, and I immediately went to find Carol.
She was with Dad when I did. "Carol, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked. She nodded and stood. "Everything okay?" Dad asked. I nodded, "Fine. I just need some girl advice." I said as Carol and I walked out. "What's wrong?" She asked. "The party is tomorrow night." I replied. "So?" She asked. "Carol I'm starting to get nervous! I'm meeting Bernard there. What if something happens?" I asked. "Would that be such a bad thing? She asked. I shrugged my shoulders, "I just don't want to ruin what Bernard and I have." I said. She nodded, "Oh, I don't think there's any chance of that." She said, "I've never seen anyone as close as you two. I think you're gonna have a lot of fun." She said. I sighed, "I don't know how to dance either. What am I supposed to do about that?" I asked. "Don't dance?" She asked. "But what about-" "Ok, Sera, now it sounds like you're trying to come up with reasons not to go." She said. She took my hands and looked at me, "You are going to that dance, you're going to have a fun time with Bernard and the other elves, and then you're going to come back here and tell me all about it." She said. I laughed and hugged her, "Thanks Carol." I said. She kissed my cheek, "You're welcome." She replied. "You know, I'm really glad you're here." I said. She smiled, "I'm glad to be here.
Now, do you have a dress?" She asked. I nodded, "Yes I do. Come see it." I said. I lead her to my room and pulled out the plastic bag that my dress was in, pulling it out and laying it on my bed. "That is gorgeous. Red is a beautiful color on you." She said. "Thank you. These are my shoes." I said, holding up a pair of sparkly red Converse. She laughed, "Interesting choice." She said. I laughed with her, "Well I figured I didn't want to start the night by breaking my neck." I said. "That is true." She replied. I was just about to show her my jewelry, when there was a knock on my door. "Seraphina?" Bernard asked. "One second!" I replied, quickly stuffing the clothes away so he wouldn't see. I shoved them under my bed, making a mental note to clean under there soon, then opened the door for him. "Hey. What's up?" I asked. "I've gathered a few of the engineering elves and a few off duty elves and we were going to get a start on the storage room." He said. I nodded, "Oh, okay. I'll be right down." I said. He nodded and walked back down the stairs. When I turned back to Carol, she was grinning. "Oh you are going to have so much fun." She said. I rolled my eyes as I laughed and we left my room.
While Carol went back to Dad, I went down the stairs to meet Bernard so we could go to the storage room of the Workshop. "You know, I could just use my magic to organize this place." He said. I shook my head, "No. Because you've said that using a lot of magic makes you feel tired and that huge of a room would definitely wear you out." I said. He sighed, "I wouldn't be using too much, and besides, it looks like the other elves had the same idea." He said as we got to the storage room. I saw silver and gold flecks of glitter fluttering and twirling through the air like smoke, as the elves used their magic to quickly organize the storage room and get the shelves moved out of the way. "I guess that is better than doing all this by hand." I said. He nodded as he walked forward to join in on the cleaning. I helped where I could, but it didn't take long before the entire storage room was organized and ready to be set up like my drawing. Quintin and a few of the engineering elves walked over to me, "The cleaning was the quick part. Setting up the belts and tubes will take a few days but we'll get it done. This is a great idea you had, Sera." He said. "Thank you, Quintin. And thank all of you for helping me too." I said to the other elves as they left.
"I'm gonna head back up and make sure things are still running smoothly. See you later?" Bernard asked. I nodded, "Yeah, I'll be up soon. I'm gonna stay here and help where I can." I said. He walked up the stairs and I walked to Quintin, ready to help further improve the Workshop, and keep my mind off of tomorrow any way that I could.