Chapter Text
This year was just about the craziest you’ve seen in over a century. When it began with Mrs. Claus’ pregnancy you knew things would be different this year, but there was no way you could have predicted that Christmas would almost be canceled entirely.
The past few days felt like a complete blur. First, it began with the Council of Legendary Figures meeting in the kitchen, slowing down your gingerbread production only slightly as they reprimanded Jack Frost, but before you could begin catching up, all of Elfsburg had to transform into Canada for Mrs. Claus’ human family.
But after that, it wasn’t long until the true chaos struck.
As you did your best to dodge the prying of “the in-laws” as they explored your kitchen, you began to hear whispers amongst the others about… What happened to the Naughty and Nice center?
At that very moment, an oven burst into flames.
You turned to rush through the crowd of elves running back while your human guests backed away as well. The heat hit your face before you could register the sight before you as the flames roared higher from the oven. Smoke was billowing off of the charred cookies left inside and something inside of you just froze .
Your brain was scrambling for your next move, and it wasn’t until one of your bakers tugged your arm back you were able to move again. Your next thought was to shut off the gas line, but as you ran past the espresso station to get to the other end of the kitchen, a small ‘pop!’ registered to your ears before you were pelted with coffee beans.
You scrambled back, shielding yourself with your arms until you could put them down to see steam shooting from the dial that was frozen over… frost .
You stood there dumbly for what felt like forever. When it all finally clicked it was too late, Mrs. Claus’ father rushed in with a fire extinguisher strapped to his back to deal with the flames. You had to quickly abandon the espresso machine as Santa and Bernard came running in shortly after.
You were scrambling to piece your thoughts together as the smoke started to clear and you could finally see all of the damage. Gingerbread houses you had been working on decorating for weeks were singed black, and the smell of burnt peppermint made you wince as an entire rack of candy canes melted into one blotchy red and pinkish puddle on the tray.
The only thing you could do was back away… For a moment you saw Bernard look your way while Santa spoke with his family, but before he could get a word with you, you seemingly disappeared.
The shame you felt was unbearable. You had been heading operations in the kitchen for over five generations, and nothing like this had happened under your watch before. Not only had your hard work been tarnished, but the sinking feeling of failure as a leader was hitting you hard as you followed the crowd of your companions heading outside to escape the lingering smoke.
***
Once all the chaos had died down – at least for a moment – you soon realized there was no way the kitchen could be up and running today. This was only one issue amongst everything else going on at the Pole.
As you stood at the steps leading down to the kitchen watching the fire and construction elves assess the damage, you were too lost in thought to notice a slightly taller figure inch behind you.
“What’s the verdict?”
It was Bernard. You jumped slightly to turn to him and he was looking out at the scene with worry.
He was stressed enough. This entire Christmas season he’s been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. The last thing you wanted was to add to that, but here we are.
“Um… well uh- we’re down two ovens at least,” you began hesitantly, “the workstations closest to the fire need rebuilt… the espresso machine went ballistic… Not to mention weeks of work crumbling to ash.”
He only hummed in response. Taking it all in.
Something about Bernard has put you on edge lately. You couldn’t tell whether to worry for him or fear him. He’s grown more stern and cold, especially as he butts heads with Curtis more and more every year. There was a time you two were good friends, for a moment you wondered something more, but the deeper he established himself in his position as head elf, the less you saw him outside of work. Perhaps there was a passing glance, maybe a friendly smile, or wave, but now it was painfully apparent that he was only your boss, and nothing more.
Especially now, when a friend would speak words of comfort, he was only business.
“I see… We’ll shut down for the day. We need every elf we can spare repairing the damage in the workshop.”
He turned to look at you before he continued, “we’re behind on revising the list and we’re short-staffed in the mailroom.”
His words made your heart sink. You didn’t need him to tell you where you were being moved, what he said was enough to know you’ll be down in the mailroom until this can all be dealt with.
You let out a soft sigh through your nose and gave your kitchen one last glance before you pulled off your hat, scrunching it slightly in a gentle fist before turning to walk off to the mailroom.
You managed to get a few feet away before Bernard called your name in a somewhat more gentle tone making you turn.
“Yes, sir?”
There was a moment of softness in his expression before your response made him clench his jaw, his demeanor stiffening once more as he raised his posture.
“Just- Don’t forget you need to hide your ears from the in-laws.”
You looked down to your hat in your hand and then back to him, confused that with everything happening right now, this is what he was concerned about?
You shook your head and tugged your hat back on, tucking your ears in and continuing on to the mail room.
When you arrived, the assembly line was full on all fronts. Piles of letters were making their way down as elves stood shoulder-to-shoulder trying to sort through them, some of them were members of your kitchen staff. You looked around at a loss, but soon enough a younger elf approached you. If you recalled correctly, this was Molly, a recent addition to the staff from Bernard’s training program a few years ago.
“Did Bernard send you?”
Her eyes were wide in panic, a slight huff in her breath when she posed the question as fast as her mouth could form the syllables.
“Oh- yes, he did. How can I help?”
You did your best to put on a smile in this moment, it wasn’t her fault, after all.
“Follow me!”
She soon leads you off to a station made up nearly entirely of filing cabinets with a row of large tubs labeled A-Z down the line filled to the brim with letters.
Before you could ask for yourself, she began to explain.
“These are all from the children who wrote to Santa for the first time this year. They were added to the list as they came in, but now they need their own files for the letters to come… there’s so much this year!”
A small group of elves was slowly but steadily taking from the bins to file away but it was tedious work. At the very least, there was still time to get it all done.
Despite being behind on production, the workshop was at capacity, and the overflow was simply sent here to begin the closing tasks for this year and make sure the mailroom was prepared for the influx of work coming in the next year.
You gave Molly a small nod before approaching the bin labeled letter “B” to get started, and as soon as you did she scurried off on her own to catch up on the time she lost going to greet you.
With a deep breath, you finally buckled down and got to work.