1 Chapter 1

Adley stared at the tablet screen in disbelief. “Humans actually think the North Pole has a singing snowman? Is this some kind of joke, Fedment?”

Fedment shook his head. “No. Do you honestly think I could make this up?”

It was a good point. Adley knew his brother and while Fedment loved a prank, he wasn’t good with technology. There was a reason he worked in the stuffed animal department, safely away from anything electronic. He’d never be able to pull off making this video.

“As if we have time to make every single toy by hand with the way the human population has exploded.” Adley shook his head in disbelief at the out-of-date portrayal of toy production. “Besides, kids these days want so many electronics we could never keep up by hand.”

The North Pole had modernized to keep up with the times and the population. Adley worked as a mechanic in the toy vehicle department and without machines to speed production along, the boys and girls of the world would be lucky if they each got a single toy for Christmas.

“I don’t think even humans make their electronics by hand,” pointed out Fedment.

“That isn’t even the silliest part. Why would anyone wear shoes with these ridiculous curls at the toes? And this part about elves only making toys and ridiculing the young adult who wants to be a dentist is just absurd. As if we don’t have dentists! How do they think we deal with cavities? Magic?”

“Maybe they think we don’t get cavities.”

“That’s just silly.”

Elves got cavities. They also had an entire society, so while it was true most of them were toymakers, there were plenty of other career options. For instance, Adley and Fedment’s father was a barber. While they weren’t related to a dentist, one of their maternal aunts was a pediatrician.

“I’m pretty sure humans think flying reindeer are silly, too,” said Fedment.

“Flying reindeer are magic.” Adley didn’t pretend to understand how magic worked. He simply accepted its existence. “It’d be nice if magic prevented us from getting cavities.”

“I wish,” Fedment said, unsurprisingly. He had a voracious sweet tooth.

Their younger cousin Cezina came looking for them. For elves, theirs was a small household, consisting only of thirteen adults and one baby. Elves lived in extended family groups which frequently saw more than twenty souls together.

“Are you done with my tablet, Fedment?” asked Cezina, the technophile. She was very enamored with electronics, an interest not shared by most elves. “I want it back before you break it.”

“I’m not that bad,” he said with a pout.

Adley and Cezina shared a look which confirmed he truly was that bad. Possibly even worse, in fact. There were unsubstantiated rumors Fedment could break a radio-controlled helicopter with a single touch, and while Adley hadn’t witnessed that in person he’d seen his brother swamp a music speaker with boiling water and knock an electric scale simply by walking past. Fedment was sensitive about this curse, so Adley tried to change the subject once Cezina had her tablet back.

He grabbed his coat and told his brother, “It’s time to go to work.”

It was always dark at the North Pole in December, so they walked by lamplight. Cloud cover blocked the starry vista but compensated with temperatures which, for winter at the North Pole, were quite warm. Elves liked cold weather anyway. They overheated easily and if anything was universally despised in elfdom, it was being hot.

“I think we’ll be done packing by noon tomorrow,” Fedment said as they walked along the well-worn path to the Toy Production Center.

The elves who usually worked in toy production spent the last days before Christmas packing Santa’s sack. It was a magic sack, so it could hold as many toys as needed (which was a great many toys indeed). Even magic had its limits, though. The toys needed to be packed very carefully, in reverse order of Santa’s route, so the correct presents were always on top at each household. It was an exacting process. Nobody wanted to be responsible for creating problems when Santa delivered toys.

Adley and his fellow mechanics had their own routine this time of year, once all the toys for the Christmas run were made. For these few days the machines were shut down, giving the mechanical crews time for maintenance and cleaning. This would keep them busy until the Christmas Eve party.

“I do hope you’re not going to show up to the Christmas Eve party with grease in your hair this year,” Fedment continued. “It’s only the biggest social occasion of the year, after all, just the one time the entire elf community is together. Who needs to make a good impression? Certainly not my brother.”

“We had a stubborn gear,” protested Adley. “I was being responsible, and if I’d gone home to shower I’d have missed the best food.” He wasn’t terribly concerned with all the social niceties his brother considered important. However, he still looked forward to a good meal as much as the next elf, and some special dishes were made only for the Christmas Eve party. Adley wasn’t one to miss his holiday favorites over a little grease in his hair.