Lacey woke in the quiet of the cottage, her gaze drawn reflexively to the windowsill where the snowflake candycane was quietly shimmering. She smiled.

  Getting up, she padded into the empty hallway. Mathilda’s room was empty, her bed still perfectly made. She had not returned home last night.

  Lacey considered. She knew Mathilda had food, since she and Peter had raided the Healing Hall stash the night they staked out Albyrne’s house. But, she must be pretty tired after watching over Cynthie all night.

  Dressing fast and grabbing a quick bite, Lacey stepped out to see if she could relieve Mathilda for an hour or two.

  Like the unnaturally bright stars last night, the sky was a clear blue today, brushed with a few wisps of high cloud, so thin she almost missed them. She gave the flock of geese a wide berth, not that they were paying any attention to her. They clustered quietly together, feathers fluffed as if bracing for colder weather. Who knew where the swans were? She just hoped they weren’t harbouring resentment for her swandive into their bevy either.

  Entering the Healing Hall, Lacey followed a low murmur of voices to the room where Cynthie was leaning up in bed against a bunch of fluffed pillows. The elf looked pale, so much so that her skin all but blended with the white of the pillows. Bethy and Danji were sitting by her feet, on opposite sides of the bed.

  ‘Hey there,’ Lacey said softly.

  ‘Ho there,’ the three elves murmured back, eyes downcast and looking depressed. Cynthie was the worst of all, barely moving her lips to sound out the words, still staring into oblivion.

  She quietly sat down in the chair by the door. No one spoke. Silently, they witnessed Cynthie’s depression radiating into the hushed atmosphere.

  After a while, Danji cleared her throat. ‘Cynthie,’ she began slowly, her voice shaking. ‘I want to apologise to you. It was my fault. I…, uh, I hiccuped when I shouldn’t have.’ Her voice trailed off.

  Cynthie raised her gaze, focusing on Danji. The look in her eyes was hard to describe. It was almost as if she were standing on Earth, staring at a bug from another world.

  ‘And why, Danji?’ she asked, the barest warning of thin ice in her voice. ‘Why did you hiccup?’

  Danji blushed, anxiously twiddling her fingers. ‘Glwe,’ she breezed, soft as the summer air.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Cynthie blinked. A prickle of foreboding flared along Lacey’s spine. She watched Cynthie’s knuckles whitening as her grip tightened on the bundled blanket in front of her.

  Her jaw bulged. ‘What was that, Danji?’ she asked in a strained voice.

  Lacey calculated whether she could slide down the chair unnoticed and then slither out the door. Unfortunately, she suspected that even the slightest movement would turn Cynthie’s death gaze on her. On the other hand, a sheer cliff drop was rapidly approaching and Cynthie already disliked her. Does adding a little more enmity to her tally even matter? But, as much as Lacey wanted to escape, her body sat there paralysed in the face of the coming storm.

  Danji, sensing the same, gulped. She opened and closed her mouth, no words coming out.

  ‘Glühwein?’ Cynthie’s voice rang out just a tad too sweet, sounding oddly reasonable. ‘Is that what you want to say?’

  Danji nodded, then realised Cynthie was waiting for a verbal answer. She gave a slight cough.

  ‘Yes,’ she whispered.

  Understanding dawned, and with it, fury.

  ‘Glühwein?’ Everyone jumped at Cynthie’s harsh scream. ‘I lost the best chance I ever had at becoming a master toymaker! And for what? Because you can’t keep your mouth off glühwein?’

  She took a deep breath, refilling her lungs. Colour had returned to her face, with a frightening red tinge creeping upward from her neck.

  ‘Jinxy was right,’ she said, glaring viciously at Danji. ‘We all knew you were secretly drinking again. You thought you were hiding it from us, but we always know. Jinxy was going to out you to Mathilda, so she could have another intervention. We forgot about it when she disappeared, but we shouldn’t have. We should’ve handed you over. That’s no more than you deserve.’

  Danji shrank back at those cutting words. Bethy’s eyes flared at the last sentence Cynthie flung at Danji.

  ‘Now, wait a minute,’ she interjected. ‘I know you’re mad, but that’s not fair—’ She didn’t get far.

  Cynthie’s gaze swung onto her like photon lasers locking onto their next target. ‘And you,’ she began, her voice menacing. ‘Don’t pretend that you’re such a good friend either. You just can’t stand it that we’re making better toys than you are. You’re the most envious of them all! You want the toys we make. If someone else gets something nice, you want it too. Heck, even our loves aren’t safe. The moment Jinxy and Melo got together, you wanted him more than life itself.’

  Lacey pressed backwards, trying to dig herself into the wall with her shoulderblades. From the back of the house footsteps began running towards them.

  ‘And what about you!’ Bethy screamed back, finally breaking herself. ‘Every time Jinxy gets toy of the day you make us miserable for the rest of the night with your moping. You pretend you’re glad for her, but secretly you’d destroy her toys if only you had the chance, wouldn’t you!’

  Before Cynthie could bellow something in return, Mathilda flew through the doorway. ‘What in Santa’s white village is going on here! Is this how friends speak to each other?’ Hands on her hips she glared at every elf in turn, including Lacey.

  Not me! Lacey wanted to defend herself. I wasn’t yelling at anyone! But her wiser nature clamped her mouth shut, forcing her to nod acquiescingly. She had a feeling Mathilda didn’t care much about who said what.

  ‘Okay,’ Mathilda said more quietly. ‘Cynthie is trying to rest and all of you are disturbing her. You all can sort out whatever the problem is later. Everybody out.’

  The last two words snapped out of her mouth. Final.

  ??????

  Thanks for reading!

  “Santa’s white village!” feels like the kind of expression only someone who’s lived here forever would use.

  fun holiday-style exclamation would be yours? I’d love to hear your ideas. ???