————  0006.  d e c e m b e r  0 6.

ice dance

St. Nicholas’s day was a special one at the Icelandic HQ of Santa’s Toy Shop. We usually celebrated the name of Santa Claus with a beautifully decorated factory and a long dance party till the next morning on Central Square with a huge feast. 

2020 surprised me in a lot of ways. For the first time in my long life, I didn’t spend St. Nicholas day home. Neither did Santa, as a matter of fact. 

“Maybe he’s at some fancy island, sipping cock… I mean, cocktails and not thinking about his works or all of you!” Brynhildr and I – although she insisted that I should call her just Bryn – sat at a cafe in downtown Reykjavik, sipping some really expensive hot chocolate. 

I slept at her flat, on the spare bed in the living room. I’ve got pyjamas from her. She was kinder than I expected. For starters, she didn’t let me freeze on the streets. She let me sleep at her apartment. She shared with me. That was the kindest gesture I could have ever expect from a total stranger. Or an elf. Share something that is truly yours is the biggest selflessness I can imagine. 

Maybe humans aren’t so bad after all.  

“I doubt that!” I chuckled after I took a sip of my hot chocolate. 

“You have cream on your face!” Bryn laughed loudly. I blushed it off in a split second. At least, I tried. “Come on, lean here!” 

She lifted a white napkin and without hesitation, she wiped the cream off my upper lip. I froze when her thumb touched my skin. 

Our skins' contact swept me off my feet completely. Or, would have, if I wouldn't already been seated.

“Why are you so sure that he’s not just taking a vacay because he wanted to?” my eyes were still half shut when she continued to speak. My brain couldn’t catch up for long seconds. 

“It’s just weird. He wouldn’t bail on us like that.” I shrugged my shoulder. I was amazed by how fast she could change her mind about my whole world. She accepted my existence, my entire species and the reality of Santa in a single day. 

“He is working non-stop since the beginning of time. He deserves a break.”

“If it was truly a break and not a kidnapping situation…”

“By who?”

“Gryla!” I answered like it was something I was completely and utterly sure of. I was not. But the more I thought about it, I became more and more sure. 

“Remind me once again, who exactly is Gryla?” Bryn wrinkled her forehead in confusion. The creatures – especially the dark ones – were still new to her. And honestly, Icelandic Christmas folklore was complex with a lot of layers. 

“She is a giantess,” I began describing Gryla. At least, what I knew about her from urban legends and gossip. “The oldest poems about Gryla describe her as a parasitic beggar who walks around asking parents to give her their disobedient children. Her plans can be thwarted by giving her food or by chasing her away. Current-day Gryla has the ability to detect children who are misbehaving year-round. During Christmas time, she comes from the mountains to search nearby towns for her meal. She leaves her cave, hunts children, and carries them home in her giant sack. She devours children as her favourite snack. Her favourite dish is a stew of naughty kids for which she has an insatiable appetite.”

“And this is why we need Santa. Because he is the one who can control Gryla and her rage?”

“Yes, exactly. If we don’t have Santa… Gryla has no rival. No one she would fear from. She would get to children who are completely innocent.” I concluded the situation. 

“You think Gryla would kidnap Santa just like that?”

“Maybe she is tired of all the rules he set to her and she wants to wreak havoc, I don’t know.” I began thinking more about what I know about Gryla and her...associates. “We have it easy till the twelfth of December. That’s the day the first Yule Lad will appear.”

The Yule Lads are the sons of Gryla and Leppaludi, her third husband. They are a group of thirteen mischievous pranksters who steal from or otherwise harass the population and all have descriptive names that convey their favourite way of said harassing. They come to town one by one during the last thirteen nights before Christmas and all of them have different… specialities. 

“Okay, Santa Claus is one thing… But Yule Lads. That’s a child story. Children are being scared by the horror story of Yule Lads but... That’s only a myth.” Bryn shook her head, flustered and shocked. 

“Frackity frack!” I rolled my eyes. “This is Iceland! You think that all the myth and legend... Doesn’t have like a glimpse of origin from reality? All myths do.”

“Yeah? This is Iceland? That’s all the explanation you got?”

“It’s the best one I got, really.” I chuckled. 

We finished our drinks and went out to the street. 

“So... My ancestors bailed on elves. And that’s why I’m... Doomed to the... Naughty list?” I told her all I know about why all of her Decembers were miserable and all of her Christmases unlucky. I knew all the reasons why one got doomed on the Naughty List for a life sentence. 

“Exactly.”

“But... What ancestor? Did you know them?”

“Well, I'm only 500 years old so that makes it kind of hard to figure out,” I admitted. 

“Five HUNDRED years old? How does that make that hard? Dementia?”

“No! Your ancestors’ treason must likely to have happened way before that.”

“Oh wow! And how long are the elves planning to hold the grudge towards me?” 

“Probably forever.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“I actually am. Bailing on your duties, your people, it's the... The worst thing an elf could do. The very worst. It’s the most wicked treason of all existence.” I filled her in as good as I could. 

“But... I can make some remedies by helping you…”

“Well, that’s definitely a plus.”

a/n: hello hello ❤❤❤

the little team is getting into the scheme 😍😍

what are you guys think about their chemistry?