The Boring Elfbright (The Santa Clause/48 Christmas Wishes Crossover)

The Boring Elfbright

"Boring," Mindy thought to herself. "Bernard is boring, but I wish he'd not come today." She remembered asking her aunt why she couldn't come to career day instead, given the fact her aunt was once a Christmas Elf before she married her husband and nixed the Elfbright name.

"Because I already asked him to come, but the two of you need to stop avoiding each other."

"He's the one avoiding me," Mindy muttered.

"That's because he thinks you don't like him." Her aunt laughed when Mindy's eyes widened.

"Why would he think that?"

"Because you told him you hated him the last time he visited for After Mas. And the time before that," her aunt said. "So he stopped coming."

"But why come now?"

"Because I told him it was his duty to do so."

Mindy sighed, watching her brother speak with some of the other Christmas Elves. The younger elves who had family members at the elf academy were bouncy with excitement, their focus on Bernie 's presence while some of the older elves—well, for some reason they also remained focused on Bernie.

"They're probably mentioning embarrassing stuff which happened to him while working at the North Pole. I mean, George was quite clear that Bernie had quite a few embarrassing accidents with his magic." She looked at George, who kept looking back and forth from his list, and Bernie nervously, as if something were bothering him. "And now everyone is going to find out my brother is the only Elfbright to not be a toymaker elf."

"So, I guess we'll start off with a special treat for this career day," George said, his dark skin seeming ashen. He looked at Mindy, his eyes wide as she dreaded what he would say next. "Our first elf for career day is Bernard Elfbright."

Sammy leaned over and whispered. "How is he related to you?"

Cam stood up, raising his hand up in the air, not waiting to be called on. "So, you're related to Mindy?"

"Yes."

"And you're a toymaker elf?" Pepper piped up. "I mean, all Elfbright elves are toymaker elves."

"Pepper," George shook his head, letting out a tisking sound indicating he didn't appreciate the young elf who Mindy didn't get along with speaking out of turn. "You as well Cam."

Bernie on the other hand, tensed up when Pepper brought up all the Elfbright elves were toymaker elves—except of course for him. There were giggles from the younger Christmas Elves for career day while the older elves simply smiled.

"No. I'm not a toymaker elf." Which of course brought a bunch of gasps. "Never have been." That made the young elves look forward to graduating from the elf academy turn and look at each other.

"Then what is your job?" Pepper piped out, looking quite gleeful, looking over at Mindy despite George shaking his head in panic, indicating he wasn't happy with her continuing to speak out of turn.

"Arch Elf."

Mindy stared. Bernard was head elf.

Pepper frowned. "Wait. You're head elf? "

"Yes."

"So much for boring. But why—" Mindy wondered why he never said anything, given how much of a big deal that was. It meant Bernard was second only to Santa, third if one counted Mrs. Claus.

"What were you before you were head elf?" Cam said, standing up with his hand raised while George rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.

"Before?" Bernard frowned. "I guess before that, it was head elf in training."

"And before that?" Pepper's voice strained.

"Before that..." Bernard spoke softly, frowning. "There wasn't anything before that."

Mindy let out a groan, now suddenly remembering how her older brother was. Even though she didn 't feel like she still had to be embarrassed regarding him not being a toymaker elf, she still felt embarrassed.

"Wait. How old were you when you became head elf?" one of the male elves in her graduating class asked, but Mindy recognized him as the one who wanted to be the youngest head elf ever.

"How old was I?" Bernard frowned. "Six hundred, I think. It's been a long time."

Which of course, given the fact young elves graduated somewhere around the time they turned nine-hundred years give or take, given the fact there was a graduating class every ten years, that one young elf becoming youngest was impossible.

"It also says here that you're an elder on the council," George said.

"Wait? Who put that down?" Bernard frowned while Mindy slid further down, wondering how nobody ever knew.

"What do you mean? The list came from Santa himself."

"Of course he'd do that," Bernard muttered. "So, um questions?"

"You're supposed to tell them a bit about your job," George sighed. "Why is it, despite a thousand years passing certain things haven't changed?"

"How are you related to Mindy!" Someone asked, making Mindy hide her head in embarrassment.