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He narrows his eyes, and there’s a long, drawn-out moment where he no doubt senses my desperation. “Okay, fine. Just tell me what branch of knowledge you need, and you can have it.” He smiles, and it’s not a nice one. Can trees even have nice smiles? Fuck, why am I overthinking this?
“Oh, any old branch is great.” I try to appease him. “Even a dead one will do.”
“Dead branches of knowledge… You mean like alchemy?” His expression crinkles. “Here’s a secret I don’t tell most people. I don’t have dead branches.”
“Um…well…I don’t really know what you’re talking about.” I’m super lost.
“Name a branch, and I’ll give it to you,” he says again, and this time, I’m certain his smile is condescending. It kinda makes me want to use weed killer on this fucker.
“I have to name a branch. Do they already have names?” Does he name his branches the way some of the dragon shifters down at the pub name their biceps ‘fire’ and ‘flame’? Is this some kind of weird guy thing?
“Of course they have names…you uneducated fool!” Wow. Hurtful. Ignoring that. “There are six branches of knowledge. Philosophy, humanities, mathematics—YEOWWWWW!”
The Tree of Knowledge screeches as a crack sounds through the garden. Comet suddenly shoots up from behind the tree, a rope gripped in his teeth, a branch dangling from one end with the rope tied snuggly around it. Dang! I didn’t even see him sneak in here. He was as quick as Santa!
“Come back! Thief!” the tree yells.
Comet jerks his head at me and Dasher in a frantic ‘follow me’ gesture, before jetting out of the garden.
Dasher doesn’t waste time. We shoot up into the sky like a rocket as the tree bellows after us, “You idiots! You took a branch from mathematics! Good luck with that! You’re too stupid to know—”
My reindeer group around me and all start to bray, drowning out the tree as we get farther away. It almost sounds like they are praising Comet.
“Thank you, Comet,” I say sincerely. “Well, I’m glad that strange encounter is over.” I blow out a breath. “Good thing you all can’t talk, because I’m pretty sure one of you would make a snarky comment about how we’re about to go snag some ‘innocence water’ after we just stole something.” A shiver races down my spine. But it’s not the scared kind. It’s the thrilled kind. I’ve never stolen anything before.
But it’s for a good cause, right?
The existence of Christmas Village and the happiness of children all over Earth depend on it.
And besides, a reindeer took the branch. I mean, technically, animals can’t steal, right? They don’t know the rules.
Yup, I’m sticking with that logic.
We fly through the sky for about ten minutes before we spot a golden river snaking through the clouds, the banks reflecting a bright yellow light. We dip down towards the water before I realize something.
“Oh, no! I didn’t bring a cup!” I sigh at myself, utterly frustrated as I stare around, looking to see if there are angels nearby I can ask for help or anything. There aren’t. There’s nothing but the river itself and clouds.
Blitzen puts on a burst of speed that I’ve never seen from him before. He splashes right down into the river and scoops up a bunch of water in his mouth, before rolling and splashing in it like a puppy. We land on the banks and watch him. I chuckle for a second, and when Dash lands, I walk down to the bank and call Blitzen over. He trots over with a smile on his face and bulging cheeks.
He’s totally trying to carry the water we need in his mouth, sweet boy.
My heart lifts seeing that, but I’m worried he’ll fall asleep and choke himself. We need something else. I could soak a bit of my skirt. But if I do that, I might end up soaking too much. And then what if I get cold when we fly? I can’t even begin to count the number of lectures I’ve gotten over the years about the dangers of wet clothing and cold weather. It takes a second, but soon, my mind lights up with an alternative. “Blitz, I’m gonna have to ask you to do something a little weird, ok?”
He nods solemnly, or as solemnly as one can when their cheeks are puffed out like chipmunk’s.
“Can you come here?” I prop an arm on his side when he moves closer. I use him to balance myself as I pull up my skirt and yank my panties down, pulling them carefully off over my boots. Blitz’s head has swiveled to stare at me intensely.
No, that can’t be right. Not intensely, I correct myself as I fix my skirt.He just has no clue what’s going on. “Can you dip these in the water and then carry them in your mouth for me? That way we have water, but it’s not quite so…”
Blitz opens his mouth, and the water inside cascades out as he leans forward and snags the panties out of my hand quickly.
Behind me, I hear a low moan from one of the other reindeer. “Just a sec,” I call, not looking back. They’re probably getting impatient waiting.
Blitz trots back out into the water and lets my lacy white panties dip down into the golden water. Then he pulls them back up and nods at me.
“Two items down, boys. Now, who wants to give me a ride to get the next item on our list?”
There’s practically a stampede to get to me.
