The Yule Clause

Chapter Four. Try to be jolly

"Look, I'm not Santa Claus!" Scott continued as Bernard and Poinsettia led him to the workshop silently, Scott ended up stopping for a moment and took in the sights of the workshop, Bernard rolled his eyes as he and his sister walked down some stairs. The Head Elf's annoyance was building into anger, but he tried to stay calm, though it was getting harder with every word of denial that came out of Scott's mouth. "Did you read the card?" Bernard asked in an annoyed tone, he let go of his sister's hand and went up some stairs, where some elves were baking cookies. His sister was happy that he hadn't yelled yet, but she knew it was coming.

"Yeah, I read it." Scott took the coat off and hung it over his arm, as he caught up with the two elves.

"Then you're our new Santa, and by putting on the hat and jacket, you accepted the contract." Bernard explained hating the idea more and more, "He didn't put the hat on, just the jacket." Poinsettia told her brother in south elfish. He didn't acknowledge her. "Contract? What contract?" Scott was confused. "On the card, that you read back at your house." Poinsettia reminded as Bernard came down the stairs with a huge gingerbread cookie in his hand. "And so when you put on the suit you fell subject to the Santa Clause." He explained handing the cookie to the human. "I wouldn't eat that, they're dry." She said, the baker glared down at her. "The Santa Clause?" Scott asked as Bernard continued through the workshop with Poinsettia trailing behind, she was surprised that her brother was able to stay calm for this long. "You mean the guy who fell off my roof?" the Claus children didn't like that Scott kept bringing up that their father was gone, and wasn't coming back, or that he kept calling him 'the guy.' Sure, Scott didn't know he was talking to the Santa's children, but it still was upsetting them. Bernard stopped and turned. "You mean Santa!" he shouted. "Aren't you a little old to believe in Santa Claus?" Scott questioned; "Oh, I thought you were going to say Father." Poinsettia said in English, Scott raised an eyebrow. "Why would he say that?" Bernard crossed his arms angrily. "Because Santa was our father." Poinsettia answered holding her tears back. Shock covered Scott's face, he didn't believe that the guy on his roof was Santa Claus, but he could believe that he was a father. He couldn't believe that he accidently caused the death of another father.  "I'm sorry, he's just lucky I didn't shoot him." Scott tried to be sincere but knew that he was only making it worse. "Bernard is talking about a clause like in the last line of a contract." Poinsettia changed the subject back to the Clause. Because she and Bernard were angry at Scott, and they didn't want to dwell on the sad topic anymore, the human had to think about what Poinsettia said. "You got the card?" Bernard yelled making both Scott and Poinsettia jump. He handed it to the head elf, who held it to a magnifying glass, and exhaled deeply. Then recited every word on the card, because he was there when his father wrote it. Poinsettia watched silently as Scott read along, but it was more like he was mocking her brother. "What does that mean?" he asked once the Head Elf finished, he grabbed the card from Bernard's hand and tried to see where it said all of that. "It means since you put on the suit, you're the new Santa." He turned away. Poinsettia could feel that he would blow if Scott opened his mouth one more time. "Look, I didn't put on the suit just to-"