Page 16 of A Beginner's Guide to Christmas Miracles
“Are you sure? You don’t have a coat, and it is getting chilly,” Beck admitted, looking a bit forlorn. “And we are almost to the car,” he added.
“Well, that means we can drop the bags off before we go look in the park then! And I’m sure you’ll keep me plenty warm enough,” Nach added, blushing a bit even as he said it. He wasn’t really up to practice with flirting, but based on Beck’s smile he must have done ok.
“Oh yeah, I’ll definitely keep you warm. I promise to warm you up later, too,” he added, winking.
Then he pulled Nach along, throwing the bags in the car and finding a hat and scarf for Nach to wear. Nach dutifully bent down to have the colorful red hat placed on his head and the scarf wrapped around his neck.
Beck already had his coat and scarf on (his elf seemed to get chilly quite easily), so they headed off to the park. It was still just barely fluttering snow, and a pretty white coating was sparkling on the trees. Nach was quite proud of the job he’d done. It was like Christmas times of old.
They wandered into the park, stopping by various stands and looking at the wares, when Nach realized what was up ahead.
Oh. Oh no.
This was not good.
Beck seemed to notice it at the same moment based on his cry of glee. “The Christmas animals are here! I wondered if they’d be back this year! These guys own a farm and they bring their reindeer out to events at the holidays.” Beck paused, looking over at Nach, then he added, “They’re super guys, and they treat their animals humanely and everything—you can tell they love them, if you’re worried about that.”
Beck must have noticed Nach’s hesitation as he stared at the fenced enclosure where the reindeer were being kept.
“No, ah, I’m not worried about that. I’m sure they do treat them well,” he agreed, getting ready to back up. But it was too late already.
They must have smelled him, because suddenly five reindeer were staring straight in his direction. Then they were clopping their way over to the fence closest to him, and next came the grunting.
Beck pulled him along, and Nach supposed there was nothing for it now. The reindeer would only end up breaking out of their enclosure if he ignored them.
All animals liked Nach—he was an angel of joy, after all. Most of them were content to get some attention, a few pets, and be on their way. When he’d first started his solstice hobby, he’d certainly had the occasional horse, dog, or cat follow him around, and there was that one time with the polar bear—polar bears wereveryhard to reason with, and that one in particular had taken quite the fancy to him. Sometimes he wondered if the whole yeti myth was partly his fault. But really, when a polar bear wanted to walk like you on two feet and hold your hand in their paw, you just let them.
But herd animals were definitely the worst at being attention seekers, and reindeer took the lead out of all of those. Back when Nach had started spreading solstice joy, there had been lots of villages near forested areas, and lots of reindeer, and without fail he ended up with company for his gift giving. He didn’t mind it, and he may have taken a ride or two, he had to admit. But the flying thing, well, that wasnothis fault. That had been Arioch’s idea (he should’ve known not to let a demon of chaos tag along), and it had sounded like a fine plan to bring the reindeer along with them while they flew to the next area to deliver some joy (in Nach’s case) and a bit of chaos (in Ari’s case).
“Oh, they really like you,” Beck wondered, staring in awe as the darn reindeer nosed in as close as they could to where Nach and Beck were coming up to the fence.
Nach just chuckled a bit, reaching out to pet the reindeer on their noses.
“Oh no! Don’t—” started a man, but then he trailed off, watching sort of slack jawed as Nach pet each reindeer in turn.
“Now, you be nice to Beck here as well, you hear? He’s a sweet little elf who would like to pet you too,” he told them, and one of the reindeer bumped his head forward into Beck, who reached up and pet him.
“Oh my god, I’m petting a reindeer,” he laughed, grinning broadly at Nach.
“Yes, you both are, apparently,” said the man who had started to chastise them earlier.
“Oh! Nick! I’m sorry! This is Nach,” Beck said, then he started giggling uncontrollably.
“Nick, Nach! Nach, Nick!” Beck giggled, introducing them, and yes, the similarity in their names was a bit humorous.
Nach finished petting the last reindeer (he couldn’t play favorites) and turned to face Nick.
“You know, I’ve never seen them so good with someone. Sometimes they can get a little feisty, which is why I was warning you not to reach into the enclosure,” Nick started, but then he gave a laughing cough as one of the reindeer pulled Nach’s scarf to try to get him closer again.
“Stop that!” he whispered over his shoulder. “This scarf belongs to Beck!”
The reindeer backed off, grunting the whole way, and Nach turned toward the little herd.
“Alright, go back to spreading Christmas cheer. I’m not staying,” he whispered to them. “Go on. Back to work.” He made a shooing motion with his hands, and turned back toward Nick and Beck, who were both just staring at him.
“Yes, ah, I have a way with animals,” he admitted. “Lovely to meet you, Nick, but Beck and I were just on our way home!”
He grabbed Beck’s hand then and pulled him along, back toward the front of the park.
