VELVETEEN vs. Winter #3
Sensing the brewing argument, the Princess stepped between them.
Her hem had been dragging in the snow the whole time, but it wasn’t wet or messy; she looked as fresh as she had when they first got underway, and even had holly braided into her hair now, courtesy of some jolly little bluebirds that had dropped in for part of their walk.
“Now you two, don’t lose sight of what matters here,” she said, tersely. “We need to find Jack.”
“Which means we need to find Santa,” said Velveteen. “Come on. This way.” She waved for them to follow as she moved deeper into the village. The snow in her wake molded itself into weasels and foxes, coming alive and ambling after her without leaving footprints.
Tag caught the Princess’s eye and gestured toward the snow animals, looking faintly alarmed. She nodded.
“She’s leakin’,” she said. “Understandable, under the circumstances. Might get worse before it starts getting better. We should get this done with. Come on.”
They hurried to catch up, their little group of five moving through the winter wonderland without pausing or looking back, only to stop at a house that managed to be even more welcoming and picturesque than everything around it.
It was like it had been designed to be the platonic ideal of Christmas in every possible way.
The walls almost looked like they were made of gingerbread; the eaves were frosted in drifts of cottony snow.
Velveteen, whose foxes and weasels had been joined by several wolverines and a bear, all made of living snow, made her way directly up the stairs to hammer on the door with one gloved fist. “Come out, you jolly old bastard!” she shouted.
“Your chimney’s smoking and it’s not Christmas, I know you’re in there! ”
The door swung open, and there he was: Santa Claus himself, all round belly and cheeks.
He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, his bushy white beard unkempt and his twinkling eyes sunken with exhaustion.
He was wearing his famous red pants, held up by suspenders, but no red coat.
Instead, he presented an expanse of stained white shirt.
His black boots were scuffed and offered no reflection. He caught Velveteen’s fist mid-knock.
“Not a good time, Velma,” he said, and pushed her backward. She stumbled down the steps, her snow beasts snarling all around her. Tag caught her before she could topple into a snow bank. “I’m a little busy.”
“Where’s Jack, old man?” asked Velveteen.
He looked at her wearily. “Is that why you’re all here? Looking for Jack?”
They murmured and exclaimed agreement, not even Victory Anna quite able to look him directly in the eye. Only Velveteen was glaring straight at him, not pulling away from Tag, who still had his hands against her shoulder to hold her upright.
“Is nothing ever enough for you?” asked Santa Claus.
“You wanted a happy ending, and now you can almost reach out and touch one. You beat the bad guys. You got your city to protect. You twisted the logic of fairy tales hard enough to get your boy back. Can’t you be happy with what you have, and let it go? ”
“I won’t be happy until I know Jack’s okay,” said the Princess coldly.
Santa sighed. “I told Aurora we couldn’t send the girl out into the Calendar Country just to woo the last animus,” he said.
“You people are too damn real. What you are today is what you’re going to be tomorrow.
You adapt, you…evolve. You get attached.
Too much exposure to you locks us down. Can’t be a protean holiday mystery when you’re spending too much time in the Calendar Country.
Can’t change without good reason. I told her, but did she listen? ”
“She who?” asked Polychrome, sounding baffled.
“Santa Claus isn’t the only power in the Winter, no matter how secular he gets,” said Velveteen. “He’s not in charge of the season. That falls to Aurora, Lady of the Northern Skies.”
“My Lady?” asked Victory Anna, with sudden hope.
“I’m sorry, Victoria, but none of your winter figures are here,” said Santa Claus. “They’re never going to be here. You don’t have enough belief on your own to make them manifest. Please don’t try.”
“Aurora keeps the Winter working,” said Velveteen, eyes still on Santa. “She’s the one who sent Jack into the Calendar Country to ingratiate herself with us.”
“And she’s the one who decided Jack had pushed her luck one time too many,” said Santa. His eyes filled with tears. “My Sophie is unconsolable. I’m barely holding it together.”
“So we need to talk to Aurora to get Jack back?” demanded Velveteen. “Sounds good to me. Where is she?”
“Velma—”
“No.” Velveteen glared at him. “You were part of confusing me until I didn’t always know which name I’m supposed to be using.
You don’t get to call me ‘Velma’ so I’ll feel like a child who has to listen to you.
I’m in costume. You call me ‘Velveteen.’ And we need to know how to reach Aurora.
” Her snow bear growled at him, the sound deep and dangerous.
Santa paled. “You would really face the living heart of Winter for Jack’s sake?”
“She’s our friend,” said the Princess. “You have no right to keep her away from us.”
“I’m her father,” said Santa, anguished. “Or I was. I don’t know anymore, and I don’t think Aurora knows, either. Until she does, I can’t be sure.”
“What do you mean?” asked the Princess.
“I mean we’re not real the way you are, but Jack spent too much time with both the mortal animus left in the world, and now she’s more real than she’s supposed to be,” said Santa.
“She can’t just be erased and replaced when she’s inconvenient.
She has to be rewritten, and that means the rest of us get to deal with the editorial process.
She wasn’t my daughter, and then she was, and now Aurora isn’t sure what she’s supposed to be. How can she best serve her season?”
“By coming home with us,” said Tag firmly.
Santa looked at them and sighed. “Is there anything I can say that keeps you from attacking me?” he asked.
“You can tell us where to find Aurora,” said Velveteen.
“Anything else?”
“No,” said Polychrome.
Santa was quiet for a long moment, looking at the gathered heroes.
None of them had ever been on the Naughty List, despite various attempts by The Super Patriots, Inc.
to put them there. They were good people, fighting consistently to make the world a better place.
He could fight them, absolutely, but the boundaries of his own nature would limit how much damage he could do.
They’d probably level half the village before someone was seriously hurt.
If it was him, Christmas would be ruined.
If it was one of them, he’d have violated the laws that governed his existence.
He took a deep breath and sagged. “Head to the north,” he said.
“As far as you can go. Her mountain will be waiting for you there. You’ll make the journey faster if you take some of my reindeer: they’re in the stable behind the house.
I don’t think you’ll bring her back to me.
But if there’s a way to bring some version of her back to the world, well.
Part of me is still enough of a father to think the world deserves her. ”
“I’m her friend, not her father, and I think the same thing,” said Tag. “If we can bring her home, we will. You have my word.”
Velveteen’s snow bear snarled.
“That’s all I can ask,” said Santa. He went back inside, leaving them alone. After a moment of puzzled silence, they walked around the house to find the promised reindeer, leaving the picturesque street behind.
* * *
Getting the Princess in her ball gown onto a reindeer was surprisingly easier than doing the same with Torrey in her corset. But eventually, they were all mounted and following Velveteen to the north, leaving the village behind.
Her snow animals grew in size and number as they rode, her snow bear becoming part of a sloth, while a pack of wolves arose out of the white and paced alongside the unbothered reindeer. Tag looked at them anxiously, riding as close to Velveteen as he could manage.
“Uh, Vel, honey?” he said.
“Yes?”
“Why are you making snow beasts? How are you making snow beasts? Are they going to attack us?”
“Not unless you do something to provoke them,” said Velveteen calmly.
“And as to how I’m making them, this version of the Winter is heavily influenced by children’s media.
Which means that if you catch a handful of falling snow and look at the individual snowflakes, they have faces.
Every single one of them. If it has a face, I can animate it. I’m just using my environment.”
“That’s…wow. This place was really made for you, wasn’t it? Toys and snowflakes with faces.”