Eric had been worried that he’d be too exhausted to train for Christmas Eve with the rest of the team, considering he’d nearly had all the life drained out of him only a few hours earlier. However, the moment he awoke with Clyde’s arms draped around him and feeling the breath of his reindeer against his neck, he felt more alive than he had in his entire life. He was out there in the training yard getting his workout before Bix, Rudy, and the others had even woken up, relishing the fact that he had his reindeer body back again after the scare during the Conclave the night before.
With only two days of training left until the big night, Rudy had them all in full ceremonial tack and hooked into the sleigh Santa would be riding, fully loaded to its maximum weight. “No more fooling around, team! We’ve got only a little time, and you still haven’t shown me you’re ready!” Rudy shouted in full-on drill sergeant mode with his nose shining like a lightbulb. “We’re doing laps! From here to Trondheim and back 30 times! Nothing to eat till we get back! Move it, people!”
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The last two days of training were blur, with Rudy pushing everyone to the limit until their bodies ached and felt like they were about to fall apart. Finally, on Christmas Eve proper, training let out just after lunchtime to give everyone time to rest up before the big flight around the world, the most important day in a reindeer’s year.
“T-this seems… counterproductive…” Eric panted, struggling to change back from his four-legged form from exhaustion. “If we’re this tired right before Christmas Eve… how can we get presents to everyone in the world without passing out?”
“You’ll see, söpö. You’ll see,” Clyde assured him, even though every single member of the team was completely worn out. “You just have to trust Santa, and it’ll work out…”
“And that’s another thing,” Eric said, scrunching up his face in thought. “I mean, I know he’s magic and all, but it makes no sense, mathematically speaking. Getting to every house to deliver presents, I mean.”
“Ugh, here we go…” Rudy sighed from nearby. He’d heard this one a million times, especially any time a new reindeer joined the team.
“There’s 7.9 billion people in the world, right? If only a third of them celebrate Christmas with giving gifts, that’s about 2.6 billion people. If 30% of the population is under 18 and is eligible for presents, that’s 790 million kids,” Eric continued, undeterred. “Let’s assume about 75% of the kids in the world aren't on the naughty list and get their presents. That’s 590 million kids to deliver to.”
“That’s why we have four teams delivering presents,” Clyde said calmly.
“I was getting to that, Clyde,” Eric said tersely. “Splitting up 590 million people between four teams gives us approximately 150 million people per team.”
“That’s very impressive math, söpö. And?”
“And that means that if we’re delivering presents over the course of one 24-hour period, we’d need to deliver 1700 presents per second to make it work! How exactly is that supposed to work, Clyde?”
“Mmm… You might want to check your math. I don’t know if three quarters of the kids are on the good list,” Clyde said, intentionally missing Eric’s point entirely. “Otherwise, that sounds about right, give or take a little bit of rounding.”
“But-“
“I know, I know. But like I said, you need to trust Santa. The magic works, I’ve seen it,” Clyde said reassuringly, and in spite of his worries Eric knew he could trust both Santa and Clyde. Together, he and Clyde finally reached their home for a quick nap, collapsing on the living room still in four-legged form and cuddling up with one another. Eric pressed his ear against his reindeer lover’s flank and let the quiet sound of Clyde’s heartbeat lull him to sleep. He knew he’d have to get as much rest as he could in the few hours left before the big flight…
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When the time finally came, the four teams of reindeer solemnly marched up to the workshop in their four-legged forms, where the sleighs were already prepared and laden with presents. Each sleigh had its designated navigator already in place; Humphrey and another elf had disguised themselves as Santa while Mrs. Claus was riding in a sleigh of her own, and of course the big boss himself was in the largest and most heavily-laden sleigh of the four.
Santa rose to his feet and made a short speech for the gathered reindeer:
“My friends, the night has come at last! Some of you are new to this job and some of you are veterans of many flights. Young or old, let us be brought together by our love for the holiday and our desire to bring happiness to the children of the world! And let me be the first to apologize for my absence these past weeks. I’m an old man, and even old men forget from time to time what is truly important. Love, family, hard work, generosity… These are things that have been right under my nose for so long, around my village and at our new resort. I should have seen them and had my heart gladdened by them, but I thought I knew what was right and wrong and couldn’t bring myself to be proven incorrect. So I thank you, people of the reindeer tribe. And to the fox tribe, the elves, and all the other people that make this sanctuary their home. With your help, let us make this the merriest Christmas of all!”
The assembled reindeer let out a cheer, and with a wave of Santa’s hand the reins on each sleigh rose into the air and gracefully attached themselves to the reindeer’s tack, pulling each team into tight formation before each sleigh. The moment the reins touched Eric’s harness, he felt a surge of power flowing through him, banishing away all the aches and pains of the last few days of practice.
He looked over and saw Clyde looking at him with the biggest, goofiest grin on his muzzle.
“Told ‘ya, söpö. Just gotta trust the big boss and everything will work out just fine,” Clyde said smugly.
“Well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” Eric shot back, leaning forward and planting a big kiss on his reindeer’s lips, then he turned to face forward and waited for the signal to take off.
“On Heikki, on Bix, on Arvo and Tag! On Onni, Mathias! On Eric and Clyde! On Rudy, fly! Merry Christmas!” Santa shouted, his voice full of passion once again, and with a shake of the reins the reindeer team moved as one, taking to the air and beginning to circle high above Santa’s village. The sleigh made a bee-line for the resort, flying low and giving the guests a real show before the four sleigh teams directed themselves toward the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean.
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The four teams hovered over the open ocean, waiting for the clock to strike midnight so they could begin the long, 24-hour flight around the entire planet, stopping at every home on Santa’s list on the way. It still seemed absurd to Eric, but for some reason the warmth of the energy flowing through the sleigh’s reins made him feel more confident that he had in his entire life. His lover Clyde, his brothers Tag and Rudy, his ïsa Bix, and all the friends he had made on the team were there, giving him their support and he was there to support them in turn.
Santa glanced at his golden pocket watch, watching the hand tick down to midnight. As soon as the time finally came, the powerful old man raised one hand and snapped his fingers, making a crack that seemed to echoed in the still air. Out of the corner of his eye, Eric spotted a snowflake, completely suspended in the air and frozen in place like a photograph.
“What the-“ he started to say, looking over at Clyde in confusion. The other reindeer smirked and waggled an eyebrow, clearly enjoying seeing the confusion on Eric’s face.
“Told you. Trust the big boss,” Clyde teased for the second time. “Time magic. When you were doing all those fancy calculations earlier, you figured that there were 60 seconds in a minute, right? Well, what if there weren’t? Then we’d have all the time in the world to do our deliveries.”
“That’s-“
“Don’t say ‘impossible’, love. It’s so… cliché. Just keep facing forward and watching Rudy’s nose, and let Santa do what he’s been doing for 1700 years, okay?”
With that, the sleigh zipped forward through the air, heading straight toward the New Zealand for the first big stop of the night. The other teams handled the smaller towns in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, while Santa’s sleigh was focused on the biggest cities. To that end, the sleigh sighted the lights of Auckland off in the distance, within seconds the city was right on top of them.
“Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!” Santa exclaimed into the night, and with a flick of his hand he grabbed a present and flung it from the sleigh with practiced aim, sending it sailing smoothly through the air and toward a small house on the outskirts of the city. As soon as it reached the home, it flashed with a sparkling light and suddenly blinked through the walls of the home and nestled itself under the home’s Christmas tree.
“Telekinesis and teleportation magic,” Clyde narrated for Eric’s benefit. “Put the present close to where it needs to go, then poof it to its final destination. Easy.”
“Yeah, sounds very simple,” Eric replied sarcastically, though he had to admit it was impressive to see. But that was just one present out of millions, so how was Santa possibly going to…
But he did. After the first present was delivered, Santa quickly increased the pass to an unimaginable level, his hands flying back and forth and flinging presents through the air so quickly that Eric couldn’t even begin to count them. And for every present, Santa already knew what it was, who it was for, and where it would have to end up. For the first time, Eric truly understood the depths of Santa’s incredible power, and what the old man had been considering giving up that night of the conclave.
Eric had to tear his eyes away from Santa’s display of power and focus entirely on flying the sleigh, weaving through the streets of Auckland and avoiding buildings and trees with every turn. Thanks to the time magic that Santa had been using, the people on the street seemed frozen in place (though in fact they were actually moving too slowly for the eye to see), and they had to do a few circles of the city to finally deliver the last present to the last child in Auckland.
“Excellent work, team!” Rudy called back to everyone as they set their sights on the next target of the night. “Let’s head right over to Australia, mate!”
"Hey, Eric's my mate, Rudy!" Clyde joked, getting a loud groan from the rest of the team at the lame joke.
Sydney was done in a few quick passes; By now Santa was all warmed up and firing off presents at a rate of dozens per second, filling the air with elaborately wrapped boxes and bags that never failed to find their mark. Santa gave the signal to Rudy when the last present was delivered, then they sped off for Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane, finishing each city one-by-one before leaving the remaining towns and cities in Australia for another team to finish. With their first continent confidently under their belts, the sleigh zoomed off with a streak of light toward Asia.
Tokyo, Shanghai, and Yangon were a tough trip, but soon they too were taken care of as the sleigh sailed up to the Eastern Europe. After hitting Moscow, the sleigh came in for a landing at the Sahara Desert sanctuary for a brief pit-stop, enjoying some freshly-made vegetable stew and coffee to give them the energy needed to continue their long voyage.
As the sleigh team zipped up and down Africa, Eric stopped trying to count the cities and the millions of presents they had already delivered. He simply focused on the flight, on the breeze whistling through his antlers as he and his people sailed through the skies of the world. The reindeer truly were his people now, but so were the werefoxes, the elves, and even the odd werewolf or two. And by working together, he and his new family had accomplished so much, all leading up to this night of bringing happiness to the world. He felt a second surge of energy flowing through him, raising the team’s speed to unheard of levels as they finished delivering the last present to Europe before making the Atlantic crossing to North America.
North America was much the same, and with each present delivered Eric could feel his pride in his accomplishments growing greater and greater, filling him with the warmth and strength to finish the job. He’d often heard Lars and the other werefoxes going on and on about ‘Christmas Spirit’, almost to the point where it felt trite. But now, he was feeling it. Him, Clyde, Tag, Bix, Rudy, and all the others were sailing around the world fueled on pure Christmas Spirit. When the East Coast was finished up, they dipped down into Mexico and up to Canada for a few major stops, then they sailed around the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains to hit as many big spots as they could, leaving the smaller towns for the rest to take care of. After a quick zip up to Alaska, they made their way south down the coast toward the Pacific Northwest before finally sighting Eric's homeland of California. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego were done in a blink of an eye before they sleigh took a sharp turn toward Hawaii.
The twinkling lights of Honolulu were enough to snap Eric out of his ecstatic state, then he turned his head and saw Santa finally release the last present in his sleigh, which sailed off to rest under a Christmas tree in Kauai.
“What was the last one this year, boss?” Rudy called back with a big, tired grin on his face, his nose beginning to flicker with exhaustion.
“Surfboard, kid's size. About half as big as the one Tag wanted,” Santa replied with a tired laugh, slumping back in his seat and letting out a big sigh. “Long year… And next year will be even longer.” He turned to look at Eric, Clyde, and the rest of the team with a twinkle in his eyes. “…And I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Merry Christmas, my friends. Let’s head home, shall we?”
The long, long flight finally finished, Rudy took charge and turned the sleigh northward, taking a leisurely pace toward the North Pole where they could finally get a rest after the seemingly endless Christmas Eve night.