Landsbyen -Into the North- An Epic Poem 64

“They look good,” he said to Joulupukki as he stepped out of the sleigh. “Flying in, they looked like a totally different team, but I thought you were going to run them, test their endurance.” Lumi looked at him, “We did,” he said. “You just left, Lumi.” Joulupukki touched the elf's shoulder to get his attention. “How long were we gone,” he asked the elf? “Long enough for me to follow you out of the stable, then go back in for my bucket and come back out to get water for the trough. Just a few minutes I would say.” Lumi sounded a bit confused and a little angry, “We flew to the mountains and across several peaks then headed back. It must have been several hours. You are just playing a game with us, Rådyrvokter.” He turned and walked toward the house. “I'm hungry, Joulupukki, can I bring you something?” “Not for me, but I'm sure the deer would appreciate a treat.” Lumi walked into the back door where Ceridfen was busy cooking. He made his way to a table where he grabbed a piece of toast and smeared lingonberry jam on it before stuffing it in his mouth. He looked around and saw the same food he had eaten for breakfast earlier that morning. “Ceridfen, are you making left overs for noon meal?” he was confused. “No, I am not making morning meal for noon meal. This is the same food I fed you just a short while ago and now you are back eating the toast I made for the young ones, as if I have bread growing from my ears. Young elf, why are you back in my house, anyway? I thought you and Joulupukki were going to take those crazy deer for a run, or did he change his mind and not want you to come after all?” She looked at him and smiled, then seeing the confused look on his face, asked, “Are you alright?” “He was right,” he said to himself. “Yes, I'm fine.” He called back to Ceridfen as he grabbed four carrots and ran back to the stable. “He was right, Joulupukki,” he said hurriedly as he entered the stable. “Ceridfen is still serving breakfast to the young ones.” He didn't notice Dyndoeth standing there as he came in. “This is an interesting turn of events,” Dyndoeth uttered, half to himself “You both say that you flew all the way to the mountains, but you appear to have only been gone for a short length of time.” “Only for as long as it took me to walk in and out of the stable twice,” chimed in the Stable Elf. “I once heard of an elf who was supposed to be able to bend time, but I thought it was just a myth. When Joulupukki left in the sleigh where did you last see him?” “That's the strange thing,” Rådyrvokter replied, “they started disappearing as they reached the mainland, like they were going behind the clouds, but there weren't any clouds. When they came back, I didn't see them until they were coming to ground well over the Village.” Joulupukki took two of the carrots and gave one to Sprinteren and the other to the deer behind him. The deer ate them as if they were starving. Ceridfen appeared through the door along with Gwaldon and two other Elders. “Is everything alright,” asked one of the Elders to the group already gathered in the stable?” Rådyrvokter was unharnessing the deer to let them rest but each one seemed famished looking in the trough for food and eating hay like they couldn't get enough. Dyndoeth looked up at the Elder, taken a bit by surprise, “Oh, well, yes,” he said. Ceridfen saw the confusion in his eyes and explained, “Lumi was acting very strangely when I spoke with him earlier, I told Gwaldon and he asked the others to come with us to see if we could help.” Dyndoeth smiled and re-assured her that everything was fine. “We are simply discussing a rather confounding issue that Joulupukki and Lumi has discovered when flying with the deer. Please, come join us and perhaps one of you can help shed light on this dilemma.” He proceeded to explain the situation to the others as they made themselves comfortable. They discussed the missing time, or gaining of time depending on your point of view, until early afternoon, at which point they took a break. Ceridfen went inside the cottage and made arrangements for the older children to make a simple lunch for the young ones and returned with a large tray filled with bread, meats and cheeses and a couple of pitchers of water and cups brought out by two of the children. She set them on a bale of hay and both Lumi and Joulupukki helped themselves immediately. “Lumi!” she admonished. “Leave some for someone else.” Joulupukki, realizing he had overly filled his own lap with several sandwiches, blushed at Ceridfen. “Please accept my apology, Ceridfen, we are making pigs of ourselves.” Lumi interjected in a sheepish tone. “It has been quite some time since Joulupukki and I have eaten morning meal. It's really time for evening meal for us. We completely missed noon meal.” They all laughed, and began their discussion once more.