by Eden Ember
Elzarr grabbed the fork and the knife. “I am a master with culinary skills. I shall chop the best of the beef chunks for you,” he said as he laughed.
Piper grabbed a small bag of potatoes, carrots, and onions from the cellar and brought them upstairs to chop. She and Elzarr worked very well together while preparing the meal.
The small cabin didn’t leave much room for them to walk around each another. Piper pulled rolls out of the freezer and turned, running directly into Elzarr. He grinned down at her and they danced trying to give the other person the right way. He chuckled and moved to the side to allow her to advance toward the table.
After dinner, Elzarr hopped up and started clearing the dishes from the table. As she couldn’t allow him to outdo her, Piper piled as many dishes as she could into her arms and carried them to the sink. She thrust her hands into the hot soapy water, Elzarr standing beside her to rinse and towel dry each one. They did this until the entire kitchen was clean and then Piper turned, finding herself face-to-face with him. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her face. For a moment, she thought he would lean in to kiss her. For a moment, she thought she might let him.
“I suppose it’s time for bed. Are you warm and okay out here? I’d be happy to let you sleep in the bed while I sleep out here on the couch. I really don’t mind,” Piper said.
“No, the couch is very comfortable, and I appreciate it. I don’t have such nice accommodations as you do here and I guess in a way I’m thankful for the snowstorm,” Elzarr admitted. Piper nodded and smiled as she walked from the kitchen to the bedroom, thoughts of her guest running through her head.
Piper fell into bed and slipped into dreams of the near kiss with Elzarr. She slept well, her mind at ease with the thought of the handsome man lying on the couch in the living room nearby.
Chapter 6
Elzarr made himself at home in Piper’s cabin. The snowstorm prevented him from leaving as a man. Not a bad thing considering the attraction he had to the warm and friendly human. The issue came when he needed to shift into his animal form and stretch and work his muscles. His body needed equal amounts of time in both forms, which was why he chose Alaska and the far-reaching region of Christmas Town for his new home. He never imagined meeting a human female that compelled him to stick close to her.
Elzarr stepped outside while she was in her bedroom, which gave him a few moments to himself. “I’m bringing up some wood,” he called out. She answered with a muffled okay.
Outside, the snow fell in flurries over the already puffed landscape. Making quick work, Elzarr discarded his clothing and shifted. With a bellow, he leapt into the forest and ran fast around the perimeter of the ridge. It felt good to stretch his muscles and then prance back with bold leaps. After shifting back into his human-like form, he dressed, not wanting to alarm Piper again, and carried armloads of wood to the front porch. She stood at the stove inside while stirring a pot of oatmeal and greeted him with a big smile when he came back inside.
“Smells wonderful,” Elzarr told her. He enjoyed a similar dish on Azanie, with the sweet tones of the grulup fruit that grew in the mountains around the palace.
“Oats stick to the ribs and helps on a cold day like today. We’ve gone through so much wood. Thank you for carrying up more. Oh, I saw the reindeer while you were outside. Did you see him?”
He looked up and smiled. “I did, off in the distance. I had my ears covered, but heard his hooves in the snow,” he replied. It wasn’t a full lie.
“Isn’t he the most beautiful animal you’ve ever seen?” Piper asked as she drizzled maple syrup into her bowl.
Elzarr nodded and smiled, amused by her words. “I think reindeer are beautiful and majestic creatures. Mythical even,” he said as he grinned. Would she take the bait and talk more about it?
“I suppose. I’ve never really thought about it. I mean, Alaska has lots of big game,” Piper told him as she shoveled in another spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth.
He grimaced at her choice of words. Big game. People around here hunted elk, deer, bear. Perhaps he should be mindful of the humans when running. However, he’d more than checked out the area surrounding Christmas Town and there weren’t too many reindeer hunters. He’d never go to south Alaska where deer was on the menu, and where his head placed on the wall above a fireplace could happen.
“Pardon?” He looked at her as Piper had asked him a question.
“I asked if you did any hunting?”
“Oh, only small game. Like lemmings. I’ll fish for Arctic Char too,” he said.
“You hunt lemmings? Seriously?”
“Yes, I enjoy some bird eggs as well. Where I’m from, these are delicacies.” Elzarr grinned while not revealing his taste for deer moss. He reserved it for a conversation on another day.
Piper made a face. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, you eat lemmings? They’re like little furry pets,” she said.
Elzarr shook his head and laughed. “You never know what you can eat unless you’re hungry and lemmings are the only thing available,” he replied.
“You’d make a good person on some of those survival shows. I mean, they eat anything,” she said as she widened her eyes.
Elzarr enjoyed joking around with her. Though, when he admitted to the foods he ate, he wasn’t joking at all. But as a human-ish being, he ate the same things she did. He refused to put a bite of venison to his lips, though. He was thankful that Piper didn’t have a freezer full of it, which is what many people around this part of Alaska had.
The two of them spent part of the day pulling the icicles off the eaves. Right before the sun left for the day, Elzarr brought up more firewood until the porch overflowed with it.
“I hate to admit this, but I’m going to anyway. Here goes; I’m grateful for the snowstorm,” Piper said to him as she smiled.
Alaska was full of snowstorms. However, Elzarr had an idea as to why she would say such a thing. “You know, I’m grateful for it too. It made me realize that I have a gracious and beautiful neighbor,” he said.
Piper bumped into him as she laughed. She paused in front of the large man and looked up into his eyes. Everything inside Elazarr tensed as he looked back at her. She lifted her chin, stepping closer, daring him to make a move. He started to lean in, but then he realized this would never work. He backed away and cleared his throat.
Piper looked flustered for just a moment but then she righted herself. “Oh! I know, I’ll make us a nice cup of hot cocoa. I make it extra heavy on the milk so that will help us get a good night's sleep,” she said as she grinned at her guest. Elzarr watched her as she walked into the kitchen while humming a Christmas tune. She was so warm and friendly, and it took everything he had not to pull her into his arms and claim her as his own.
As Elzarr laid on the couch late into the night, he could hear the even, soft breaths of Piper coming from the bedroom. She slept with the door open so that the wood heat circulated into there. He tossed and turned as he thought about that near kiss from earlier. After a time, he rose from the couch and strode out the front door as quietly as possible. He marched straight back to the shed and discarded his clothing before shifting into the magnificent reindeer.
The moon was out, though not as full as it had been, and it peeked behind the clouds occasionally as the snow flurries continued falling. The snow was so high in places it was difficult for Elzarr to prance through it. He stretched his legs and lifted his head and uttered the reindeer cry. He ran up onto the ridge, making his way around the entire area as if he were free and had nothing in the world that could tie him down. Not even the beautiful human that enticed him so in the cabin nearby. Piper would be frantic if she were to get up and see him gone. Just to keep her from doubting his reasons for being out in the snow, he would carry back an armload of wood to let her know that he was stoking the fire in the middle of the night. He only wished he had checked it before he left to make sure it actually needed wood. He also soon realized that t
he porch held an abundance of wood already. It didn’t matter. He had to do this; he had to stretch his legs and work his muscles in his animal form. It was the only way he could survive and keep his body healthy and his muscles strong.
Off in the east, the sun was rising but just barely. These days, the sun didn’t rise for long as the area stayed dark more than it stayed light. He stretched himself again as he ran up onto the ridge and peered down at the rough little cabin that he had claimed as his home when he came to Earth. Elzarr laughed to himself as he pranced away and headed back to the beautiful cabin and the lovely lady within. Perhaps he was fighting being around her. Maybe Piper was compelling him to stay with her. Whatever was happening, he wasn’t sure how long he could continue to fight his urges.
Having stored his clothes inside the shed, they weren’t snow-covered this time around. Elzarr dressed again and loaded his arms with wood before going back to the cabin. When he walked through the door, piper was standing just inside in her flannel pajamas and regarded him briefly as she ran her hand over her tousled hair.
“There you are. I thought you might get some wood, so I started breakfast,” she said.
Elzarr stoked the fire inside the stove as he watched Piper cook. The fragrance of scrambling eggs, frying bacon, and biscuits filled the air. She quickly whipped up a pot of white gravy, the kind they eat in the south. Piper smiled as she set the table.
“We need to eat the heartiest meals. I hope you like biscuits and gravy,” she said.
Elzarr sat at the table as he so desired to tell her more. “I will eat anything you fix, except venison. I will not eat venison,” he said. He laughed to make it lighthearted though he was very serious about the statement. She too laughed.
As Elzarr ate, he wanted his next words to be the truth to tell her who and what he really was. When she cleaned the dishes and talked about gathering more firewood, he lost his courage and said nothing.
Chapter 7
Piper grew suspicious of Elzarr as she wondered if there was something he was leaving out of what he was telling her. He seemed perfectly nice, and normal, and oh so very sexy. She rather enjoyed having him around, as he seemed almost too perfect to be a man. She grew more suspicious as he disappeared often. He kept the porch full of wood as that was always the excuse for him to trek out into the deep snow to bring up more wood.
Piper woke early one morning feeling that the air in the cabin was cool. After shrugging into her thick robe, she walked into the living room and saw that her guest hadn’t slept on the sofa. The stove had burned down to low embers. She prepared herself to go outside to bring in wood to stoke the fire. One did not open the door to get firewood without fully dressing the part as it; was that cold outside. As she stepped into her boots, the door opened slowly causing the hinges to creak. In walked Elzarr, his arms loaded with wood and breathing fast.
“Oh, I was just about to go out there and get some wood,” she said.
“Yes, I saw that the stove was low, so I went out to bring the wood back. I’m sorry you woke up to a cooler cabin,” Elzarr said as he walked to the stove and stoked the fire.
The snow piled up on the roof and Piper needed to make sure there was enough gas in the generator. The cold air blasted through the door immediately as she stepped outside. She noticed that giant icicles had formed again from the eaves as Elzarr poured more gas from the tank at the side of the woodshed. A sudden rustling in the woods made her pause and turn to look but she saw nothing. “Oh, I hoped that it was the reindeer so that you could see him with me,” she said.
Elzarr looked up sharply as he squinted his eyes trying to see what she was looking at. “I don’t think it’s the reindeer,” he said as he carried the containers of gasoline to the porch.
They spent the few daylight hours they had chipping the icicles from the eaves and in bringing up more wood and gas. It left them very little daytime, and they had a lot of time inside the cabin before it was time again for bed. Piper put on a giant roast and it simmered in the pot as she and Elzarr chopped vegetables. Suddenly, a growl from the porch startled them followed by clawing at the door. Piper let out a small scream.
Elzarr jumped up and lurched for the window. “It’s a wolf!”
He had no sooner said it that the door rattled and opened as the wolf clawed at it. The gun Piper had was in her bedroom and not easily accessible. Before she realized what was happening, Elzarr tore out of his clothes and cast a look at her as he lurched toward the wolf. “I’m sorry.”
In a blur, Elzarr changed from a naked man and into a great majestic reindeer. Her reindeer! He lifted his chin and groaned at the wolf who was much smaller than him. It snarled and backed away. Elzarr, the reindeer, rushed toward him and the wolf ran into the forest with Elzarr right on his heels.
Piper did not understand what she had just seen. Her hand covered her mouth as she stifled a cry. Things like this didn’t happen every day. One moment, Elzarr had been inside her home, helping her chop vegetables, then in another he had suddenly threw his clothes off and turned right in front of her eyes into a great reindeer. It made no sense. The lantern cast little light to discover what was out there. The wolf’s footsteps trailed off just out of the light and the reindeer’s footsteps were right behind them. In the distance, she heard the wolves baying and calling to one another. Piper also heard the call of the reindeer and worried that the wolves would turn and kill him. Thinking quickly, she stepped back inside and grabbed her rifle and the spotlight and shrugged into her clothes as fast as she could. If the wolves tore into the deer, she would shoot them right there. With the gun and flashlight in hand, she tore down the same trail that the wolf and the reindeer made. The reindeer, Elzarr. Her mind swam with possibilities as she didn’t understand what happened. It couldn’t have happened. Maybe she had dreamed the whole thing and she’d awake later with him standing over her laughing and asking her what had happened.
The dark enveloped her with the freezing wind as she squinted at the trail before her. She traveled fast and hard as her breath came in ragged, causing a stitch in her side. Where was she? The animals were much faster than her. After stopping to catch her breath, Piper looked back and the cabin was just a mere dot in the distance beyond the trees. In her haste, she’d left the door open and now she worried that something else would invade her home. The baying of the wolves off in the distance startled her. There was no way she could catch up. The snow had begun to fall once again in another whiteout storm. Piper’s feet were frozen by the time she made it back to the cabin. Thankfully, no other animal was waiting for her at home.
Luckily, the wood stove burned bright even though the heat was pouring out through the front door. She checked all around inside before closing the door securing and it so that no other beast could come in. Well, unless the reindeer came back. The reindeer, Elzarr. She carefully hung her outerwear over the clothing rack near the door. Shock ravaged her because something like this could not be real. Piper thought she must be daydreaming; she was delirious and hallucinating.
The rifle was propped next to her near the couch. Piper listened for footfalls outside as the events of the night flitted through her mind. It had to have happened. Elzarr’s clothes laid strewn around in a pile on the other side of the sofa. Even his shoes he had been thrown off before he transformed into the great reindeer. Her majestic and beautiful reindeer. No wonder the man was gorgeous. After gathering his clothes and shoes together, she set them in the swing on the porch, in case he came back.
Her eyes stared at the door, waiting for his return. Where was Elzarr? What if the wolves got him and he was dead? A cry caught in her throat as Piper thought about it. Once daylight came, she would follow the trails looking for evidence that he had died. Her heart was breaking, and she wished he would just walk through the door. How was it that a mere human could fall in love with someone like him? She knew of the tales, legends if you will. Piper had not thought they were true, but now that she had seen it with her own eyes, s
he realized their veracity. The man no longer seemed human to her. Piper wasn’t sure what he was exactly. An alien perhaps? She didn’t know. She realized her feelings for him were much deeper than she had thought before. And all the silliness of it and in her own stupid away, she kept her hand out trying to keep him at bay. And really, Piper fell for him, whoever and whatever Elzarr was. She fell for the reindeer, from the first time she laid eyes on him. She knew there was a special connection between him and her. And now she knew they cemented that special connection as he stayed with her and protected her. He had allowed himself to become who he really was and showed Piper his protection. It meant that he cared for her too.
Chapter 8
Elzarr chased the giant wolf all the way to the foot of the mountain. What the wolf didn’t know was that Elzarr wasn’t just an ordinary reindeer. An ordinary reindeer would have run from the wolf. Elzarr had killer instincts. Even though his presence emitted a pleasantness to those who posed no harm to him, he was a terrible foe to predators who sought to harm. The wolf had come across Piper’s cabin on the hunt for food in the driving snow. Food was in short supply for the wolf and his nose led him to her.
Elzarr wouldn’t have had a problem ripping the creature across its throat had he caught it. The deep snow made it impossible to run very fast, though. The wolf had the advantage of being from this area. However, he kept on the killer’s trail hoping to chase him far enough away that he’d never come back and threaten Piper again. Who was he kidding? Wolves had a keen sense of smell and instinct. They’d not forget. This sealed it, he couldn’t leave her alone now. She was in danger. Or at least he might stay with her long enough to reinforce her doors and windows from such predators.
The wolf ran beyond the reach the mountains and down into the valley below. As the wolf joined his pack and ran farther away, Elzarr turned to go back to Piper. He ambled along while catching his breath. Relief flooded him that the truth was now out. He had a lot of explaining to do when he returned. The shocked expression on her face when he tore out of his clothes and shifted into the reindeer would not leave his mind. Piper appeared confused and yet he took off so quickly that he couldn’t say a word to her. He wondered once she learned the full truth of who he was if she would be interested in him. If he admitted it to himself, he had feelings for the human woman. The attraction had grown since he first laid his eyes upon her when he had wandered up to her cabin the first time he saw her. A magnetic attraction between the two was undeniable.
