The North Pole Files - 1

"Hee hee hee hee!"

They snickered like little children. You would actually think they were children, but no. They were trees. They were actual talking trees, which I thought would be enchanting with a name like Wonderland Woods. Instead, I got a bunch of eyeroll-worthy plants who thought it was funny that they knew valuable information I currently searched for.

I let out a prolonged groan. "I just want to get to the elven village. That's it. Then I'll be out of your hair. Or twigs. Or whatever you want to call it."

I threw my hands up in the air with the frustration that these trees were giving me. Kula, it was called. Allegedly, it was a large village located on an island one boat ride away from the mainland of the Noreski Isles--the island I was on right now.

See, the Noreski Isles were what outsiders called the North Pole. I came here on assignment to solve the murder of Edvar, Santa's head elf. After discovering that two elves named Mette and Perti were the culprits, Santa Claus--or Sir Jul as the locals called him--asked me to stick around to try and figure out the dark atmosphere that had been disquieting the North Pole's merrier, sweeter, and more perfect nature.

I figured that going to Mette and Perti's home village would be a good start, so I followed I map to the Wonderland Woods where I was supposed to receive the key to the secret passageway to Kula. Instead, I became stuck with uncooperative arboreal headaches.

"Wait a minute," one of the trees said. I didn't know which one since I stood in a snowy clearing in front of a semi-circle of them. "Who are you again?"

I restrained from pulling at the ends of my hair. "I already told you that I'm an Operative for an agency for Otherworldly Creatures. I was hired by Sir Jul to investigate these Isles..."

"Young human lady..." an older-sounding voice said before pausing. "You are a human, correct?"

"Yes," I answered through my teeth.

"And you are a lady, yes?"

Before I made a move to actually pull at my hair, another voice responded, "Yes, she is a lady. She's here because she has indeed been chosen."

I glanced around, trying as usual to find which voice said that. I noticed one of the trees extending its naked branch in my direction.

"But I think all of us want to know why," that same last (more reasonable) voice continued.

"Not us. We've been getting her lost for almost an hour!" A cluster of trees shook as they giggled.

"Enough," Reasonable Tree Voice said gently. A pause fell. "Young lady, some of us have seen centuries of creatures pass through here...but few have ever been outsiders such as yourself. You say that Sir Jul chose you. He would never choose an outsider to do such important work, especially when he has investigators of his own."

"He could simply ask Frosty," a more distant tree said with other ones agreeing.

"Yes, that Man of Snow has minions everywhere," Reasonable Tree Voice agreed. It actually sounded more motherly the more that it spoke. "Yet you, young lady, were chosen. Why? Who are you?"

I didn't answer immediately since I was still trying to make sense of everything while attempting to calm my frustration. My eyes fell upon the group of trees in front of me. Then I let out a long sigh. "I'm Operative Nina Cenizas--"

"No," Reasonable Tree Voice interjected. "Who are you? Why are you doing this? You can be in a warmer climate, performing easier tasks. But you are here...about to enter a world that will only pull you in deeper the longer that you are here. What brought you to that path?"

The tree was right. I usually dealt in more minor causes that no one else in my agency wanted to handle. I gave numerous citations to the Leprechaun, unraveled a mermaid Drowning Scam operation, and even helped the Chupacabra find his beloved pet goat. Don't ask about that last one.

Now I was here, searching for answers to something whose beginning was still a mystery to me. Still, I stood here and continued to try, despite seeming to get nowhere in these Woods.

I mindlessly brought my gaze to the sunlit snow beside me. "I guess I want to do something that actually matters. No longer be an anonymous agent."

I didn't notice how distant my voice had become or that I had even said those words at all. Still, it was enough for some mumbling to occur within the trees. I didn't know why I expected them to suddenly shift closer to one another and congregate, but I quickly let that image go as I momentarily felt them watch me.

It was after a moment of silence when a hollow ancient-sounding voice beside the Reasonable one came to speak. "We will give you passage to Kula as you ask because we do feel Sir Jul's aura on you. But...we will not allow you to leave unless we feel that your aura gives to these Isles instead of takes." A pause fell: a pause that felt like forever. "Do you agree, young lady?"

And with that, it felt as though my first trial arrived in the Noreski Isles.