Adley is an unusual elf. He prefers skiing to parties, doesn’t like to sing, and cares so little for elf conventions that his brother despairs of him ever getting married. Which is fine, because Adley has no intention of marrying just anyone.<br><br>When he meets Keru at the annual Christmas Eve party, the two are drawn to each other. The party may be the most important event of the elvish social calendar, but neither Adley nor Keru minds leaving early to take a walk. They enjoy an idyllic and romantic first date under an aurora, rescuing a reindeer calf along the way, and a relationship seems promising.<br><br>But their second date takes a dire turn when a skiing trip brings them face to face with a polar bear. They’d like to keep seeing each other ... if they can make it through their second date without being eaten!

Christmas Kisses at the North Pole

Further away from the village, past the wind turbines which powered much of the North Pole, was a spot known as the Hidden Hollow. Here nature had created a perfect dip in the surface of the ground, several feet lower than the surrounding terrain and very easy to fall into if one wasn’t careful. It offered protection from the winds which frequently buffeted the North Pole, providing a very nice spot to rest so long as one entered it deliberately as opposed to tumbling in accidentally


“Do you want to take a break in the Hidden Hollow?” asked Keru.


They stopped just before the hollow and removed their skis. It was much easier to carry the skis down rather than try to control their descent. They were, after all, cross-country skiers, not downhill.


Chapter 11