Free Licking His Cane by Viola Grace

Prologue
     
     
    Blitzen wrapped her arms around herself and looked to Ru.
    “I have never been alone.” Blitzen frowned and shivered.
    “Are you sure you want to do this? I think that the others can have the desired effect.” Ru looked concerned.
    “No. I think that I will stick with the original plan. It won’t hurt me to be out in the world for a while, and you know I do love all things mechanical. It will be good for me. I think.”
    Ru put her hand on Blitzen’s shoulder. “I will miss you.”
    “I will be home soon. The sooner that I leave, the sooner I will be on my way back here.”
    Ru chuckled. “You can leave and enjoy yourself. There is no harm in it.”
    “I have never really given enjoyment a try.”
    Ru rolled her eyes. “I know. You started life as a Quaker, and the simple life has never really left you.”
    “You know how terrifying this place was when I first arrived.”
    Ru stroked her cheek. “I remember, but this time, the magic is giving you the knowledge that you need. You won’t be pulled out of your time again. If you trust me that this is for the best, I promise you won’t regret it.”
    Blitzen nodded and took her folded envelope from her pocket. “Here is the letter. I hope it does some good.”
    Ru took it and tucked it into her pocket. “It will. I have a plan for it.”
    Blitzen smiled with amusement at the grim grin that Ru was giving her. “Santa is not going to like it, is he?”
    “Men rarely like to be slapped in the face with the obvious.”
    “Will it slap him?”
    “It is going to knock him backward. Now, if you are ready?”
    “I am ready.”
    Ru unfastened Blitzen’s collar, and the air rushed in and caressed her neck for the first time in centuries. There was a moment of panic, and then, Ru handed her the snowflake. Without hesitation, Blitzen hugged her friend and then pressed the snowflake to her naked neck.
    Moments later, a swirl of snow and magic swept her up and Belinda Litzen prepared to start her day.
     

 
     
Licking His Cane
     
     
    Belinda worked inside the mechanism of the cookie-stamping machine while the shop owner looked anxiously at her from his office window.
    Calibre Cookies had suffered a failure of their most popular shortbread presses, and Belinda had been called in to fix it.
    She moved the heavy plates around with ease, knowing what the whole machine was supposed to look like when it functioned properly.
    The snowflake magic of an entire year was working inside her to give her the knowledge she needed to fix industrial baking equipment, and she had really enjoyed being around the scents of the holidays, even if it was on a massive scale.
    While dangling in the inner workings of the machine, she found what had set it off. Someone had forked the gears. A thick and heavy steel fork that had been wedged into the rotors. The angle she found it at precluded it being an accidental insertion. She pulled it out and tucked it in her tool belt.
    The gears, belts and plates went back into place in under an hour. The evening repairs that she engaged in were definitely in need in this town. The ability to call for repairs in the few hours when there wasn’t anyone manning the machines was a boon. She was the only one working off contract at night.
    When the machine was ready and the housing was back on, she walked over to the power centre and removed her lockout. She powered up the entire line and started the press. The test batch of dough dumped, was run through the sheeter and, from there, it wedged itself into the mold.
    From the mold, it proceeded down to the baking pans until it was ready for the oven. The test batch made six pans with a nice, clear stamp of holiday motifs. The shop owner came out and ran to the line, exhaling a deep sigh of relief at the images on the line.
    “I don’t know how you did that, but thank you.”
    “I will email you the invoice. Oh, and this was what caused the problem.” She pulled the mangled fork out of