Jack tapped the last icicle onto the windowsill. He let himself get carried, up, up, up by the wind, and admired his handiwork. When the children woke up tomorrow, they would see fresh new snow, white and pure as ever. But hang on, what was that…? Jack squinted, then frowned as his recognised the familiar blur of green in the distance. He raced towards it, the wind roaring in his ears.
'Maia! What do you think you're doing?!'
Jack banged his staff down in the middle of the grass patch, making the flowers around it wilt and freeze. The girl in front of him turned around and glared, flicking her dark hair out of her eyes. She put her hands on her hips.
'What's the problem?'
Maia, haughty as usual.
'You're thawing my ice! Making plants grow! I spent ages freezing this area!'
Maia rolled her eyes.
'Well, genius, this is my area. Mine, okay? It's still autumn here! There's no ice yet.'
Jack frowned harder, the lines on his forehead creasing even more. But before he could answer, Maia cut in.
'You should really be more careful about where you bang that staff of yours. You're so careless with your freezing.'
Now Jack smiled.
'But that's the joy of ice. It's random, spontaneous, fun-'
'Yeah, yeah, whatever. The thing about running Nature, Jack, is that you need to stick to the plan. It's stressful enough without you messing up the whole order of it.'
Yep, that was Maia. Strict, unyielding, sickeningly organized… How was she ever chosen as Mother Nature? Maia gave him a withering look, as if she was reading his thoughts. Sheesh, Maia could read his thoughts! Damn that girl and her gifts. Jack shook his head and pushed off the ground.
'Well, I'm off. I'm meeting North tonight.'
Maia waved her hand over the area which Jack had frozen. It gently thawed, and a small flower grew from the centre. Jack hid the whistle that was playing at the back of the throat. He was always impressed with Maia's skills, but she couldn't know that. She also pushed off the ground, letting the wind caress her hair.
'Guess what? We're all meeting North tonight. The Man in the Moon wants us.'
North was happy. Happier than usual. Well, it was Christmas in a couple of months, but that wasn't the reason, Jack was sure. What was the cause of the excited gleam in his eyes, the cheerful way he munched on his cookies? Tooth was flitting about as usual, checking everyone's teeth and laughing and giggling. The past few months had been busy for Tooth - tooth decay had reached its peak and it exhausted Tooth to see so many blackened teeth. And Bunny, where was he anyway? Jack looked around, but only seeing pointy hats and cookies, returned his attention to North. The big man cleared his throat.
'Alright, guardians, GUARDIANS, YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE.'
The whole room went silent. North chuckled.
'As you all know, the Man in the Moon summoned us here tonight. Bunny is coming soon, he just had a little…um…dilemma at The Burrows. Now, Tooth, Jack, Maia and Sandman, come closer. Listen, the Man in the Moon is calling to you.'