Distracted and fatigued, Tooth returns to her palace from a night of field work just as sunrise hits. She relieves Baby Tooth of command, giving her the A-OK for a well deserves break, and smoothly picking up her leadership duties from right where she left off. The rhythm of her work lulls her nearly into a trance, easily slipping into auto-pilot, calling out locations to the returning fairies and cataloguing the incoming teeth with the ease of someone who has centuries of experience. Tooth has taken to doing far more fieldwork since the Pitch's little hostile takeover attempt. For all she enjoys it though, it's still work. Taking actually breaks is nearly unheard of, but they are happening more often now that Baby Tooth is able to supervise and North has taken it upon himself to throw semi-regular get-togethers that provide good excuses for said breaks. Tooth is seriously considering finding another one or two of her girls to train in a similar fashion, figuring it's good sense to have more than one fairy available able to run things should anything untoward occur again like it had nearly a year ago.

Nearly a year since Pitch.

Nearly a year since Jack.

Tooth sighs again, her sadness apparent to all her fairies, but there is work to be done, so while they may take and extra second to greet their leader, they don't linger, flitting off into the wider worlds. Tooth doesn't mind, she's not really in want of comfort tonight. Truthfully she feels she owes it to herself to have a good long sulk over all this.

Jack is with Bunny.

Tooth had known something was brewing there, since the first time Jack had admitted that he had an open invitation to the Warren. That day, when Jack had told her that he'd just waltzed in to the usually-sealed Warren and started cleaning up after the Pooka, Tooth had nearly had a conniption. She'd tried to convince herself at the time that it was just shock that Bunny hadn't cared, had in fact seemed to appreciate the help, but she'd known even then, in her heart of hearts that there was something buried deeper, just beginning to surface. There was a whole month there shortly after, where a dark part of her had seen her friends depression and felt disgustingly pleased that things had fallen apart, but it was apparently meant to be because one day Jack just disappeared, and when they tried to notify Bunny, the Warren was locked. Tooth didn't need precognition to know what was happening to her friends during their little sojourn. Sure enough, after a couple of week of radio silence from both the Spring and Winter Guardians, they had emerged, hands clasped from their now shared home, smiling the smiles of the deeply loved.

Tooth had smiled to, because that is what friends do when other friends get Pooka-married. She's sat through the laughter and the jokes and the likely edited retelling of their hasty courtship. She'd commented where appropriate, laughed when she was meant to, and acted as unabashedly thrilled for them as everyone expected the ever-chipper girl to act. Tooth had stayed strong to the bitter end, until everyone else had retreated citing duties, save for her and North. She'd turned to her friend, prepared to fake the same pleasantries as with the others, but the look in his eyes stopped her dead. He'd not said a word, simply held his arms out and she'd fallen into them like one of those simpering female leads she'd always hated. Toothiana was a warrior, a Queen, and like Bunny the last of her kind. She had a powerful heart and a strong will and she knew it, but right now those assurances meant nothing in the wake of her tangled emotions.

She had cried in North's arms for longer then she cared to keep track of, the large man rubbing her back below her wings gently and rocking her back and forth, murmuring soothing sentiments in his native tongue. When she'd finally pulled back, still a little misty-eyed, North hadn't even seemed to care about the large wet patch on the front of his shirt, he'd just smiled that captivating smile of his, cupping her small face with his massive hands and tenderly brushing a tear off her cheek with one large thumb. He'd sat her in his office then, feeding her more tea and fresh fruit, which she greatly preferred to the cookies he usually served, and they'd talked. She'd told him everything she'd never said out loud before, about her feelings for Jack. She'd spilled her guts on her anger at being looked over, at her shame for her jealousy toward her friend's happiness. She was not the kind of person who wished for ill things, but she grieved and she hurt and sometimes the black thoughts seeped in around the edges.

North had listened as he always did, with little judgement and much sympathy. He's waited for her to run her course, and when the words had left her he'd taken his time to speak, to advise. North gave the best advice of anyone Tooth had ever met. What he'd told her had infuriated her, and she'd stormed out that night, and hadn't been back since. That had been nearly two months ago and she found herself regretting her actions, and mostly missing her friend. It was hilarious in a way, they'd once gone decades without seeing each other, but she'd been spoiled recently by the changes wrought in their lives after Jack's arrival and she missed sitting in North's workshop drinking his fabulous tea and watching his animated face recount some likely hysterical tale about the elves or Yetis or what have you. The anger still burned though, a small bitter flame in her breast.

Now here she sits, exhausted and guilty, knowing she must relent and fix her mistakes. Admitting to herself that something had to give was only the first step though, actually doing something about it was more than slightly intimidating. Eventually Tooth relents, deciding to visit the only one she trusts to steer her straight, after North himself, of course. She's going to see Jack.

Meeting with Jack in the Warren is almost as strange as watching a fish swim on land. Jack is different here; alive and engaged with his surrounding in a more visceral, earthy way then he did when he was out spreading snow. Jack Frost in his element was a deft touch, the gentlest of breezes, the perfect amount of chill, whatever it took to accomplish his ends was effortless and smooth. In the Warren, Jack does not fly, he walks. His feet are perpetually dirty, smudged with the soil he treads on barefoot. He seems... heavier somehow, weighted down, but not in a bad way. More like a small sapling that has finally found a place to take root. It's a good look on him, bringing a joyful flush to his cheeks that Tooth had never seen before. He's delighted by her arrival, dragging her into his and Bunny's humble kitchen and bidding her to sit at what looked to be a brand new table. She's half a mind to ask what had happened to the old one, but her attention was instead diverted to the task at hand. Now she sits, giving Jack the briefest of outlines on her fight with North, leaving out the fact that they'd been conversing about Jack himself. She leaves the explanation at the fact that she'd taken some of North's guidance poorly, and had perhaps overreacted and was unsure of how to correct her error. Jack listens, brow furrowed as she speaks. When she's finished he looked at her and asked only one question.

"Was he right?" Jack asks, with all sincerity and not a trace of accusation. Tooth settles deeper into her seat as she thinks about the words, a frown stealing over her face.

Had North been right?

Probably. Had she wanted to hear it?

Definitely not. Had she needed to?

Yes she had.

She admits as much to Jack and he smiles a reassuring smile, promising her that a genuine apology is all she needs, that sometimes emotions get the better of their owners and that North would understand. She can't help but lose herself for just a second in the corners of Jack's perfect grin, when the moment is lost to the door opening. Bunny steps in, hands still filthy from his work, but he still has a smile for Tooth as he closes the door.

Then grin on his face when he drops a kiss to Jack's brow though, well, that's another thing all together. Tooth suddenly feels like an intruder, ashamed of the jealously in her gut. They way the two look at each other is humbling, loving. It's nothing Tooth will ever get from Jack, she realizes with a sudden jolt.

She really does owe North that apology.

Declining a generous invite to dinner and bidding her friends farewell, she hugs both of them tight enough that they seem a bit puzzled by her enthusiasm. She leaves with a bittersweet feeling, knowing that she owes them both apologies too, for crimes they will never learn of, for the envy in her heart. She has time though to figure out a way to make it up to them, although they will never know what she is making up for, and while she still hurts she knows she'll be ok. Toothiana is a warrior, a Queen, and like Bunny the last of her kind. She has a powerful heart and a strong will and she knows it, she just sometimes let herself be ruled by said heart instead of her head. She detours suddenly away from home, heading to the Pole instead. She has a dear friend who's waited far too long for an apology for her heinous behavior, and Tooth is loathe to keep him waiting another minute. It may have taken her this long, but Tooth finally understands; the lesson took a little while but now it's been learned. You see, you don't mess with true love, and what Jack and Bunny have? It's a precious kind of thing, something Tooth had looked for in the wrong place, but now she's certain she'll find for herself one day, with a little patience and luck. Who knows, it could right under her nose! Laughing suddenly with the dizzying possibilities opened to her, Tooth wings her way at top speed, thinking of a pair of shining blue eyes and lovely white hair. It's not an uncommon fantasy of late, but it never quite sinks in that it's the face she's rushing towards that fills her mind, not the face she's leaving behind. Unknown to her, she is flying back to North faster then she'd ever left.

"What you have Tooth, is child's crush."

"No! No, that's not true! You don't know what this feels like!"

"Tooth, you care for fantasy of Jack, of dashing hero, brave rebel. It is impossible dream, because Jack? Jack is not only these things, Jack is human, more. The reality, my friend, would only disappoint. Is much better this way, there will be someone else, something real- Tooth, please, do not leave, we can- Tooth!"

North's pleas are of no use though, his colourful friend has gone. With a sigh, he gathers the dirtied teacups, knowing shell be back, and steels himself for the wait.