Sanctuary: The Palace
by K. Stonham
first released 23rd December, 2012
The summons to Tooth's Palace came in the middle of the morning rush hour, when the halls of the Fortress were filled with children going to their lessons, adults going to their jobs, and trying to get through any of the tunnels or portals to the other sanctuaries was absolute murder, even for Jack, who could just fly over the heads of others.
Instead of even trying, he made his way to an outdoor courtyard and called the winds. It wouldn't be quite as fast as going by portal, but at this time of day it wouldn't be much slower, either.
The wind snatched him up, bearing him high into the sky with the ease of long familiarity. He danced like a snowflake with the wind, spinning and looping and dropping and soaring, playing a game of faith. It felt pure for a moment, startling a laugh out of him.
They passed the endless dingy-white plains and mountains of Antarctica, the dull gray seas of the Pacific, and in seemingly no time were over land again, the frozen ruins of China beneath them. Jack could feel the flittering hum of Toothiana's magic as he came nearer her sanctuary, though more obvious to anyone else's eye would be the landscape changing from gray-brown to flourishing jungle greens. Then, with a last wild swoop, they were at the Palace.
The wind let Jack down on the central platform of the aerie, and swirled off to play elsewhere, ruffling his hair in passing. Jack laughed, waving in thanks, attracting the attention of several of the fairies.
Baby Tooth was among them, and immediately snugged into his collar, hugging Jack's neck. "Hey, Baby Tooth," he said, stroking her crest. She was his favorite fairy, and he was her favorite Guardian. They'd been through too much together for that to ever change. He smiled at her sisters, who looked faint at the sight of his snowy teeth. Jack would never admit it, but their reaction never got old. "Where's Tooth?"
Half a dozen of the fairies pulled themselves together and darted off, chittering and chattering for him to follow. Jumping off the edge of the platform, Jack obeyed.
Tooth, it turned out, was in one of the rooms that had formed themselves along the inner wall of the hollowed-out mountain. It was a family domicile, and quite cozy. Jack wondered why she was here; Tooth was usually as little involved in the day-to-day life of her Guarded as he was.
But North was already present, and Bunny, and Sandy. "Ah, Jack!" said North. "Good of you to come. Tooth, I think, has momentous news for us - though she has been refusing to say what, until you arrived."
"Must be big," Jack said. "It's been years since anyone's done a summons. Any guesses?"
"Not a one," Bunny said. Sandy shook his head as well.
"Is that Jack?" Tooth's head popped out from behind a curtain that separated the rooms of the apartment. "Oh, good, you're all here! Come on." She disappeared back behind the curtain.
Single-file, they followed. Beyond the curtain was a bedroom. An Asian man sat on the side of the bed, with a woman lying in it. Her arms held a bundled baby who was, mercifully, sleeping at the moment.
"This is Shen," Tooth introduced, "and his wife Lien." The two half-bowed.
"Very pleased to meet you," North said.
"Likewise," and "Yeah," Bunny and Jack chimed in. Sandy waved, then swirled a question mark over his head, directed at Tooth.
She took a breath, and actually stopped fluttering. Her feet touched the ground. Jack, who had been leaning on his staff, straightened up, surprised. This must be serious. Tooth never landed if she could help it. "The baby is named Pang." She turned to Lien. After a brief spate of words, Lien nodded, and turned the infant so its back was to them. The blanket fell away.
Jack felt his eyes widen. "Crikey," Bunny breathed, in time with North's "Bozhe moi!"
Human babies weren't supposed to have wings.
"Tooth..." Jack murmured, looking at her. She looked like she didn't know how to feel, torn between elation, fear, nausea... any number of possibilities.
North, fortunately, recovered fastest. He stepped forward, kneeling down before the couple. "She is beautiful child," he said, "and very fortunate in her parents." Tooth translated for him as North reached into a coat pocket and pulled out a small silver rattle. "Is for the little girl. Congratulations, on having such a special child."
Shen accepted the rattle with a serious nod. All the trouble didn't go out of his eyes, but his expression, and Lien's, were at least somewhat more eased.
They were all quiet until they got back to Tooth's personal nest. Then it was like none of them could keep the words in any longer. "How the bloody blazes did that happen?" Bunny demanded. "She's a human, Tooth! Not one of your fairies!"
"I know!" Toothiana's expression was pure anguish. "I don't know how - I don't even know them!"
"Will this happen to all children born under our protection?" North asked, his own face showing horror. "Have we doomed the humans into becoming elves and yeti?"
Sandy's symbols flashed. A coffin, a pumpkin, the Turkey, The Groundhog, a clover, a heart... all the other Legends whose sanctuaries housed humans.
"I didn't ask them here because I didn't know what to do," Tooth explained. "They're Legends, too, but we're Guardians, and she's only a child!"
North's hand was over his face. "What I would not give for Manny's good advice right now..."
Jack thought about the nearly two thousand people sheltered in his own Fortress. If his magic leaked into them... what, a prevalance toward white hair, blue eyes, and cold immunity? Or something worse, that he couldn't even imagine? He squeezed his eyes closed, not knowing. And knowing that there was no choice.
"Does it matter?" he quietly asked.
That stopped the others' near-panic cold.
"What do you mean, Jack?" North asked after a moment's silence.
Jack opened his eyes, looking up at his fellow Guardians. He forced himself to take a deep breath. "I mean, it doesn't matter. We have no choice."
"There's always a choice, mate -"
"No!" Jack exploded. "There isn't! What, send the humans back out into the world because our magic is leaking into them - changing them? That's a death sentence."
Silence met his words. Jack drew another breath.
"It's us, or the radiation and the winter. And that's no kind of choice, but it's the only choice these people, any of them, have. It doesn't matter if whatever happens is because of us, or because of that old exposure, or some combination. We can't stop it." He looked down at his feet. "We can't freeze them into never changing."
Another moment, then a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. "You are right, of course, Jack. That will not make it any easier to bear, but... we are the only choice."
"Pretty heavy wisdom from a nipper," Bunny said, but his tone was kind.
Sandy gave the image of an open book. He, at least, knew Jack had spent plenty of years helping generations of Bennetts with their homework, and probably knew more about the interaction of magic and science than any other immortal.
"So what do we do?" Tooth asked quietly.
"I think we tell the other Legends first," North said, stroking his beard. "And then all of us tell the people we trust."
Looking thoughtful, Sandy nodded.
"Let them tell others," Bunny mused. "Spread it slow and quiet. Keep from making a panic. Not a bad plan."
"So mote it be," said North.
Jack stayed at the Palace for what felt like a long time. Longer than the other Guardians, at any rate. They'd drawn straws for who got to tell which of the other Legends. Jack got both the Groundhog, since Bunny couldn't stand him, and Pitch, since none of the other Guardians really liked talking to the Nightmare King. Not that Jack did, either, but he thought he and Pitch understood one another's limit lines a little bit better than the others.
He sat now on the edge of Tooth's nest platform, letting his legs dangle in the air.
Her aerie really was built for fliers. He had no problem here, and neither did Sandy, but North and Bunny sometimes had trouble ascending from platform to platform. No wonder Tooth's magic had made her people's homes in the inside and outside of her mountain. Stairs might be involved, but at least there weren't hundreds of feet of open air below their feet without railings.
Bird-humans would get around here much more easily.
Tooth perched next to him. "Quarter for your thoughts?" she offered, rolling said coin over her knuckles.
"Just wondering if I did wrong," Jack said honestly. "Talking you all into rescue efforts. Maybe it wasn't our right to decide this for humans."
"Oh, Jack." She was silent, gazing for a moment into the brilliant, brilliant sunset that was part of the nuclear haze. "I don't think a single human in any of our sanctuaries would do anything but thank you for talking us into this."
His head dropped. "But... they're changing. Or going to change. And maybe that's not the way it was supposed to be. Maybe this was supposed to be an end, them and us just fading away, to be replaced by... something else, once the winter ended."
"Maybe." Tooth's voice was frank. "Or maybe this is what was supposed to happen, them and us growing closer together. We can't know, Jack, and second-guessing will only kill us, in the end." Her warm fingers touched under his chin, gently guiding him to look in her eyes. "Do you think Jamie blames you for saving his family? For what your magic's been doing to him?"
"What my magic's...?" Jack asked blankly.
Tooth smiled. "He's seventy, Jack. I know time runs differently for us, but... he should not be chasing you through the Fort with a sword the way he does. He's your best friend, almost your brother, and your magic is at the very least preserving him, maybe even turning back time a little. Is that such a bad thing?"
Jack swallowed. "I didn't... I didn't know." He looked away again, at the brilliant fuchsia and lavender sky. "I didn't ask, I didn't..."
"Jack." Her voice was firm, making him look back at her. "I don't mean any offense, but... in a lot of ways, Jamie's smarter than you. I'd be shocked if he hadn't figured it out long ago. Ask him. I don't think he'll be angry."
"But..."
"Jack. If says 'thank you,' and I think he will, I want you to just accept it. Okay?"
He wanted to protest, but the words just wouldn't come. Finally, he gave in and said, "Okay."
Tooth brushed a kiss to his cheek and left. But Jack stayed on the ledge a while longer, watching the sun slip below the horizon, thinking.
When it had finally vanished, he stood, closed his eyes, and leapt off the platform, calling for the wind to take him back home.
Before he went to talk to Groundhog and Pitch... he needed to talk with Jamie.
Author's Note: AvidAkiraReader asked if this was going to be a plot-driven story or a series of drabbles. It's kind of neither: there is an overreaching plot thread (how the world got into this state, and what happens as a result of what was realized in this chapter), but it's not got an A, therefore B, followed by C, plot structure. Each chapter will be centered on a particular sanctuary. The story will skip around in time. There will be OCs (Leprechaun, Groundhog, etc), though I hope I can keep them from being Mary Sues. Even so, I hope you all find the Sanctuary world intriguing enough to keep reading. Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!