I sat in the soft grass of the warren the next day. To my surprise, those egg things actually had two faces and turned. They also walked! At a younger age, I might have tried running circles around them to see if their face would be able to keep up with me.

But today, my body was sore and I had no desire to run myself ragged. Jack had kept me out on the ice for hours, letting me stop occasionally. Only after I faked a fall and nailed him in the face with a snowball did he resign and let me rest.

Bunny extended an invitation for me to spend a day at the warren the next day. Just to see everything. He also probably wanted to make sure Jack wasn't corrupting me, or wanted to warn me of the dangers of the Frost. Turns out, I was partially correct. He also wanted to make it clear that Easter was so much more important than Christmas.

"Well, here is something that bothers me," I began at one point during our discussion. Both of us were painting eggs while sitting in the grass near one of the dye rivers. Each of his eggs looked like a Picasso painting compared to mine. "And, don't hate me for saying this. I have actually heard a ton about how Christmas and Easter came to be."

He nodded, encouraging me to continue. We were just trying to find something to talk about at this point, so a debate was probably welcome.

"Christmas is supposedly the birthday of Jesus. But Jesus' birthday was probably in the fall. Christmas is right around the time of the winter solstice, so it is believed that the holiday is celebrated off of other pagan traditions. Including a man in a red suit."

Bunny paused his painting and looked at me. "So?"

"So, I suppose what I am getting at, is that the myth of Santa, pardon the myth remark, was uncertain for awhile, and now we have the cheery guy in the red suit running around."

He stared at me. "Let me get this straight. You are asking me about how we exist?"

"Well," I focused on my egg. "I'm just wondering how you guys really come to be."

Bunny went back to his egg. If he had had an Adam's apple, it would have been bobbing as he swallowed and tried to find out how to say what he wanted.

"We were all people once."

He inspected his egg, finally deciding it was finished. You would think by his actions what he was saying was that the sky was blue or that we breathed air. He picked up a new egg fresh from the river and began to paint on that one.

"Once upon a time, each of us was born and had a life. For whatever reason, we died." He looked at me, finally taking his attention away from the eggs.

"There is a man who lives on the moon. He has power and knowledge beyond anything you could really comprehend. He knows what is in everybody's hearts and what they need. When he speaks, you listen. Generally, he only gives hints. Vague ideas by which you must solve a whole puzzle."

I somehow knew that he was implying something. Something really deep and that was going to twist and bend my world. I felt nervous and touched my tattoo, reassuring myself in something. Random, I know, but comforting.

Bunny's whiskers bristled. His ears sprang up and swiveled. That was what rabbits did when they felt danger! When he saw my look, he calmed down a bit.

"Sorry, I thought I felt Jack coming in here."

I had the strangest feeling that he was hiding something. He might have been lying about the whole Jack thing, too. Jack had gone off to cause wintery fun all over the place. Still, there was no knowing with Jack.

I went back to painting my egg. "So how does this man on the moon have to do with you guys being who you are?"

Bunny went back to painting his egg, too. Only now, his movements were the slightest bit more on edge. His whiskers were more bristled and his ears a bit more up than usual.

"He picks us from death and makes us who we are. Eventually, we became guardians."

"Eventually?" I glanced over at him. "Why eventually?"

"You become a guardian if and when the world's children need you. Tooth, North-I mean Santa-, the sandman and I were all obvious choices for this. Children came to take us as part of reality really quickly." He twirled his egg and gave it a perfect stripe around. "Jack, on the other hand, had to wait almost four hundred years to get the time of day from anybody. That was when he became a guardian."

I stopped my painting. "Wait. Why didn't he go up to kids and show them who he was?"

"Only believers can see you. Only believers can touch you. They would simply walk through him if he got in their way. His voice had no existing to them."

I stared at my egg while my eyes lost focus. Poor Jack. He would probably hate it if I said it, but poor, poor Jack! That sounds like absolute torture. Something worse than death. Nothing but sorrow and pain for nearly four hundred years! If he was here, I probably would have hugged him. Just marched on up and put my arms around him.

By the time I got back to a place where I could talk again, Bunny was already half way done with his next egg. He was fast! I got back to my painting, which was no where near as nice or beautiful.

"So, how is North?" I made an odd face. Calling Santa North was quite a change. It made sense if you thought about it.

"He's panicking as he does every year. Christmas Eve and all."

I paused. "Oh, yeah. Tomorrow is Christmas."

He didn't even bother looking up from his egg. "Lost track of the days?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

He grinned. "If it weren't for North's constant reminders, I probably would forget too."

"Does he celebrate Christmas at all? He puts gifts in homes, but aside from that, does he do anything."

Bunny nodded. "Oh yes he does. We start celebrating at the workshop while he is gone. When he comes back, the party really kicks up. It's more of a social thing than anything."

"That sounds fun." I set down my egg, finally feeling like it was complete. When I tried to pick up another one, it booked it away from me.

Bunny rolled his eyes and handed me a fresh one that was walking around near him. "Sorry, they can be a bit dodgey. Would you like to go to the Christmas party?"

I felt myself smile as a warm feeling exploded in my stomach. For once, I was getting an honest invitation somewhere! "Sure!"