Jack floated down onto the cloud, settling as gently as one of his snowflakes. "Hey there little man, you okay with some company?"

Sandy turned to him, surprised at the sudden appearance but very pleased with it. He didn't mind when Jack called him that – though there were quite a few other spirits that would feel the edge of his temper, which, while usually mild, could be sharp as his whips – if they called him that.

Jack, though...from the first it had sounded like an in-joke.

Jack settled onto the cloud and reached up into one of the streams of Dreamsand. Dolphins burst from the sand, leaping and dancing around Jack before streaming down towards a child's home.

Jack watched it go, seemingly content with the silence for the moment as Sandy went back to work.

Occasionally he would lift a hand, as if to touch another stream of Dreamsand, but each time he hesitated and pulled back.

"Does it bother you, when people touch your sand?" Jack asked, the suddenness of the question making Sandy pause.

Sometimes, he finally answered in soft, sparkling lights. Some people have no respect for it, and that bothers me. You never have. Bothered me, I mean. Why?

Jack shrugged, but spoke when he would usually have kept silent, continuing his own personal promise of being open. "Just wondered if it was something like Tooth's flights or Bunny's chases – you know, a courting thing disguised as something else. Something that could be intimate if both people knew about it, but isn't unless they're both in on it."

Sandy watched Jack for a moment before drawing his attention. It could be. If both knew, he said. But it would be special. Like how...touching someone's hand means something different for different people and different situations. It would be pretty obvious.

Jack looked back up at the streams of sand overhead with a small hum.

And, very slowly and deliberately, reached up to run a finger along one stream.

Sandy shivered, mouth forming a silent 'o', and he winked at Jack, who was frosting over in a blush but not backing down.

His frost sparkled along the sand, and he watched it spiral down to a child's home after another second of watching Sandy, remembering the first time it had happened.

Sandy had been so happy about it, and to judge by the smile on his face, he still was. The mix of fun and joy made a special dream, he'd said.

"I have to ask," Jack said after they'd sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. "I asked Bunny, and Tooth, and Katherine and Nightlight. Why? Why didn't you tell me?"

Sandy paused a moment, and Jack gave it to him, to organize his thoughts.

The light show that commenced was complex, and it was a good thing Jack had spent so much time over the last few years working to understand Sandy's lights rather than relying solely on the shapes and charades, as without it he probably wouldn't have caught more than one word in five.

The answer, in the end, boiled down to what Jack had suspected – a fear of losing him, of it never being the right time to speak up without hurting him, things spiraling out of their control.

Guilt and sorrow for causing him pain.

When it was over, Jack sighed, rolling over to sprawl across the cloud as they floated across the ocean towards the next town. "Well, no more secrets," he said, and Sandy nodded, settling down into the cloud next to Jack. "I mean, like Katherine said, kind of secrets. I want this." He leaned over and bumped shoulders with Sandy, laughing as he said, "So maybe let's not mess this up again?"

Sandy leaned back, glowing brighter than usual, a few little sparkles speaking for him quietly, thanking Jack for giving them all a second chance.


The two of them floated through the sky quietly. It was harder to talk to Sandy than the other four had been – and not because he didn't talk in words, but because of how busy he was.

Still, sometimes it was nice to just sit with someone quietly for awhile and be in their company.

Jack stared up at the stars, his mind wandering. "Hey, Sandy?" he asked. There was a flicker of light, letting him know Sandy had heard and was paying attention even as he kept sending out strands of sand. Jack paused before letting out a chuckle. "You know, I have so many things to ask I forgot which one in particular I wanted to ask right now."

The lights twinkled around Jack in Sandy's version of a laugh, and Jack lifted his arm so they swirled around his hand. "You're as old as Bunny, right? I mean, it's fun to tease Bunny about being an old man, but..."

Sandy's lights flickered in the affirmative, with a sly hint to them that he was even older than Bunny.

Stars and star pilots, age wasn't really a concept to them, Sandy explained. It was interacting with other species that got them to understand what it meant.

Jack hummed. "What I mean is...I forgot to ask Bunny but...it seems like everyone has some kind of helpers, save Katherine and Nightlight. Are they going to need helpers too? Am I? You have the mermaids, right? And Bunny has his egg sentinels and eggs, Tooth has the Baby Teeth, North has yeti and elves."

Sandy's lights were teasing as he said, Tooth has her fairies so long as you don't charm them away. You already did one.

Jack chuckled uncomfortably. "Yeah, I'm a little worried about what's happening to Baby Tooth."

Don't be. It wouldn't be happening if she hadn't chosen you and the name you gave her of her own free will. You didn't force a change on her," Sandy reassured Jack through his lights, coming over to place small, warm hands on Jack's cool cheeks. What's happening to her is happening from love. It's something to take joy in, not to fear.

"It won't happen to the other fairies?" Jack asked, the first time he'd given voice to that small fear that had taken root when he'd seen the changes in Baby Tooth, had them pointed out after they'd gotten back to the Pole by Baby Tooth herself.

Sandy was already shaking his head before Jack had finished the question. Changing like that is hard, he was saying, and Jack had to focus to catch the words. It required dedication and willpower.

"But...the Little Match Girls..." Jack said. "They changed so easily..."

Sandy floated back a touch. The shapes now were complex, some of them little more than a run of lights, as he spoke, asking how that had happened, how Jack had changed them, maybe they could figure out the why if Jack would explain the how.

"Right," Jack said. "Heh, come to talk about relationships and end up with this..."

Sandy tapped a tiny foot, and Jack waved. "Yeah, yeah, getting there. It's been awhile, okay? Um, they started really showing up after the story was published, I think it might have given them form? I'm a little sketchy on that, people never really explained to me how spirits are formed or how they end up what they are. Right, so, I think a lot of them were another spirit that got changed over to Little Match Girls. But as things got better and fewer kids died in the snow from neglect, there were fewer and fewer of them, until it's really rare for there to be one. And I...I felt bad for them, okay? They were even more alone than I was.

"And I...I dunno, I started taking care of them. You know, big brother stuff. You eating okay, here's someplace to sleep, here's what I know about taking care of yourself out here. And I guess they must've gotten some of my power somehow? All I know is they started to look less ragged and desperate and more like healthy kids then one day they were all grown up into Snow Maidens. It's not that much better but it's a lot more comfortable."

Sandy frowned, a small foot tapping as the thought, before he lit up, one finger in the air. He began speaking quickly, lights flickering a flashing like a Christmas display.

You're powerful enough to have helpers, and it looks like you already have them. When you started taking care of the Little Match Girls like that, you must have formed that link. It can mean sharing power, sometimes, and that would explain their evolution into Snow Maidens. Sandy cupped Jack's chin, smiling at him. So stop worrying about snitching the Baby Teeth. You've got helpers, it'll keep you from snitching Tooth's by accident.

Jack chuckled at that, reaching up to touch Sandy's hands and hold them in place when Sandy would have pulled back, assuming Jack wanted space. "You're warm," he murmured, louder adding, "Snitching by accident, yeah. Looks like I might have one already," he said, adding, "Baby Tooth, I know you know she's changing more and more, I wish we knew how much she's going to change. What she's going to be."

Sandy shrugged. No one gets to know what they'll be when they grow up. Worrying over them is part of being grown up. Should be interesting to find out.

Jack chuckled at that, tilting his head further into Sandy's hands. "Mind if I just hand out awhile?" he asked.

Sandy patted the cloud next to him, and Jack leaned against him as Sandy began sending out dreams again. He reached up his hand now and again to add a bit of fun to dreams, and together they drifted.


For someone who technically only had to work only one night a year, North kept himself busy all year long preparing for it.

There was magic to try, and toys to create, and improvements to the sleigh, and more to be done.

Though there was more magic and little things for his Spice now than there had been just a few years ago, less time spent on Christmas, and though he wouldn't have agreed to it before they'd had Jack, North was seeing the difference.

He was obtuse, but even he could see something this blatant.

North was in his magical workshop – not the one he used for magically creating toys, but the one he used for more theoretical magic that had gone unused for decades – when Jack found him.

Jack perched on the back of a chair and watched as North sorted through bottles and jars, murmuring to himself and as yet unaware that Jack had joined him.

"What'cha doin'?" Jack asked, snickering when North jumped.

North fumbled with the jars and bottles, and Jack paid for his little prank by needing to dive and catch a few that tumbled free.

"Jack! You startle me!" North said, putting the jars and bottles on the worktable. "Am clearing components. Some do not go bad, but some do. Have not checked in long time, would not be surprised if must replace many."

Jack looked into the clear jar he was holding – the other jar and bottle were made of thicker stoneware and opaque – giving it a little swirl before putting it down. "What even are these?" he asked

North looked at the bottle Jack had put down. "That one water from unicorn's pond. Should still be good. Unicorn contributions last long time."

"Um..." Jack said, gesturing at the jar, and North grinned.

"What? You are spirit, yet have trouble believing in unicorn? Works like rest of us, so go unseen. Don't like being bothered often."

"Less that and more, um, how'd you get all this?" Jack asked, not quite sure how to ask the horrible thing that had popped into his head.

"Asked," North said easily. "Do not do evil magic, so have to ask. Taking by force taints components."

Jack sighed. "Okay, just. For a second there, had a really bad feeling. Didn't think you'd do it, but yeah."

"Some do not ask," North agreed, beginning to sort the jars into categories. "Is not good at all. And makes it harder for people who will ask. But not here to talk magic, I think?"

"Hey, it's always interesting," Jack protested. "I don't know many other spirits that use magic besides what they get from being who they are. Well, I don't know many other spirits period but my point still stands."

North laughed. "It is! And I am still curious over contents of pockets. Is folk magic, yes?"

"Yes, is folk magic," Jack laughed. "I didn't have people teaching me. What's this jar?" he asked, picking up one with a metal lid and beginning to pry at the metal.

"Do not open that one!" North shouted, and Jack fumbled the jar, and it slipped out of his hands. North caught it an inch above the ground, lifting it slowly. "Sorry for yell. Contains jinn, old and evil one. Are good ones, but this not one of them." He held up the jar and glared at it. "Do not know how it ended up in here with supplies. Should be in basement, locked away, with warning label. Ah, Katherine was right, am too careless with jars. So frustrating, sometimes."

Jack, meanwhile, was looking at the jar with wide eyes. "A jinn? Isn't that, like, a genie? Wishes and crap?"

"Little different – stories not quite the same," North said, carefully carrying the jar over to the desk and beginning to rummage. "Paper, paper, need to write warning...ah. No, jinn make oath when imprisoned, swear to kill one who release them within first hundred, cannot remember what happens if in second hundred, then wishes in third. Is very dangerous to release jinn – some pretend they are within killing period so they do not have to honor wishes, though is small percent. This one will be safe in..." North paused to calculate, muttering in Russian, and Jack was reminded that, though North still sounded odd at times in English, it wasn't his first language.

If he was this smart in English, who knew how smart he'd be once they switched over to Russian, if Jack's Russian was up to date enough? Or if North's was up to date as well and not so archaic Jack's modern Russian was useless.

"Ah, will be safe in a few years, actually," North finally said. "More time has passed than realized. "Still, glad you did not open."

"Any others I shouldn't open?" Jack asked, eying the desk full of bottles and jars warily.

"Maybe...let me check before do. Can help keep list," North said. "Some are hard to tell when still good."

Jack gave a little hum and perched on the back of the chair to watch.

"Soooooo..." he said after North had opened and inspect a few jars, "Let's court Jack but not tell him anything?"

North had the decency to blush, though it was hard to see under all the hair. "Seemed like good idea," he protested. "Wanted to make marriage into good surprise. Thought you would run if brought up right then. Or refuse. Like did with first taking of oath. Ha, yeti irritated at time over frost damage to floor, then was no water damage at all, fun little prank yes?"

Jack let that one pass – it wasn't really a good prank, and he hadn't meant it to be one, it had just happened. "Marriage isn't supposed to be a surprise," he pointed out instead.

North nodded, setting down the jar he'd been holding, looking down at it as if it held answers instead of the dried plants it did.

"Don't know what I was thinking," he said slowly. "Just...deserved courting. Deserved time to fall in love. Was all so fast. Was so foolish, expecting you to take oath just after meeting us. So arrogant, what were we thinking?"

Jack launched himself off the back of the chair to drape himself over North's shoulders and down his back. "Pretty arrogant," he agreed. He poked at North's cheek as he added, "Good thing you're cute. And mostly earned the arrogance. Like, ninety five percent of it."

North sputtered, flustered, and Jack grinned unrepentantly. He got the impression from the sputtering that it had been a very long time since anyone had called North 'cute'. Or, quite possibly, any other praise for his looks.

Not there wasn't a lot of other stuff to praise when it came to North, but still.

Jack settled himself more firmly across North's back, rubbing his cheek against North's shoulder before resting his chin on that spot. "It's okay. I just wanted to know. We're all good now. What's in that jar?"

North held up the jar, which held strands of something that shimmered with rainbow light, and launched into enthusiastic explanation, sparking a discussion that would last long into the night.


A/N: Only a day late, not bad considering. We had no power for around 24 hours, and that included 90% of yesterday. A lot of people in my area are looking to not get power back until the weekend, so I guess we're lucky in that we have ours back. Still, meant I had to miss an update. Well, here it is, and enjoy everyone. :) I'm going to go work on getting the house warm.