No Song

"What do we make of this, of 'er?" Bunny mused to the collected Guardians, who had retired to North's office in light of the damage in the Globe Room. After ensuring no critical machine damage, North made directions for repairs to Phil, the head yeti. Everyone had then followed him through the Workshop, with much parading on Jack's part, and into his office. The girl had been out cold when they got to her, though the yeti, Dmitri, holding her had grabbed from trying to make a desperate, and slow, attempt at escape. She had been taken to an empty room under guard; the North Pole had no prison. The room was deep in the lower levels. Unless she could teleport, she'd have a hard time getting out. North considered warding the room, but decided planning took precedence. The girl wasn't going to be doing anything for now.

"We hardly know anything about her, or her abilities, the show in the Globe Room just proved that." Tooth said.

"Clearly a loose cannon." Bunny responded, in a poor mood given the circumstances. Sandy added some symbols into the conversation.

"I do not always assume the worst!" Bunny retorted, mildly offended.

"Maybe not Bunny, but we should try to understand what happened logically, so we can make good decision about what to do with her." North paced around the room, stroking his beard with one hand.

"Well the report mentioned that she was an elemental-type thing, and that she can manipulate people's emotions." Jack tentatively started.

"I didn't know you read my reports, Jack." Tooth smiled proudly. Jack grinned back.

"Well, somebody's gotta keep tabs on things." he joked.

"Yeah, just usually not you!" Tooth fired back. Jack chuckled and frosted over the office window with a tap of his staff. He traced in a hummingbird and pulled it out of the window, sending it humming around the room before vanishing into a flurry of snowflakes.

"We get off topic." North refocused, "We can say emotional manipulations for sure, but at end, she set off some kind of explosion. No flash. Just concussion and heat."

Sandy popped a wizard's hat over his head. Magic?

"Nyet. If she knew magic she would not have sat in containment spell so long. It was not super strong magic."

"If not magic, then it was either machinery or her? My guess is her, there was no way she carrying an explosive large enough." Tooth considered.

"Unless, she had a small explosive, magically modified, tha' she go' from someone else." Bunny countered. Sandy nodded his head at this alternative, although he didn't look like he really believed any of these options.

"And who'd she get it from?" Jack jumped in, "North is only real magician left anymore. Besides you guys are all focused on the how. What about the why?"

The other Guardians looks skeptically his way. "What are you thinking, Jokul?" North inquired. He'd stopped pacing and was leaning on his desk. Jack was not expected for them all to suddenly just turn to listen to him. He'd only wanted to turn the conversation a little bit. Did he even have any thoughts? "Uh-" after a short reflection, he supposed he did. He started again.

"She appeared less than a decade ago, right? And you guys have been monitoring closer ever since I became a Guardian, so we can be pretty sure she's young, like really young."

Bunny nodded and added, "which means she probably doesn't have the experience to know when she's being manipulated. She coulda been told ta come 'ere and wreak some havoc."

Jack frowned in puzzlement, "yeah, but she's not actually a ten year old."

"Unless she's like you, Jack and doesn't remember who she was before." Tooth laid a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"But still, she didn't act dumb. I know a cornered rabbit. I've been a cornered rabbit, no offense." he cast a side-eye at Bunny who was fiddling with his boomerangs.

"None taken."

"-as I was saying, she was looking around, thinking. What person like that goes into a place and then tries to blow themself up?"

"I see your point" North muttered. It's possible that she banked on her being able to survive the blast, but there was no guarantee, especially once magical enhancement or spirit powers became involved. If a BoB took a kill shot, they would either get up and walk away, or they wouldn't. There was no telling. "But Jack, sometimes clever people get led astray."

"Doesn't she deserve the benefit of the doubt?" Jack asked. Sandy floated up to Jack's height with a thumbs up.

"She did say she was only reading. Nothing was missing from my palace. Maybe she was just reading, like she said." Tooth agreed, "you did find her in the library."

"You said she might be like me." Jack continued, "and you once said that you would've helped me, if I'd asked."

"I'll admit, our cutting you out was a mistake. One I have no intention of repeating." North resolved. "Bunny?"

"I'm out-voted 'ere anyway, but what it's worth, fine. We'll watch and see."