Chapter 25

Tammora Cailleach

The minutes ticking slowly by, and Jack was starting to worry about his sweet-sneaking pace just as he felt a shy tap at his shoulder.

Looking back, he saw a note being held out to him by a blushing forest spirit whose name he thought was Mera, but he wasn´t sure. He sent a flashy smile to her as he smoothly pulled the note out of her fingers and opened it quietly, so Mother Nature wouldn´t notice.

He recognized the handwriting immediately, and fireworks went off in his brain.

His favorite meeting pen pal was here!

Hey Jack, congrats on the upgrade! Too bad we have to sit through this meeting to celebrate.

-T

Jack looked around for a pen, and Mera seemed more than happy to supply him with one. Her eyes went wide as it frosted gently over in his hand, and he thanked her with another silent smile before turning away to write his answer.

Tamm! It´s been a while. We need to catch up, I´ve got all sorts of stuff to tell you about!

-J

He passed the note back to Mera, who dutifully reached back and handed it to someone just behind her and to the right. Jack followed its path with his eyes, finally catching sight of a brown-haired woman with a wide-set face, freckles and dark eyes, holding a pen in her hand.

Tammora Cailleach winked at him and read his note with a slight smile on her face. She glanced at him briefly before writing her answer, and a minute later the note made its way back to him via the shy but eager Mera.

So, how is being a guardian? Have you met all of them yet?

-T

Jack smiled.

Of course I have! I even managed to snowflake Bunny in his Warren and help him get ready for Easter!

He frowned inwardly and decided to stop the branch of the story there.

Toothiana and North are really cool though, and I already knew Sandy pretty well. I´ve helped collect teeth with the fairies, and I even drove North´s sleigh!

Hey, how was your holiday? I haven´t seen you in a while.

-J

Mera batted her eyelashes at him a few times when she passed the note to Tamm. Jack did it back to her, earning a giggle.

Tamm looked impressed as she read what he´d written.

That´s crazy! I haven´t talked with Bunnymund since January, and I´ve only been in the Warren a few times. I´ve met Toothiana before, but we´ve never done more than a bit of chatting at the Pot. As for North, I´ve been introduced to him at a few parties over the centuries, but we´re not close. My day was great! Tell me more about Bunnymund. Did he ask you anything about '68?

-T

Jack handed one of his candies to Mera as she delivered the note again.

Bunny´s fine.

He cringed inside again, and tried to push his most recent memory of his friend from his mind. He started asking her if she had ever head Bunny mention Primula before. He caught himself just in time with a wince and made a mental note to kick himself for even considering it later.

Have you ever seen him with his boomerangs? He´s fast, REALLY fast.

We all collected teeth together and I saw him run away to "jumpstart spring," as he called it every few hours. You can hardly see him when he´s darting around like that, which I think is why I couldn´t get a good look at him in '68—which he did mention, but not much. I thought for sure he hadn´t seen me through the snow back then, but he still somehow knew. He was chapped when he mentioned it, but I think we´re past it now. So how often do you see Tooth? I know you work with Bunny every year, but how often do you actually talk with him?

-J

Mera had the guts to brush her hand against his as she passed him Tamm´s answer. The girl next to her gasped as frost danced up her wrist.

I meet with him at least once, but sometimes twice per year. Emily likes to keep him in the loop, but he´s really picky about who he talks to. Heck, sometimes it seems like he tries to avoid even her! Since he can´t plan for Easter without my help, we talk about spring together and I fill him in on what goes on in these meetings too.

But hey, you´re a guardian now! Don´t you guys meet all of the time?

-T

Jack felt a drop of guilt as the memory of how upset Bunny had been when he left and told them he wouldn´t be at the next meetings flashed behind his eyes. He blinked it away and started writing.

Bunny´s super busy, even for a guardian. I guess he just kind of comes whenever he wants to. Remember how you told me he was 'a pretty tight jar?' Well, you´re absolutely right. Even the others say he keeps to himself. Who knew?

-J

Tamm didn´t look at all surprised when she read his note. She sent him a little smile before scribing her answer.

Word on the wind is that the Boogeyman really messed up Easter. . . as in, worse than 68. Is that true? Is Bunnymund ok? What happened?

-T

Jack sighed, but kept himself from frowning. The meeting was flying by with these notes to distract him, but Tamm was asking all of the questions that felt like a hot poker to his stomach.

Yeah, Pitch screwed all of us over pretty bad, but we made it out fine. I´ve been to the Warren since and Bunny seems to be ok. According to the others, he´s always saying he´s busy, no matter what time of year it is.

Hey, do you know why Mother Nature (should I call her Emily now?) allows him to skip out on these meetings? She lectured me for a whole day when I tried to pull that off, remember? Has Bunny always ditched?

-J

He passed another candy to a very accommodating Mera, but she didn´t seem to need any encouragement to keep up her delivery service.

Tamm scoffed softly as she read his answer, and scribbled her own with a smirk.

The only time I´ve ever seen him with Emily is when she dragged me down to his warren to introduce me to him. And that was, what, nearly a millennium ago? He wasn´t happy about it then, but he seems to have warmed up to me.

I don´t know how Emily would react to you calling her by her first name, but I want to be there to watch when you do! Hm. Now that I think of it, it would be weird if one of the other guardians called her by her title. Granted, you´re kind of under her supervision, so maybe you should stick with it.

Then again, so is Bunnymund. But even he refers to her as 'Emily Jane' when we talk. . .

Well I´d love for you to tell me more about the Boogeyman, but in person so you can give me the juicy details. I haven´t seen him in a while, but you never know when he´ll just pop up. You didn´t happen to see where he slunk off to, did you? I like to keep my map updated with large red x´s, if you know what I mean.

-T

Jack looked up at the sun and did a double take. The meeting was almost over! He shook his head to himself and smiled. Tamm really was the best meeting pal.

For sure! I´ll tell you all about it. His hole disappeared, so I don´t think you´ll have to worry about him for a while. But hey, you do dig a lot of tunnels yourself, so you might run into him. He went down in the forest just a few miles southeast of Burgess.

But don´t let that stop you from coming to visit me, k?

-J

By the time Tamm finished reading the note, the meeting was over.

Mera did her best to start up a conversation with Jack as he gave her back her pen, and he was more than happy to indulge her. A few other spirits introduced themselves to him, and he was just able to catch Tamm smiling and sending him a mock salute before she disappeared. He made a mental note to seek her out later but was happy to turn his attention to a few old friends that came to congratulate him.

After remembering all the guilt that he felt about Bunny that he still had to deal with, the attention was a fresh breeze.

He soon forgot all about the notes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Guest: Thanks for your review! I agree, Jack loves the attention. Your guess from last chapter was wonderful! The answer shall soon be revealed. I have to say, the next few chapters are my absolute favorites! I can't wait to hear what you think of them. :D

What do you think?

Who do you think Tammora is?

Have you learned anything new about Bunnymund? If so, what?

Compared to the other guardians, how well does she seem to know Bunnymund?

Did/do you pass a lot of notes in school? What do you think are necessary qualities for a note-passing buddy to possess?