Chapter 28

"That's not very funny," Jack says weakly, but Mo- Seraphina's expression doesn't change. "It really isn't."

"I wasn't trying to be," Seraphina replies matter of factly. "I see that this is news to you."

"Yes this is news!" Jack shrieks. "What is-" She stops herself and spends a moment very visibly collecting herself. "How do you know?" she asks after a moment.

"I can feel all energies, though some are harder to sense than others. There is a separate energy about you, faint but very different, that was not present the last time I saw you."

"That must..." Tooth trails off quietly. "That must be what I felt when I was trying to get a lock on your energy."

Jack looks down at herself, lays a hand atop her stomach. She doesn't feel any different, maybe a little more emotionally volatile than normal but she's had a trying day or two here, that's to be excused. She certainly doesn't feel as if she has a whole other being inside her. "How does that even work?" she wonders aloud.

Tooth clears her throat loudly and Jack turns to see her face very bright in embarrassment. "Well, you two were-"

"No, no, not that, I know how that works," Jack cuts her off, feeling bashful in a way she normally wouldn't except she is not about to discuss having sex with Pitch's daughter right there and oh that is a meltdown waiting to happen once she's done here. "I mean that I didn't know spirits could procreate like humans, cause we're all… you know, spirity. Didn't think that would mesh, y'know."

Glancing over at Seraphina she sees her pinching the bridge of her nose and wow, how did she not see the resemblance before? It's not like she was looking for it, but wow, how could she have missed it?

"Most spirits don't procreate through sex," she says bluntly, giving Jack a mildly withering look. "Not on accident like humans do. Usually it happens through a sharing of energies, or intense wish magic."

"There was definitely some kind of sharing going on," Jack mutters to herself, though not quietly enough going by the mildly pained looks on both Seraphina and Tooth.

"So that leaves wish magic or…" Here Seraphina's frown deepens. "This may have actually been partially my fault."

"Your fault?" Jack and Tooth chorus, then look at each other askance due to their synchronization.

"When I blessed you at Santoff Clausen," Seraphina explains, looking deeply annoyed with herself. "I meant to encourage the speed of your healing, but my wording may have been… off."

Jack thinks back, trying to remember what exactly she said.

"Oh!" Tooth gasps. "You said vitality..."

"Ohh," Jack says, eyes wide. "Yeah, that… that definitely may have done something." She blushes, thinking of how once she and Pitch had fallen into bed they had hardly moved from it for days. "Hmm, yeah, that, uh… yeah." Her mind is racing, but she feels oddly… not calm, or relaxed, but something in that vein.

Still. She feels still, like the calm before the storm.

"I need… I need to think about this." She turns to Tooth. "I'll come back to look for Emma's teeth sometime, but right now I just-" She searches for the words but none come. "I need to think."

"Of course," Tooth replies, her violet eyes wide with sympathy. "Let me know if you need anything, anything at all."

"Thank you." Jack smiles tightly at her. "Seraphina," she addresses Mother Nature. "I have things to discuss with you, but not now." The nature spirit inclines her head in acknowledgement and Jack exhales loudly. "Wind!" she commands, and whisks away from Punjam Hy Loo, not sure of where she is heading, but knowing that she needs time right now to think, and decide what she is going to do.

Back in the Tooth Palace, Toothiana wrings her hands fretfully. "Seraphina," she starts, then falls silent, unsure what to say. She hasn't known Jack Frost long, but already she feels protective of the younger spirit, and news like this right after the emotional torrent that her helpers reported Jack having earlier can't be healthy.

"She will be fine," Seraphina assures her, though Toothiana is not sure of where her confidence stems from. "They will both be fine."

"Jack and the child, or Jack and Pitch?" Toothiana asks, crossing her arms.

Seraphina sighs. "They will all be fine," she amends. "Pitch cares for her too much to hurt her, even if he does not want this."

"One of them must have," Toothiana counters. "A blessing from you encouraging vitality is all well and good to move things along, but Jack died before becoming a nature spirit. I can't imagine the Moon is powerful enough to bring her back to life that far."

"...you raise a valid point," Seraphina admits. "One of them - or both - must have been wishing very hard for a child." Based on Jack's reaction, she's fairly sure that it wasn't her. Or if it was, it was a deeply subconscious wish. "Who is Emma?" she asks.

"Jack's sister," Toothiana replies. "I offered to help her find her own teeth to get her memories back, but she really wanted to find her sister's." She frowns. "I think Jack found a way to remember, or something happened to make her remember. She didn't seem all that interested in her own teeth."

"So she will return here eventually." Seraphina looks towards Toothiana. "And you? I came to visit you Toothiana, no matter the distractions."

Toothiana huffs. "I'd hardly call this all a mere distraction." She shakes her head. "I'm fine, although…" She looks at Seraphina rather timidly. "Have you ever wanted one? A child? We've never spoken of it."

Seraphina looks taken aback, slate green eyes wide in thought. "I… No we haven't, have we? Honestly, I've never given it very much thought. I care for the seasonal and other nature spirits, they are like children to me, in a way." She grimaces slightly at the thought of regarding Jack Frost as her child. That is far too awkward a train of thought to currently pursue. "You have the human children to look after, I would think that would be enough."

"Looking after them is all I seem to do," Toothiana murmurs, turning her back on Seraphina to stare at her columns. "I gather their teeth and hold their memories for them, and then what? They grow up, and die, and I am left with nothing but memories."

"Toothiana…"

A shuddering breath and Toothiana exhales wetly, blinking rapidly to disperse the beginning sting of tears. "I am the last of my kind, Seraphina. I have no idea what would happen to a child of my own if I were to die, if they would die with me or if because I am not a full Sister of Flight that would save us both from that fate."

"I am sorry." Seraphina stands and walks to where Toothiana hovers slightly above ground. "I had no idea you felt that way."

"I don't think I did either," Toothiana admits, turning to face her lover. She lets her bring her in for a hug, allowing Seraphina to envelop her with her much taller frame. "I love you, with or without children."

"I love you too," Seraphina murmurs, brushing her fingers against Toothiana's cheek. "My dearest."

"My darling," Toothiana replies, catching the corner of Seraphina's mouth in a light kiss. "My force of nature," she teases.

Seraphina huffs good naturedly. In this too, she is her father's daughter.

Apologies for the missed posting last week, it was Thanksgiving and Black Friday/Small Business Saturday and I was busyyyyy. God I hate the drudgery of capitalism. Is it not enough to just make things and enjoy life how you want to, must you sell your time and labor just so you can live?

Anyway, I've been making cute ass dragon keychains and other shit that you can see over on my twitter StargateNerrrrd, just click on the media tab and you'll see them uwu

Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter, if you did let me know!

Edit 12/26/21: So, half the joy I get out of writing is the response from readers. I thrive on feedback, and going an entire month and a half with almost no reaction to anything you've written from anyone anywhereis depressing as fuck. Even more so when you can see that people are interacting with what you've written, you know that it is being read, that roughly the same amount of people are still clicking on and reading this, but no one can be bothered to tell you what they think, despite requests for exactly that. So the past couple weeks of not updating were a bit of an experiment, to see if anyone would notice or comment on the lack of updates.

No one did, so I'm a bit lost as to where to go from here. Do I continue shouting into the void all for the sake of completing something that no one is interested in anymore, do I finish the remaining chapters and dump it all on here at the same time so I don't torture myself with a drawn out posting schedule and a continued lack of audience reaction? I really don't know. But I do know I'm tired of putting effort into something that no one seems to appreciate anymore, or if they do they can't be bothered to say anything.