Part 2 in the Meetings Saga

Less than a month later I was standing in the Departure Cavern, triple and quadruple checking I had everything I need, all while cursing Jason under my breath.

We'd agreed to meet up four times a year, on summer (21st June) and winter (21st December) solstice, and on the spring and autumn equinox, which would change yearly. In winter and spring we'd go the Pole and the Warren respectively, so the two Guardians could keep an eye on their holidays, while in summer and autumn an elected Guardian would come to the base. We didn't know who that Guardian was, although I expected Bunnymund, given his comfortableness underground and the fact he had easy access via his Tunnels.

Oh, we were only sending one Head too, me.

It was ultimately decided that I should be the one to go since I was on the best terms with the Guardians, never mind the fact I had the least experience being a Head. At least I'd talked him out of getting me to wear the cloak.

Grumbling under my breath I made my way to the dizzying top of the Departure Cavern, where three new Tunnel entrances had been dug out. One to the Pole, one to the Warren and one to Punjam Hy Loo.

Sandman's Island didn't have any land underneath it, so we couldn't get a Tunnel there, and we could use the Tunnel to Burgess to find Jack if we really needed to, although one had been opened to Antarctica as well, just in case.

It was almost remarkable how quickly we'd all agreed to this, but it seemed that North had been just as keen on this idea as the rest of us. I had a feeling Bunnymund wasn't quite as keen, but that was probably one against ten.

I checked my watch, judging it to be the right time to go, and after making sure that Taboo was secure in my hood I tapped my fist against the Tunnel to the Pole.

The entrance melted away and I almost flew in on a path of ice, my nerves disappearing with the rush of adrenaline.

The nerves came back in full force as I exited the Tunnel, appearing, not in the Globe Room as I expected, but outside the Workshop, in a blizzard.

I swore in shock and wrapped my arms around myself. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, I was starting to shiver already, which was new.

"Tell me about it." Came an Australian accented voice and I turned to see Bunnymund also hopping out of a Tunnel. "Although, I'd 'ave thought you'd be okay with this."

"With warning and a coat, yes." I said, "This hoodie is deceptively thin."

I made an exasperated noise in my throat and began walking towards the Pole, Bunnymund could easily have beaten me there, but for some reason he walked at my pace.

I could see the Pooka shivering out of corner of my eye and came to a decision.

"Race you?"

"Ya don't wanna race a rabbit."

"I know, but you're shivering badly."

"North just wanted someone to make sure you got to the Workshop alright." Said Bunnymund.

"And we will if we race, believe or not I'm shivering too."

Bunnymund looked me up and down, then gave me an odd smile. "Not a word to Frost. Got it?"

"Got it."

Bunnymund was off like a sprinter out of the starters block, and I wasn't far behind on my ice bridge.

I hadn't gone so fast since the last time I travelled across the Arctic, about seven years ago, and I was loving it.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOO!" I yelled as I came level with Bunnymund and I saw his mouth move as he muttered something.

"He said 'she's just as loud as Frost''" Translated Taboo.

"Too right! This is fun!" I let out a laugh as I skated, my arms pumping furiously to keep momentum.

"Are you sure you're not six, instead of twenty six?"

"Oh stop being such a spoilsport Taboo. I need to get it all out now anyway, otherwise I dread to think what Jack might rope me into."

"Good point. Keep laughing."

I laughed at that and began skating backwards, letting my powers control the skates.
Bunnymund was still keeping pace with me, but I had a feeling that was out of duty to North, to make sure I got to the Workshop. Not all that necessary, given that I'd have to be blind to miss it.

"You can stop being polite you know. I can see you're not putting everything into it."

Bunnymund gave me a look. "You'll never beat me if I did."

"If we even draw it will be hollow, because you didn't try. So come on!"

"No point, we're pretty much there."

I turned around to see that yes, we were right up against the Workshop. All we needed to find now was the door.

Almost as if he read my mind Bunnymund said. "Door's this way."

"Thanks." I said, following him at a more sedate pace. Finding the door would have been much harder in this blizzard.

A Yeti opened the surprisingly modest doors and Bunnymund bounded in, practically absorbing the heat as he made a beeline for the nearest fireplace.

I just leaned against the now closed door, panting from the race. Taboo leapt out of my hoodie and grew to full size, shaking herself off as the Yeti took a surprised step back.

You might want to shrink, so we don't freak anyone out. It's three days away from Christmas Eve after all.

"Fine fine."

Taboo shrunk to the point where she reached my hip, still large enough to not get crushed in the manic Workshop, but small enough to not cause mass panic. I doubted the Yeti's were quite that flighty, but I didn't want to risk it.

We walked through the manic Workshop, ducking under presents and dodging Yetis carrying unidentifiable items wrapped in colourful paper.

Very different from when I'd made the same journey seven years ago.

I reached the Globe Room, but to my surprise, there was no one there.

A jingling bell caught my attention and I corrected myself. No, there was an elf here, great.

The tiny creature waddled over and tugged at my trouser leg, seemingly unfazed by Taboo. I looked down and saw it was pointing in a certain direction.

"They're that way?"

The elf nodded proudly and waddled its way in the direction, presumably to lead me.

I looked at Taboo and we both shrugged, deciding it was better than standing here looking like idiots.

Thankfully the elf did lead us in the right direction, and we exited to a sitting room essentially.

A crackling fireplace was at the far end, with a large Christmas tree next to it. There were various fairy lights strung around the walls, providing more light and adding to the cosy atmosphere.

The walls appeared to be intricately carved dark wood and brightly coloured rugs were strewn on the wooden floor. Facing each other by the fire across a low table were several squashy sofas and chairs.

This was a lot more homely than the Council Chamber, it was a nice change.

North was already in the room, occupying a large red seat close to the fire. Bunnymund hadn't taken a seat, but was instead warming his feet by the fire.

"Ah Jackie!" Cried North as I entered the room, moving quickly from his chair. "Is good to see you!"

"Good to see you too North." I said politely, if slightly warily, wondering if I was going to get subjected to a rib crushing hug.

I was, and I tried not to complain from the Russian's body heat as he seemed to try and squeeze the air out of me.

"Let her go North, she'd turning blue." Quipped Bunnymund and North let me down, causing me to stagger slightly and Taboo laugh. She grew to her normal size as I walked further in, and I stood a little awkwardly until North bid me to sit down.

I sat on a blue sofa as far away from the fire as possible and took off my bag. I suddenly felt so light I felt that I could fly.

Taboo curled up by my feet as I rummaged through the bag, trying to find all of the necessary files. I'd brought a few unessential ones just in case I needed to kill some time. I hadn't gotten much further with reading them all.

"You look like you've brought HOG's library with you." Commented North, and I shook my head.

"Not even close. The Records Room is the size of a football pitch, easy."

"You have that much information?" North laughed. "What on earth is in there?"

"Erm, profiles on known immortals, records of events, weird events not involving us, Branch lists, Descendant lists, and a whole section dedicated to spell books."

"Spell books?" Now Bunnymund was curious. I leaned back slightly as I explained, rolling my right shoulder.

"Descendants of North only. The rest of us have powers that really shouldn't be mixed with Atlantian magic, and I've read about it, the result wasn't pretty."

"Do we want to know?"

"No, you really don't." I tried to not remember the pictures but they flashed up in my head anyway.

The door opened and in flew Toothiana, surrounded by a few Mini Fairies.

"Oh! Jackie's here already!" She said, flying up to me. "How are you doing? How are your teeth? And Jamie's?"

"Fine, healthy, I'm not his mother."

"Leave her alone, she's probably still freezing from trekking up here." Bunnymund stepped in thankfully, and Toothiana went to her seat. I never found that I could relax around Toothiana, she was always doing something, zipping around like a hummingbird. To someone who appreciates relaxation and not having to be active to have fun, Toothiana was exhausting just to watch.

Thinking about, her Descendants had the same kind of energy whenever they got excited about something.

Sandman was next in, nodding and smiling to everyone as he settled on a particularly squashy sofa, taking a cup of eggnog from the table as he did so. I was personally going to avoid the stuff.

"It's funny." Bunnymund had settled on a large green chair close to the fire. "Jack's Descendant is practically early, while her ancestor is always late."

"It's just how it is." I said, deciding not to mention the fact that I was still looking for the nearest exit, my nerves were getting that bad.

North appeared to have noticed and leaned forward in his chair. "Are you alright Jackie? You look like you're about to be sick."

I swallowed and gave a nervous smile. "Fine. Just, nerves, maybe."

"You should have seen her earlier. Shaking like a leaf." Laughed Taboo and I shot her a glare.

"Taboo!"

"What? You can't deny it."

I grumbled and looked very pointedly out of the window. Where Jack was just happened to be standing.

I yelped and jerked back in surprise as Jack let out a muffled laugh and flew off, presumably to find an open window.

"One day he is going to give me a heart attack."

"I like this girl!" Declared Bunnymund. "She agrees with me!"

I chuckled, remembering the first time we'd ever come across each other, and the massive argument we had.

Jack burst in through the door and landed on the same sofa as me, which instantly raised Bunnymund's hackles.

"Oh no ya don't. For all I know you two are as bad as each other. Different sofas, now."

"I just got in and you're already accusing me of something!" Protested Jack, but he did move sofas.

North clapped his hands, looking somewhat nervously at the door. "The first HOG and Guardian meeting is now in session."

Here goes nothing.

It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.

The Guardians were not nearly as uptight as the Heads could be, so banter flew back and forth across the room as they gave their reports. There was nothing unusual, the Workshop and the Warren were functioning just fine, tooth collection was going well, nightmares were almost nonexistent and Jack was keeping to his snow day quota.

When it got to me I shuffled my files around, trying to get my words straight in my head.

"Descendant recruitment is going well, 12 overall in the past year; 2 Descendants of Jack Frost, 4 Descendants of North, 4 Descendants of Bunnymund and 2 Descendants Toothiana."

I shuffled the files again, trying to remember something else that was important.

"No activity from the Descendants of Pitch or the Black Furs; Descendants of Lupine loyal to their ancestor." I clarified, seeing the confused look on most of the Guardians faces.

"We've had reports from Tracey's pack that there's some unrest among the Descendants of Mother Nature, but we're not planning on getting involved."

"Why not?" Asked Toothiana.

"Unless it involves the Descendants of Pitch then it's not our business. Technically the Descendants of Lupine aren't our business either, but they came to us so there wasn't much we could do about that."

"I've actually got a few questions about you guys." Said Toothiana, almost shifting in her seat nervously.

"Fire away."

"Well, what do you actually do?"

"Well, HOG keeps the Descendants of Pitch in check, basically to stop them from making the world darker than it already is. It's a balance thing. We stop them getting too big for their boots and they stop us from getting too cocky. They don't like it much though."

"Is that all?"

I tried not to be offended as I answered. She probably just meant that we don't do stuff for kids.

"Pretty much. There's some politics to it surrounding different factions of Descendants."

"Factions?" Now it was Bunnymund's turn to be curious.

"Well, you've got HOG and the Descendants of Pitch, we're two factions that are almost constantly butting heads. Meanwhile you've got the Descendants of Mother Nature who are normally neutral, although given the rumours we're getting that might not be the case anymore. There isn't much info on the Descendants of the Leprechaun, Groundhog, Cupid and Jack O'Lantern. The Descendants of Father Time don't contact anyone anymore and the Descendants of Lupine are easily the most complicated."

One look at the others told me to continue.

"The Descendants of Lupine have three factions amongst themselves; the Black Furs, which are the Descendants loyal to Lupine. You have Tracey's pack, which is affiliated with HOG, and the majority are neutral packs."

My throat was starting to feel dry, so despite my better judgement I reached for a glass of eggnog. It made my throat burn, but it felt less dry, somehow.

"The interesting thing about the Descendants of Lupine is that, outside of the Black Furs, you don't have to be a Descendant of Lupine to join. Last I checked Tracey's pack had some Descendants of Pitch who had decided that they didn't like what their fellow Descendants were doing. In the neutral packs anyone can join if they don't want to fight anyone."

While everyone else let the information sink in Taboo looked at me.

"Enjoying that eggnog?"

No

I was struggling not to cough as it went down my throat.

Jack also seemed to notice as he flew over to thump me on the back.

"Let's lay off the eggnog, huh Icicle?"

"Agreed." I said, a little strained from the desire to cough. I had hoped North would have the eggnog with actual egg. Looks like being Russian had a large influence on what was considered alcohol.

North himself frowned and took the glass of eggnog, sniffing it and cursing in Russian.

"Sorry Jackie." He said when he returned to English. "The elves must have been at it, the rest is normal eggnog, right Sandy?"

The Sandman looked up from his glass of eggnog and nodded fervently, having drunk the rest of the normal eggnog.

"Never mind." I said, packing the files away, having not needed most of them. I was surprised by how much I remembered.

"So, is this all wrapped up then?" asked Bunnymund, leaning back in his seat.

"Yes. Feel free to stay overnight, is a long way back." North extended this invitation to everyone around the room.

Toothiana shook her head. "I need to get back to the palace." She rose out of her seat and smiled at the group, nodding to me as well. "Good to see you again Jackie."

"Good to see you too."

I looked back at Jack as Toothiana left, to see that he was talking quietly with Sandman. Given the glances towards me and the conversation we had not too long ago, I knew where this was going.

I stood up quickly, swinging my bag on my back.

"Well, it's been great seeing you all again, but I'd better get going. Bye!"

"Taboo, grab her!" Cried Jack and I felt the bottom of my hoodie get caught by Taboo's teeth.

"Don't you dare Jack Frost. Don't you dare!"

"What is going on here?" Asked North, booming slightly to try and get some kind of order back.

"Have you seen her North? When I looked through the window I thought I saw a panda!"

"Jack." I said through gritted teeth. "I'm fine."

"What are you going on about?" Asked Bunnymund and I gave a futile tug on my hoodie. Taboo was not on my side tonight.

Jack almost seemed to ignore Bunnymund and turned to Sandman. "Sandy, is it normal for someone to look this tired?"

I decided to lie and come up a believable excuse at the same time.

"Look, I didn't sleep well last night because I was nervous about the meeting. Are you happy now?"

Taboo let out a low, threatening growl and I froze in place, having not heard that noise being directed at me.

"Yeah, you didn't get much sleep last night, and no, nerves probably didn't help." Taboo growled, fully aware that everyone could hear her. "But that wasn't the main reason, was it?"

I made my own growling noise out of combined exasperation and desperation. The Guardians didn't need to know this!

Before anyone could ask what Taboo was talking about Sandman flashed up some images. A question mark and a horse.

I scowled as the remaining Guardians easily translated, and turned to me.

"It doesn't matter." I said, giving my hoodie another tug. "It doesn't concern you as Guardians and it's not an issue."

Jack snorted. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

Bunnymund came round and squinted at my face. "Yep, definitely the panda look."

I gave Jack my best evil look as North also came round and confirmed that I did indeed, look like I needed some decent sleep.

"I'll get some sleep when I got back. So let GO TABOO!" I cried, giving my hoodie another tug. The material didn't give, but sadly neither did Taboo's jaws.

"At least admit it's a problem."

"It isn't." I practically growled.

"Jackie."

I looked up at Jack, his arms folded and his face concerned. "I'm your friend, and I'm worried about you. Just let us help."

I opened to my mouth to say that I didn't need his help, and shut it again.

I was brought back to just over a decade ago, Sally had distracted some bullies that were bothering me and allowed me to get away. Even though she was just trying to help, I yelled at her, telling her that I didn't need protection, angry that she thought I couldn't handle it myself.

It was the same here now. Jack knew what I could do, and knew that I wasn't weak, he wasn't trying to say that. He was just trying to help me, and I was being too stubborn and proud to see it.

My shoulders slumped as I admitted defeat. I didn't want to put Jack through what I had put Sally through.

"...Fine."

Jack blinked, clearly surprised that I'd given up so easily.

"I get nightmares, regularly. Are you happy now?"

Just mentioning brought back some memories of those nightmares and I tensed up slightly, trying to block them out.

Taboo let go of my hoodie and Jack smiled slightly.

"At least you admitted it now."

"Yeah. Now can I go?"

"Not yet."

I gave Jack an exasperated look, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Sandman preparing some Dreamsand, and I panicked.

"No no no! Not happening!"

I made a break for it, but before I got to the door I felt my knees buckle. With less than a second I was out.

I woke up several hours later, feeling better after sleeping than I had in a long time.

I was on the same sofa that I'd been sitting on for the meeting, but there was no one else there now except for Taboo. The fire had been put out, but the fairy lights were still twinkling.

"Sleep well?"

I rolled around slightly to see that Jack was still around, crouching on the sofa opposite.

"...I hate you."

"Sure you do." Jack grinned. "You look better though."

I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes, still feeling a little groggy.

"...Thanks, though."

Jack grin grew, as if he knew how much it dented my pride to say that. "You're welcome."

My blurry eyes focused on the low table, where my glasses were sitting on top of a book. A book that hadn't been there during the meeting.

I pushed myself up onto my elbow, displacing a blanket that had been placed over me. I reached out for my glasses and put them on, now able to read the title clearly.

"The Inexplicable Unexplainables of Atlantis volume one." I read, my excitement rising. This was the book I hadn't gotten to finish last time I was here.

Jack, who probably knew why that was there, recognised the look on my face.

"Go on." He laughed. "I know what you're like with books."

Trying to keep some dignity I plucked the book from the table and sat up on the sofa. I tucked my feet under my body and flicked open to where I had finished last time. I barely even heard Jack putting on soft music and leaving.