Jackie stood at the lake, the most recently translated section of the Bergland Books sitting next to her on an ice platform. She took a deep breath and summoned ten snowflakes, an easy feat when they were small. She focused on them, and mentally designated control of each one to one finger.
The snowflakes now hung in a horizontal line, and when Jackie moved a finger, the corresponding snowflake moved in tandem.
A nice party trick, but she had plans to build this up, to move ice and snow to do different things at the same time. She was getting something like that with the flying, although that still gave her a massive headache afterwards.
On the other side of the lake, Taboo was also practicing.
She swiftly changed the shape of her tail, mostly to a mace, but she also sharpened the end to a point and lengthened it to snap like a whip.
A glitter of gold distracted Jackie for just a second, and one of the snowflakes wobbled in midair.
Jackie frowned at the snowflakes, and they steadied in midair, but the gold streams were moving unpredictably, constantly breaking her concentration.
She sighed and lowered her hands, the snowflakes following in suit before being dismissed. That done Jackie looked around to see where that glitter of gold came from.
Trails of gold lit up the night sky, weaving their way through the stars, and Jackie doubled checked her watch. Seemed time had been going more slowly than she thought.
She stared up, then looked back down at the notes. She should practice, but she was rarely around when the Sandman was, she was sometimes around the Dreamsand delivery came, but rarely when he was actually there. It made the whole thing better, plus, she needed a break. She could continue practice in a few minutes.
Jackie began to climb the nearest tree to get high enough to reach the streams. Sure, she could use an ice pillar, but that just took the challenge and fun out of it.
Jackie climbed and swung off the branches to the next with gleeful abandon. It had been a long day, and it wasn't often that could let off a lot of steam these days. This wouldn't be much, but it would be something.
She got to the top and, balanced somewhat precariously, she reached up and ran her fingers through the Dreamsand.
The sand was both silky, and a little sticky, grains stuck to her fingers as she pulled her hand back down, watching the scene before her.
Chess pieces moved around an imaginary board, only to be scattered by an inquiring cat paw, causing Jackie to laugh. The chess pieces attempted to move back into position, but the cat made a full appearance, knocking each one aside before deciding to play with the queen, batting it between its paws.
Jackie leaned against the top of the tree, ignoring how much it bent under her weight, and watched until the image faded, leaving the partially cloudy night's sky on show.
Instinct told Jackie there was something behind her, and she carefully spun to reveal.
"Sandman?"
The man himself was hovering about a metre away, smiling and waving.
"How are you?" Jackie asked slightly warily. The Sandman had always come across as friendly, but it was rare for a Guardian, except Jack, to say hello while out in the field.
The Sandman gave a thumbs up, before showing an image of him moving quickly, an eye, then a small snowflake and finally a waving hand.
"You were ahead of schedule, so you saw me and thought you'd say hello?" Jackie guessed, and the Sandman nodded. He then pointed an arrow at Jackie followed by a question mark.
"How am I?" at the Sandman's nodding Jackie answered. "I'm good, busy as always, but it's nice to have a bit of a break right now."
Sandman nodded in agreement and leaned back in midair, stretching and yawning.
"So, everything good your end?" Jackie asked awkwardly, not sure what else to ask. The Sandman was certainly talkative, but she never knew what to say.
The Sandman nodded and returned the question.
"Yes, everything's good. The odd raid, but that's normal."
The Sandman looked confused at the concept of a normal raid, so Jackie explained.
"The Descendants of Pitch sometimes attack somewhere where they know there's a HOG Branch. We call it a raid, but really it's a training exercise, for both sides. Plus Descendants try not to kill each other, so there's no real danger," Jackie shrugged, but the Sandman still looked mildly concerned. "It's a Descendant thing, don't worry about it."
That didn't seem to be what the Sandman was concerned about. He pointed at Jackie's eyes, and mimed lines under his own.
"I look tired? Like I said, I've been busy. Sorry, but sleep sometimes takes a back seat."
The Sandman sighed and shook his head, while Jackie let out a forced laugh.
"Come on, I thought we were taking a break!"
A horse appeared above the Sandman's head, followed by a question mark, and any false laughter died. Of course he'd remember from the first meeting at the Pole.
"Sandman..." Jackie trailed off when she saw the stern look the Sandman was wearing, and she didn't like it. It reminded her of a disappointed parent, which was odd, given that she was now one herself.
"Fine, okay. Yes, I still get Nightmares," Jackie admitted, "It's fine," she added before the Sandman could say anything.
The Sandman shook his head, not agreeing.
"Look, I know it's your job, but seriously, it's fine. I can cope with it."
The Sandman formed a ball of Dream sand and held it threateningly, but Jackie wasn't really fazed.
"I'm standing at the top of a tree. I like my bones in one piece thanks," she said dryly, and the Sandman smirked as he made the ball disappear.
The smirk quickly disappeared as he folded his arms and tapped his foot in an impatient manner.
"What?" Jackie asked, but he continued to do it. "What, are you waiting for me to admit I need help? Because I don't."
The Sandman sighed, seeing that he wasn't getting through, so he just formed a question mark. Why? Why did she think she didn't need his help?
"You do good work," Jackie made sure that was clear, "but for someone like me, who gets regular nightmares, Dreamsand isn't going to work, not in the long run. You're putting a band aid on something that needs stitches, sure it'll help for a short amount of time, but it won't tackle the underlying problem, namely," Jackie pointed to her head, "my messed up mind."
The Sandman relaxed a little, shaking his head. He saw where she was coming from, he didn't really like it, but he understood it.
Jackie mis-interpreted the head shake. "That's just how it is," she said testily, "if you don't like it, then sorry, can't help you."
The Sandman put out his hands in an appeasing gesture. He then made the universal sign for okay, smiling.
Jackie relaxed. "Okay then," she said, "that, didn't, really go far from work, did it?"
The Sandman let out a silent laugh, before recovering, and after some exaggerated thought, he pointed up.
"What's up?" Jackie asked, and the Sandman floated up, gesturing for her to follow him. She frowned a little in confusion, but stepped off the tree and onto a platform of ice which followed the Sandman up.
They went high above the trees and buildings, but stopped below the clouds, where the Sandman formed a deckchair and sat down in it, leaning back. Jackie tilted her head to one side and sat down on the platform, following his gaze.
From up here the town looked so small, with pinpricks of the street lights like amber stars. Tanglewood she could see long before the horizon, and said horizon was more or less empty and dark.
Marring that, where the sky met the land, there was a burst of brilliant stars, which continued across the night's sky in greater detail than Jackie had seen from the ground. She imagined that it would look even better above the clouds, but there was that pesky breathing problem.
It could be done, in theory, if she went slowly enough, but that would take hours, and she just didn't have that time anymore.
"Great view up here," Jackie commented, and the Sandman nodded, forming a thumbs up, then the moon and some stars.
"Good stars?" Jackie guessed, and the Sandman shook his head, before tapping his chin as he considered how to 'phrase' it.
He formed a circle with the sun on one half and the moon on the other, with a line like a clock hand pointing to the moon half, and then the thumbs up again.
"Good, night... Good night for it?"
The Sandman beamed and his own hands formed thumbs up. Jackie leaned back a bit on her ice platform, seeing that there weren't that many clouds to block out the stars.
"Yeah," she said, "it is a good night."
"Are you planning on staying up there all night?" Taboo groused. "Because I'm not taking that notebook back with me."
Jackie sighed, and the Sandman silently chuckled.
"What?" Jackie asked, and the Sandman formed a picture of a tiger, followed by a megaphone.
"Yes, she can be quite loud," Jackie agreed, before lying flat on her back and looking at the stars. "If I stay here she'd going to get louder," she added, but made no effort to move. Honestly, she could sleep up here, the wind that whipped by Jackie wasn't harsh, it seemed to merely tease her hair. Anyone else would be freezing up here.
Jackie turned to look at the Sandman when she saw the movement out of the corner of her eye, and he smiled, before forming new signs. A ticking then ringing alarm clock, and an old fashioned clock-in device for when workers started their shift.
"It was nice while it lasted," Jackie commented, and the Sandman nodded, before summoning his cloud and starting to fly away, before stopping. His cloud reversed, and he formed a snowflake, and a ball.
"Sorry, I don't follow,"
The Sandman made the small ball again, this time making it hollow and shoving sand inside it. He then put an equals sign next to it followed by a snowflake.
Jackie formed a hollow ball of ice as he'd asked, and the Sandman placed some sand inside it, after which Jackie closed up the hole. The sand inside floated and glowed, making it seem almost like a nightlight.
"In case I need a decent night's sleep right?" Jackie asked, knowingly.
The Sandman shrugged, not having forgotten the previous conversation.
"Thanks anyway," Jackie smiled, stowing it away in her pocket. "Better get that translation before it gets water damaged," she added, standing up. Now that she wasn't there, the platform of ice might melt on its own.
The Sandman waved goodbye, and Jackie returned it before stepping off the platform, allowing herself to freefall for a few seconds before forming a pair of wings to catch her. She hovered several metres above the ground before slowly dropping to the forest floor.
She landed with the soft crunch of snow and walked over calmly to the lake to collect the bit of the Bergland Books she'd been following. Perhaps another half an hour of practice before she went to bed.
This one took long enough to get out! I'm still not completely happy with it, but it's better than what it was. Also, the ice holding the sand is because, who really carries a small bag around? Especially when you have no plans on using it.
And now, I shall return to my Young Justice fic, if things go well, it might be ready to go by the end of the year.