Here's the next part to the story! I'm glad so many people like it. =D I hope the trend continues. I'll do my best to make this a good story.

I own nothing but what I own.

Chapter 2: The Welcome Clause

When Fiona finally got to go back to her guest house, it was late into Christmas morning. There had been no sleep for her that night, between preparing Christmas presents, calming Bernard, keeping contact with Santa as he went on his annual ride, and making sure that Jack kept working. That last part had been much easier than she had expected; it seemed the new Jack wasn't so much of a lazy procrastinator, although he still complained good-naturedly. On the other hand, calming Bernard was much harder than she expected. Normally a hug or a peck could get him to relax for at least a second. This time she was running around frantically with him and trying to keep tabs on Jack. She didn't really have the time or opportunity to get to Bernard. It was only when Santa was halfway through his ride that the Head Elf let himself sit down at one of he small elf-sized tables in the monitoring room, and by then Fiona was so tired that she just laid her head on the table and slept.

Fiona breathed a sigh of relief as she came near the heavily decorated guest houses. The elves had redone much of it over the summer, partially because the construction elves were bored, and partially to compensate for Fiona's kidnapping by the Boogie Man last year. She had a personal house of her own, since she had taken to staying at the North Pole every winter. Her house was a small and quaint one closest to the road. It had Danish designs all over it, in red and green as well as the classic brown. Marigolds, foxgloves, pansies, and larkspurs grew around the door, being hardy flowers that could stand the cold outside of Fiona's special greenhouse. Behind the building were several other guest houses that were being used by the Council of Legendary Figures at the moment. The houses all had similar designs to Fiona's, with different patterns of red, green, and the occasional blue to differentiate them. They were very pretty to look at, and very cozy inside.

The Spring Sprite slowly made her way to her door and leaned against it. She was the last of the Council to go to bed. All the others had gone hours and hours ago. Well, all but Jack.

Fiona glanced behind her. The Winter Sprite was still trudging down the road a little ways behind her. He had a right to go a bit slower- he was the one who had to do most of the work. He gave Fiona a small smile and wave as he passed and continued towards his guest house. Fortunately, it was the one right next to hers. Both sprites fumbled with their doors until they tumbled open. Fiona almost fell flat on the floor.

Quickly grabbing onto a decorative table near the door, she pulled herself up and shut the door behind her. Then she dragged herself to the little bedroom and laid down on the large, soft, beautiful green bed. Within seconds she was asleep.

By the time Fiona woke the next morning, it was almost afternoon. Her eyes flew open and she glanced at the sugarplum alarm clock on her side desk. It read 10:30. With a small scream, the Spring Sprite leaped out of bed and dashed to get dressed. In ten minutes, she was running full-speed out of the house, wearing a green sweater and black sweatpants, with a doughnut half in her mouth. The COLF never met after 11:00, because they all had work to do for the seasons. The guest houses were towards the back of the north pole, and she had twenty minutes to make it on time.

Elves preparing their mid-morning duties smirked as they saw the sprite, who had looked half-dead only last night, running past them like she had jet boosters on her feet. A few of them cheerfully called their good mornings, only to have Fiona choke out a wheezy "HI!" as she blazed by.

So focused was she on moving forward as fast as spritely possible, she didn't even notice when she reached the factory in three-quarters of the time it normally took her and she slammed face-first into the wall. She was so shocked that she just stood there pressed against the wall for a minute. Then she felt a little hand on her arm, gently pulling her away and turning her around. "Are you alright?" a sweet, if not a bit amused, voice asked.

Fiona blinked and rubbed her head. Judy the Cocoa Elf stood in front of her with her usual tray of specially made cocoa, waiting patiently for an answer. She was one of the smaller elves, with a pixie-esque glitter in her eye and a tall pointed purple hat that looked like the type of thing a princess would wear. She wore a red dress with white fuzzy lining and purple ribbon and decorative baubles and embroidery all over. Judy had a look on her face like she couldn't decide whether she was tickled or concerned with the sprite's antics.

"Umm..." Fiona mumbled, wobbling just a bit. She held her arms out to steady herself. "I... I think I'm okay. I'm just in a hurry to get to the Council meeting, that's all, Judy."

The little elf nodded understandingly. "I see... you know it starts in five minutes, right?"

Fiona's eyes widened. She squeaked and ran through the door, this time remembering to open it instead of running into the wall. Behind her, Judy called, "It's in Santa's office!" The Cocoa Elf giggled and continued on her daily rounds, offering cocoa to other elves.

In Santa's office, the Council of Legendary Figures all sat in a circle in their usual red velvet chairs. All of them besides Fiona were there, and they were all looking at the empty chair by Jack. Except for Father Time- he was looking at a large, gold, heavily ornamented watch that he usually kept inside his thick coat. By the door, Curtis and Bernard stood impatiently, having been called to the meeting by Mother Nature. Curtis was holding tightly to the handle of a shiny mahogany cart, laden with the large North Pole rule-book. Santa might be able to lift that thing by himself, but not Curtis, who was barely four feet tall.

Jack was looking much like his old self again. He had re-freeze-dried his hair and eyebrows, so they were stiff and icy again. Also, he was wearing one of his extra frozen pinstripe suits. Except for his much tanner and more human-looking skin, which nothing could be done about, he looked pretty much normal.

"Five..." Father Time whispered, staring intently at his watch. "Four... three... two... one!" He looked up at the others. "Fiona is officially late."

Mother Nature nodded. "Alright, we'll have to start without her. Let's-" At that moment, the door was thrown open, and Fiona raced in. Curtis gasped as the sprite tripped at lightning-speed over his cart and flipped like a gymnast over the book. She tumbled forward, unable to get her footing, and hit her empty chair. Everyone once again looked down at the chair, this time lying sideways on the floor with a dazed Fiona draped over it.

"I'm here..." she moaned, raising her arm like a student in class during roll call.

The others looked at each other. "Oh dear..." Mother Nature said concernedly, raising a hand to her mouth to hide a smile.

Bernard ran over to Fiona. "Are you okay?" he exclaimed. "Did you break something?"

"That was some fall there!" the Easter Bunny commented.

"Best entrance I've ever seen!" Jack Frost declared, laughing.

"The rule-book!" Curtis yelped. He struggled to lift the giant thing off the floor. "Someone help me lift it up!"

"The Toothinator to the rescue!" the Tooth Fairy called out as he flew over to help Curtis with the book.

"Awwww..." Cupid sighed, watching Fiona and Bernard. "I love it when moments like this happen, when the girl gets hurt and the guy comes over to help. Not that I want you hurt, Fiona! I mean, this is just one of the best times for my arrows to take affect, and..."

Sandman snored.

"Guys?" Santa tried to get everyone's attention in vain. "Guys?"

Finally, Fiona sat up and yelled, "Guys!" Everyone finally stopped talking and looked at her. "I'm fine, okay? We should probably start the meeting!" She stood up and righted her chair, smiling at Bernard, who was still standing by her like a worried puppy.

"Thank you," Santa chuckled when she sat down. "Mother Nature?"

Mother Nature blushed a little bit. "Sorry about that," she apologized. "Calming people down should have been my job. It was just- that was quite an entrance, Fiona."

The sprite smiled sheepishly. "Heh... um, sorry. Woke up late. Won't happen again."

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Jack gave her a playful punch on the arm. "I've come to meetings much later than this!"

Father Time narrowed his eyes at him. "Yes, and you almost got banished for it." Jack choked back his laughter and ended up coughing awkwardly. Fiona looked down at the floor.

Mother Nature rolled her eyes and swatted at Father Time. "Oh, boo! Don't scare them, they're not in trouble. This is supposed to be a happy meeting."

The Council members looked at each other thoughtfully. The Easter Bunny crossed his arms. "Yeah, and what's this meeting about, anyway?" Mother Nature merely smiled and nodded at Curtis, who had finally gotten the rule-book back onto the cart. The little elf began to slowly pull the cart over to the center of the room. He was already huffing and puffing from his last strenuous effort, and it was a slow progression. After a minute, Bernard stomped over and started pushing the cart on the other side, practically propelling Curtis backward onto the rule-book. Jack snickered. Fiona kicked him.

"If you could please find me the seasonal section that I asked you about earlier," Mother Nature asked politely. Curtis immediately started flipping forward in the book. The look on his face grew more and more confused as he couldn't find what he was looking for. Bernard sighed and grabbed a huge wad of paper, flipping way over to the beginning of the book.

Curtis glared at Bernard, then scanned the page. He blinked. "Oh." Jack started to snicker again, but Fiona stopped him with a look.

Mother Nature took a step and the two elves got out of her way. She bent over the page and read aloud, "According to the Council of Legendary Figures Chapter, section 40, subsection Seasonal Member Roster, All of the most important figures of legendary empowerment and seasonal design can, will, and rightly must become a member of the Council of Legendary Figures. No personage may be discluded from this roster except in emergencies including banishment and personal dilemmas." She looked up from the book. None of the faces staring back at her seemed the least bit surprised.

"Uh, I don't mean to be rude, but..." the Tooth Fairy waved his arms in a sweeping gesture. "Don't we already know that?"

Jack shrugged. "I was hardly ever here before, and I knew that."

Santa gave Mother Nature a confused look. "Is there something that you're trying to get at? I'm not sure I follow."

Fiona gulped and asked, "This isn't about me leaving the North Pole all those years when the last Santa was here, is it?"

Mother Nature shook her head patiently. "No, no. I told you, no one's in trouble. This is a happy meeting, and that was categorized as a personal dilemma on your part. Now, I'm sure everyone agrees that all the important Legendary Figures are here, right?" The other Council members nodded and murmured their general agreement. "Well, I can assure you that we're missing at least two important Legendary Figures." The group gasped.

"Two? We're really missing two people?" Cupid exclaimed. "I don't see how-" he looked over at Sandman for support, and was the first to realize that he had been asleep this whole time. Quickly, as if he'd done it all the time, he pulled out of of his arrows and tickled Sandman's nose with one of the back feathers on the shaft. Sandman suddenly exploded into a sneezing fit, falling out of his chair.

The Easter Bunny, Cupid, Jack Frost, and the Tooth Fairy laughed hysterically, and Santa tried to stifle his own laugh. Sandman picked himself drowsily off the floor. "Hey, now.." he complained in a fuzzy voice. "That wasn't very nice."

"People! People!" Mother Nature rapped her small staff, which was basically a shorter copy of the staff that Father Time had, against the cart. "Why are you so restless today? Maybe it wasn't a good idea to hold the meeting so soon after yet another Christmas emergency."

Bernard coughed. "Ahem... Mother Nature? Could we get to the point, please? I have work to do."

"Yes, Bernard, I know," Mother Nature complied. "I'll do my best- if everyone will pay attention!" She eyed her Council members. All of them sat up straight and folded their hands in semi-serious humility. It was so comical to see them all do this at the same time, Mother Nature had to smile again. "That's better. Now, as I was saying, we are missing two important Legendary Figures that I know of. Would everyone like to know who they are?" Everyone nodded in unison- this time making Mother Nature chuckle a little. "Alright. Bernard, would you please open the door to let them in?"

Bernard and Curtis blinked. "Ma'am," Curtis started. "We didn't see anyone new here when we walked in."

"And, since I'm in charge, I usually know when someone new comes in," Bernard agreed.

Mother Nature just nodded her head towards the door. The two elves looked at each other, and Curtis shrugged. Bernard rolled his eyes and went to the door. He took the handle and frowned, obviously not expecting anyone there. Then he pulled the door open. "Gaah!" he yelled, jumping back. "There's people there!" He stood gasping and holding a hand over his heart.

Fiona started to get up to go to him, but stopped when she saw who was on the other side of the door. "Sunny?!" She turned to Jack. "Did you know she was coming?"

The Winter Sprite was staring in shock. "No, I had no idea! I haven't seen her in years!"

They both gaped at the doorway, where stood two sprites still sprinkling with gold dust, as if they'd just appeared out of thin air. One was a girl, and one was a boy, and they both looked slightly bored, slightly irritated, and slightly confused.

The girl had bright blonde hair that faded into orange, and flowed in spiky wisps off her head like it was on fire. She had a headband covered with red and yellow flower petals. Her clothes looked like they had been made entirely from nature- her shirt was a weaved grass top that reached below her waist and tied with brown twine, with large puffy blossoms as the sleeves. Her leggings were made from moss-fleece, which was like a mossy version of wool, and she wore boots and gloves made of green leaf leather. Her eyes were gold, with hazel marks.

The boy had dirty blonde hair that had large streaks and patches of earthy brown. Like the girl, his clothes were very naturalistic He wore a leaf-leather vest and pants, made from golden brown fallen leaves. He had an undershirt made of yellowed weaved grass, with sleeves that reached to his elbow. He had pockets on his vest and his pants with silk handkerchiefs in them, and freckles up and down his arms and cheeks. His eyes, also like the girl's, were gold with hazel marks.

"Council," Mother Nature held her hand out to the sprites. "I'd like you to meet Sunny Ray Leafson, and Erick Leafson, the Summer and Fall Sprites, and the new additions to our group."

The girl lifted up her hand. "Um, you don't have to say the 'Ray' part. I'm like, the only sprite in the world with a middle name." She and the boy stepped into the room. Cupid and the Tooth Fairy quickly moved their chairs over and scooted a couple of others in for them, which they sat down in. Before they could, though, they were ambushed by Fiona.

The Spring Sprite gave the girl a huge bear hug. "Sunny! I haven't seen you in so long! Where have you been? When did you become the Summer Sprite? And, since when did you have a brother?! You never told me about him!"

Sunny laughed and hugged Fiona back. "Hi, Fiona! I know, it's been years, hasn't it?" They parted and looked each other over. "You're still as pretty as ever, Fi."

Fiona giggled. "Thanks, Sunny. You're looking good, too. I love what you did with your hair."

"Oh, this?" Sunny pushed her fingers through the shiny yellow locks. "Thanks. It took me forever to find the right combination of dehydrating and sun-bleaching to get it this way." Her brother nudged her with his elbow. She quickly put her hands behind her back. "Oh, and I'm sorry I haven't seen you in so long. I was doing seasonal training. You know, for being a Summer Sprite. Erick had to, too, but he was partway through it when I met you after your training, which is why you didn't meet him. I hadn't begun yet at that time."

"Oh, right," Fiona mused, putting a finger to her chin. "I'd forgotten that seasonal training took a while. It's been so long since I did it. Nice to meet you, Erick." She held her hand out. The other sprite looked at it for a minute, then silently shook it, with an emotionless look on his face. This struck Fiona as a bit odd, but she didn't comment on it. "Oh, and Sunny, you remember Jack."

She turned and motioned towards Jack, who had stayed sitting this whole time with a bit of a grimace on his face. Fiona frowned and looked at Sunny. She wore a similarly disgusted expression. "Oh... Jack," she greeted with a politely impolite voice. "How... interesting... to see you."

"Same to you," Jack mumbled. "Hothead."

Sunny put her hands on her hips. "Well, if you think I'm hot, I have no problem with that."

Jack's eyes lit up, and he opened his mouth and started to stand. Santa quickly held him back. Sunny smirked, but Fiona just looked disappointed. "I see your rivalry hasn't grown any friendlier over the centuries..."

"Someone willingly had a rivalry with Jack?" the Tooth Fairy asked. "That's like asking for a death note!"

"I should know," Santa put in.

Jack glowered. "Well, it's not like I asked her to be that way! She just decided that since we're the opposite kind of sprite, we must be enemies!"

"I decided?" Sunny snapped. "Who was the one that poured ice on my head in the Ancient Sprite Hollows?"

"You melted all of the frost I was practicing on just before I did my final Winter Test in front of the Elder Sprites!" Jack shot back.

"You froze my bed!"

"You turned my icebox into a fireplace!"

Mother Nature slammed her hand down onto the cart the rule-book was on."I will have you both ejected from this meeting if you don't settle down!" she declared loudly. "This is supposed to be a happy introductory meeting, not one for you to continue your rivalry in! If you can't handle that, you won't be here." Jack and Sunny continued to glare daggers at each other, but the Summer Sprite turned and went back to her seat.

Erick was already sitting in his, poking at the leaves in his vest. It didn't look as if he'd noticed the argument at all. He suddenly glanced up and made a weird look. Fiona was about to ask him about this, but then he grabbed a handkerchief from one of his pockets and sneezed into it. It was loud, long, and sounded like a dying goose's honk. Everyone stared at him, too surprised to even laugh.

Fiona took their distraction as an opportunity to sit in her own seat. This certainly was not the meeting she had expected. Sure, she was happy to see Sunny, but the girl hated Jack's guts, and Jack returned the feeling. Even though Sunny hadn't been a complete Summer Sprite at the time she'd met Jack, she was still a sun sprite, which contrasted directly with the type of sprite Jack was; a moon sprite. Sun sprites and moon sprites generally disliked each other.

Fiona and Erick were both twilight sprites, which were neutral and friendlier than others. This should have given Fiona something in common with Sunny's brother, but so far he'd only seemed strange to her. His robotic attitude- except for when he had an explosive sneeze- totally set her off. Sprites were always very dramatic, showing their emotions or whatever emotion they were pretending to have (like Jack for most of this last Christmas) with passion and gusto. She didn't know what to think about this suddenly shy, quiet, very undramatic boy.

A human could just tell themselves that they barely knew the person, and that they might not be as weird as they seem. It was different for sprites. A sprite's first impression truly was everything. A sprite could tell a lot about another with very few ques. They could tell the type, personality, and certain interests and quirks in just the few seconds. And in the few seconds Fiona had spent with Erick, he'd struck her as something very, very different- and not entirely a good different. She couldn't figure him out.

This was going to be a long day...

Okay, I finally finished this chapter! I just kept getting interested in other things. It's almost painful. I like writing this story, but I have so many other stories that I want to put up and I can't because they're not finished and the stories I have up aren't finished and I'm afraid I'll just never finish anything! (gasp gasp) Which is why I'm limiting myself to three stories at a time until I finish one. But it's going to be soooo long until I do. Like, right now I'm writing a story for The Penguins of Madagascar's Dr. Blowhole, but I can't post it yet, because none of my other stories are done.

So, please R&R. The more reviews I get, the more confidence, and maybe more inspiration and faster chapters. And I do appreciate advice and ideas, too. If descriptions are too much, or not enough, or talking too much, or grammatical issues, blah blah blah.

I guess I should work on my other stories I have out now too, huh? Wellll... I just got this one out... maybe I can rest a teeny weeny bit before getting a Sonic chapter out. Maybe.

I hope you like the story so far! God Bless!