Disclaimer: still don't own RotG

The Guardians found Jack hunched in the rafters of an empty room. Reshma watched from afar as they had their heart-to-heart. Tears were split and confessions poured out but at last Jack had calmed down. Time for the explanations. Reshma waltzes over, looking serious. "Jack, feeling better?"

Jack nods. "They said that you died as well?" he whispers.

"Yes."

"Did it- did it hurt?" The look on his face is so innocent and young. It reminds them that though Jack may be over three hundred, at heart, he is still very much a child.

"Yes."

He bows his head, unsure. "Insanity is doing this to me?" Oh, good. Back to the matter at hand.

"He is. And unfortunately, it does not stop here. Tell me if it gets too bad. I can suck the worst of it out, like I did with that man, but it is not pleasant or easy." Reshma grimaces. "So, any questions?" Bunny notices she glances at everyone but him and grins. Still embarrassed, huh? Bunny plans to use the accidental petting as ammunition against her for a long time yet.

"How do you know Insanity?" Tooth inquires warily, worry evident.

"I'd rather not go into it. Virhorann is drawn to what he is known for and let's just say my mind is quite the labyrinth. Imagination is not all rainbows, sunshine and happiness." The shadowed expression on her face is enough to deter further probing.

"And will my fairies be alright?" Tooth nervously looks at her mini-fairies flitting around her.

"For the time being. Unless we all succumb completely to Virhorann's influence they will be safe, as will the yetis, elves, dreams and egg golems. Either way, his aim is humans and any spirits that interfere. They may not register on his radar at all. Not that it will matter if we fail," Reshma mutters darkly.

"It's a whole other ball game, but what exactly is it that ya do?" Bunny interjects shamelessly. Hesitantly yet defiantly Reshma meets his gaze. He notices the pink staining her cheeks and smiles wider. Sandy is the one to answer. Sand images of a little figure of Reshma playing with even littler figures of children dance above him. One of the sand children trips and the sand Reshma swoops down to hug it.

North turns to her, accusingly. "You say you are not Guardian? This looks like Guardian!" North indicates the sand Reshma now rocking the sand child above Sandy. Reshma waves her hand through the Dreamsand, scattering it.

"I do, from time to time, play with children that can see me and look after them if they are hurt. It is not all I do. You want to know the truth, Bunnymund? I spread ideas, just as your silly book suggests. Not all of them are good. It is not like giving toys, eggs or even dreams. I have no control over it. Therefore, destruction can and has ensued. I am a being of dark and light, you nitwits. Ugh! Ullu ke pathe*! So, I will say this only once more. I am not, nor will I ever be a Guardian. I help you defeat Virhorann and that is final." Reshma floats into a wall, merging into it.

"She's fond of dramatic exits," Bunny comments offhandedly.

"CHUP KE**!" Reshma screeches from through the wall. The Guardians can translate with ease from her tone alone. Shut up.

"I would not say any more, Bunny," North suggests. As much as Bunny wants to make some sarcastic comment Reshma sounds too pissed to restrain herself from killing him. He recalls her scream from moments ago. No, not a good idea.

"Kay mate," Bunny agrees. "Hey, Frostbite? Ya should rest. North, ya have a room?"

"Dah! Dah! Come Jack, you look tired," North drags the thin boy to the sleeping quarters of Santoff Claussen, into a room with pale blue walls. "Is your room!" North pronounces happily. Jack has spent nights at the Workshop on occasion the last eleven years but he usually takes refuge in abandoned rooms or the rafters. His room, as foreign a concept that is, he has only used a handful of times. It is still strange to hear it being called his.

Despite Jack's objections, North and Tooth tuck him into bed. Sandy, with a flick of his wrist, sends the winter child deep into a peaceful slumber. Tooth pecks his cold cheek, Baby Tooth snuggling into Jack's snow-white hair, and the Guardians return to the Globe Room for a conference. Unbeknownst to them Reshma slips next to Jack's bedside, on a magic-made chair of many, many lines weaved together. Baby Tooth, from her nest on Jack's head, glares suspiciously at her.

"I'm helping him," Reshma amends. To prove it, she softly brings her fingertips to the tender wound on Jack's throat, where Insanity inserted his claws and with it his madness. Writhing artificial red is drawn from the marks, making Jack shift uncomfortably. Baby Tooth is ready to ram her beak into Reshma's skin if she tries any funny business but Jack's face relaxes, content, once a good portion of red has left him. "I am controlling its spread," she explains. "We have a few days maximum before all of us are infected. Jack needs to be at his strongest if he is to survive. He is scarred enough as it is."

The chair of many lines unravels as Reshma retreats to the corner, as far from Jack's bed as possible. She compresses the red mass, sweat beading on her brow. Baby Tooth begins to squeak in alarm.

"You will tell no one," Reshma demands, staring hard at the mini-fairy before going back to her task. The red mass seems to almost shriek in panic and anger in Reshma's hands, her breath becoming more and more laboured as it thrashes in attempts to escape. Soon, the red is bucking wildly and Reshma is hunched over in agony, eyes screwed shut and expression contorted with pain. It is as though she is being tortured. Baby Tooth, uncertain of what to do except huddle closer to Jack in fear, watches Reshma become further absorbed in unseen suffering. As her pain gets worse the red mass gets smaller until it is merely wisps. What is she doing?

While Reshma enacts the agonising ritual the Guardians discuss her. "Ya have to admit it. She can't be trusted," Bunny argues.

"She isn't the most forthcoming," Tooth agrees reluctantly. "What do we really know about her, Insanity or their history? Very little."

Sandy crosses his arms, reprimanding them with his gaze. The meaning behind his expression is obvious. I trust her.

North sighs. "Is sad to say but Bunny and Tooth are right, old friend. Manny knows very much yet Reshma is a mystery and does not want to be Guardian," North still looks baffled that someone would not want to be a Guardian. The incident with Jack taught him nothing. "Perhaps it is best if we do not ask her to become Guardian until we defeat Insanity."

Tooth bobs her head up and down and Bunny curtly nods. "Too right," he says. Sandy glares sternly at them but eventually uncrosses his arms and exhales a stream of sand. They interpret it to be the equivalent of irked fine.

*Ulle ke pathe means idiot in Hindu, or literally son of an owl

**Chup ke is in fact Hindu for shut up