The Big Three in the Life of Jack Frost
By Uniasus
Chapter 3
Contrary to what she liked to believe, Mother Nature could be said no to. It just wasn't something that happened without consequences. Never mind the fact that Old Man Winter was sleeping in his ice castle when she knocked on the door and that's why he didn't answer. Silence in her mind meant no, and since she didn't like that she used her powers of sunlight to melt down his front door. And his bed and pillow, so he woke up choking on water.
Any other spirit and he would have sworn up a storm and froze their lips together to prevent them from answering, but Mother Nature was the most powerful spirit around. When she actually put her mind into doing things other than cross pollinating plants. Why was she at his ice castle?
"This is Jack Frost."
A young winter spirit was thrust forward before he finished emptying his lungs. And not just young as in green, though it was obvious the boy hadn't been a spirit long, but young in stature too. That pompous guy in the moon picked people younger and younger these days. Next time, they'd be a baby in North America with a following of people.
"He's to be your assistant, since you can't do your job right."
And with that, Mother Nature flew off and left both winter spirits blinking at her sudden departure.
"I don't need a damn assistant," he muttered to himself. But he didn't really want to know the consequence of his second refusal of all things nature today. He might become homeless. "Come on, follow follow."
He led the way past the garden and to the stables where the wooly mammoths were kept. Vestir was sleeping, so Old Man Winter kicked the ice giant's shin. Vestir woke with a roar that had Jack take a step back, but it really was a tamer yawn than usual. "Saddle up Marion," Winter commanded and Vestir stood up to obey.
"You have ice giants as servants?"
"I have all winter elementals as servants, you too. Mother Nature is in charge of all elementals and then you have the four seasonal heads, I'm Winter, obviously, who lead all the elementals of their type. The Man in the Moon may have thought a new winter spirit was needed and created you, but I don't. Behave, or it's well within my power to freeze you inside a glacier for a hundred years."
"Noted."
Vestir brought out Marion and the wooly mammoth trumpeted softly to greet Old Man Winter. After saying hello, he flew up to sit on the saddle and looked down at Jack expectantly. "Don't tell me you haven't figured out to command the wind yet."
Jack rocketed up to sit behind him. Silent command at only fifty years, impressive enough Winter wasn't going to comment. Was Jack's presence Manny's way saying he was getting weak with age? Bah humbug he was going to show this Jack Frost some real power today.
He didn't bother telling Jack to hold on before Marion took to the skies.
"I didn't know wooly mammoths could fly!" Jack shouted into his ear behind him. There was a lot the boy didn't know.
Marion and the wind took them to the Cradle of Life, the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia. Also known as one of the hottest places on earth with it's volcanoes and salt flats. Marion stood there placidly, ignoring the heat, while Jack hovered in her shadow obviously discomforted.
"It's too hot to stand on the ground, how are you doing that?" He pointed to Old Man Winter's small patch of frost over the baked earth.
"I am Winter, I can do anything."
Well, not really, but he had to show this upstart something. It took an amazing amount of power to do anything here, making it both a good place to show off and see what power Jack had. "Will you come down here if I make it colder?"
"Yes?"
Winter sucked in a large lungful of air and release it slowly, ice crystals leaving his lips to enter the air. The temperature dropped ten degrees and Jack made to touch down but when his bare toe meet the Earth he jerked his knee up to his chest. Old Man Winter sighed. "You have no heat tolerance."
"Because it's so important for winter spirits, who always spend time in the desert, to have that."
Marion stuck him in the back of the head with her trunk, sending Jack careening to the ground. "Hot hot hot!" The wind lifted him back up and pushed the younger spirit towards Winter. Jack was pressed up against his back like a scared child, taking comfort from the coldness of his skin. "Can we go somewhere else, please?"
He couldn't argue, he didn't want to be here for much longer either, and well, it wasn't quite right to torture the young spirit. He was only 50, a baby really. "Alright."
They went to Iceland and when Old Man Winter told Jack to just go wild in a rural town and show off his best moves Winter found himself forgotten. Jack Frost concentrated on zooming between buildings, icing the ground to cause minor slips, and throwing snowballs at children's faces. Old Man Winter was all about Winter, bringing in the cold and snow to put the plants to sleep till spring. Jack however had very little control over the cold and could only create minimal areas of ice, though his range for frost was large. No, Jack was more linked to the experience of Winter than its creation.
So many he wasn't being pushed aside after all. Maybe Jack really was just to help add a new, enjoyable layer to Winter rather than the rush of bringing in the harvest and worry over enough wood to burn throughout the cold months.
Jack Frost had a lot to learn about his powers, and about the spirit world Winter figured as he watched Jack try to have a conversation with a child. Old Man Winter didn't mind helping him out with that.