-Almost half a year earlier-

"Jack, you're late."

"That's not fair, North. You know how much I hate the snow. I can't help that it slows me down to a snail just trying to reach this forsaken pole." Jack whined as he took a seat opposite the Easter Bunny, closest to the fire.

"Jack, please be nice. We all know how much you dislike coming out here, but it's a guardians meeting and it has been an hour since the meeting started." Tooth tried to calm down the two as they stared each other into oblivion. Jack scoffed and folded his arms, then put his feet on the table.

"Yeah, whatever. What'd I miss?"

"Oi, feet off the table, Sunburn." Bunny snapped and Jack chuckled as he pulled his feet from the table.

"What, been hanging around the frost sprites again, kangaroo? You seem extra cold as of late." Jack teased. Bunny went to open his mouth to make a retort when North quieted them with a drop of his book.

"Children, we are trying to conduct a meeting. If you do not want to be a part, then go to hall. Otherwise, I will continue with or without you." Jack and Bunny sat still, but glared daggers at each other. This was sufficient to North, so he continued with where they had left off.

"We were previously discussing the current conditions of winter. It seems that it is steadily falling. A lack of snowstorms and winter hazards are both a blessing and a concern. With you being still relatively new in your position as the spirit of summer, the activity on your end is high. The two seasons need a balance. Winter needs a new spirit to replace Old Man Winter soon. He wishes to retire as soon as possible and live out the rest of his mortal life in Russia. I wish to grant him his request, but it is not under my directive to conduct such orders. So I will have meeting with Mother Nature in next month to discuss choosing of new winter spirit. We just needed to find who. We can either promote a sprite to immortality, or choose a worthy human. Although it is not under our jurisdiction, it has been asked of us to help with choosing process. She especially wanted to make sure you, Jack, were involved in choice since they will ultimately be your polar opposite and you will have to get along with them, generally speaking." North glanced toward Jack and gave him a hint of a smile before turning his current page over to where neat cursive handwriting was covering half of the page.

"Any ideas, Jack?" North asked tapping his pen on the table to get the ink flowing.

Jack sat forward in his seat and fiddled his thumbs in front of him. "Why do I have to make input? I don't work with winter now, so why should I worry about it?"

"Because, Jack, you should be working with winter. The past few hundred years have been rough on the human race because of the constant conflict between summer and winter. The last time this kept up there was an ice age. We do not wish for this to happen again, so we want your input on this. We need you to be able to work with other spirit. Remember that these are only suggestions, but what you say will have great influence on choice made." North paused from his writing and studied Jack from under his eyebrows. He then sat back in his head chair and smiled. Jack frowned when he saw that, knowing that whatever North had to say would not be pleasant on Jack's end.

"Homework for Jack. Find three people or spirits not already assigned to a job and watch them. Will give you month for research three people and come back with suggestions. I will have help from Manny on your progress, so I suggest you at least try. Jack, please don't mock me." Jack put his hands in his lap and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. I'll get to it. Anything we need to talk about, or is this it?" Jack asked, acting as if bored with the whole discussion. Sandy shook his head at Jack and smiled. Tooth sighed, giving up on trying to stop his arrogant remarks. Bunny crossed his arms and looked to North. North pondered Jack's question slowly and tediously, as if this was the most complicated question he could have been asked at that moment. After a minute, he slowly began nodding.

"Yes. Yes, I do believe that this meeting is over. Now, there are will be a follow up meeting in two weeks, so please check back in. If there are any problems, I will send out elves. Jack, I will leave note at usual place, yes?" When Jack gave a light nod, North smiled and stood from the table, nearly knocking over his seat.

"Now, I have food ready in dining room, if you would all care to join." Jack got up and walked for the window, but Bunny caught the collar of his button-up shirt easily as he walked briskly by. Jack lurched back and was caught easily by Bunny.

"And where do you think you're goin', Sunburn?" Bunny teased and watched Jack as he pushed away from Bunny and frowned.

"Getting away from you, first of all. Secondly, I need to attend to some important summer duties and stuff, so if you would let me-"

"Jack, you have been working for months now with no break. How about you just join the family for once? We all miss you." Tooth chimed in, trying to convince Jack to stay and chat for a while. Sandy, right behind Tooth, gave two thumbs up and a quick nod. North stared at Jack, waiting for his response. Jack sighed and straightened out his collar, which had been pulled up when Bunny grabbed it.

"Fine, but then I have to go. Being here makes me on edge, you know, with winter right outside and everything." Jack finally gave in and was greeted with a sudden release of tension in the air.

"Then what are we waiting for? Food is getting cold!" North exclaimed and began the march to the dining room located right across the workshop.

"This should be fun." Jack muttered under his breath.