This is part of the Ice Kingdom arc.


Antarctica wasn't as cold as Jamie expected. Of course, it was summer right now. He could only imagine what it was like in winter. Sophie walked several steps in front of him and Jack, eager to reach the glittering towers of the Ice Kingdom. Which looked more like an actual kingdom than he had expected.

"I thought you said it was just a handful of buildings? It's bigger than I thought."

Jack gave him an embarrassed smile, straightening his crown even if it didn't need it.

"I added a few towers when you agreed to come. They're just for show, nothing's inside. Don't tell Sophie."

"I won't," he said with a grin.

"What are you two whispering about?" Sophie asked, turning around.

"Nothing!" they answered together with matching innocent smile.

"Well, quit flirting and hurry up. I want to see what's inside those towers already."

"As you command, my lady," Jack said with a bow before flying up to her. "But I have to warn you, some of those towers contain dangerous magical experiments and you can't visit them."

Jack turned back to Jamie and winked at him. He had to stop himself from laughing. Lifting his suitcase higher, he ran the few steps separating him from the other two. They were almost there, now, and they could take a better look at the towers that made up Jack's kingdom. They were tall and slender, tapering to a point like inverted icicles. Stairs ran against the outside walls instead of inside and several arches pierced those walls to allow entry. Multiple windows finished giving them an open, airy look. This didn't surprised Jamie, as Jack had never been too comfortable inside. He liked being able to feel the wind in his hair.

Small figures moved around the towers, flitting in and out. They must be the sprites Jack told him about. Many stopped to watch them, chatting among themselves in excitement. It looked like they were just as happy to see them as he and Sophie were to be here. Coming out of all of the various towers, they started crowding the area where they would reach the village. There was only a dozen of them, but the way they never seemed to stand still made the group look bigger.

"They're adorable," Sophie said.

"They're going to swarm you in a moment. Just wait it out, they'll calm down soon enough."

"I don't supposed you get a lot of visitors here," Jamie said.

"The other Guardians come over, sometimes. But none of the sprites have ever been seen by any humans. That's new to them."

"None of them?"

"They didn't even have names before I took them here. Even when people know your name it's hard to be believed in, so imagine when they don't. As far as anyone is concerned, they don't exist. But I'm planning to change that."

They were only a few paces away now and some of the sprites stared to move forward, hesitantly at first, until one of them ran up to Sophie, lifted a pale blue hand, stopped a second as if unsure while every other sprite froze in place and watched, and finally touched her arm. The childlike being looked at Sophie with large, amazed blue eyes when his hand didn't go through her before hugging her legs. She patted his messy white hair. The sprite's small shoulder shook as he sobbed.

It was as if a dam had broken. The other sprites ran to them and started to poke them and tug on their clothes and hair. Some cheered and laughed and a few started to cry. Jamie wasn't too sure how to react. He rubbed one on the back and it just made him cry harder. Jack looked at all of them with a pleased smile on his face. Jamie recalled that the Guardian himself had been overjoyed when Jamie had first seen him.

As Jack had predicted, the sprites calmed down after a while. They backed away enough to give them some space, but kept staring at them, chattering among themselves in a language that sounded like silver bells and cracking ice. Jamie noticed for the first time that a few wore ancient tattered white tunics while most had new clothes in various shades of blue, with silver embroidery matching that on Jack's own outfit. None of them wore shoes. Looking at them all together, with Jack standing in the middle of the crowd, soothing the excited sprites and sending them on their way with a smile, he thought they looked like a family, with Jack as their father. That was an odd thing to think about.

"I hope you enjoyed the welcome committee," Jack said when the crowd had dispersed.

"I hadn't expected such a warm welcome," Jamie answered.

"Expect them to stare at you all week-end. Now, come, I'll show you the guest rooms so you can drop your suitcases there."

They walked between two of the towers on the edge of Jack's kingdom and reached a central plaza. Or rather, a central skating rink. With penguins. Some of the sprites hadn't gone any farther than this and were chasing each others on the ice. The black and white birds seemed unfazed, only making the occasional indignant sound when a sprite came close to colliding with them. Jamie grabbed Jack's cloak and tugged on it his eyes not leaving the ice.

"Say, can we skate with the penguins later?"

"Sure, you can."

Jamie grinned widely and saw the expression mirrored on Sophie's face. Jack looked at them, then burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

The Guardian ruffled his hair like he used to when he was a kid, and never mind the fact that Jamie was taller than him.

"That's the Jamie I remember."

Jamie's grin widened. He had been afraid the Guardian of Fun would lose interest in him now that he was a boring adult. But maybe he could be an adult without being boring. His silly grin stayed on his face as he followed the Guardian inside a tower. He didn't even care that Sophie was looking at him, trying to stifle her laughter with one hand. They were visiting a city of ice at the end of the world and he remembered what it was like to be a child. He was determined not to forget again.


I'm going to stop it here for now, otherwise you might never get a chapter. My motivation is dwindling everyday. If I don't post this now I might not finish it. Updates might get a bit less frequent for a while.