Part of the Ice Kingdom arc.


"This is the Tower of Sleep," Jack said, gesturing to the entrance hall of the tower. Penguins waddled around and huddled in corners, where the wind wouldn't reach them. A circular hole in the center of the ceiling would allow someone to fly to the upper level, which was likely faster than using the stairs outside. Along the far wall, another set of stair led down. "The penguins live on this level. Not that I invited them, but they're living here anyway. No one minds. The levels above have rooms for the sprites and my own at the top. The guest room are underground. Sorry about that, I had to be able to keep them warm."

"At least we'll be sleeping somewhere warm," Sophie said. She had been worried they would need to huddle in a frozen room. But he must have made guest rooms so the other Guardians could stay if needed.

Jamie was staring at everything in wonder, his silly grin still on his lips, like a kid whose hero just patted him on the head. It felt good to see him in such a good mood. It had been too long. She had to take his arm when Jack started down the stairs or he might have gaped at the penguins all day. He followed them, his fingers trailing on the frozen stone walls of the staircase.

It got comfortably warm once they reached the lower level. They entered a small circular area with couches and a low table. Blue drapes hanged from the walls and a fire burned in a fireplace on the opposite side. There was no wood in the fireplace, or anything else that could maintain a fire, so Sophie assumed it must be magical. Her brother walked to it to take a closer look.

"Careful, Jamie. Fire is hot," Jack said with a grin.

"How does it work? Did you make it? I didn't know you could make magic fires."

"I can't and I try to stay away from it. It was a gift from North. He uses them to keep his own workshop warm. You'd have to ask him how they work, I don't know. Now, come on, I'll show you your rooms."

Jack parted a curtain, revealing an opening in the stone leading to a short hallway with another curtain at the end. Beyond that second hanging cloth was a room similarly decorated in richly embroidered blue drapes, with a bed, a bedside table, it's own fireplace, a desk and a chair. Mirrors covered what parts of the walls weren't hidden behind fabric, making the room seem larger and giving the impression that they were inside an ice palace.

"It's beautiful," Sophie said. "Where do you get all these drapes? They match your clothes. Do the sprites make them?"

Jack shrugged and mumbled something, frost spreading on his cheeks. An old memory came back to Sophie, of Jack mending the sleeve of her coat as a child. She grinned. She knew the answer to her question. Jamie laughed. Jack grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to the exit, turning back to Jamie as he pushed her out.

"We'll let you get settled while I show Sophie her own room. Don't forget where the exit is!"

Back in the central room, Jack pulled another drape and held it for her, gesturing for her to go ahead. They entered a new room, similar yet different from the one Jamie would stay in. Sophie placed her suitcase by the bed.

"Jamie looks happier than I remember him being in a long time," Jack said in a low voice.

"He was really eager to come here. There were... issues that worried him, but here, we're so far away from anything else. He managed to forget them. It's like being in a fairytale, Jack. Reality doesn't matter right now. Jamie can be a kid again. We both can."

"I hope he can keep his smile when he returns to Burgess."

"I think he will. Thank you, Jack, for making him laugh like he used too. I missed the old Jamie. He wasn't quite the same after he stopped believing. Like a part of him was gone. But he found it again."

Jack smiled, but there was something strained about it, like he didn't believe everything would be fine from now on. But Sophie was sure it would be better.

"What are you two whispering about?" Jamie asked, parting the curtain.

"Nothing," they said in an echo of earlier today, when Sophie had been the one asking that question. Jamie grinned.

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

Sophie laughed as her brother threw her own words back at her. Jack shook his head with a bemused smile.

"What's with you adults and thinking everyone is flirting?"

If he hadn't been wearing that ice crown, Sophie would have ruffled his hair.


"This one is the Tower of Sweets. That's where we make the candies for Halloween. Come inside!"

Jack flew up the short flight of stair to the entrance, turning to them with a grin. Sophie and Jamie looked at each other. They had no ideas what to expect, but they both agreed it was bound to be wonderful. A magical candy factory. They ran up the icy stairs, almost falling a few time in their eagerness, before joining Jack. They gaped at what they saw inside.

It didn't look like a factory. Hundred of stalactites hung from the ceiling, making the room look like a great ice cave. Light filtered through translucent ice walls or entered through large windows, reflecting on every frozen surface. The stalactites, the ice-carved table in the center and Jack's ice crown all seemed to glitter. It almost blinded Sophie as she stepped inside the room.

A few sprites flitted around the room, breaking off pieces of ice to carry to the table. They threw glances at the two humans, smiling shyly when they were noticed. Sophie and Jamie watched in wonder as a sprite made several pieces burst into tiny ice shards all swirling together like a small snowstorm. The sprite flew to the ceiling, the mini-storm following, and guided the shard to form a new, much smaller stalactite hanging among the other ones.

"Each of them tastes different. We make new flavors here and, when they're ready, we make them into candies on the next floor."

"You make candies from ice?" Jamie asked.

"Why not? North makes toys from ice. We're pretty much all ice specialists here, so I don't see why we couldn't make whatever we want out of it. Want to taste?"

Jack didn't wait for an answer and flew up to the nearest large stalactite, chipped two pieces off and flew back to them, holding up the ice shards. Jamie took one without hesitation and put it in his mouth.

"Don't eat them too fast, they're cold."

"Fire's hot, ice is cold. Thank you, Jack, I don't know what he would do without you," Sophie said with a smile, taking her own piece from him. Jamie glared at her, but, with the piece of ice still in his mouth, he couldn't talk back. Sophie carefully tasted hers. The taste was hard to describe, but it reminded her of frozen fruit salad."

"That flavor is called Summer Chill. We have to come up with names for all of them if we want to keep track of them."

"I like it," Jamie said. Jack beamed.

"So, you want to see where they're made into candies?"

"Of course!"

"To the stairs, then."

Climbing the ice stair outside turned out to be quite an adventure. There was no railing and the wind blew harder the higher they got. It was challenging, but not frightening. Jack flew next to them, his fur-trimmed cloak wiping about in the wind. He smiled reassuringly at them whenever they stumbled and Sophie didn't doubt that he wouldn't let them fall. They reached the next floor safely and entered through an arch in the outside wall.

One sprite was already settled at a table, a block of ice in front of him and a bowl on the side. Another one flew from the hole in the ground with his own chunk of ice. Jack gestured to Jamie and Sophie to sit around the first sprite, who grinned widely, obviously pleased at his human audience. The Guardian crouched on one of the armrest of Jamie's chair.

"That's Minty Fresh. The sprite, I mean, not the ice's flavor. He'll make a demonstration for you," Jack said. They leaned forward in their chair for a better look. With grand gestures, the sprite split the block into several smaller pieces and started shaping them into snowflakes. No two was quite alike, much like real snowflakes. When he was done, Minty Fresh dropped them in the bowl and raised it with a proud smile.

"They're candies, now. They don't look any different, since we want them to look like ice, but they're not cold anymore. Now all that's left is tasting them. We're trying out new flavors, right now. When we get near Halloween, we'll choose the ones we want to use this year. This room will get a lot more crowded." Jack took the bowl and jumped back down to the floor. "I'm sure you won't mind visiting the tasting room?"

"We sure don't!" Sophie answered.

Another trip up the frozen stairs and they ended up in what looked like a cozy living room. Bowls filled with candies sat on a table in the center, each with a sheet of paper next to them. Two sprites chattered together, sometime popping a candy into their mouth or scribbling on the papers. Jack dropped down on a couch, lounging on it with his cloak spread around him. He placed the bowl he was holding on the table and grabbed a snowflake candy. Jamie and Sophie didn't need to be told what to do.

"That's Breeze and Wuff. They're the ones currently on tasting duty, but we all take turns. We want everyone to taste each candy. It's not a job anyone minds, even if we get the occasional awful one."

They spent the next half-hour sitting here chatting with the sprites. They did not understand a word they were saying, but Jack happily translated when the enthusiastic gestures weren't enough. They tried one of every kind of candy on the table, giving their opinion of each so the sprite could scribble them on their papers.

"This one tastes like lemonade."

"Oh, I love this one!"

"That one... I'm not so sure about."

The two sprites looked so happy to be talking to them, Sophie wanted to hug them. She wondered if she could adopt a sprite. Then she remembered that, for all they looked like little children, they were most likely older than her.

"Jade will be so jealous when I tell her I ate candies here. She loves those snowflakes candies so much."

"Well, I got good news for her. We're going to the Tower of Keeping next. Which is our fancy name for the storage rooms. You can grab a bag of candy for her there."

"And for us?" Sophie asked with the most charming smile she could manage.

"And for you. Just... don't forget to floss, or Tooth will kill me."

Jack grabbed a pile of papers next to a stack of empty bowl on the way out. Once outside, he tapped his staff on the stairs' landing. Jamie and Sophie gasped as the stairs turned into a slide, spiraling around the tower to the ground below.

"After you," The Guardian of Fun said.

It was a short, but exciting trip back to the ground that ended with the sibling landing in a pile on the snow, laughing. Jack slid down behind them on his bare feet and flew over with a laugh when they crash-landed at the base of the tower. Jamie and Sophie stood, shaking the snow off their clothes.

The room where they store the candies in the Tower of Keeping was mostly empty, but there was enough to fill the four bags of candies Jack gave them.

"Those are our best ones. We always keep a small supply of them. Bring some for Ashley, too. Those on the far left tastes like strawberry. She likes strawberries, no?"

It was a proof of the effect this place had on Jamie that his smile didn't even wavered when Jack mentioned his wife. He just looked happy to be bringing candies to his family.

"Jade wanted a souvenir, so I guess those will do."

"Nah. I have something better for her. Something that'll last. I just need to drop these papers at the archive, then we're off to the last tower on this little tour."

"Right," Sophie said, "because the other towers are full of dangerous magical experiments."

"Exactly."

She didn't miss the smile that the Guardian exchanged with her brother. Magical experiments. Right.


"Hush? Are you there?"

The archive was a small, well organized room with shelves full of binders and cases of rolled paper. The windows here all had thin sheets of clear ice so that the wind didn't enter. It was on the top floor of the Tower of Keeping, past some ordinary storage rooms.

A sprite peeked from under the child-sized desk he had been hiding under. He took one look at Jamie and Sophie before ducking our of sight again. Jack gave them a sheepish smile.

"Hush is a little shy. Come on, there's no need to hide. They're my friends." The sprite poked his head out again, but stayed under the desk. Jack waves his pile of papers at him with an encouraging smile. "I've got things for you to file."

The sprite finally crawled out from under the desk and carefully approached them, keeping Jack between him and the two humans. He snatched the papers from the Guardian and ran back to the desk.

"Hush, this is Sophie and Jamie, two good friends of mine."

The sprite stared at them with large blue eyes, hugging his papers to his chest, but made no move to come nearer and didn't say anything. Sophie took a careful step forward and held out her hand.

"Hello. I'm happy to meet you."

Hush hesitantly took one step, then another, until he was close enough to raise a trembling hand. He stop, withdrew it, then held it out again, finally taking Sophie's offered hand. He squeezed it, his hand shaking, before quickly running back to hide behind Jack's legs. The Guardian patted his head comfortingly.

"We're all having dinner together, tonight. We'd be happy to see you there."

The sprite didn't answer and Jack didn't seem to be expecting him to. Sophie had yet to hear him make a sound. Jamie had wandered to the shelves and was looking at the binders with great interest.

"What's all those? Only candy flavors? That's a lot of them."

"Nah, There's more. Hush keeps the weather maps I make each years before Halloween so I can keep track of storms and redirect them. He keeps records on a lot of things, too. Local weathers, water levels, penguins populations, accounts of special events. That kind of things. Hush likes gathering information."

"That's not something I had expected a winter sprite to care about," Jamie mused.

"There's a lot more to winter than having fun in the snow. That's just the part I like best. You got winter sprites that are as wild as a blizzard, others are calm and quiet like a light snowfall. Some are cold and distant, others want to stick together. It's all just different aspects of winter. Ice preserves things and that's what Hush does. He preserves information." Jack ruffled the sprite's hair with a smile. "Now, come on. Only one more tower to visit, then you get to skate with the penguins."


When they entered the Tower of Relaxation, Sophie felt like she had just stepped inside a her brother's living room when Jade invited friend over. Sprites were scattered around a room with couches, playing children's games. Three of them sat on the ground, playing some pink board game with fairies and unicorns pieces. Two more played with a ball that lit up various colors and made music every time it bounced.

"North brings us toys to test. The sprites are pretty happy to do that for him." Jack brought them back up the stair, passing the next floor without entering. "That's the dining room and the kitchen is over there. We don't need to eat, but it's nice sometime. Especially when we have guests."

At the top of the tower, they entered a large room filled with tables and bookcase. A library. That wasn't something Sophie had expected to find here. The shelves were full of colorful books. She pulled one as she walked by a shelve, looking at the cover depicting a family of mice wearing hats. Children's books.

"Where do these all come from?" Jamie asked.

"Here and there. Sometime we find boxes of them on the sidewalks, when people move out of their old homes. Some are old fairy tales and stories we wrote from memory." Jack gestured to a sprite sitting at a table, writing. "That's Jackie. He likes writing his own stories. He wrote many of the ones we have here."

"You got quite a collection. What do you do with them? Read them?"

"Sure. But mostly, we keep them here only temporarily. There's many kids out there who could use a bit more magic and happy endings in their lives. We make sure they find a book when they need one." Jack brushed his fingers against the spine of some books, his eyes far away. He shook himself and looked back at them. "I said I had something for Jade, didn't I? Over here."

Jack led them to a stack of book on a table and took the one on top, handing it to Jamie. Sophie looked over her brother's shoulder at the cover showing a group of winter sprites, drawn in a whimsical style she recognized from a few Easter eggs found over the years.

"You made this," she said.

"I told you earlier that I planned on having children know the sprites names. So I wrote a story. About them. There's thirteen sprites here and all of them, even Hush, make an appearance. Take a copy for Jade. Tell her about the sprites."

Jamie reverently turned the pages of the book, staring at the illustrations of all the little sprites they had met today. He nodded to Jack, solemn.

"I will."

"Good. Then go get your skates while I grab some sandwiches. We're going skating."


This was much longer than usual, but I feel like there's little content. Just a lot of descriptions. Ah, well. Sorry. Still two chapter for that arc, meaning I'll be wrapping it up in chapter 100. Then I'll do some random oneshots before starting a new arc (though I'm still hesitating on that next arc)

Also, I changed the cover again, since I was starting to hate the last one. I don't know how long I'll keep that one. Most likely until I draw something I like better.