Alaia Skyhawk: For anyone wondering how Jack was able to hold Thomas, this is the idea I had. Children who aren't yet old enough to 'choose' to believe in things like Santa etc, will see any immortal and be able to interact with them so long as someone else acknowledges that immortal's presence first. In that way Pitch can't be seen, heard, or touched by really young children, because no-one around them can see or acknowledge him, and even his fellow immortals would tend to ignore him in front of such children for that very reason.
This is my way of explaining how Jack could have carried Sophie in the film. The others acknowledged and talked to him in front of her, so she accepted that there was someone there. I'd say her reason for not speaking to him or anything, is that there were lots of colourful distractions and a giant bunny keeping her occupied :)
I'll have him figure this out partway through the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.
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Chapter 15: Lessons and Stories
High above the clouds, he soared, up in the frigid reaches where his fellow Spirits of the Seasons could not go. He wasn't up here just for the faster flight speed, but also to avoid a certain Spirit of Summer. If Ariko had been irritated by him being at the village for all of Spring, then Achieng would be more than irritated that he was once again trespassing in the North of the World when Southern Winter was taking place in the South. Never mind the fact that Northern Summer/Southern Winter was her quietest time of the year as was his, and never mind that his destination was in a part of Siberia where the summer temperatures didn't rise above what could be termed 'comfortably warm, but not hot'.
Jack neared that area now, and dropped into a steep dive to plunge through empty upper air, down to the cloud layer which was pierced in places by mountain peaks. He let the winds guide him so he didn't inadvertently slam into the side of the mountain near Santoff Claussen, and soon he was flying through a light shower of early-summer rain.
The village looked very different now than it had in winter, with Big Root and the surrounding forest cloaked in a layer of lush greenery. Jack could hear the children playing in those woods, where the canopy held off the worst of the wet. Part of him wanted to go play games with them, but that might be pushing his luck. Achieng would most likely ignore him being in the north, if he was here as a guest of Ombric, but if he started creating snowball fights here outside of the correct season for them, she'd have more than a few choice words for him.
Jack landed at the foot of Big Root and climbed the steps to knock on the door. When it opened just a few moments later, Ombric took a few moments to realise just who it was at his front door.
He blinked, and looked past Jack to the lush summer leaves and flowers everywhere, and then looked at the Spirit of Winter again to indicate he come inside.
"What brings you here, Jack? Don't you have duties in the South?"
Jack watched him close the door, and then shrugged.
"Southern Winter isn't actually a lot of work for me. There's only a handful of places where I need to do avalanche duties, and those need me to do about an hour's work once a week." He paused, starting to feeling a but embarrassed. "So, since this is some of the quietest time in my year, I was wondering if you would, um... teach me to read? Sandy suggested I ask you."
Ombric blinked at him in surprise yet again, and straightened up before a bright smile lit his expression.
"Of course I will! I take great pride in teaching those who come to Santoff Claussen in search of learning. It is the very reason I founded this place!" He began to bustle Jack towards a winding set of stairs. "Come with me, we can go up to the library and get started."
Jack had no chance to protest the way in which he was prodded and poked to get him up those stairs, but the sight that greeted him at their destination more than made up for it.
The library wasn't really all that large, but it was crammed with books of all shapes and sizes from floor the ceiling. It was also presided over by what had to be the oddest book of all, one whose spine was actually a melding between what would normally be expected, and the face, arms and legs of a worm-ish sort of fellow with round spectacles.
The strange book fluttered his pages like wings and turned to face them, his eyes looking Jack up and down as if inspecting him.
"Ah, so you're the Spirit of Winter that Ombric told me about. Sorry we weren't introduced to each other during your last visit, although you really didn't stay all that long."
As Jack remained where he was, his expression clearly stating he wasn't sure what to make of this, Ombric explained.
"This is Mr Qwerty. He looks after my library, and in a sense also is my library. He was originally a rather well-educated bookworm, but an incident with Pitch required him to eat all my books to keep them out of that fiend's hands. It resulted in him becoming the remarkably unique fellow you see before you. He can display on his pages, the contents of any of the books that he ate." Ombric now looked to the bookworm. "Mr Qwerty, could you retrieve the beginners' reading books for English? Jack comes from a place where most do not get the chance to learn reading and writing, and he wishes to master both."
Mr Qwerty fluttered his pages again, this time in surprised outrage.
"A place where children don't get to learn to read? Atrocious!"
He continued to grumble as he flew up to a shelf and came back with a handful of slender books. He set them down on a small table off to one side, and Ombric urged Jack to take a seat at it.
The wizard then opened the first book, and pointed to a chart of sorts on the first page. It was filled with groups of letters, and what sounds those combinations made when read aloud.
"Do you know the alphabet?" Jack nodded hesitantly, and Ombric smiled. "Good, that makes things easier. Think of reading as a sort of game, where the words are made up of groups of letters like puzzle pieces. This page shows all of the most common 'pieces' that make up words, so once you have these memorised it will be possible for you to begin reading actual writing, and in turn to begin writing things for yourself. There are lots of other rules for writing, such as grammar and punctuation, but do not worry about those yet."
Jack took hold of the book, the frost on his clothing already thawing. He'd pulled his power in out of what was becoming habit when he didn't want to damage something that could be harmed by wet or damp. He then peered at the groups of letters, murmuring a few of them to himself, before he nodded.
"Sort of like a game, huh? I'm good at games."
He went quiet, very quiet, with only the movement of his eyes and his soft murmurings revealing he wasn't some sort of statue. In the blink of an eye he'd become utterly intent on the lesson laid out on paper before him, with the kind of single-minded focus that few but the Immortals could achieve.
Ombric smiled to himself and gestured for Mr Qwerty to follow him out of the library. He then chuckled with a glance back towards the Spirit of Winter.
"I don't think he'll need it, but if he has any further questions, help him with them. And when he's finished with those books, make sure to give him some more so he can practice."
Mr Qwerty nodded and fluttered back into the library, as Ombric returned downstairs to prepare for today's lesson for the village children.
For the Spirit of Winter, his attention focused on learning to read so that he could teach Emily, the passage of time became a distant concern. He didn't need to eat or drink, both being something which he only did now for enjoyment, and so the only thing that required him to move from the table was the occasional call from the winds to say he had an avalanche to tend to. But even those only kept him away for a short while, as he moved on from the beginner's books and started to apply the lessons from those to the new books that were periodically added to the pile in front of him as others were removed. And the new ones contained stories.
Jack eagerly poured through those books with gradually increasing speed, as it became easier and easier to put together the pieces of unfamiliar words, and those he'd already learnt became instantly recognisable. He read stories about pirates, princes, grand adventures and mysteries. Each was like a miniature world, full of imagination, and it was so much fun to be able to experience these stories that others had written.
Even when the library's modest collection of storybooks ran out, and Mr Qwerty began putting history books on Jack's table instead, the Spirit of Winter still didn't stop reading, even if it was with less gusto and more thought. His curiosity meant that history had its own pull on his attention when it was placed before him, and it was only now that he started asking questions about some event or other.
The days and weeks had turned into one spread of words-on-pages, intermittently broken by open skies, wind, and snow. It was only when he felt the two-weeks-warning tug of impending Northern Winter, that he realised he'd barely left his seat in Ombric's library for close to six months. A startling fact.
He leaned back in his chair, looking around in mild confusion as to where all that time had gone, and it was then that Mr Qwerty chuckled.
"Finally come up for air, have you?" He fluttered over, looking rather impressed. "I don't think I've ever seen such an avid student. Not even North could stay in one spot reading for a long as you have. Ombric and I started betting on how good you'd get at reading before you stopped, but we gave up trying to guess after you read the entire works of William Shakespeare in a single day."
Jack regarded him with a odd smile.
"His comedies were ok, but the tragedies were a bit depressing for my tastes."
Mr Qwerty hopped onto the stack of books in front of Jack.
"Have you considered learning other languages as well? You're a very quick study, although being the Spirit of Winter obviously helps. You don't have to keep stopping to eat, drink, or sleep."
At the mention of sleep, Jack stood up to stretch his slightly stiff limbs and fought back a yawn.
"Yeah, although now that you mention it, I could do with a nap. My powers have just informed me I have two weeks until Northern Winter starts." He looked for his staff, and grabbed it from where it stood leaning against a bookshelf. "Do you think you could get me copies of those beginner's reading books? I want to teach my sister to read, so she can teach the rest of the village children too. And could I get copies of some of those storybooks too?"
Mr Qwerty's pages started to tremble, and he stared at Jack with wide eyes.
"You wish to spread the joys of books to that place you spoke of, where children do not get the chance to learn to read?" Jack nodded, and the bookworm took off in a flurry of madly-flapping pages. "I shall see to it at once!"
Jacked watched the bookworm begin rapidly writing down the books that were needed, and decided that now would be a good time to retreat downstairs.
Ombric was waiting for him, with a mug of cooled hot chocolate perched waiting on a floating tray. When Jack raised his eyebrows at that, the wizard smiled.
"Big Root told me you were coming down. Will you be leaving soon?"
Jack took hold of the mug, and sipped the contents before replying.
"In a day or two. Northern Winter starts in two weeks. Mr Qwerty is going to sort out copies of a few books for me, so Emily and the village children can learn to read."
Ombric's smile widened.
"Indeed, he was most incensed to learn of such a place where few people could read. He is wise in many ways, but in others he is rather sheltered. Not everywhere is like Santoff Claussen. If they were, then the world would be a very different place."
Jack sighed at that.
"It would, and it would be a wonderful place... It's just a pity that most humans forget the innocent joy they had when they were children. Instead they replace it with 'responsibilities', using those as an excuse to deny themselves that youthful happiness, but that's just stupid... I have responsibilities, big ones, but I don't let that stop me being my true self. I'm proof that there's no reason they can't have both."
Ombric nodded to that, turning his gaze to look out the window at the view of the village children playing outside.
"It truly is shame, but alas it is also human nature. Tis human to seek to have an explanation for everything, and more often than not 'logic' is chosen while the magic of simple 'belief' is forgotten. That is the greatest magic of all, the 'first spell' that was taught to all those who lived in Atlantis, and which I teach to all who live here in Santoff Claussen."
Jack joined him at the window.
"So what is the spell?"
"I believe, I believe, I believe." He glanced at Jack, his expression wry. "The simplest spells are often the most powerful, and that is especially true of the First Spell. It has thwarted Pitch on several occasions, much to his annoyance. You'd do well to remember it." He moved away from the window and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to ask Mr Qwerty to add one more book to those that are to be copied for you. I think a copy of Katherine's special stories would not go amiss in the hands of your sister, for I am sure they will bring great pleasure to the children of your village."
Jack followed, curious.
"Who is Katherine?"
Ombric's smile took on the smallest hint of sadness.
"'Mother Goose' is how you may have heard of her. She is a great writer and keeper of stories, and is presently travelling the world atop the back of her Himalayan Snow Goose, Kailash. She, like myself, is not an immortal and yet her powerful belief sustains both her and Kailash well beyond normal years. She has dedicated herself to writing stories of the world's happenings, so that the children of the future can learn from them whenever the time should come that she is gone. As a result she decided to go on an adventure, perhaps a year or two before you became Jack Frost, and thus far has only returned a handful of times to tell stories of her travels to the village children. But, I am sure you will meet her eventually."
And so it was a day later that Jack flew off from Santoff Claussen, but not until after he'd given the village children a large patch of early snow as a present. He left to the sound of a snowball fight starting up, and with a contented smile on his face, with his precious bag of books held tight under one arm.
The children of his home village would get plenty of similar snowball fights this winter, but they were also going to get lots of stories told to them around camp-fires... And part of him also mirthfully wondered, how the adults in the village would react when their children all mysteriously began learning how to read.
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Alaia Skyhawk: Yep, I'm bringing Bookworm!Jack into this story. It makes such a great contrast to his general mischief-making, that I know I'm going to have lots of fun with it... Plus, picturing Jack reading a storybook to the village kids is just too darn cute!