Alaia Skyhawk: Ok, just an advance notice, some new OCs are about to be introduced, two of which are female. I can assure you that in this fic no OC will EVER be paired with one of the canon characters. As they do with my fics in other sections on the site, my OCs serve as background characters to add to the plot, and nothing more :)
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 19: A Step Towards Understanding
Jack drifted into the Winter Sanctuary, feeling as if a burden had been lifted from him. The loss of his sister still hurt a great deal, but he knew that the greatest way he could honour her memory was for him to continue protecting the village and making the children happy. It was a purpose he could cling to as a reason to remain true to himself, instead of retreating into solitude to become a Spirit of Winter who was cold and dispassionate towards humans. Emily had been his guiding light all these years, and she always would be.
He wore a smile of semi-sadness as he landed on the plaza and walked into his palace, only to halt and scowl when he found the last person he wanted to see, waiting for him in the entrance-hall.
Mother Nature turned to regard him, and nodded in greeting.
"It has been a while, Jack."
His scowl deepened, and he brushed past her with a hint of anger.
"I'm in no mood right now. Go away."
Her gaze followed him, and before he could reach the stairway to the palace's upper levels, she spoke again.
"I felt this was something best left, until after your sister had passed away. I've given you time to grieve, but the time for further waiting has passed... You've tended Winter without assistance for too long. Just as your fellow Spirits of the Seasons did, you need to recruit Lieutenants. At the very least they will help keep you company, and give you some constancy in your life."
Jack stopped at the foot of the stairs, but didn't turn.
"I don't need any help. I think fifty-seven years proves that."
Mother Nature sighed.
"I know you don't need help tending to Winter itself, but there are several Winter Spirits out there... Jack, I will get to the point, it's more about you helping give them a purpose, than them aiding you." Jack turned, frowning at her, and she continued. "The Seasons are delicate, and without a Spirit of Winter to preside over them, I could not risk such individuals causing harm. Thus in all this time I made no Nature Immortals of Winter. In the absence of such spirits, even if they could never have seen or been aware of them anyway, humans can tell. Subconsciously they are aware of the servants of Ariko, Achieng, and Oisin, and were also aware that in Winter any similar presences were absent. When there is a gap, humans tend to fill it with explanations, legends, of their own."
Jack faced her fully, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
"Are you saying that whatever Winter Spirits there are, they're all Legend Immortals? Not a single one of them is a Nature Immortal like me?"
Mother Nature nodded gravely.
"Yes. And for that reason, after they arise, most then fade as quickly as ice exposed to flame. There have been many, hundreds, as the Man in the Moon's power answered the needs and wishes of the humans. But they rarely last more than a few years before they lose their fragile number of believers, and then the will to live."
Jack's eyes widened.
"They died?"
Mother Nature held a hand over her heart, solemn.
"Immortals can die. Although those of Nature must seek out their presiding Spirit of the Season, and be severed from their Season first. Once that happens, they become Legend Immortals and masters of their own fate... Once they have decided they have had enough, they then simply fade away as they would have done if they'd remained mortal."
Jack had moved away from the stairs and towards her by several steps, and he was now frowning in concern.
"And there are Winter Spirits out there now, in danger of fading like that?"
She gave him a stern glance.
"Do not think you can help them all, Jack. Most scorn Nature Immortals in the fashion that most Nature Immortals scorn them. They will refuse any and all contact with you... But I have four specific Immortals in mind, that I would have you seek out, and also one Tribe of Myth, the Selkies. The Selkies are few in number, and gravely threatened by the encroachment of humans into the seas around their last remaining home. They need a new one, and it is within your power to provide that. In return for you aid you would gain both their gratitude, and also a group of beings who would gladly guard your Sanctuary whenever you are absent from it."
Jack scowled, his fingers tightening around his staff.
"You make it sound like that would be the only reason I'd help them." He folded his arms across his chest. Willing to listen, for now. "So, who are the four Immortals, then?"
Mother Nature tilted her head.
"Peboan, Cernunnos, Yuki-onna, and Marzanna. Peboan used to usher in winter around a vast lake to the north-west of your village, but he lost that when you became the Spirit of Winter. I have kept him from approaching you, to confront you about it, yet it is within your power to grant him the right to bring winter to his home territory once again, which will please him. I doubt he will swear his oath to you and become a Lieutenant, but it go some way to proving you are a reasonable Immortal to deal with."
Jack stared at her.
"You robbed him of the ability, to do his duties to his followers? Why am I not surprised?"
She ignored that remark, and continued.
"Cernunnos, the Gifting Stag, is the spirit who works to encourage people not to squander their limited supplies too much during winter festivals. Lest they find themselves short of food before spring arrives. It is a factor of life with which I know you have experience, and will agree with. Offer him a place in your Sanctuary, in which to dwell during the months where he has no role to play, and he will certainly agree to be a Lieutenant of Winter."
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Ok, and who's next?"
"Marzanna is a tricky one. I recommend you introduce yourself to her, but no more than that at this time. You will need to think of a proper role for her to fulfil, in which she will find true and worthy purpose, before she will even consider becoming your Lieutenant."
"She sounds like a real barrel of laughs."
Mother Nature frowned at him, her tone one of reprimand for his sarcasm.
"Jack, take this seriously. I know that you are still hurting from your sister's death, and that I've never given you any real reason to like me, but you can make a real difference to these four." She sighed. "The last is Yuki-onna; a lamentable soul who has suffered long and harshly. She is seen as a demon of ice and doom in her native lands of Japan, leading lost people to their deaths in blizzards. In truth she is merely lonely, and has been for over a millennia, yet her fierce desire to have contact with humans has kept her alive even when she has little power and no true believers."
Jack went still in surprise.
"She's lasted that long?"
Mother Nature nodded.
"She has killed many in her quest to end her loneliness, although never intentionally. She needs guidance, of a kind that I cannot give her, and I believe that helping her will be good for you as well... You need something like that right now, to help you deal with your grief. Show her that Winter does not have to be only death and solitude... I can tell you where she and the others are, when you are ready to look for them."
Jack didn't grumble at her presumption he would go, she knew him well enough to know he would. Instead he came over to face her eye-to-eye.
"Yuki-onna sounds like she's going to require the most work. I'll speak to the other three first, then approach her, so I'll have the time to concentrate on her."
Mother Nature laid a hand on Jack's head, smiling as her power passed through that touch.
"Then let me show you where they can be found."
Jack closed his eyes, suddenly aware of four distant pulls on his awareness, and a fifth which was subtly different to mark the location of the Selkies. When he opened his eyes, Mother Nature had gone. Leaving him alone to decide if he would go now, or rest first.
He chose to go, as all four were in places at the North of the World. Finding them before Northern Winter's final week ended, was the better option than tracking them down with Ariko pestering him.
He flew to the vast series of lakes north-west of the village, seeking out Peboan first. By the name and the location, he was probably a Legend belonging to one of the clans of Native Americans. A guess that was confirmed upon him landing close to the location Mother Nature's power had shown him... when he almost got shot in the head with a arrow.
Jack deflected it with his staff, leaping up to perch on the top of the crook and raising both hands to show he meant no harm.
"Hey, just hold on a moment! I came to talk!"
From beneath one of the trees, a Native American man stepped into the light. He wore clothing made almost entirely of furs, and carried both a hatchet and a bow.
"So you are the thief who took the rights of winter from me? Have you finally tired of hiding behind the Lady of Nature?"
Jack sighed, forcing himself not to roll his eyes.
"I was not hiding... She never told me about you, so I never knew you'd lost part of your duties to me. I'm here to fix that."
Peboan's hostile expression was replaced by surprise, and hope.
"You will let me bring winter each year to these lands?"
Jack smiled, and raised a finger.
"Yes, under certain conditions. You are a Winter Spirit, yet I am the Spirit of Winter. That means that you are only to trigger winter in your territory, when you feel me bring winter to the rest of the North of the World. I'll give some allowances while you get used to the arrangement, but too many late or early starts and you'll force me cut you off again. Nothing personal, it's just it's my job."
Peboan frowned slightly, but then nodded.
"Firm, but fair... I agree."
They regarded each other in silence for several seconds, before Jack began to feel awkward and decide to get one more question over with. When Mother Nature had told him to recruit Lieutenants, she hadn't mentioned how awkward it would feel.
"And I know I'm probably wasting my time, but I'll ask anyway. I'm starting to recruit Lieutenants of Winter, if you're interested in gaining a permanent and secure role as one of my assistants."
Peboan gave him a wry smile.
"I am afraid I must decline. These lands are my home, and I do not need to be your Lieutenant to serve the people who live here. You have already promised me all that I need."
Jack dropped from his perch and took hold of his staff again, pausing only to cast a touch of power over Peboan to give him the promised rights.
"Then I bid you farewell, and look forward to seeing you when I herald next year's Northern Winter."
Peboan bowed his head respectfully.
"I too, will look forward to it."
Jack flew off, before he felt embarrassed enough for his face to start flushing, which was a very rare occurrence and always made him look like someone had slapped him. He headed now for the countries along the borderline between Europe, Russia, and Asia. Mother's Nature's touch of power showing him the way. He found Marzanna in a pine-forest, which was presently being blanketed with a last falling of snow.
He lands on the top tip of one of the trees, stood across from where she was perched likewise on another. He then gave her a polite half-bow, resorting to what little formal manners he'd learnt during the time before he became immortal.
"Greetings, Marzanna. I am Jack Frost, the Spirit of Winter."
She eyed him warily, her entire body going tense beneath her tattered tunic and leggings, and the bear-pelt she wore as a cloak.
"And for what reason do you seek me out?"
Jack, letting the formality slip, smiled with humour in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Just to introduce myself, and let you know that you have my attention. When I think of a worthy role in which you could serve, I will return and speak to you again." His smile widened, as he added with a hint of self-depreciation. "Mother Nature told me it would be a waste of your time, if I made my offer before knowing what that offer will be."
Marzanna regarded him coolly, but at the same time she was intrigued.
"I would guess you seek me as a Lieutenant, and she is right. Come back when you can make a serious offer."
She vanished without any further word, but Jack was pleased to note she'd worn the slightest smile before she left.
He took flight again, beginning to feel more confident, and headed back to Europe. He tracked Cernunnos to an area of oak-forest, and upon landing in a clearing he found himself being towered over by the Immortal.
Cernunnos was a massive white stag, as large as the largest draft-horses Jack had even seen, and to top it off he had a more than impressive set of antlers. He made the trees around him seem small, and the Spirit of Winter couldn't help but share that feeling.
Cernunnos gazed down at him thoughtfully, and then he snorted.
"Well, it is about time you approached me. I was wondering when the Spirit of Winter, would come seeking to gain the wise Gifting Stag as his Lieutenant."
Jack gaped at him.
"You know why I'm here?"
The stag laughed. The low pitch of his voice shaking snow from the nearby branches.
"I told Mother Nature to send you my way, when the time came you began recruiting your assistants. I tire of seeking the lonely, snowy heights of the mountains during the warmer months. Give me a Garden of Winter within your sanctuary, where I may rest in comfort and peace in the time of the year I am not needed, and I will serve you gladly."
Jack leaned on his staff, and started to grin.
"A garden... I can do that. I'll ask Mother Nature to help me put some earth, winter trees and plants, into the Winter Sanctuary, and I know just the corner for it. A modest side-cavern, where a hole in the ice above lets sun and moonlight shine in. I will ask her to turn it into a forest for you."
Cernunnos came closer, and stood proud before Jack with his antlers towering over the 'young' man. He then dropped to kneel on one foreleg, the sweep of his antlers curving around either side of Jack.
"Then I, Cernunnos the Gifting Stag, hereby swear myself to the service of the Spirit of Winter."
Jack, uncertain of what to do, trusted his instincts. He touched the top of the stag's head with the tip of his staff, and murmured.
"I accept your vow, and name you a Lieutenant of Winter."
Through his staff, Jack felt a fine thread of the Power of Winter reach out and anchor itself to Cernunnos' own limited magic, strengthening it. But at the same time, Jack also felt a curious although minor surge in his own powers. He wasn't sure if or not he'd imagined it, so he didn't remark on it as both of them resumed their previous poses and regarded one another in silence.
And then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world and not the first time he'd ever done so, Cernunnos turns his side to face Jack and nodded to him.
"Climb up, and show me the place my new home will be."
Jack paused only a moment before floating up to sit astride Cernunnos' back, and then the stag took a mighty leap up into the air and ran upon it leaving a faint trail frosty motes in his wake.
Jack clung to the stag's fur, able to sense that the thread of Winter now tied to Cernunnos, had granted the stag this ability to run upon the winds.
"You're flying. What gave you the idea to run on air?"
Cernunnos, with a minor grumble, glanced back at him.
"You have heard of North, the immortal who goes around giving gifts to children at Christmas?"
Jack grinned.
"Yeah... You've seen his reindeer?"
Cernunnos snorted.
"I am far more dignified than those feral things, but the same principle of flight applies.." He grumbled again. "Since he started up, I've had a lot more work to do every December. I do not object to what he does, but I do wish he wouldn't encourage such extravagant festivities. The excitement he stirs up, causes me no end of bother in reminding people not to use food they cannot afford to squander."
He levelled out a reasonable, yet also rather low height above the ground, and Jack chuckled.
"Afraid of going too high?" He lifted off of Cernunnos' back, and flicked a special snowflake into the stag's face. "Come on, I'll show you the real way to cross half the world in less than an hour!"
He urged Cernunnos, who under the influence of 'fun' was exceedingly agreeable to the challenge, up into the frigid upper-airways where no other Immortal but he had yet to tread. But the Power of Winter shielded the stag from the unrelenting cold, and while he could not go as fast as Jack, he still got up to a speed faster than Ariko, Achieng, and Oisin could manage.
They arrived at the Winter Sanctuary, Jack shooing away the Winter Sprites when the little furry creatures started to get too excited and boisterous. He then led Cernunnos to the cavern he'd mentioned, only to find Mother Nature already waiting there for them.
She smiled, and nodded to them both.
"Congratulations on becoming a Lieutenant of Winter, Cernunnos. And congratulations to you as well, Jack, for gaining your first Lieutenant."
Jack gave her a flat stare.
"What are you doing here? What happened to waiting to be invited into someone's home?"
She laughed.
"Oh come now, Jack. I knew the very moment when Cernunnos gave you his oath, and you accepted it. I already knew what his terms would be, so I decided to save you the trouble of calling me."
She flicked a hand gesture in the direction of the cavern that opened up behind her, causing a wave of power to sweep through it leaving earthen ground on the floor instead of ice, and evergreen trees and bushes sprouting up from that soil until they came together as a fully-mature forest. There was even a pond in the clearing at the centre, whose edge was rimmed with ice.
The Winter Sprites immediately invaded the grove, rushing in from where they'd followed Jack into the cavern. They then proceeded to run among the trees, giggling and happy. Even Cernunnos was smiling, or at least as much of a smile as a stag could manage.
He bowed his head to Mother Nature, grateful.
"Thank you."
She returned the smile.
"It has been a pleasure."
Cernunnos turned to Jack.
"I will return in a few hours. I wish to gain some more practice with my new gift of flight, and also to see more of the area around the sanctuary."
Jack grinned.
"Sure, go right ahead. Although I warn you, that there's not all that much to see in here in Antarctica other than snow, ice, and more snow."
Cernunnos laughed and leapt into the air, leaving via the hole in the ice above his new woodland grove. Once he was gone, Jack glanced at Mother Nature, and thought to himself about the odd feeling he'd gotten when he'd accepted the Gifting Stag as his Lieutenant.
She calmly returned his regard, and guessed the question evident in his expression.
"You wish to ask why you felt your power increase when he became your Lieutenant?" Jack nodded, and she smiled. "That is simple. Just as Legend Immortals gain power from their believers, they gain it because they in turn perform some form of service or task for them; give and take. When you accepted his vow of service, you gifted Cernunnos with a fragment of the Power of Winter, a force which you command and yet only use a portion of. The remainder which you do not use, is intended for you to lend to your Lieutenants. However, where there is 'give', there must also be 'take' in order to keep balance... In this case, any believers that your Lieutenants have, indirectly bolster your powers as well as theirs. Cernunnos isn't very well known, or believed in, but the concept he represents is. He gathers a fair amount of ambient belief in that way, especially in this most recent century with North causing him extra work."
Jack frowned, walking towards her.
"Wait, are you saying that the Spirits of the Seasons, gain power from belief if their Lieutenants have believers?"
Mother Nature shrugged gracefully.
"Yes... Ariko and the others may turn their noses up at seeking believers themselves, but they do not object to their Lieutenants seek them. In fact, they encourage it."
Jack's jaw dropped open in stunned outrage. "Those... hypocrites! They say all those haughty things about how they're too good to grovel around getting power from belief, and look down on me for having believers, when they do get power from belief." He gritted his teeth. "The next time I see any of them, they are going to get a piece of my mind!"
"Jack." Mother Nature's voice was stern, cutting through his tirade. "You must speak of this to no-one, Jack. Only you, myself, and your contemporaries know of this. It is secret that keeps the Power of Nature, as a baffling and indefinable force that Pitch cannot comprehend." She placed a hand over her heart. "But there is also something your peers do not aware of, but which I would trust you to know. For you, of all the Spirits of the Seasons, are the only one whose eyes are truly open to the world... When I gave the Powers of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter to each of you, I lost those powers myself... I gave them up."
Jack stared, then looks at the forest she had created.
"What? Then how?"
She came closer, and took hold of one of his hands.
"Just as there is 'give', there is 'take'. The strength of each of you, and therefore the strength of your Lieutenants as well, all feeds up through the connections of power and back to me. It is from this that I can still wield the Power of the Seasons, but in a way that Pitch can never corrupt or understand. All he knows, the very reason he fears to act against me, is that any attempt on me will bring the Spirits of the Seasons and all who serve them, raining down on him in vengeance... And all of you together total close to two-hundred Immortals; as united in balance, and yet utterly chaotic in your individuality, as Nature itself. Fear is predictable, Pitch likes things that are predictable, which is one of the reasons he goes to such lengths to avoid angering me."
Jack frowned at her, thinking about how mighty she was both in terms of her own power and that of those linked to her.
"If we're all so powerful together, then why haven't you just destroyed him so that he can't hurt children anymore? He may have been a hero once, long ago, but that doesn't change the way he is now or the uncountable worlds and lives that he's ended."
There was a long pause, one that seemed to last an eternity, before Mother Nature let her mask of calm fall away. She now wore the turmoil in her heart, openly, and answered him quietly. She looked so... vulnerable... that it shocked him.
"I will not strike him down, for the very reason he would never seek to end my life... I will not kill my father, Jack." She closed her eyes, racked with pain and guilt. "He became what he is, because his love for me was so strong that the Fearlings were able to use it to trick him. I bear that guilt for his fall into darkness, and pray that here on this world I may one day find a way to redeem him. To break him free of the Fearlings' malice."
Jack took a step back, aghast at her revelation. The woman he served was...
"Pitch is your father..."
Jack turned, to look anywhere but at her. He wanted to shout at her, to rage at her for defending such a monster... But then he remembered Emily, and how much she'd meant to him... Losing her had hurt so much, and it was a pain he wouldn't wish on anyone.
Mother Nature was still watching him, still so vulnerable. She'd let him see her like this, she trusted him to know the desperate dream she clung to.
"Jack?"
He regarded her for a moment longer, before he sighed and gave her the smallest of smiles.
"No matter what he's done, family is family... I understand."
She looked startled at his words, before she brightened like sun shining on fresh snow.
"And in that, you prove yourself wiser and more forgiving than Ariko, Achieng, and Oisin, for they each called me a fool after learning that truth. Pitchiner Kosmotis, my father, is still in there somewhere. As long as there is hope to save him, I will fight for that chance."
Jack stepped closer and offered her his hand. For all these years he had seen her as cold and distant, caring little for the feelings of others, but now he could see that he was wrong. She was a person just like any other, and she dreamt of saving her father somehow, someday. Fear could not be destroyed, but that wasn't to say that it couldn't be tamed. It just might be, that a chance to deal with Pitch in that way would come. They would just have to watch, wait, and hope for it... That she would hold to a chance as frail as that, in order to save her father. It at last gave him something he could truly respect her for.
He smiled.
"When the day comes that you find a way, I'll help. And you have my word, if ever I find myself fighting him, I will only fight to stop him harming others. I will not seek to kill him."
Mother Nature looked honestly surprised, and then she gave him a smile so gentle and joyous that he knew he'd made the right choice.
She accepted his hand, clasping both of hers around it.
"Thank you."
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Alaia Skyhawk: Yeah, I do plan to work in, post-film, a redemption arc for Pitch. But it's not going to be a sappy 'he sees the error of his ways' thing. No, it's going to be Mother Nature giving hell to the Fearlings, which admittedly isn't going to be very pleasant for her father. I'll say no more, since I don't want to spoil.
Also, I plan to do a picture of Jack and his Lieutenants, or at the very least Jack and Cernunnos. I'll let you guys know when I've done one and posted it :)