Alaia Skyhawk: Here's the next one, guys! :D

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 26: Earning Understanding

The snows were starting to melt, the air warming even if only by a little. Throughout the woods around the village and Thaddeus' cabin, could be heard the wet thuds of white clumps slipping from branches and falling to the ground. Icicles everywhere were dripping with melt-water... and along the road that led to Kirktown, came a convoy of several loaded wagons.

Jack watched from his perch atop a tree, counting the people he could see on the road. They must be at least eight or nine families in this first group, and he knew it was the first. He'd eavesdropped around Kirktown several times during the harsh winter, listening for news of people who were waiting for the weather to break to they could head this way. A second group would be setting off a few days after the first, and if he'd put the snippets of news together correctly, there would be six families in that one.

It was a big change, one that made him smile in anticipation. The equivalent of the entire population of the village, would be settling here in his over the next few weeks, and with just this first group he could see about fifteen children under the age of twelve.

Jack's smile widened at the thought, so excited that he was literally bouncing on his perch in glee. He just wished he could stay and watch them build their homes, in person, but Ariko would be coming by in about a week and she was too much of a snob to let him.

Never mind that he'd practically set Northern Spring away for her, by pulling back winter from the places where it was no longer needed, and allowing spring to slip on its own into the gap left behind. Ariko probably wouldn't even notice that her season didn't yell at her, to get moving, as loudly this year.

Jack sighed, turning his head to glance at the village and the lone cabin, before gliding up into the sky. He could have stayed a few more days, but then it would have been harder to leave. Besides, he had an errand and social visit to make in the North of the World, and doing it before Ariko set off on her rounds, would mean avoiding a confrontation and argument with her.

No, Jack would just let her find the new settlers in his valley, and then simmer in frustration at him gaining more believers. All without him being there in front of her to be yelled at.

He flew westwards, over the Atlantic, then Europe, then Russian, and onwards to Siberia. The snow wasn't quite beginning to melt around Santoff Claussen yet, but it would be in a few more days. But until then, the current generation of children were making the most of it.

Jack smiled to himself at the sight of several snow-forts, and also a few contraptions that appeared to have the express purpose of making perfect-sized snowballs, and then either spitting them out to be thrown, or firing them at a distant target.

He landed in front of Big Root and knocked on the door, waiting there until Ombric answered it.

The wizard smiled in greeting, and ushered his guest inside.

"Jack, my boy, it's been a while. How has Northern Winter gone for you?"

There was already a table and chairs sprouting from the floor, and two cups of hot chocolate, one of which was actually only slightly warm, floating down to rest upon it.

Jack sat down and accepted the offered drink, answering the question.

"It was a harsh winter for Northern America, and a large part of Russia and Europe as well. Yuki has led dozens of people in her homeland, to safety during this winter. But there are many more that she could not help."

Ombric nodded in understanding of that which was left unspoken.

"It must be so hard for you, to know that so many people die during your season, killed by the cold. You are very strong of heart, to endure that knowledge."

Jack took a sip of his chocolate, and grimaced.

"I can't deny my season kills more people, than those who die from floods or wildfires during the other three. But there's nothing I can do, to help those too poor to afford warm shelter, or those who foolishhy choose to go out into the cold without proper gear or supplies. I can't change that, so all I can do is try not to think about it too much." He conjured an Ice Mirror, changing the subject. "But, one good point to this particular winter, is that my sprites have found a lot of books this year. I've got plenty of duplicates, so here you go."

Jack reached through the mirror, which showed a table in his library at the Winter Sanctuary, and lifted through three stacks of books. He set them on the table in front of Ombric, who then proceeded to examine the titles on the covers rather eagerly.

"Wonderful, wonderful! I shall enjoy reading these immensely." He got up, hurrying out of the room and then quickly returning with a little leather-bound tome. "And here, take this. Katherine has written down several of her newest stories, and had this copy of them made for you."

Jack took hold of that book with a wide smile, turning it over in his hands to inspect it before putting it through the mirror for safe-keeping and dismissing the portal.

"Tell her I said thanks, and that I'd get right on to reading it as soon as I'm back in the Sanctuary. It's going to be great to have new stories to tell all those new children."

"New children?"

Ombric had his eyebrows raised, and Jack grinned.

"A whole load of new families are moving into my valley, to start a town by the river a short way from the village. The first of those families, Thaddeus Burgess, his wife, and their two children, already believe in me. He's going to make sure the rest of the newcomers follow the village traditions too, so when I go back later this year, I'll have more than twice and many children to tell stories to!"

The wizard smiled at Jack's obvious enthusiasm.

"That's wonderful to hear, Jack. Congratulations." He sighed, his smile fading to an expression of wistful sadness. "If only the children of this village would remain here forever. Santoff Claussen has always been small, there is simply no room for all those born here, to remain. But still... it is always sad to see them leave, even when some do return after marrying, to raise children of their own here in this place. But most never come back, and I never hear from them again."

Jack reached across the table, placing his hand on the wizard's arm.

"I've known that sadness for a long time, too. For decades, most of the village children would eventually leave and go to Kirktown to find work. Once there, they'd forget that I'm real... But, like you said, Santoff Claussen is a small place, and there's no way that all of the children born her could stay... And if they never left, then they could never teach the imagination that they learnt here, to others out there in the world."

Ombric remained silent for the longest moment, before he smiled in admiration.

"To think that a youngster like you, would be teaching an old man like me such a valuable lesson. You are right. If none of them ever left, then they never could teach imagination and belief to others beyond this place."

Jack smirked.

"Who are you calling a 'youngster'? I'll have you know that I am one-hundred and three years old."

"Which compared to me, is young."

The two of them laughed, Jack finishing his drink before bidding his farewells and flew in the direction of Antarctica.

Jack's arrival back at the sanctuary was relatively subdued, if one ignored the grin on his face. Cernunnos was in the middle of a nap when he went to check the Winter Garden, Yuki was sat with the Selkies near the gate to the Ice Caves, chattering away while sprites ran around her feet, giggling.

Jack chose not to disturb them, they'd know he was back simply because the snow that fell inside the cave, only when he was in residence, had started again. He headed straight for his library, resisting the urge to go to the Hall of Mirrors, and sat down in the chair beside the table where the new book from Katherine was waiting for him.

He picked it up and started to read, pouring over the handful of stories it contained. The first run through he simply enjoyed them. The second, he began to commit them to memory. On the third he was up on his feet, slowly pacing backwards and forwards as he worked out the rhythm by which each tale was best told.

It was three days later before he stopped, having finally decided he'd perfected and memorised the best telling he could do for each of the stories. Only then did he go to the shelf where his most prized books were kept, and added the new one to the row of similar tomes containing Katherine's stories.

Jack left the library and headed to his sleeping chamber, deliberately avoiding the Ice Mirror in there as he floated over the top of his snow-bed. He then set his staff onto the hooks in the wall, and let go of it.

He dropped out of the air instantly, landing face-down in the snowdrift with a thud. A bit of wriggling around and the snow around the edges fell into the hole he'd made, then covered him in a firm, white blanket as he closed his eyes.

Northern Winter was hard work, even if it was the time when he had the most fun each year. It was time to get some rest.

He slept for two weeks, woken up by the chimes every day but choosing to 'roll over' and go back to sleep on each occasion. Only when he felt fully-rested, did he get out of his snow-bed and sit in the chair by the Ice Mirror.

He summoned an image of his valley, from high enough above to get a clear view of both the village and the area by the river. What he saw astounded him, for in the space of barely two weeks, a large area along the riverbank had been cleared of trees, and was dotted with both complete log-cabins and the incomplete frames of homes like those found in Kirktown and beyond.

Jack remained by the mirror, watching intently for day after day as those houses grew and were completed. He watched as Thaddeus encouraged the newcomers to interact with and befriend the people of the village, and as the two groups helped each other plant their crops. He watched as Northern Summer neared, and a group of the new townsfolk set about clearing a road northwards out of the valley, leading to the trade route the other side of the river. Others built the piers that sat one on each bank, and a final group began to cut the road that would lead to the mines to the south.

Jack was now forced to leave the mirror, to obey the beginnings of Southern Winter. He didn't cross paths with Oisin, but thanks to the winds he was aware of the Spirit of Autumn working around him as winter advanced northwards out from the pole.

As soon as all his necessary duties were done, Jack raced back to the Winter Sanctuary. He took up position in his Hall of Mirrors this time, so he could listen to the gossip of the winds while indulging his fascination with watching the new town. It had a name now and it seemed that, since Thaddeus was the first to build his cabin on the riverbank, and had been so prominent in organising everyone to get the work done, they'd decided to name the town after him.

Burgess; Jack approved of that most highly.

By mid-Northern Summer, the first cargo convoys were starting to use the new road and 'Nancy's Ferry', travelling between the mines and the northern trade route. A merchant had also set-up shop by the ferry's pier, and not only that but a rather familiar-looking shrine and wooden pole had been set up in the town square.

Jack watched as Thaddeus oversaw the completion of the shrine, and then held a gathering of the townsfolk to celebrate its completion. There was plenty of visible scepticism among those present, but Jack would fix that once he returned with winter to the valley.

Northern Summer continued on its usual routine, and then Northern Autumn began, as Jack now began to 'fidget' in impatience. He wanted so much to go north now, but he restrained himself. He waited until the winds told him that the lands south of the Arctic Circle were beginning to cool, and that the first frosts there had taken place.

Jack left the sanctuary, soaring to the upper reaches of the sky and not descending again until he reached those areas where Northern Winter's first touch was now due.

It was only mid-September, more than a month and a half before the time he usually started his winter work. Yet as he brought a scattering of snow down over those high-northern latitudes, Oisin remained conspicuously absent and made no attempt to come scold him about it.

Jack dutifully followed winter southwards over the following weeks, pointedly never trespassing anywhere that autumn still held sway. As with the Southern Autumn/Winter transition, the winds kept him informed about the weather patterns and where Oisin was and what the Spirit of Autumn was doing. But other than the two of them working around each other, instead of Oisin leaving in huff at a set date for that year, there was no real difference but one.

Winter didn't summon Jack that year, there was no pull of demand that he go and tend to it. Winter was already in place, without jolt and while autumn still lingered in a last few places. And as Jack made a final pass around the North of the World, upon the day he knew winter should have summoned him, that was when he put the first scattering over snow over his valley.

Tomorrow he would return there, at last, and get to meet and play with all the new children.

That thought was firmly in his mind as he did the last part of his flyover, and it was now that Oisin finally sought him out.

Jack found him waiting at the edge of the valley, stood on a rock at the top of a ridge. He landed there beside his peer, and the two of them looked out over the forest towards the village and the new town in silence.

It was after a few minutes, that the Spirit of Autumn finally spoke.

"...I think I owe you an apology."

Jack glanced at him, eyebrows raised.

"How so?"

Oisin turned to face him, seeming at least a little bemused.

"Frost... While your work in Southern Winter was too little for me to be sure, your work during these past few weeks has shown me something." He sighed. "You were right about the transition between our seasons, and that we should have been working together on it. The way that I and the others have worked all these centuries, truly is a jarring and unharmonious method. You've proven your point."

Jack stared at him, honestly startled.

"Wait, does that mean I can start my work the same way every year from now on? You're not going to come after me to try and rip my hair out?"

Oisin laughed, truly laughed, without a trace of scorn.

"It does, and that is why I must apologise. I had gone along with Ariko and Achieng's way of doing things, for so long that I refused to see that perhaps a fresh outlook on our work could reveal a better way of carrying out our roles. You are that fresh outlook, and truthfully I am sorry that it has taken me the better part of a century to see that. I have treated you in a grievous manner, without due respect. I will not repeat that mistake."

He held out his hand towards Jack, who blinked at it in confusion for several seconds before he registered what was going on. Oisin wanted to shake hands with him.

Jack hesitantly clasped the offered hand, and then started to smile as he gave it a firm shake and they both let go.

"I look forward to continuing to work with you, Oisin. I guess this means that you're not that bad after all."

A wry smile plucked at the corner of Oisin's mouth.

"I could say the same of you. But I do still warn you, don't take this truce for granted. If you cause me trouble or mischief, you may just be losing some of your hair after all."

Jack laughed.

"Touché!" He grinned. "I'll keep that in mind, and you have my word that I will never deliberately cause you problems. If something does happen, there will always be a good reason."

Oisin nodded, also smiling.

"Then I guess this means the two of us are now... well I hesitate to say 'friends'."

"Amiable acquaintances?" Jack leaned on his staff, shaking his head in wonderment. "I honestly never expected you to come around this fast. I was planning on it taking a couple of decades for you to call a truce."

Oisin chuckled.

"I am not so stubborn as our peers are. If you plan to make truce with Ariko, then I would suggest you allow me to attempt to recreate our arrangement, between myself and Achieng. If I can convince her to work in the same way, then with time Ariko will have little choice but to bow to pressure and relent. Perhaps then the flow of the Seasons can become what it is meant to be."

"With far less bickering between the four of us, and less of Ariko screaming at me every year."

"Indeed."

The sound of slow clapping interrupted the scene, making both of them look around for the source, until Mother Nature stepped out of the shadows. She had an expression of considerable amusement on her face, and she chuckled quietly before speaking.

"And, at last, two of my Generals realise the true way in which they are meant to work together. I have waited for such a thing to happen, for a very long time." Her smile widened. "It has been a most pleasant year for me, in that for both transitions between autumn and winter, I was not required to do all of the early snow-work, and I expect I shall have none of the late rain-work to do either. Instead I was able to simply sit back and give my full concentration to monitoring the balance of nature, without the constant distractions of fixing errant weather."

Oisin's expression became a frown when he saw who it was, but Jack walked over to her to clasp hands in greeting.

He then glanced at the Spirit of Autumn, and waved for him to come over as well.

"Stop being such a sour... So what if she's Pitch Black's daughter, and so what if she wants to try save him from the Fearlings if she gets the chance? You might refuse to keep such ties now, but are you telling me you can't remember a time when family meant everything to you? Being a Spirit of the Seasons, does not mean you have to forget the feelings you had when you were mortal. You should cherish those memories instead of pushing them away. After all, you don't see my feelings towards the descendants of my sister, stopping me from getting my work done properly. The same thing applies to Mother Nature."

Oisin remained silence, seeming as if he were about to protest. But then he sighed, and his shoulders slumped.

"I do remember a time, long ago. I do remember the family I had back then, but thinking about them..."

Jack turned away from Mother Nature, and went to Oisin's side.

"It hurts." He put a hand on the Spirit of Autumn's shoulder. "Losing my sister, is easily the most painful thing I've ever gone through, but that doesn't mean I want to stop thinking about her. Seeing her son die also hurt, but I'll always smile at the memories of him as a child. I've set myself up to be hurt over and over, by maintaining contact with her descendants, but I don't care. Because the happy memories I make with them, are worth the pain of one day having to let those people go... What's your happiest memory?"

Oisin went still, even as he looked at Jack. He then hesitated, before finally answering. His cool façade completely broken in this moment.

"The day I held my son for the first time."

Jack smiled at that, in understanding.

"Now, imagine that your son was the one tricked by the Fearlings, and taken over. Would you ever give up trying to save him from them?"

Oisin's eyes widened, and then he looked towards Mother Nature, who stood watching him with the shadows of deep sadness in her eyes. Sadness caused by happy memories she had of being with her father, before he had been deceived.

The Spirit of Autumn let out a sigh, and he nodded. This was a viewpoint he hadn't considered before now. One that he had never thought to consider.

"I understand, and you are right. For my son, I would never have stopped trying to save him." He looked at her. "I guess I owe you an apology as well. This has become a rather unusual day for us, it seems."

Mother Nature smiled.

"Yes, Jack certainly has a habit of turning everything we have grown accustomed to, on its head. But, in a good way."

"Indeed." Oisin nodded, smiled one last time, and took flight. "I'll see you in the South in a few months, Frost."

And with that he was gone, leaving only Jack and Mother Nature stood on the rock.

She turned to him, her gaze seeming to study him for several moments, and then after a fleeting glance at the moon, she spoke.

"You truly are a remarkable person, Jack. I've strived for over two-thousand years to build a rapport with Ariko, and then Achieng, and then Oisin. Yet in less than a century, you have brought a level of understanding between him and myself, that I have never managed on my own."

Jack ducked his head, embarrassed at the praise.

"Well, it was just a case of reminding him of the feelings he once had, that were the same as those you have for your father. Once he remembered, that was enough for him to understand. The hard part was getting him to respect me enough to listen to what I had to say."

Mother Nature smiled, and with a gently gestured shooed him into the air.

"Go on, off you go, mischief maker. You're going to be late for your festival. Remember, you've got two shrines to do this year."

Jack blinked, realising that she was right, and he was dashing off through the air with a belated 'thanks' shouted into the winds as he went.

And then he started to grin, in anticipation of the joyous greetings of the children, and of the sound of their laughter. This was going to be a good winter.

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Alaia Skyhawk: lol, Oisin trying to convince Achieng is going to be fun :D