Alaia Skyhawk: Sandy is going to be a bit "miffed" by the end of this lol :)
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.
And a shout-out to VanRah on Deviantart, for letting me use their awesome picture of Jack Frost as the new cover for this story! Seriously, go check out their page!
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Chapter 31: Indifference
The little golden man was almost bubbling over with excitement, as he flew on his cloud of sand over mountains and snowy tundra, and then over a vast plain of sea-ice before reaching the frozen crags and peaks where the workshop lay. He was the oldest of the Guardians, other than the Man in the Moon himself, and he knew potential when he saw it, or at least he'd believed he always would. Oh, he'd noticed Jack was special in his ability to banish the Fearlings' Touch from children, but beyond that he'd just been an unusually friendly and playful Nature Immortal.
But now... Sandy couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it sooner. Jack protected Burgess, yes, but his primary focus had always been the children. It was always the children he sought to bring joy to, to protect, to bring light and happiness. Their laughter always brought the biggest smiles to his face, and the sighs of contentment whenever he and the Sandman crossed paths and they'd have a short chat before going separate ways.
Jack acted and thought like a Guardian in every single way. The only thing he lacked was that he'd never been chosen and called to take the Oath. That was the only thing that made him not a Guardian.
Sandy glanced up at the moon as he neared the workshop, frowning thoughtfully. Was this why the Man in the Moon had forbidden him from telling the other Guardians about Jack's ability to banish Fearlings' Touch? If so, would he forbid him from telling them what he'd realised now?
The Sandman stopped his cloud and faced the moon, waving as if to get the resident's attention before rapidly drawing a string of symbols above his head, ending with a question-mark. Was he allowed to tell the others, that he thought Jack had the traits of and should become a Guardian? Did he, the Man in the Moon, think Jack should become one?
There was a long pause, as golden man and pale moon faced each other, and then Sandy let out a silent sigh. The Man in the Moon didn't answer, no moonbeam came carrying his words. It was as much to say that for whatever reason, he didn't mind Sandy saying whatever he wanted about this topic, so long as anything regarding the forbidden topic wasn't mentioned. It was also as much to say, that he had no intention at all of answering the second of those two questions.
Sandy frowned, but didn't try to ask anything else. He knew a waste of time when he encountered one. Instead he resumed his flight to the workshop, and seeing as the dome wasn't open, he landed in front of the main, although rarely used, front doors.
He knocked firmly on the thick, oaken panels and then waited, until one side was pushed open a short way and a yeti peered out and swiftly allowed him in once they saw who was there.
Sandy smiled in thanks to the yeti and proceeded down the passage which led to the building capped by the dome, and then floated up the hollow centre-space until he spotted North moving through one of the toy-construction areas.
North blinked in surprise when he saw his fellow Guardian, and hastened over to the rail that bordered the edge of the level.
"Sandy, what you doing here? Annual meeting still four days away." Sandy landed on the rail, waving his arms excitedly, and North interpreted. "You have something important to tell?" Sandy nodded, and North frowned. "Then best you wait until meeting, no? I'm busy right now, and it would mean you only have to tell it once so we all hear, yes?"
Sandy's smile froze, and then he slumped in what looked like mild frustration, but North did have a point. Talking with miming was difficult at the best of times, and trying to explain something as important as this more than once, even if North could help with the second time, would be tricky.
Sandy folded his arms across his chest, frowned, and sighed in resignation as he nodded. To which North then patted him on the shoulder.
"Then you tell me in four days. You want to stay here? Elves can get you cookies and eggnog while you wait."
As tempting as that was, Sandy shook his head and drifted back down through the building. Back to the front doors, where the yeti that had let him in had only just returned to what they were doing.
Sandy made sure to look suitably apologetic, as the grumbling yeti opened the heavy doors for him again. But then thoughts of Jack intruded once more, and he flew southward to Burgess again.
It had been half a day since they'd parted ways, and it appeared that Jack had already returned from wherever he'd dashed off to. So Sandy watched as Jack wandered the streets of Kirktown, and several other settlements within reasonable distance of Burgess. He watched as the fleeting shadows of Fearlings were brought to the attention of any nearby children, thanks to mysterious snowballs coming out of nowhere and hitting the creatures.
Fearlings were rarely seen by children, they didn't often come into the open while the youths were awake. But they always lingered close by in the shadows, if a child were unhappy or fearful enough to draw them in. It might have seemed poor choice for Jack to alert the children to the Fearlings being there, but for the startled reactions of the creatures when the snowballs hit them. And while the most timid children didn't follow the example of their invisible teacher, the bolder ones laughed and began making snowballs of their own to throw.
Throughout it all, despite gaining no credit or thanks from the children who could not and did not believe in him, Jack wore a smile that was both wicked and contented. Even some of his Winter Sprites, those that were in the area, joined in the game. It was truly something hilarious, when furry creatures only a foot-or-so tall could drive away something that had the size and maliciousness that a Fearling did.
Sandy couldn't help but chuckle at that, even as he added deliberate will to the dreamsand he sent to the night-time places of the world while the hours and days passed. Creating specific dreams took more effort than simply letting the children shape the dreams for themselves, so he didn't do it often, but in this case he was glad to fulfil Jack's request. Even with the war going on, the Fearlings were going to find Northern America a far less fruitful hunting ground in their search for victims.
When the imitation 'northern lights', the signal from the workshop, eventually came early morning Burgess-time on the fourth day, Sandy was even more resolved to put forward Jack's case. For in just those four days of spreading Jack's idea into the dreams of children, the fearfulness among them had been dramatically reduced and the number of Fearlings in the region had halved. For all their vaunted prowess and skill in bringing joy to the children of the world, in banishing fear, belief in the four existing Guardians had barely done a fraction of the good that Jack's influence had in such a short time.
A sobering thought, because it revealed a weakness in the Guardians' blanket of protection.
Sandy mused over that as he returned to the workshop, able to enter through the dome this time which had been opened for him and Tooth. He waved to the other three Guardians when he came to a stop by them on the top floor, and it was Tooth who spoke first as she fluttered over.
"North said you came by the other day, with something important to tell. What is it? He said you were excited."
Over by the fire, warming his feet, Bunny snorted.
"Tooth, are you completely oblivious? There's a war going on along the coast of North America, and there are probably Fearlings swarming all over that area due to the fear that causes in kids. If he has something important to report, it's probably that."
Tooth huffed, frowning.
"But that wouldn't be something to be excited about, would it?"
Before that argument could go any further, North gestured for both of them to settle down.
"Hey, instead of bickering and trying to guess, why not let Sandy actually tell us. Hmmm?" He turned to Sandy. "Although Bunny right about one thing, there have been lots of Fearlings in that area, no?"
Sandy grimaced and nodded, but then waved his arms and started to smile. He drew an image of four Fearlings, a 'plus' sign, and then a symbol he'd long since used to mean 'new' alongside a dreaming child., his way of saying 'dream'. He then drew an 'equals' sign and a picture of only two Fearlings.
All three observing Guardians peered at what he'd drawn, trying to figure it out, until Tooth smiled.
"You've come up with a new dream to help children, and it's halved the number of Fearlings around the east-coast of North America?" Sandy nodded, and then shook his head. Pointing to the bit that meant 'new dream', then at himself, and shaking his head a second time. "You didn't come up with it?"
At Sandy's confirmation of that, North's expression became curious.
"If not you who come up with it, who did? Must be very good idea if it keeps fear away from children so well."
Sandy floated there, under the gaze of his fellow Guardians, and considered whether to tell them outright or say the rest of his thoughts first. But then, considering Bunny's likely reaction to the first option, he chose the latter.
Sandy began to mime, and North said each word as the Guardian of Dreams started by pointing at himself, then his eye, drew his symbol for 'Immortal', then pointed at himself again, then the side of his head, the symbol for 'future/become', and then an ornate 'G' that meant only one thing.
"I... saw... Immortal... I... think... become... Guardian." North gaped in surprise. "You've seen an immortal who you think will be a Guardian?" Sandy frowned, pointing at the side of his head, and then jabbing a finger towards the floor sharply. "You think they should be one right now?"
Sandy nodded emphatically, beginning to gesture rapidly both at them and at the moon until Tooth came over to calm him.
"Sandy, you obviously feel strongly about this, but we're not the ones who choose. If the Man in the Moon wants this person you saw, to be a Guardian, then he'll tell us."
Sandy hunched his shoulders, clearly unhappy with that prospect, and actually came close to pouting at her words. That was unusual in itself, because the Sandman rarely if ever sulked about something.
All three of his peers were now frowning, Bunny most of all.
"So who is this immortal, anyway? Maybe Manny just doesn't think it's time for them yet, but at least you can let us know who it is you think he'll pick someday."
Sandy looked at them, hesitating again, and then drew a life-sized figure beside him. The result was a synchronised gasp from his three peers, before Bunny exclaimed in shock.
"Jack Frost? Seriously, mate, you must have something loose in that noggin of yours!"
Sandy frowned, dismissing the image and replacing it with a scene. One of Jack sat on a log telling stories to a large group of children, who were listening avidly, before five Fearlings came up behind them. He showed the children recoiling in fear from the creatures, and Jack's reaction of throwing a snowball. He then showed Jack rallying the children in barraging the Fearlings with snow, chasing them away. Sandy then drew a new image, showing Jack being walked through by a child who couldn't see him. Jack then picked up a ball of snow, and took aim at a Fearling hidden in the shadows watching the child. The child's attention was drawn to the creature, who was hit again by another snowball, and the child began to laugh before starting up a barrage of their own. The Fearling fled.
It was now that Sandy began to mime once more, explaining that he'd been giving children dreams about Fearlings being chased away by throwing things like snowballs at them. He then drew his 'Fearlings plus new dream equals half as many Fearlings' message again.
Bunny, Tooth, and North all glanced at one another, before the Russian among them let out a long sigh.
"Sandy, I'm sorry to say this, but you best let this go. We see why you think he should be one of us, but is not possible. Jack Frost is Spirit of Winter; he belongs to Mother Nature, not Man in Moon. He can never be Guardian, even if you think he has what is needed to be one."
Bunny rolled his eyes.
"Not to mention that he may be nice and cheery now, but the other Spirits of the Seasons were pretty sociable too when they were his age. Give him another century or so, and he'll get bored of children and become a hermit like the rest of that lot."
Tooth nodded with a small wince.
"Bunny is right, Sandy. I don't like to admit it, since Jack has been so nice to my fairies, but being a Spirit of the Seasons is a lot of work. He wouldn't have time to be both that, and a Guardian, at once."
Sandy wanted to argue, since he knew from several conversations with Jack just how much free time the Nature Immortal actually had. But he could see that this was a losing battle, there would be no convincing these three of that which he was already certain. That was likely the reason the Man in the Moon had not forbidden him from telling them his belief, because Tsar Luna had known they would dismiss the prospect entirely.
Sandy spend the next hour of the meeting, sat in the corner nursing a large mug of eggnog and a pile of cookies. He barely listened when the usual argument about which was more important, Easter or Christmas, started up. It wasn't until a large cloud of tooth fairies came charging in through the open dome, that he even moved at all.
Tooth gasped when the fairies arrived, several had bits of ice clinging to feathers, and North called up to her where she hovered.
"What is it, Tooth?"
"A freak blizzard has struck the area around Moscow, right near the start of tooth-collection time." The fairies in front of her formed ranks, allowing her to count them swiftly. "Seven of the fairies I sent to that sector aren't here! What if they got caught in the storm? But Jack has always been so good about leaving gaps in the weather for my fairies! Why now?"
As Tooth began to fluster, Bunny scowled and glanced at Sandy.
"So what was that about Jack being nice to her fairies? This just proves that whatever you think about Jack, is wrong."
Sandy couldn't answer to that. All he could do was wonder why today, of all days, Jack hadn't followed his usual considerate routine.
If he had known, he'd have understood that Jack wasn't happy about the blizzard either.
Far off in Russia, the Spirit of Winter soared through the driving winds and snow, shaping and restraining as best he could the fury of the weather. The storm had been started by Mother Nature, but not out of spite. This blizzard was his fault, because he'd been so distracted with worry for the children of Burgess, that he'd failed to track the weather correctly in the far north. As a result an imbalance had formed, as a need for snow had built up, and Mother Nature had simply given the weather-system the 'tap' to release that build-up.
And unlike Jack, Mother Nature always acted as and when needed, regardless of the time of day in the regions involved. And so the storm had hit Moscow at the worst possible hour for certain tiny immortals that would be working there during that time.
It was about an hour into his frantic work, as he at last got the blizzard leashed into a more structured and measured output, that he was able to divert his attention to things the winds were trying to tell him. They'd found several small 'somethings' struggling to get through the weather, and with a sinking feeling Jack followed them to the first one.
It was one of Toothiana's fairies, and the little creature had been thoroughly smothered by the blasting snow and wind. And while the cold wouldn't kill the little creature, Jack knew she was suffering.
He picked her up and tucked her under his cloak, before following the winds to where a second stranded fairy was tucked into a corner trying to shelter from the blizzard. After putting her under his cloak on the other shoulder, and wincing as the winds told him of more fairies nearby, he knew he wouldn't be able to carry them all under his cloak. They'd fall out if it got too crowded, and besides that, he was cold-to-the-touch and they'd never get warm under there.
He quickly began to search the surrounding alleys, looking for something to use, and managed to find a discarded wicker basket with a damaged lid. A bit more searching found him an alley-corner where swirling winds had trapped leaves, which had then been covered with snow. The surface leaves of the pile might have been wet, but the ones beneath them were dry and there were enough to pad-out the inside of the basket.
He did so before transferring both fairies into their new shelter, and then took flight with the basket tucked under his arm. The winds guided him one-by-one to the other five fairies, the last of which he found still carrying a coin to be put under a child's pillow. That one was outside a window, weakly trying to get in despite the snow that had half-buried her.
Jack stilled the wind around the window, creating a space that the weather ceased to touch, and set the basket on the edge of the roof just above. He then picked up the fairy and took the coin off her before putting her, protesting vehemently, into the container and securing the lid. He then, tentatively, opened the window she'd been outside, and went in.
The room was small, and the child's bed easy to see despite the gloom. Jack silently walked over and slid his hand under the child's pillow, letting go of the coin after touching and grabbing the tooth that waited there. He then crept back outside, closed the window, and returned to the basket. Opening the lid to find the protesting fairy trying to get out, and startling her by pushing her back among the leaves with her fellows and handing her the tooth she'd been trying to collect.
He then smiled.
"I saw the signal a few hours ago. Is Toothiana at North's Workshop?"
One of the fairies nodded, and Jack sighed.
"Then I'll take you to her. She's probably worried about you."
After one last check with the winds, that there were no more storm-stranded fairies and that the blizzard would proceed and end with no further management on his part, Jack headed up above the clouds to fly to the workshop.
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Back in the workshop, Tooth was still frantic despite all Sandy's efforts to calm her down. Alternating between panicked whimpering and angry denunciations towards the Spirits of the Seasons, who may only cause truly devastating weather when Mother Nature called for it, but who also never seemed to have the courtesy to give a weather warning to the other Immortals.
She was actually contemplating going and looking for her fairies herself, when a loud knocking sounded from somewhere far below. Minutes later, a yeti arrived on the top floor with a battered-looking wicker basket which was covered with melting snow.
North frowned, heading over.
"What's this?" The yeti grumbled something, and the Russian regarded them in surprise. "You answer knock on main doors, and find this left outside? What's in it?"
He lifted the lid, which had become frozen shut because of the snow, and revealed the pile of leaves inside. But then a brightly-coloured feathered head poked up out of those leaves, followed by six more, and all seven fairies darted out of the basket and over to Tooth, squeaking in relief.
After checking each one over, overcome with equal relief, Tooth hugged them close.
"My missing fairies! How?" One of them tugged on her arm, and began to chatter rapidly to an increasingly surprised Tooth Fairy. "Jack Frost found the basket, found you all in the storm, and carried you here?"
North handed the basket back to the yeti, startled.
"He did?"
Another of the fairies began to chatter to Tooth, whatever she said unintelligible even to her mistress, and Tooth looked into her memory to see what had the little fairy so worked up she couldn't explain it clearly. She got an image of trying to get in through a shuttered window but being buried by the snow. Then one of a cold hand gently brushing the snow off her, picking her up, and then taking the coin she'd carried before trapping her in the basket. Then, a minute later, the cold hand pushed her back in with the other fairies when she'd tried to get out... and gave her the tooth she'd tried to collect.
Tooth looked to Sandy, utterly astonished.
"Jack Frost put her in the basket, and collected the tooth for her, before bringing them here."
Sandy just smiles to himself, satisfied as his expression said. 'No matter what you say about him, I told you Jack Frost was different. Special'.
Tooth read that look and sighed.
"So he's kind, and caring, likes to make children smile, and goes out-of-his-way to help my fairies. But it's still not up to us, and he belongs to Mother Nature. If helping children is what he wants, he's just going to have to make do with doing things on his own."
Sandy, after giving her a long look of his own, frowned and left while proverbial muttering to himself. He was the oldest of the Guardians, he knew when an Immortal has that special 'something', and he was extremely frustrated that the main answer he kept getting was 'He can't be a Guardian anyway, because he belongs to Mother Nature.'
He headed off to the Moscow area, to watch the blizzard until it began to die down and stop once dawn neared. And as he sat above the clouds that night, looking up at the moon, he tried again in asking his questions. But as with before, no answer came. There was nothing but silent moonlight shining down on him.
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Alaia Skyhawk: Well there you have it, a chapter almost entirely centred on Sandy. I hope you guys liked it :)