Alaia Skyhawk: Here's the next one!
And lol, there seems to be a bit of confusion over Mother Nature's "young Guardian" line from last chapter. The way she phrased it she was talking about Jack, but to Bunny and North it sounded like she was talking about North. Because North IS a young Guardian in comparison to Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy :)
Mother Nature was playing word-games heheheehe!
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 42: Carvings and Cookies
Stepping through the portal, from modest warmth into frigid chill, was a transition that to Jack was what walking into a cosy home from a cold night would be to a human. The cold air roused a sigh of contentment, as snow began to dust down within the sanctuary's cavern, but the reaction from North wasn't so pleased.
Used to the cold as his was, what with living near the North Pole and originating from Russia, that still didn't help him when he wasn't wearing his hat and only had a thin coat on. The sudden shift in temperatures made him visibly shudder in reaction, and Jack glanced at him apologetically.
"Sorry, I tend to just let this place stay the same temperature as outside. It never bothers Sandy." He frowned a little in concentration, which was followed by a noticeable increase in the air temperature around them, and then he smiled. "That better?"
North pulled his coat a little tighter around him, but nodded. The temperature was still sub-zero, but now it was only around minus two instead of minus twenty. Only now did he really take a look at his surrounding, and what he saw made him gasp in wonder.
"...Rimsky Korsakov... This is Winter Sanctuary?"
The Russian stared at the massive cavern, the fluted stalactites and stalagmites of ice, the sculpted snowflakes they held, and the Ice Palace that dominated one side of the central plaza. At this point Jack was glad he'd reworked the palace façade two decades back. It actually looked like a palace now, all ornate and intricate on the outside, instead of a structure made out of boxes of ice with doors and windows cut into them.
He smiled at North's reaction, and began to glide towards the palace entrance. Stopping far enough away that it was only by virtue of the walls and floor of the cavern holding a pale glow, that there was light enough for him to be seen.
"It is... The room with my carved sculptures is this way."
North began to follow him, still looking around in wonder, although he now looked a little puzzled.
"Is it always so gloomy in here?"
Jack let out a quiet snort of laughter.
"You live near the North Pole! Surely you know what Polar Night is?"
North blinked at him.
"Course I do! But it's summer, and Polar Night only happens during winter."
Jack raised an eyebrow.
"Um, it's Northern Summer right now, which means it's Southern Winter."
"This is South Pole?"
They were inside the palace now, where the glow from the floor was added to by little crystal globes sat in holders like tree-branches along the walls. Jack had landed, and was now walking as he answered.
"No, we're not at the pole, but this is Antarctica. The Winter Sanctuary sits within a glacier, a few hundred miles from the mountain range on the side nearest South America. Polar Night lasts four months here, we get two months of mixed dark and light, four months of Polar Day, then another two months of light/dark. I didn't pick the location, the sanctuary was already here before I was chosen, but I'm definitely glad it's not right at the Pole. A four-month Polar Night is bad enough, without having to deal with a longer one."
North now caught up, and fell into step alongside him.
"Agreed. My workshop is about same, four-month Polar Nights and Days."
Jack led North up the stairs at the rear of the entrance hall, and took him into the wing of the palace where his personal quarters were. Most of the doors in this section were open, since the Spirit of Winter didn't usually have visitors other than Sandy, and the sprites knew not to play around up here. As a result North couldn't help but glance through the door of the Hall of Memories as they passed it, and he paused in curiosity and surprise.
"There is sculptures in there, no? Why you pass it by?"
Jack jolted to a stop, and backtracked quickly to take hold of the door-handles and pull the panels of ice, closed.
"Those are ice-sculptures of what I consider to be my most treasured and important memories. They aren't there to be gawked at by someone I barely know." The hard edge to Jack's voice now faded, and he offered a faintly apologetic smile to the Russian. "No offence but, outside of your reputation and getting a brief look at you once a year when Cernunnos races you, I don't really know you. I have memories in there that are far too personal for anyone but my friends and family to see."
He set off down the hallway again, and North followed with a thoughtful expression.
"Sandy has seen them, yes?"
Jack stopped outside another set of doors, somewhat resigned to the questions. North barely knew him too, and he was understandably curious.
"He was the first friend I made after becoming immortal, and has trusted me enough to show me his dreamscape, so of course he's seen the sculptures in there." He gestured to the open doors. "But you aren't here to talk about my friendship with the Guardian of Dreams. You're here to see my carving-work."
At the slightly sly smile, and the obvious prompt to enter the room, North gave Jack a single long look before stepping forward and turning to pass through the doors... He then stopped in his tracks and stared wide-eyed at what was within.
The walls were covered with ice-shelving of all sizes, to fit the items placed upon them, and pedestals were scattered all about the huge chamber to display some of the more ornate sculptures. For indeed, there were thousands of them of all shapes and sizes and styles. From life-like to stylised, literal to symbolic, made of practically every fine-grained type of stone or gemstone that Jack had been able to get his hands on over the past thirty years.
North paused in front of the large pedestal just beyond the doors, which held white marble statuettes of each of the Lieutenants of Winter, and after looking at those his gaze was inexorably pulled away to look at figurines of animals and plants, and even a rather humorous statue of Bunny which had been carved out of grey jasper. It showed the Guardian of Hope sat in a sort of staring contest, with a little figure of Groundhog that had been made out of brown jasper.
North chuckled at that, then turned to face Jack.
"Why you never tell anyone about this? Your work is very beautiful!"
Jack shrugged, moving to and pausing beside a life-sized figurine of a tooth fairy, which he'd made out of Labradorite for the body, moonstone for the face, clear quartz for the wings, and little tiny pieces of amethyst for the eyes. It was so detailed, that at first glance one would think it was the real thing."
"I don't do it for recognition, it's just a hobby. Although I'll probably start trading some of the pieces via my sister's descendants in Burgess, once they find someone to offload them to discretely." He glanced at North, wryly. "Being immortal doesn't mean it's easy to get furniture and other things for my home. I've collected some basics, but there's other things that I can only get if I start trading in items other than second-hand books." He gestured at the room again, and smiled. "You can keep looking. I've no avalanche duties waiting right now, so there's no real rush."
North didn't need telling twice, and he began to browse among the pieces almost like a child in a sweetshop. Jack slipped out as soon as he knew the Russian was too distracted to notice, retreating to the palace's kitchen after leaving a sprite to guide North to him once the Guardian had finished looking.
And that was going to take a a fair bit of time, for while North didn't inspect every figurine and statue, he mulled over enough of them for long enough that it was several hours before he reached the point in the chamber where the shelves and pedestals didn't hold anything.
It was back there, on a pedestal with a golden rim, that he came across what was clearly one of Jack's most recent works...
It was a statue of Sandy, made at half-scale, and predominantly out of a rich golden-coloured sandstone which had a natural hint of glitter to it that resembled dreamsand. The face and hands were golden-cream marble, and the eyes were white marble set with citrine and jet. The figure was smiling, sat atop a 'cloud' of more carved sandstone, and there was a hint of mischief in the expression. That in itself told North that Sandy had likely come by and posed for this 'portrait', rather than it being made from memory.
North stepped back from that pedestal, turning to gaze back along the length of the room and past the figurines and sculptures that filled it. The variety of subjects showed that Jack had an intense interest in the rest of the world and all that was in it which, compared to the rest of the Spirits of the Seasons, was a remarkable thing for him to still have after the better part of two centuries in his role. He was also showing no signs that he was going to lose interest any time soon, if at all. Those things, and his clearly strong friendship with Sandy, brought to mind a rather unexpected thought for the Russian.
It really was a shame that Jack couldn't be a Guardian... That in turn led to another thought. Had Sandy ever told Jack, that he had gone before the rest of the Guardians and pointedly argued that Jack should be one as well?
North mused over that, as he headed for the doors and then followed the eager little sprite that was waiting for him there. The fluffy thing reminded him greatly of his elves, small enough to always be under-foot, and it had the same sort of child-like grin. The way they also seemed to run about everywhere, also spoke of the fact Jack allowed them to do so.
The Spring, Summer, and Autumn Sprites adored their masters, but it was also a well-known fact that they were forbidden from entering the personal residences of those immortals. No getting under-foot, no noise close by, and certainly no sprites playing 'tag' through the middle of the personal space of their masters.
North watched the group of five Winter Sprites, which had just tore past him in the entrance hall of the Ice Palace, with that thought in mind. Jack, unlike his peers, seemed to like their antics. The Russian smiled at that, when his guide paused in clear temptation to join that game, but the little creature obediently turned to him and chittered what sounded like a request to 'hurry up'.
He followed the sprite through a passage the opposite side of the entrance hall, turning the corner at the end before stepping through another set of ice-doors into what was obviously a kitchen.
Jack was sat at the table, his staff hanging on a nearby hook to keep it out of the way, and he was reading a book. There was also a homely and sweet smell in the air, the reason for which was revealed when Jack noticed him and set aside the book.
"Finished looking already?" He grinned, and headed over to the large brick-built oven and hotplate that had replaced the old stone charcoal-brazier that had once been in here. He opened the lower compartment of the range, which he used to keep things warm without drying them out or burning them, and brought out a tray. "I have fresh cookies. Sandy said you like them."
North stared at him in utter surprise, before he blinked several times and at last recovered enough to speak.
"The Spirit of Winter made cookies?"
Jack looked down at the tray of biscuits.
"Well, not exactly. The dough is pre-made, and I store it in my freezer-storage along with my blocks of milk." He pointed to the remains of a plain-paper wrapper on the counter near the oven. "It's in rolls wrapped with paper. The first time he offered them to me as trade for books, Ombric told me that one day a human will get the 'bright idea' of selling pre-made cookie-dough in packets. A bit like hot chocolate the first time he showed me that, back when cocoa was being drunk only in very bitter mixes by humans. They'll catch on eventually."
North moved slowly over to the table, once again startled as he then picked out one of the larger wooden chairs and sat down.
"You know Ombric?"
Jack had now gone to his storage-box, and lifted out two blocks of milk before answering.
"Of course I do." He lifted up the milk in query. "Hot chocolate?" When North didn't answer, Jack shrugged and set both blocks into the pan on the hotplate, silently commanding both to turn from ice to liquid so they could heat. He then started to prepare two mugs with cocoa and sugar. "I've been a regular visitor to Santoff Claussen ever since my first rather embarrassing introduction to it... There was snow built-up on the mountain above it, that the winds failed to notice until it was dangerous. I thought I'd got the avalanche perfect, but turned out I'd only taken the top layer off. The rest came down with little but me between it and the village. I managed to stop it before it reached the village proper, but it was definitely not one of my best moments."
Cups prepared, Jack faced North and leaned against the counter. "Ombric was a good sport about it though, considering I was still pretty new to being the Spirit of Winter. He and the villagers even made me this cloak, since my old one got a chunk ripped out of it when that avalanche slammed me into several trees in the forest around the village. All of the wooden furniture I have, the bricks and stuff I used to make the oven, the cookie-dough, cocoa, and sugar I all get from him."
North, his hand absently reaching for a cookie from the tray even in his stunned state, regarded Jack thoughtfully.
"So you trade him books for those? Where you get books?"
Jack came over, picking up the one he'd been reading and pointing to the obvious watermarks on the cover.
"The Winter Sprites find books that humans have left outside, which would soon be ruined by wet and weather, and they bring them to me so they don't go to waste. I put one of each into my library, and trade the duplicates to Ombric. He keeps the ones he doesn't have, and the rest he sends to an acquaintance, to be given to people in need of a bit of inspiration or even just a good book to lift their spirits." He tilted his head, his expression wry. "Athena likes my sculptures too. I offered to do one of her, but she prefers the ones the Greeks did even if they don't come close to showing what she really looks like."
North almost dropped his half-eaten cookie.
"You know Legend Immortal Athena? Greek 'Goddess' of Wisdom, War, and Patron of Artisans?"
Jack glanced over his shoulder at him, before resuming checking the heating milk.
"Is that really so surprising? I mean, I know from Sandy that I've been on your Naughty List roughly three years out of every five, but that doesn't mean you know me. If you've never known me outside of my duties, or hearing about the pranks I do to make the children of Burgess laugh and smile, then should you be surprised to learn that I'm friends with the last wizard from Atlantis, I enjoy reading, and that I'm on friendly speaking terms with one of the last remaining Greek Legends?"
He began to pour the milk into the two mugs, while North quietly and thoughtfully ate the other half of his cookie. The Russian then tapped his fingers on the table, watching Jack until the Spirit of Winter came over with the two cups of hot chocolate and sat down.
After accepting the one that was offered to him, North then regarded him with a hint of bemusement.
"I think you're right, I do not know you well and so should not be surprised... But, you have to admit, after you freeze Bunny's ears every Easter for almost forty years, you give people wrong impression."
Jack winced at that, running a hand through his hair in embarrassment.
"Sandy reamed me over that, when he first found out what I'd been doing. Got hold of me with one of his whips, threw me flat on the floor here in my own sanctuary, and then lectured me for five full minutes. But even he couldn't get Bunny to apologise, after those first eleven years, so I kept doing it for another twenty-seven until I decided to call a truce." He grimaced, a hint of guilt in his expression. "It was only meant as a prank, to show him I was still waiting for an apology, but then I saw how miserable he was each Easter as he waited all nervous for me to make my move. It's his one big day a year, and I was ruining it for him, so I stopped. Of course, he still can't stand the sight of me these days, and I don't blame him even if his attitude always seems to bring out the worst in me."
Jack gulped a mouthful of his cooled hot chocolate, and North let out a small snort of laughter.
"If it any consolation, you also bring out worse in Bunny. He always been very serious fellow, so your smart remarks rub him wrong way. He used to be same way with me, before he loosen up a little, but we still argue now and then."
Jack lowered his cup and stared at him in disbelief.
"Are you saying he used to be even stiffer than he is now? Remind me to be grateful I never met him back then."
North shrugged.
"Actually you would probably have liked him. He was more formal back then, just as pushy, but less cutting remarks. Used to tell me off for calling him 'Bunny Man', but eventually gave up and said could call him Bunny. Is how he got his nickname among Guardians. But when he stopped being so formal, he start speaking his mind more bluntly, which annoys many immortals who speak with him. But that his problem, not mine."
Jack rattled his fingers thoughtfully on the outside of his mug, and eventually sighed.
"Well, I guess I can keep it in mind that when he stopped being formal when he speaks, tact got thrown out the window. It'll make it easier to keep my promise to Sandy."
"One about not picking fights with any of the Guardians?"
At North's question, Jack regarded him blandly.
"Yes, that one. Out of all the people I know, he's the one I respect more than any other. He has no stuck-up expectations of me, and has never tried to tell me how I should and shouldn't act as the Spirit of Winter. Not once has he treated me in any other way than to let me be myself, and he was the first to ever do that for me after I was reborn."
Silence fell between them as Jack snatched up a cookie and frowned as he took a bite from it. Meanwhile, North watched him, as the Russian 'read between the lines' of that statement.
"But he does have some expectations of you, hmmm?" There was a flicker in Jack's expression at that, one of his fingers subconsciously tracing what looked like a 'G' on the surface of the table, and North came to a startled suspicion. "...Has Sandy ever talked to you about what it means to become a Guardian?"
If Jack actually had a requirement to breathe so as not to suffocate, he'd have choked on his cookie at that question. Instead he just went rigid, breathe held, before he finished chewing his mouthful and swallowed it. Mother Nature's word-games back in the Sanctuary of Nature had been bad enough, but now North was asking questions like that?
Jack glanced at him, frowning, but knew there was no real way to avoid answering unless he wanted it to look like he did have something to hide. So instead he plastered on a wry grin, determined to make the Russian wince.
"You mean did he tell me about the time in 1812 when, at the annual meeting of the Guardians, he told you all that he thought I should be a Guardian too? The same meeting where you, Toothiana, and Bunnymund all waved off his opinion because I 'belong to Mother Nature'?" North did wince, considerably, and Jack rolled his eyes. "Get your facts straight before you start spouting opinions. I work for Mother Nature, that doesn't mean she owns me. She and the Man in the Moon work together, and if he ever sees a Nature Immortal that he wants as a Guardian, I know for a fact she'd have no issues with him recruiting them. So long as they keep up with their original duties as well as their new ones."
He took another mouthful of his drink, waiting for North to respond to that, and after several moments he did so while wearing a small frown.
"Is that to say that, if Manny ever asked you to be a Guardian, you would say yes? But you are Spirit of Winter, surely you'd be too busy."
Jack snorted at that.
"Busy?" He laughed. "I personally work on only a tiny percentage of the weather, deal with maybe a couple of hundred avalanches, and do about sixteen weeks of winter shepherding duties each year... and even those only take up four-to-six hours each day during those weeks, at the most. My main problem isn't my workload, it's my lack of it. I spend more than half of every year finding ways to deal with sheer boredom! The idea that the Spirits of the Seasons are worked to the wick all year, every year, is crazy!"
North picked up another cookie, and for the first time despite all their previous passing encounters, really looked at him as a person. What he saw was an immortal who was frustrated with his current situation, and who wanted to do more for the world. A world where all around him, other immortals kept telling him what he should and should not want to be. Part of Jack fit with being the Spirit of Winter, and fit well, but the other half 'stuck out' like a sore thumb now that he looked for it.
Was this what Sandy saw in him?
North ate the cookie, thinking, before speaking quietly.
"So, if Manny asked you, you would say yes?"
Jack fiddled with his now empty cup, running a finger around the rim. His expression was almost bleak.
"Why would I say no to doing for all the world's children, what I already do for the children in Burgess? Why would I say no to bringing joy and laughter to them? Why would I say no to making them smile?" He sighed. "But I'll wait, however long I have to wait, for him to ask me to come forward. Sandy thinks he will, and I believe in Sandy. So I'll just have to be patient."
There was something almost heartbreaking in the way Jack said that, something that roused a sense of injustice in North... When one took the time to really look at Jack, when he was being open and honest and not wearing smiles and mischief like a cloak, he radiated with the desire and urge to protect and nurture children. So strong was that presence, now he was aware of it, it made North's heart ache.
And Sandy had seen this in Jack almost nine decades ago, something that everyone else had refused to see. The Guardian of Dreams had then chosen to nurture that side of Jack, to make sure it didn't wither away beneath the pressures of others' expectations of the Spirit of Winter, in the belief that one day Manny would choose him. It might have seemed cruel to give Jack such hope for something that may not be, but Sandy was the oldest Guardian other than Tsar Luna himself. He would not have done so, if he wasn't certain that such a day would come.
North mulled over that, and the wonder he felt in knowing that almost certainly he was sat here now with a future Guardian. He then reached across the table, and placed one large hand over Jack's slender ones. Something that caused the Spirit of Winter to look at him in surprise as North spoke.
"You are good person, Jack, very good. I didn't think Sandy was right, when he told us about you back then, but now I see that he was." He patted Jack's hands. "When day comes that Manny choose you, I make sure we have big party to celebrate! Something for you to look forward to, eh?"
Jack's expression broke out into a smile of joy.
"I... Thanks, and I will!"
North chuckled.
"I also make you a deal... You keep up truce with Bunny, and I will change magic of my Lists. Make so that any snow-pranks you do, that make others laugh and smile, count as part of your duties and not as bad deeds anymore." He held up a finger. "But pranks done to mortals just to amuse yourself, will still put you on Naughty List. Ok?"
Jack's smile became a grin, and he chuckled as well.
"Got it!"
He might not have been able to tell North that he was already a Guardian, but just knowing that the Russian believed he could be one was enough to fill Jack will happiness. To know that another besides Sandy, would welcome him when the day came. Not even knowing that the day would not come until Pitch made his move, meaning it would come at a time when the Guardians would have to fight and have no time for celebrations, could put a damper on that.
But nor was that knowledge going to put a damper on Jack's games with Phil. But hey, if he could get Phil to laugh during them after North changed the spell, then maybe they wouldn't get him put on the Naughty List.
Jack's smile took on a tiny hint of mischief... It was something to try out the next time he paid the Workshop a visit. Not that he was going to tell North about any of that. Not yet.
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Alaia Skyhawk: Hehehe, I loved doing this chapter. As for where this conversation came from. After spending some time thinking about it, North was definitely the most exuberant in his welcoming of Jack. Tooth was friendly, but it was North who made the effort to get to know Jack after the argument with Bunny. That got me thinking that it was about time at least one of the Guardians other than Sandy, realised and accepted that the possibility was there for Jack to be a Guardian too. And that not just was it possible, but he would great at the job.
But that doesn't mean Jack won't be getting on the Naughty List anymore, just that it will happen far less often. He already holds the record, lol :D