Alaia Skyhawk: lol, some people have the funniest timing sometimes with questions in reviews... Phil will be in this chapter. For reasons of another question that popped up about him a while back, that I decided was something about him I could slip in and make that reviewer (And probably all the others lol) smile :P
Also while reading this, I recommend you pull up the YouTube vid of a particular piano/cello cover of "Begin Again" done by The Piano Guys. It totally sets the tone for this chapter :)
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.
~(-)~
Chapter 91: Of Stories and Wishes
The lunar railway set into motion, the cradle holding the Starlit Tide moving off along the track back to the docking passage it had arrived through. Inside the craft, Bunny of course was at the helm, Jack was ensconced in the single passenger seat... And Tsar Lunar stood calmly at the Pooka's shoulder observing the view out the front windows.
Jack looked a bit uncertain about that, about the Man in the Moon not being secured in a seat after Bunny had previously warned against being loose in the cabin.
"Um, are you sure you don't want my seat?"
The Tsar glanced at him in amusement, even as Bunny also laughed.
"Jack, think about who you're talking to. As a Constellation, Tsar Lunar can draw power from any part of the Ether that he wants to, and his Power of Belief is unmatched by anything you've ever seen done before. Us two need the inertial dampening of these chairs, but he can do the same for himself without any outside help at all."
Jack had the grace to look suitably impressed, and also just a touch embarrassed at the obvious answer.
"I guess it has its perks to be so powerful."
The Tsar directed a raised eyebrow at Jack, keeping his hands tucked neatly behind his back as he stood there smartly in his suit, shirt, and grey coat-tails.
"Do not mistake ability for power, not when you can do far more at once that I could ever do. That I can comprehend the entire Ether, call on any part of it, is not to say I can draw from all of it at once, or even as much of it as you do when shaping the weather. Part of the purpose of creating immortals, is to overcome the limitations that those such as I am subject to."
Bunny nodded, the ship now arriving at the docking tunnel and being released from the cradle as he remarked to Jack.
"I've seen you fall over a thousand feet and slam into the ground at high speed, get up, and then walk away with nothing more than bruises. Immortals can heal from injuries, and withstand forces, that would kill any other living thing bigger than a microbe. If Tsar Lunar tried the same, even with his Belief to cushion his fall, he'd end up flat as a pancake on the ground. Immortals are invisible to those who don't believe, because when we're made the Constellation that made us pushes us slightly into the Ether. That's why we're so resilient, and why a person needs belief in us to perceive us. We sort of exist on two different dimensional planes at once. That's why people that are dead, can be brought back as an immortal so long as it's within twenty-four hours and their body isn't too damaged. It's why we don't need to breathe, don't have to eat or drink, and don't have to worry about what would usually come out the other end. The Ether sustains us, and causes anything we consume to turn into energy."
Jack was staring, just the slightest bit baffled, and Tsar Lunar smiled at his reaction.
"I am a self-sustained immortal, Jack, meaning that I eat, drink, sleep, and do everything else that a normal mortal needs to do. The only physical difference is that I will not grow old unless I allow myself to. That Constellations still have mortal bodies, is the very source of our limitations. I cannot use the entire Ether all at once, only draw on parts of it, and yet I can still enable others to use parts of it themselves. Learning to access anything more than a tiny fragment of the Ether, which would be the mark of a wizard, takes an incredibly rare talent for Belief."
He raised a finger as he made his point. "But creating immortals by phasing suitable individuals into the Ether, attuning them to certain frequencies, bypasses the need for them to learn how to do it at all. Otherwise Shepherds of Nature such as you, would be rare to the point of being almost unheard of. Those who can create gateways that bridge distances to the span of a single step, would be impossible. Many of the abilities that immortals take for granted, would simply not exist. A Constellation's greatest strength is not the power they themselves can use, but rather the power they can give to others. Ours is Belief that can span the distances between the stars, and bring worlds together in friendship."
The Starlit Tide was now out of the docking tunnel, and turning towards the Earth. Tsar Lunar's gaze drifting to that view even as Jack himself glanced at it. The explanation made sense, or at least as much intellectual sense as it should to someone without the detailed knowledge that the Man in the Moon and Bunny both had on the subject. But in the sense of feelings, a sense in the heart, it explained everything. And it also highlighted the tremendously selfless nature that all the Constellations, past and present, would have. That they would always consider the welfare of others, before themselves.
As if watching over the Earth, in almost total isolation for over fifteen thousand years, wasn't proof of that. Tsar Lunar had dedicated himself to that task, and stuck with it. Nothing else had mattered to him other than ensuring the containment of the Fearlings and Pitch. Nothing except to also hope of finding a way to end the threat of them forever. With the help of the Guardians, he'd succeeded at both.
Jack watched him as they got closer and closer to the Earth, every little change of his expression as they went on to enter the atmosphere and then land in the clearing in the middle of Santoff Claussen. Tsar Lunar was almost transfixed by the sights, so much so that when Bunny got up to open the hatch the Constellation didn't move.
Outside, everyone in the village rushed to gather near the ship. The Guardians, Ombric, Katherine, and Nightlight at the front, Jamie and Allienne beside them. When Bunny came out and walked over to them, a chorus of questions about Jack were immediately shouted out.
Bunny put a finger to his lips, gesturing for them to quiet down.
"Settle down, Jack's just fine. Now stop making a racket or you'll spoil the moment."
Everyone looked puzzled, but North was frowning the most.
"What moment? Jack's?"
Bunny started to smile and turned to look towards the ship. In time to see the Spirit of Winter glide out and hover next to the door, to assist he who came into view next... Tsar Lunar.
"Nope. His... The first time he's set foot anywhere other than the Moon Clipper, since he was just six years old. The first time he's stood on grass, looked up at a sky and clouds, in over fifteen thousand years."
Jack carefully lifted him to the ground, grinning at the Constellation's expression. The Tsar was looking around at everything his eyes could possibly see, tears of joy glittering in his eyes and childlike wonder in his smile. These were all things he'd gazed upon using his telescopes, but to be actually here had seemingly overwhelmed him with emotion. And then, after a few moments more, at last he looked to his Guardians and sighed.
"I have waited so very long for this."
As if his words had broken the bindings that had held everyone in place, Tooth darted over to hug him in joy and welcome. The village children were second to react, clustering around Tsar Lunar and chattering question upon question about who he was and where he was from.
Jack drifted over to Bunny, wearing a semi-silly smile as the two of them watched everyone else gather around the Man in the Moon who had at last left the moon. He then chuckled, deciding inwardly that he wasn't going to tell the Pooka or anyone else about just how big the paradox really was. Given how 'Stiff and Formal Bunnymund' had reacted to the idea of a broken paradox, believing it would 'erase the universe'... Making him freak out about how for four-hundred and forty-so years they'd lived on the knife-edge of being erased from time? Nah, Jack knew he was better off just leaving that knowledge between himself, Tsar Lunar, and Father Time.
By now Bunny was hunkered down on his heels, watching the scene with a sappy happy expression on his face. Seeing this had distracted him and pushed aside his guilt about what he'd said in the past, and Jack wanted to keep it that way. Thus without further ado, he flew several feet up and shouted.
"So are you going to throw him a welcome party or not? I'm itching to start the fun!"
Every adult burst out laughing at that, the children cheering as they and the rest of the village resident bustled into activity. Locating chairs and trestle tables, manning kitchens to make all manner of delicious foods. Nightlight dashed about the buildings and trees to hang up bunting, and when everything was ready Katherine set up a chair outside Big Root and waved Mr Qwerty to come land on her lap.
Her glance and smile at Jack make clear what story she was about to tell, as she opened Mr Qwerty's pages and began to read the story of the Battle of the Moon. A tale she had set about re-writing the very moment her memories of the truth came back.
Everyone listened intently; gasping, laughing, cheering as the story unfolded. When it reached the point where the Fearlings on the moon had shrieked and vanished through the shadows, Tsar Lunar stepped up beside Katherine's chair. To tell his part of the tale about the audacious plan Jack had come up with to trick the Nightmare King. Sending Pitch into hiding and winning the Battle of the Moon.
During that part, Jack got up behind the two storytellers and began a deliberately over-exaggerated and comedic act of how he'd pretended to be evil. Although obviously no reference was made of the 'death threats' and a few other not child-friendly things. As a result the story had the village children in fits of giggles when they cheered at the ending, the best way to finish a story that mentioned Fearlings. If you could laugh at something, you'd never be scared of it.
The party began in earnest after that, with Jack shrugging off questions from his fellow Guardians with 'you were there' or 'you just heard it all in Katherine's story'. The Guardian of Fun then spent a great deal of the remaining daylight playing games with the children, making up for the isolation he'd gone through while in the past. And then, as the party wound down and yawning children were led off to bed by their parents, Jack quietly slipped away. Off to the Sanctuary of Nature, to Kosmotis and Emily Jane's cottage, where both of them waited for him. To sit down together as promised, drink tea, and contemplate how far all three of them had come.
~(-)~
The months passed by with a mixture of normal routine and occasional meetings with mortals. All too soon October twenty-first had rolled around, the day before Jamie's twentieth birthday, and it seemed like barely yesterday that Jack had been and returned from the past.
The Southern Winter would probably have been a bit boring, if three different big spates of 'sighting' hadn't broken out in various places. The media local to those areas had gone wild over it, although it had calmed down pretty quickly when no concrete evidence had shown up beyond the sightings themselves. The immortals involved had likely taken cover in shock, and be reluctant to move around in daytime for a while.
Jack smiled to himself at the thought of it, as he sat in the Hall of Mirrors entering the daily weather report into his tablet computer. He figured that by next Northern Summer, the 'cat' may just be out of the bag. Six or seven months before things got really interesting.
Weather report done, Jack proceeded on with the frostdust distribution. He got about ten minutes through the fifteen minutes it took to do, before a Winter Sprite came sprinting into the room and bouncing up and down waving its arms. It continued to do so though the whole of the remaining five minutes, until Jack finished up with a sigh and flew down.
It dashed away chattering before he could ask anything, pausing only so long to see that he was following before sprinting off towards the palace entrance and out to the plaza. It was there that Jack found a visitor waiting. A figure wrapped up thickly against the cold, stood petting one of the oversized reindeer whose breed North used for his sleigh.
The figure turned when they heard the sprite, revealing a grinning face as the young man pushed back his hood. It was Jamie.
"Hi, Uncle Jack."
Jack stared at him in surprise, pointing.
"How did you get here?"
Jamie shrugged, giving his reindeer another pat.
"Got some tips off North, and learnt to use his spell for making reindeer fly really fast. I rode here from Santoff Claussen."
The Spirit of Winter was gaping.
"You rode here? All that way? I don't care how fast that spell makes reindeer, it must still have taken about three days to get here! Are you crazy? Where did you camp? Why didn't you just go to the Workshop? It's way closer to the village, and you could have used the mirror I set up there."
Jack was babbling, enough to make Jamie chuckle and regard him slyly.
"You and I both know, that if I'd gone there first I'd have taken just as long to get here. I'd have been snowed under by offers of cookies and fruitcake, and then North would have collared me and spent several hours asking me how my wizard studies are going. If that had happened, and I let slip that Tsar Lunar has been teaching Ombric and me about Etheric Theory, that would have been another several hours." Jamie smirked and winked. "Which is why I actually rode the two-hour route to the Dreamsand Isle, used the mirror there that connects to here, and then came out here to the plaza make it look like I'd flown the whole way. Fourteen hours from Santoff Claussen to Burgess, via Japan and Alaska, is bad enough. Did you really think I'd ride all the way to Antarctica?"
As his nephew began to laugh at his successful prank, Jack retaliated by giving Jamie a snow-nuggie. The young man protesting even as he continued to laugh. As soon as that was over, and one of the selkie Lieutenants had taken charge of the reindeer, Jack and Jamie headed into the palace. The former leading the way to the new lounge he'd set up in one of the spare rooms off the entrance hall.
The kitchen had been taken over by one of the new yeti Lieutenants, whose name had been shortened to Dina since her full name, like those of all yetis, was a mouthful to say. She'd nabbed a sprite to keep watch for her, the one that had gone into the Hall of Mirrors to get Jack, and the little creature delighted in helping her seemingly appear from nowhere with perfect timing. Carrying a tray of food, drinks, or both... Which is what she did within a minute of Jack and Jamie sitting down in the lounge.
Once Dina had left the tray, which held two cups of hot chocolate and two pieces of Yuki's speciality ice-cream cake, Jamie gave his uncle an amused glance.
"Since when did you have a cook?"
Jack rolled his eyes at the remark, but wasn't annoyed.
"Since I recruited three Winter Nature Immortals who are yetis. All three have pegged themselves as helping keep things balanced here in Antarctica and over in Patagonia, South America. They don't leave here much, and have basically become my housekeepers." He snorted. "Which given the overall mess the rest of my Lieutenants seem to be able to make whenever they're here during off-seasons, I needed some. I went from having the least Lieutenants out of all the Spirits of the Seasons, to having twice as many as the other three put together. Just as well most of mine are animals who have no interest in people or believers. Otherwise Ariko would be in even more of a snit than she was after she remembered how I played her for an idiot back in the past."
Jamie raised his eyebrows.
"Her and the others gone on a recruiting spree?"
Jack picked up his mug of hot chocolate, nodding over the rim.
"Ariko has picked up about fifty, Achieng has picked up about thirty, and Oisin has only recruited eighteen. I know his exact number, because I spoke to him the other day. Apparently Ariko's excuse is that, if we're going to fix Global Warming and keep it fixed, we should all have larger teams of Lieutenants to call on than we would just for our regular stuff."
Jamie chuckled as he picked up his own drink.
"Starting to regret recruiting all the new Winter Nature Immortals that Mother Nature made?"
Jack shrugged, although he was frowning a little.
"It's manageable for now, and since animals at this stage of sentience don't have egos, if it turns out I have too many I can always cancel the arrangement with a few of them. Most of them would barely notice they're not Lieutenants anymore. I'm not saying this to insult the critters, but Mother Nature didn't invest much in the smarts department with the majority of them. There's only three or four who look like they could get up to Zuě Hu's or Cernunnos' level, and about ten others that could probably match Dig. Of course I won't be 'letting go' any of the yetis, selkies, or humans. They're way more adaptable and helpful than the animals."
Jamie sipped from his drink, before casually running a finger round the rim.
"I know another yeti that wants to be an immortal and work for you."
Jack went still, staring in surprise.
"Who?"
"Phil."
Jack gapped, almost dropping his drink.
"Wait, what? Phil?"
Jamie sighed, suddenly sombre.
"You've not noticed, have you? Yeti's live for about four hundred years, and Phil wasn't exactly young when you first started breaking into the Workshop and testing your wits against him. He might not look it, but Phil is getting on in years and starting to worry who will help you make stories for the kids once he's gone. A couple of yetis I'm friends with at the Workshop, have seen him moping and muttering to himself about it. Especially during the the run-up to Christmas."
Jack put down his drink and slumped back into his seat, stunned.
"He wants to be an immortal, and keep making stories for the kids? But he works for North!"
Jamie gave his uncle a long look.
"I seem to remember hearing stories that North, Tooth, and Bunny used to say you couldn't be a Guardian because you worked for Mother Nature."
That made Jack pause for almost a full minute, the Spirit of Winter finishing off his drink in silence before picking up his plate of cake and a fork.
After eating a mouthful of it, he glanced at his nephew.
"Let's go have a chat with North after this, and go see Tsar Lunar as well after that."
~(-)~
It was late afternoon in Santoff Claussen when four figures came through the mirror connecting to the Workshop. North, Jack, Jamie, and Jamie's reindeer which he nudged to send it off to find the rest of its herd. The two immortals and the young wizard then strolled towards Big Root, arriving at it to find as expected, Tsar Lunar sat inside talking and drinking tea with Ombric.
The door now open, Jack leaned against door-frame and smiled.
"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to seeing you down here, Tsar Lunar."
Tsar Lunar set down his cup, raising his eyebrows at the Guardian.
"And I do believe I have asked you to call me 'Manny' or 'MiM', during my visits when I'm not here to work."
Jack and the others came in and closed the door, sitting down on the chairs that grew from the floor for them.
"But this is sort of to do with your 'work'." He glanced at the others, then back at Tsar Lunar. "I need to ask. Did the Constellations ever turn people into immortals who asked to become one? Or do you have to be the ones to ask?"
Tsar Lunar looked thoughtful, mulling it over before he smiled.
"Were Aster here he could have answered this, although I am happy to do so myself. Here on Earth, it has always been that most immortals were chosen at the point of death. This being due to myself and immortals being known only to a few. Most volunteers, those asked while alive, were either members of a Tribe or Myth or friends with one. During the Golden Age, everything was the opposite. Very few were chosen at death, and the vast majority were approached while alive."
Jack sighed, a little disappointed.
"So does that mean you won't accept people who ask?"
Tsar Lunar's smile widened.
"Not at all. It all depends on why they are asking. If it is to fill a true need, which the basis of deciding to create any new immortal, then I will be happy to. After all, it would be they who are offering to dedicate the rest of their life to a task." He clasped his hands on the table. "Now, who is it you are here to speak of?"
Jamie cut in, not giving Jack or North the chance to speak first.
"It's one of the yetis that work for North, a member of the Workshop cleaning staff; Phil. He and Jack have had a sort of game going for almost a hundred and fifty years. Where Jack tries to sneak into the toy-making part of the Workshop, and Phil has to catch him and throw him out."
Tsar Lunar nodded in understanding, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
"Ah yes, I've watched Jack tell some of those stories. Eminently enjoyable, and very inspiring for the imaginations of the children."
North spoke now, his fingers tapping on the table.
"Phil has worked for me for long time, and he is getting old. Few more years and it will be time for him to retire and go back to Himalayas." He glanced at Jamie. "I have spoken to Jamie's yeti friends at Workshop, and they confirm that Phil has been moping and worried about who will help Jack continue 'Sneaking into Santa's Workshop' game to make stories for the children. Phil is already a 'legend' among them, so it would not be big leap for him to become a proper Legend and work for Jack."
Jack now interceded wryly.
"Although he'd have to keep working at the Workshop, or he wouldn't be there for the game. But he could be my appointed representative there, and be the messenger who comes through the mirror to my Sanctuary when it's time for meetings. I think he'd like that."
There was a long pause, before North asked softly.
"Manny, will you do it for him?"
"But could we make it a surprise?" Once again Jamie had butted in, grinning with enthusiasm. "If you make his Range of Belief overlap Burgess, he'll have a town's worth of kids as believers right away. I want to see how long it takes him to notice he's become a Legend Immortal."
There was another pause as Jack gave his nephew a long look. He didn't sound sure.
"I'll admit that would be fun, but-"
"I see no problem with that." When North, Jack, and Ombric all stared in surprise, Manny laughed. "I can only turn someone into an immortal, if they are deceased and unable to object, or if they are alive and willing to let me use my power on them. That is why Jack had to trick Pitch into cooperating. If Phil truly wants to be a Legend Immortal, to work with Jack for the joy of children, then I will be able to change him without the need to ask. The permission for it will be there, in his heart and wishes."
Everyone glanced at one another, Jack saying what they all thought.
"So... When and how to we do it, so he's least likely to notice?"
~(-)~
Alaia Skyhawk: Yep, someone asked it. Would Phil ever become one of Jack's Lieutenants. Since there's no real reason why not, I'm putting it in :)