Maria
How do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Maria?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!
Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her
Many a thing she ought to understand
But how do you make her stay
And listen to all you say
How do you keep a wave upon the sand
When I'm with her I'm confused
Out of focus and bemused
And I never know exactly where I am
Unpredictable as weather
She's as flighty as a feather
She's a darling! She's a demon! She's a lamb!
She'd outpester any pest
Drive a hornet from its nest
She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl
She is gentle! She is wild!
She's a riddle! She's a child!
She's a headache! She's an angel!
She's a girl!
- Maria, Sound of Music, watch?v=OKZF0oG1E14
North paced the length of the study where they'd dragged him from his workshop, stroking his beard and keeping silent as Bunny and Jack (mostly Bunny) filled him in.
"So then Jack – the show pony – decided to give me a heart attack and just walk out there and let 'em think they caught him," Bunny complained. North bit back laughter at the unrepentant grin on Jack's face as Bunny glared at him. Bunny groaned.
"Don't encourage 'im, North. Yer just as bad as he is."
Jack grinned wider and North couldn't hold back the laughter. Bunny groaned again, rolling his eyes. "Right, show pony decides to scare the hraka out of me and it's a giant joke to both of you. You were acting like they had you, ya drongo, so excuse me for worrin' over a teammate!"
Jack ducked his head repentantly, giving Bunny an apologetic look from under his bangs. "That look might work on Toothie but not on me, Frostbite. Still irritated. You're just lucky it worked."
North waved it off, still chuckling, though the close call they'd had sobered him quickly. Bunny rolled his eyes but kept talking, laying out the rest.
Bunny wrapped up the story, settling back into the crouch that looked so uncomfortable to a human. "We need ta tell the others, so they'll know what ta look for, but it's not aurora level urgent...probably," he said.
"You think they might try again, since they didn't get the kids or the spirit?" Jack asked, hopping up to sit on the corner of the huge desk in front of the window, legs dangling. Bunny shrugged.
"They were fae. Seelie or Unseelie, I don't know, but it don't really matter. Ya can't tell what they'll do, no matter which court they come from. Doubt it, though – not right away at least. More likely to be off sulking. Still, we gotta do isomething/i when they broke the treaty that blatantly, an' they'll probably try again sooner or later."
"That's right," Jack jumped up to perch on the desk rather than sit, pointing at Bunny, "you promised to tell me about this 'Treaty' they were breaking, and all the rest."
"I send yeti to fetch Tooth and message to Sandy," North said immediately, heading for the door.
"Coward," Bunny muttered, flicking his ears at North's retreating back. He sighed heavily, making himself comfortable. "Right, yer a Guardian now, so ya need ta know. Probably really needed ta know yonks ago, but..."
Jack waved it off, leaning forward until it looked certain he'd take a header off the desk.
"Right. Well. Still mad atcha', but...when ya boil it all down, it's pretty simple. The Fae keep themselves Underhill an' leave the humans – 'specially the kids – alone, and the other spirits keep cold iron and humans out of Underhill."
"...and you couldn't say that when we were sneaking up on them, why?" Jack asked, tilting his head in honest inquiry when that was all that was forthcoming. Bunny sighed.
" 'Cuz that's me boiling it down to very, very simple terms. I didn't know what we might find. There's exceptions an' allowances an' such built into it. Ya can read, right?"
Jack glared at him. "I had three hundred years to learn, and I could before I died anyway. I'm not ignorant."
Bunny held up a pacifying hand. "Didn't mean ta say ya were, Frostbite. Just makin' sure. Lots o' spirits can't. North has a copy of the treaty somewhere, and so does Tooth. I do too, but I'm not sure where it is right now. Ya can read it over when ya get a minute an' get all the details. Heck, ya can start readin' it over now if ya want."
Mollified for now, Jack settled back onto the corner of the desk to wait for Sandy and Tooth to arrive as Bunny loped to the door, asking a yeti to fetch the treaty.
Tooth zipped in through the skylight, too impatient to bother with doors today, feathers twitching as she brushed through the magic keeping the cold out so the skylight could remain open.
The yeti North had sent hadn't been very clear in its message, and since the portals were uncomfortable for her to use, she chose to fly. Still, she had covered the globe as quickly as she could. Even if Jack and Bunny were at the pole now, something was going down, had already started, and she wasn't going to be left out of it.
She bypassed the main workroom floor, heading towards North's personal study when a yeti nodded her in the right direction.
Opening the door greeted her with something she never thought she'd see – Jack, perched on the edge of the desk like something feral, holding a long parchment roll, studying it intently.
He looked up with a bright grin when she entered, waving it at her.
"Did you know this thing's crazy over complicated?" he asked. Tooth blinked, the baby teeth who'd accompanied her echoing her confusion at the non-sequitur. "I mean, I get that with fae, you have to be really, really specific, but this is a bit much for how simple it really is."
She looked over at Bunny, who was a rather worrying mix of amused and irritated, before fluttering over to see what Jack was reading.
After a moment of debate she settled for hovering just behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder as she leaned over for a closer look.
If he leaned a little into the touch, seemed to welcome it and that lit a little fire in her heart, that was for the two of them to privately know.
"...Jack...why are you reading the Fae Treaty?"
"Had a bit of a run-in with some, Toothie," Bunny replied before Jack could. "Give ya the whole story when Sandy gets 'ere so we don't have ta repeat it a third time."
Tooth nodded, putting her curiosity firmly on hold to listen as Jack started to ramble again.
"You know, something I don't get here. Who'd sign this thing?" he asked. When all he got was blank looks he clarified with, "Can't see the Fae admitting anyone was as powerful as they are to negotiate with, or who they'd have sign the spirit side of the treaty. What made them agree to negotiate with..." he glanced down at the bottom of the parchment, taking note of the long list of names on it and finishing with "...well, everyone on this."
"We had all the spirits who were powerful enough to go against the Fae and win or considered somehow royalty sign it, at the time," Tooth said, looking over the treaty herself. "They respect power, and with all of us together, we could convince them. Really, we should have updated it by now. See, Bunny, Sandy, and I signed it, but North wasn't considered strong enough yet. Still too new – barely a spirit. You probably should sign it, when we finally get a chance to renegotiate it. You're a Guardian, and powerful enough without that."
Jack bit his lip, not sure how he felt about that as he glanced at the list of names at the bottom of the treaty, picking out Tooth's and Bunny's – both of whom had signed with their full names – in between Mother Nature's and Amaterasu's.
He took a good look at the names on the Fae side of the treaty. Topping the list were King Oberon and Queen Titania for the Seleighe court, Queen Mab for the Unselieghe. A list of Fae followed, those important enough to have Names, and he noticed Robin Goodfellow at the top of the list.
He'd have to tease Puck about that next time he saw them. Apparently they were allowed out of Underhill as they wished, so long as they didn't cause irreversible harm.
...knowing Puck, they really, ireally/i should have been more specific with that bit of the treaty. Yeah, they weren't malicious, but still...Puck.
He went back to reading the treaty, glancing up to wave cheerfully at Sandy as the dreamweaver floated in, still very conscious of Tooth's hand on his shoulder.
Bunny started telling the story of what they'd encountered earlier that day and Jack tuned him out. The treaty was complicated enough, despite the overall agreement being so simple, that parts needed his full attention.
He only really noticed when Tooth's hand began to tighten on his shoulder when it began to reach the point of pain. Blinking, he slowly lowered the parchment enough to glance over it at the others, finally listening to Bunny.
Bunny was reciting the part where Jack had – to use Bunny's phrase – 'scared the ihraka/i out of him', and telling the others how Jack had pretended to be enchanted to draw the Fae's attention away from the kids so they could break free.
The more Bunny spoke, the tighter Tooth's hand got. Jack risked a glance out of the corner of his eye, pretending to still be reading the treaty.
"Jack, what were you ithinking/i?" she finally burst out, interrupting Bunny. She darted in front of Jack, yanking the treaty down so she could see his face. "Do you have any idea how close you came to them getting you?"
"I was thinking I couldn't let them get away with the kids," Jack said defensively. "And that I'd be safe if I didn't set foot in the circle. Tooth, there wasn't itime/i for a better plan!"
"So you...iargh/i!" she groaned, hands clenching at her sides. Jack kept silent, as did the others, as she buzzed around the room in frustration.
Then North had to open his mouth. "Tooth, is fine..."
"Is not fine!" she snapped, zipping to point in his face. "You know what the fae are like!"
Jack floated off the corner of the desk, managing to catch Tooth's pointing hand gently, looking up at her repentantly through his bangs. "But I am fine, now. Tooth, c'mon. I'm sorry I scared you, and Bunny, but I had to do something. There wasn't any itime/i," he repeated. It was one thing to get Bunny all worked up – that's what brothers are for, right? – but somehow, not Tooth.
Her hand twisted in his, holding on tightly. "You...ugh. I don't even...Don't tempt the fae, Jack," she said earnestly, looking into his eyes in a way that, in any other circumstance, would have him blushing ice down his hoodie. "They're vindictive, and tricky."
"Won't do it on purpose," he promised. "Really didn't want to do it this time."
Tooth took a deep breath, obviously making herself calm down. She slid her hand from his, and he missed the warmth immediately.
Then she threw her arms around him, dragging him in close, and he did frost-blush, hands fluttering in surprise. He still wasn't iused/i to hugs. After those few awkward moments he managed to wrap his arms around her and hug back.
They broke apart after a minute, both blushing and not looking at each other. Jack leapt back onto the desk, coughing into his hand as Tooth brushed her hands over her crest.
Sandy was laughing silently, covering his face with both hands. Bunny, meanwhile, was looking speculatively between Tooth and Jack. Jack, meanwhile, was still wondering why she was so upset that ihe'd/i been in danger. Maybe...
North clapped his huge hands, startling everyone. "So, we know what we need find, now! If fae are breaking treaty, must find out which court and talk to King or Queen!"
"An' just how do ya propose we do that, North?" Bunny demanded. "All the old doors are closed."
North grinned, and Bunny flopped back, groaning about 'bloody crazy cossacks'.
A/N: Hornbooks were a thing in colonial times. A piece of parchment or paper, covered with a sheet of horn, for kids to learn to read from – mostly the Bible, but still. So it's possible Jack could've known how to read.
I could not decide on a song for this chapter. It almost got delayed (again) because I 1) still am not 100% happy with the song and 2) am not 100% happy with Tooth's reactions.
Also, longer chapters are going to be a thing now if I can help it.