Katherine awoke to the smell of toast and bacon wafting in from the kitchen. She sat up in bed, groggily trying to rub away the sand from her eyes as she urged herself to fully wake up. It had been half a month since the incident with their bear, and life had once again returned to Santoff Claussen. North was now fully awake and filling his time by telling the children of his adventures.

Quirky little stories they were, and she found herself enjoying them as she wrote them down and drew small illustrations for each one. She smiled as she remembered the latest tale the warrior had told her and a couple of the children.

During the first days of his wakefulness, North had been unbelieving of what was happening, however the children helped him believe- along with all the magical things that had been going on around North. The floating food, the adjusting bed- everything in Big Root was magical after all! He had been most baffled when he had seen Ombric for the very first time, and for a moment, Katherine was certain that his eyes would have rolled right out of his eye sockets!

On some days, when North would come down with a fever from his aching wounds, he would grow silent and Katherine would always be there by his side, however, Katherine could hear snippets of conversation happening between Ombric and a few creatures of the forest, and she was absolutely sure North had been listening in too, even in his fevered state.

But that didn't hinder her awe of the ex-Cossack. In fact, it only made her admire him more! That day, she was happily getting out of bed, ready to head down to breakfast to feed North as has become custom for them. But today was special, for she had completed the tale of their adventure so far and had compiled it all in a book. So, she hurriedly got dressed in her daily clothes and signature yellow coat to stave away the cold and rushed down the stairs, only to hurry back up to grab the very book she had been so excited to show North.

When she arrived, down in the kitchen, she hurried over to Ombric, wishing him a good morning before picking up the tray of food he had ready to take to their injured guest. Katherine was ecstatic as she opened the door and entered without knocking, she was about to speak too until she noticed North was still asleep and frowned. Then again she should have expected as much, North had had a fever the previous night and no doubt needed to sleep it off.

Still, that didn't deter the girl for long as her smile returned, this time much more gentle as she placed the tray of food by the man's bedside before silently slipping the tiny hand-sewn book of pictures next to his pillow before leaving to go do the rest of her chores before she could go play with the other children. She would return later to check up on him.

After eating breakfast with Ombric and their resident Librarian GlowWorm Mr. Qwerty, Katherine was off to do her chores of clearing the snow from last night's snowfall from the path in front of Big Root. Katherine couldn't help but allow her mind to wander, just like Ombric had taught her and the rest of the children of Santoff Claussen.

She couldn't help but think back to the night of that fateful day. To the boy that had glowed like a brilliant star. She knew he was special somehow, deep deep down she knew, yet she sighed sadly for in the excitement of everything, both she and Ombric had forgotten to ask his name. But he was so fun to be around and she wouldn't mind spending some time with him again. Maybe she could tell him some of her stories?

She smiled at the thought then it fell as she sighed. Who was she kidding? Stories were fun for her, but she wasn't sure he would appreciate them as she did. The only reason North probably even would look at the book she had made was because there were drawings.

Out of all the children in Santoff Claussen, none really had time for stories, instead filling their times with creating new and wondrous things. Katherine never did have their ability to be able to create wondrous inventions, no matter how hard she tried. All she could do was write down stories… but what could stories do to help society? Not much…

She sighed again, hanging her head low as she closed her eyes to listen to the sounds around her. Children were laughing, the bear was playing with them along with the reindeers. The Spirit of the Forest was playing her flute today, too. All in all, it was just a normal day in Santoff Claussen…

Except for the sudden snowball to the face Katherine received as she turned to head back inside. Spluttering and vehemently swatting at her face she scrambled about with a frown until she heard the soft perfect giggles of a certain astral boy.

Not bothering to clean off the snow that now dusted her shoulders and hair she placed her hands on her hips, attempting to scowl and put on an angry face at the sight of the glowing child, except his giggles were the contagious type and she soon found herself laughing with him.

"What was that for?" she asked through her giggles.

"You should smile more! Frowning gives you wrinkles!" he explained, leaning on his spear with a smile, glad to have brightened up her day even if a little bit. "What's with the sad face anyway?" the boy wondered, tilting his head to the side in a questioning matter.

The frown returning, Katherine sighed, rubbing at her arm as she looked away from the boy. "It's nothing. I was just thinking…" she mumbled, not meeting his gaze even with his attempts at peering into her eyes.

FrostLight frowned. He knew Katherine, and he knew her well. They knew when the other was feeling down and they knew exactly how to cheer each other up if need be. So he hummed quietly, worrying his bottom lip then rubbing his chin as if in thought for a moment before he beamed at her. "Hey," he started, taking hold of her hand. "Want to hang out for a bit?"

Katherine blinked then looked down at their intertwined hands before slowly nodding. She was a little confused. This boy, whom she has only met and had a conversation with once wanted to spend time around her- her! This was an opportunity she wasn't about to give up! Maybe she could learn something about him! She smiled at him excitedly and gave his hand a gentle squeeze before remembering about her chores just when the spectral boy was about to pull her away.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, halting the boy in his tracks and making him spin to face her. "I have some chores to do…" she said sadly, making the boy frown before a determined look crossed his face.

"Then we do them together! It will be fun!" he smiled, flashing his perfectly white teeth.

And that's how the two found themselves feeding Ombric's owls and Petrov Together, learning how the animals all loved the spectral boy as they crowded around him. How they cleaned up and dusted the library with the help of Mr. Qwerty, FrostLight managing to get himself covered in enough dust to completely hide his glow. How the two of them went to buy some groceries with FrostLight mostly staying hidden in the trees in an impromptu game of hide and seek.

To say the least, spending time with the astral boy was quite enjoyable and very fun. Sure he went out of his way to stay hidden from others, but she simply attributed that to his shyness. He did duck away when she first saw him after all.

Soon enough, they were playing underneath the great branches of Big Root. FrostLight had made a show of climbing the tree's trunk then hanging upside down, much to the delight and worry of Katherine.

"Be careful!" she would tell him as he swung about among the branches. Then suddenly, he was gone from sight as silence followed after. There was no laughter in the wind, no rustle in the trees- Nothing. Katherine started to worry, but there was a small voice that told her it was alright.

Then her feet were no longer touching the ground. It had happened so fast that she screamed as it happened. In a blink of an eye she found herself seated on one of the high branches of Big Root. The moment she had realised this, she latched onto the closest thing next to her for support- that closest thing being a certain astral boy who started to laugh as he held her close, his staff safely tucked into the crook of one elbow.

"This isn't funny!" she yelped, shivering in his arms.

"But it is!" he spoke, his voice as ethereal as ever.

"But what if we fall?!" she questioned, tears welling up in her eyes.

Noticing this, the spectral boy smiled at the girl in his arms. "We won't."

"How would you know?!" she yelled, her grip never loosening up.

"If I fall, I can fly. If you fall, I'll catch you. You have to believe in me!" he chuckled softly.

"... promise?" she asked, looking up into gentle mint green eyes.

"On my soul." he promised, offering Katherine a gentle smile that seemed to calm her enough to take deep breaths. It didn't take long for the astral boy to help her learn how to sit on tree branches properly in a way that she wouldn't fall, and yet still, FrostLight never once let go of the girl's hand just in case.

They were silent for a while. They were comfortable like that. They didn't need to speak words to enjoy each other's company. They were completely content. Katherine had ended up leaning against FrostLight, letting out a deep and contented sigh as she did so.

"Today was fun." she smiled up at the boy of light who smiled back at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Did it help your sadness from earlier?" he asked, with his thinking speak, the moonbeam in his spear blinking faintly as if to punctuate his question.

"Yes," she giggled. "Very much so."

"What made you so sad anyway?" he wondered, his glow dimming slightly as she turned to look away with another sigh, but the smile on her face told him she was not sad at all.

"I guess… I was just being silly…" she trailed off, starting to fidget with the hem of the fur lined sleeves of her yellow coat. He only grinned at her and raised an eyebrow, making the girl lightly shove him with a giggle. "It was nothing! Honest!"

Chuckling softly, FrostLight simply smiled and held his staff close to himself, Giving Katherine a cheeky lopsided grin. "Alright, I won't pry. But, in return, you must tell me a story!" Katherine Gasped softly at that as she stared at the astral boy right beside her with wide and hopeful eyes.

"You want me to tell you a story…?" he nodded, shifting so he was more comfortable while holding onto his spear on the branch.

"I like stories. I'm just not very good at reading…" he admitted, scratching the back of his neck as a slight blush started to creep up his cheeks. "And I saw that you had a large collection of books in your room…"

Katherine started to laugh, making FrostLight's blush grow on his cheeks until they reached his ears, though he did not hide the smile that stretched his lips as he watched her get comfortable, preparing to tell a story. A story he most likely had heard before. True, he did not read, he hadn't bothered learning how to read, at least not quickly enough to comprehend a story, but that didn't mean he didn't like to listen to them. It was also true that he had heard almost all of Katherine's stories, whether it be as Jack Frost or as Nightlight, he had always had quite a liking to the stories of Mother Goose.

It didn't take much coaxing to get Katherine to start rambling on and on about her stories, and truly he loved to listen to them, to her. He smiled widely to himself as he listened to Katherine, to the noises of the village down below, to the children that played with the animals, even to North and Ombric inside of Big Root. And that's when he knew, life in Santoff Claussen, although a little tense due to Pitch's attack, was now starting to slowly but surely return to normal. If you could call the magical village normal at all.

A/N: Am I giving Katherine and FrostLight a little bit of a spotlight? Yes, yes I am. this story is mostly general but I will give you these two so please have a pillow to scream into.