Author's Note: Hello everyone and welcome back to "The Winter Child!" I'm so sorry for the late update; I thought I had already posted, but I recently came back to check and I saw that I didn't. QwQ

I don't have much to say other than this chapter contains somewhat of a big book reference. =) So with that, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!


~ LVII ~

How to Raise Your Goose

To all, Katherine was warm, kind, and sweet

Jack didn't know that included geese

...

When he opened the door to a rather incessant knocking, Jack didn't think that he'd find Katherine in such a…peculiar state.

Her hair was frizzy (well, frizzier) and her cheeks were flushed from running. Jack stared at her, ultimately confused. But before he could ask her what was wrong, she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the house.

"K-Katherine—hey! Where are we going?!" Jack cried. He turned toward the still-open door of his house and hollered. "North! I'll be back in a bit!"

He didn't know if he had heard him, but Jack couldn't stay around to check if he did. Katherine pulled him through the village, weaving between people and traveling down the path that led to Big Root. As she dragged him along, Jack's mind raced to wonder what was going on. Katherine never acted this way before, and Jack had never seen her in such a flustered state. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long, for the two arrived at Big Root, traveled up the stairs, and entered Katherine's childhood treehouse.

Jack vividly remembered the day Katherine had first taken him up there. It had been a long time since he had stepped foot in the treehouse, but it still looked the same way he remembered…

Except for the large silver egg sitting in the center of it.

Jack's eyes widened. "Uh…is that a giant egg?"

"Precisely," Katherine said, finally speaking a word. She tucked her frazzled hair in a ponytail and huffed. "I've been looking after it since I returned."

"You found this out in the Himalayas?" Jack inquired. Katherine had recently returned from a trip to the mountains. As an aspiring author, Katherine was always looking for inspiration. She knew that phrase wasn't literal, but the young woman wanted to see things. Experience things. See the world and feel the thrill of adventure that her characters would in her own published works.

Jack supported Katherine in every way, but he had to admit that he did miss her when she had left. And so did the other children. When she returned, Jack was ecstatic to see her. He enlighted her on everything she missed, and the other children peppered her with questions about her four-month trip. She chronicled how she had trekked the mountains, explored ice caves, and did several other interesting things on her trip.

But what she didn't state was the fact she had brought a gigantic egg back down with her! How did she manage to bring it to the village without anyone noticing? Anyone would notice something as bulging as this egg from at least several feet away.

"I'm assuming this is not some souvenir you decided to take with you," said Jack.

Katherine shook her head. "Nope. It's alive."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "The egg's alive?"

"No, what's inside it is alive," Katherine elaborated. She smiled and gestured to the egg nestled in the nest. "Jackson Frost, I proudly present to you the egg of a Great Himalayan Snow Goose."

"You mean the giant birds that presumably roam those parts?" asked Jack.

"Correct again," Katherine chirped. "And what do you mean 'presumably?' They're as real as can be."

Jack shrugged. "I've seen one. And everyone knows seeing is believing."

"We live in a magic village and yet you doubt the existence of giant birds?"

"Hey, I never said I doubted."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Anyway, this one was sitting in a snowbank a little ways off the path. I tried to locate its parents but…there wasn't anyone around…"

Katherine's expression grew somber, and Jack understood her silent pain. A foundling herself, Katherine could immediately empathize with the lone little egg. Even though it hadn't hatched yet, Katherine felt a strong devotion to the unhatched hatchling and was determined to give it the life that its parents should've given her.

"So you smuggled the egg with you on the way down?" asked Jack.

"You make it sound like I committed a crime," said Katherine. "But to your point…yes, I did sneak it with me."

"Katherine…"

"I couldn't leave it alone, Jack!" Katherine argued. "It needs a family. I couldn't just let it perish it in the cold!"

"I know," said Jack. He placed a hand on Katherine's shoulder. "I was going to say that it's nice of you to take it in. And to be frank, I probably would've done the same."

Katherine softened. "Thank you. Anyway, I brought you to hear because the egg's about to hatch."

"It's what?!"

"About to hatch!" Katherine repeated excitedly. She gestured to the large, silver egg. Sure enough, there were several cracks on its surface. They grew wider and longer as the two watched.

"Um…how do you know it isn't going to attack us once it hatches?" Jack asked nervously.

"Oh, Himalayan Snow Geese are quite tame," Katherine reassured. "Ombric and I did our research."

"Wait, Ombric knows about this too?"

"Of course! You can't hide anything from a wizard."

"That's logical."

Suddenly, the top of the egg burst open, making both Jack and Katherine yelp. A few eggshells scattered across the floor. Jack and Katherine stared at the large opening inside of the egg. There was no sound, no nothing. Not even a peep.

Then, a little gosling peeked outside of the eggshell. She blinked her big black eyes at the two humans standing before her. Her feathers were as white as snow, and her beak was bright orange. She let out a curious peep, and Jack and Katherine felt their hearts melt. The gosling was adorable!

Katherine slowly approached the snow goose. Jack stayed back, knowing that Katherine was more knowledgeable in this situation than him. At first, the gosling seemed frightened, but Katherine made reassuring cooing noises that sounded almost like the sounds a goose would make. Jack stared, astonished.

"You speak Himilayan Snow Goose?" he whispered.

"A little," said Katherine. She glanced at him. "Ombric helped me find the right books."

She turned her focus back to the goose, who had significantly calmed once Katherine had introduced herself. Katherine gently placed her hand on the goose's forehead, brushing her fingers through the bird's feathers. The little goose gurgled happily, her tail feathers twitching with glee.

Katherine smiled. "I'm going to name her Kailash. For the mountain that she was found on."

"Taking care of a goose is bound to be a lot of work," said Jack. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

Katherine scoffed. "Of course, I can!" Her eyes locked with Kailash's, and Katherine gave her a warm smile. "Besides...how hard could it be?"

If you assumed that Katherine raising Kailash would be easy, you assumed wrong.

Yes, she did do her research, and she knew a little bit of the goose's tongue, but it takes more than a couple of books and words to raise a goose (or anything alive for that matter).

And when one asks the question "How hard could it be?" The situation is bound to spiral downward.

The children learned of Kailash quite quickly. It took a few cookies and nagging, but Jack eventually told them of Katherine's baby goose. She didn't mind, as she was eventually planning to tell them anyway. And she was glad by how quickly Kailash warmed up to them. She was a people goose (yes, such a thing does exist), but she ultimately favored Katherine, who was the first person she had set her eyes on when she hatched out of her egg.

To Kailash, Katherine was her mother figure. And Katherine did everything she could to fulfill that role. She fed Kailash, bathed Kailash, and even read her stories before bed. She sang with her, slept with her when the goose missed home and absorbed copious information about Snow Geese from the multitude of books in the library.

Jack admired Katherine's dedication to young Kailaish. She wanted the gosling to be happy, even though her parents were nowhere to be found. Jack happily welcomed Kailash to the Foundling Club, and he did his best to assist Katherine in any way he could. He didn't consider himself a singer, but if that was what the goose demanded—er, wanted—then he'd do his best to satisfy her.

One thing that Katherine was aware of Himalayan Snow Geese (but didn't believe until it actually occurred) was the rapid growth rate that they possessed. Katherine thought that this was a note for those who cared for the Snow Geese (or the author's meaning of rapid growth meant a couple of months at least), but just a week after she had hatched, Kailash could no longer fit in the small nest Katherine had made for her. So, Katherine built a new nest, one that was far to large to fit in her bedroom where she and Kailash usually slept. They moved to the treehouse, where the space was bigger, sleeping together up in the treetops at night.

Though large, Kailash still had the mind of a child. And she very often caused trouble. She became very picky, and Katherine began to have trouble feeding her. Making gosling food was a long enough process, but feeding her became the true struggle. Katherine didn't know where the sudden change in appetite came from, but it was almost impossible to get Kailash to eat. She pushed the bowl of bird food toward the gosling's direction. Kailash turned away, honking profoundly.

Katherine sighed, exasperated. "Kailash, please eat. I spent all morning making this for you!"

Kailash still refused to take a bite.

Jack knelt down in front of the goose. "Come on, Kailash. Just one bite won't hurt. If you won't eat, I will."

Katherine scoffed. "You wouldn't."

Jack shrugged. "If it gets her to eat."

Katherine pushed the bowl of food toward Kailash again. "Please, Kailash. Eat."

Kailash turned around, eyeing the food bowl briefly. It look as if she were about to take a bit when, suddenly, she knocked the bowl of food over with her beak, sending it splattering all over Jack and Katherine. Kailash gurgled with amusement, then waddled away before Katherine had the chance to scold her.

"Well," said Jack, rubbing the bird food out of his hair. "I have never met a goose as sassy as that one."

Katherine frowned. "You're not the only one."

Feeding became a challenge and sleeping was a war. Kailash began keeping Katherine awake at night and Katherine would struggle to get her to sleep again. It seemed like nothing she did would make the goose listen, and she'd appear in class either late or half-asleep. Whenever asked if she needed help, Katherine turned it down. "She's my responsibility. I have to take care of her. Besides, I don't want to put an extra workload on you guys."

But Jack knew that deep down, Katherine desperately needed help. So when lunch arrived one day at school, Jack walked up to her and said, "I asked everyone if they'd be willing to help with Kailash. They said yes."

Katherine looked at Jack, too tired to feel surprised. "What? Why? I told you that I don't need any help. I can handle her on my own."

"If there's anything I've learned, it's that it's better to raise a child—or a goose in this case—as a team," Jack said. He softened. "And you really look like you could use the help."

Katherine watched as Kailash waddled around, chasing after the Williams, and Sascha, Petter, and Fog running after them squealing with pleasure. Katherine knew that she needed help, but she was so sure she could've taken care of Kailash on her own. But perhaps it wouldn't hurt to have some help.

Katherine sighed. "Alright," she said. "I'll take the help."

Jack smiled. "We'll meet you here right after school."

Just as he promised, Jack and the village children returned to Big Root shortly after school had ended. Jack assigned jobs to everyone so they could evenly divide the work. Sascha and Petter took on the duty of making Kailash a new nest. "Comfy beds make it easier to fall asleep and STAY asleep," Sascha explained. She and her brother put together a large nest made with extra fluff and feathers to make it even more comfortable.

Fog and the Williams locked themselves in the library, reading as many books about Himilayan Snow Geese as they could. They discovered several new recipes and wrote them down, handing them to Katherine to use for future meals. Jack oversaw everything, helping whenever he could. Katherine chipped in as well; she didn't want to have her friends feel as if they were being piled with work.

At the end of the day, Kailash began to feel more content. After a hearty meal of new foods and a game of chase with the children, she fell asleep in the treehouse in her new nest, snoring away. The children cheered for their success in helping the gosling.

"Shhh!" Katherine said quickly. "Kailash is sleeping."

"Oh, right," said Sascha. Everyone headed downstairs, where they were farther away from the sleeping gosling. That was when they cheered.

Katherine grinned."Thank you all so much. I'm sure Kailash is just as grateful as I am."

"She better be," said Fog, rubbing his eyes. "I haven't read so many books in my life. I think I'm still seeing letters."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Whenever you need a hand again with Kailash, just say so. We're right around the corner."

Katherine smiled and she pulled Jack into a hug. "I'm really glad to have a friend like you, Jack."

Jack chuckled. "Anything for you, Katherine."


Author's Note: Katherine and Jack foreverrrrrr. =3

Also, I'd just like to make it clear (before I get any reviews about this) that I do NOT ship Katherine and Jack. I view them as best friends/siblings, and best friends/siblings alone, so please don't throw that into any of the reviews, capiche?

Anwyay, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you all in the next one! ^u^

Until the next chapter!

~BeyondTheMoon1203