Chapter 13: Frost Manor

Jack finished lunch with his family completely and utterly exhausted. The Twins had talked his ear off, their list of questions never ending. He was fairly certain that they had more questions, still; he wasn't off the hook with his littlest siblings just yet. Their questions had run parallel to Jacqueline's rundown of the past few days at the Pole, and the shenanigans (as Winter deigned to call them) that had ensued upon her arrival. Blaise listened to her tale thoughtfully throughout lunch, and Winter...well.

Winter was another matter entirely.

Jack and his mother had shared pleasantries, of course. Pass the this and pleases and thank yous and the odd question thrown his way that made it through the onslaught Fino and Fiera had prepped for him. But it all felt so odd. She kept looking his way like he wasn't there, and Jack had felt decidedly more awkward with each passing interaction.

It made complete sense, of course. He had, after all, cut his connection with Winter. It was no wonder she felt like he wasn't there.

Lunch had gone on; the twins had run back outside the moment they were finished and had the okay to leave the table. Jacqueline had disappeared shortly thereafter, leaving him to the mercy of their parents. Jack assumed she had gone up to her room; he had thought to do so as well, but it seemed the exhaustion of the past few days (not to mention, weeks or even months) had caught up with him. Thinking of heading all the way upstairs had him wanting to move even less. He found himself leaning into the sturdiness of the oak chair, the back hugging his in a very comforting way.

Over by the sink, Winter and Blaise washed the dishes. They moved around each other like they were constantly aware of where the other was, even though they weren't looking. It was actually kind of enjoyable to watch. It was nice to see that their chemistry had stayed the same in the millennia they had been together. It was kind of hopeful, and was making Jack feel a bit more slushy than usual. He took a deep breath in, and immediately wrinkled his nose.

"Is something burning?"

Both parents stopped moving at the same time, the dish in Winter's hand going back on the dish pile as Blaise's head shot up.

"It's your turn," Winter said.

"Yep," Blaise replied, already out the sliding doors, leaving Jack and Winter alone.

And then there were two.

Maybe now would be a good time to talk?

Take it slow, Jacqueline's words rang in his mind.

So maybe not the best time; especially since he didn't even know where to begin. He ran his hand through his hair, half frozen, half not. It was just all so confusing!

He groaned loudly, laying his head down on the table.

The water hit the dishes, splashing into the sink. Winter hummed, her head angled in such a way that Jack thought perhaps she had glanced over his way quickly once or twice.

The silence in the kitchen stretched on.

In the distance, the twins screamed in delight. Blaise used his stern voice. The sounds of fire grew loud (Winter stopping her humming to listen for a moment) then quieted down to a pop or crackle every so often. Relieved, Winter glanced over at Jack, head tilted.

"You sound like you could use a nap," she said, finally. "Your room is just as you left it, if you'd like a lay. Knowing Jacqueline, she'll be on you about that freezer burn in no time at all."

"You don't know the half of it," Jack replied. "These past three days have felt like a week!"

Winter finished up the dishes, shutting off the sink. She turned around, a small smile on her face. She opened her mouth slightly, about to speak.

Jack perked up.

Winter frowned, mouth closing.

Sighing internally, Jack pushed back his chair, getting up. Now was as good a time as any to make his escape.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer," Jack said, heading towards the hall. "It's been a…rough few months."

Winter sighed, touching her hand to her forehead and receiving wet towel directly in the face, as a result. "Shout if you need anything," she said, grabbing a dry towel and wiping her forehead, glad he hadn't seen that.

"Will do," Jack replied, trying very hard not to run out of the kitchen as fast as he could.

Frost Manor had three floors. The first floor was your generic household facilities: kitchen, living room, den, dining room, ballroom, office, library, parlours, sitting rooms, sunroom—so maybe not generic all around, but absolutely the works. And temperate!

The second story, however, was very, very hot. Jack remembered Fiera mentioning how the upstairs sunroom was warmer than the downstairs one, and briefly recalled Jacqueline referring to the second story as being hot as heck. She definitely had a point, Jack decided, as he made his way up the blue runner on the stairs, wiping the sweat off of his brow.

The second floor was where most of the bedrooms were. How his mother managed to sleep comfortably on this floor, Jack couldn't even begin to fathom! It wasn't just warm in temperature, but in style as well. The walls were a nice yellow colour, oak panelling on the lower halves. Floor to ceiling windows let in warm rays of light. The French doors to his parent's room on the left stood closed. The doors to what he remembered as Jacqueline's room when they were younger on the right were wide open.

Jack couldn't resist. Peeking inside, he saw a mess of toys and clothes, scattered across the floor, covering the dark wooden boards, and came to the conclusion that this definitely wasn't Jacqueline's room anymore. The two beds on opposite sides were testament enough to that. He assumed Fiera's was the one on his right, with the pink canopy above it and matching sheets. Fino's, on the left, was a bit darker. The covers were tangerine orange, the comforter thrown on the ground and the orange striped sheets bunched to the bottom of the frame. Sunlight poured through the open windows, the cold winter breeze sneaking in, much to Jack's relief.

It was strange, how much had changed.

It wasn't like Jack had expected everything to stop while he was gone. Of course things would have changed. After all, he had two whole other siblings now! And if they now had Jacqueline's old room, he'd assume that Jacqueline had quite literally moved on up in the world.

Unless she was in Jack's old room?

He peeked into the room beside the Twin's room. It was as messy as the other room, just with desks and books and paper and crayons instead of beds and toys and clothes.

"Looks like you've got a floormate, Jack," he said to himself, glancing to the twirling, spiral staircase opposite the landing. He stopped just before the first step and stared up. He could feel the welcome chill coming down through the see-through stairs. Back in the day, he would have been livid to have to share his space with someone else! That's why he had requested to be in one of the upstairs rooms when he was in his mid-teen-hundreds. The second floor was too close to his parents for his liking.

But now? Seeing the changes around the house, and knowing that his sister was the one sharing his floor with him? He found himself welcoming the company. He wondered what his—what their floor looked like now. Jacqueline had never been one for neat and sleek, after all. The prospect of what awaited him up there was, oddly enough, exciting. A glimpse into a recent past that he had missed, he thought with a pang of regret.

Though he had made a few tweaks when he got upstairs, it had been pretty empty when he moved up, and he had liked it like that. For the most part. Admittedly, he had gone through a bit of an ice sculpture phase in his teen-hundreds, and it showed. The windows were his work of art, glass and ice panes mixing with one another, creating a sort of ice nouveau look, as he had liked to call it. The chandelier was completely made of ice, another work of art he was particularly proud of! And he had made these beautiful decorative plants, completely out of ice. They were stunning, and, as he headed up the stairs and approached the landing, he was happy to see that they had stood the test of time. It was all very familiar.

Except for the gorgeous columns at the top of the stairs.

They flanked the landing on either side, the midday sun that was coming in making them sparkle. Jack took a closer look; the frosty pattern inside the pillars was very swirly, which meant that this had been Jacqueline's handiwork. It wasn't half bad work either, Jack thought, the pillar very smooth. It threw even more sunlight throughout the hallway, the frozen fractals diffusing the sunlight all over the floor. It was like a crisp, cold, sunny winter day up there, and Jack found himself enjoying it.

The icy plants seemed to have tripled in amount while he was gone. They flanked the stairs, the doors to his rooms, and the doors to what had once been the gallery on Jack's left but were now, he assumed, Jacqueline's rooms. He wasn't sure how much remodelling had gone into Jacqueline's move, but, given Winter's penchant for symmetry and matching sets, Jack imagined that they looked very similar to his own set of rooms. The rooms themselves were like an L-shaped suite. The doors opened up to their very own sitting rooms, then led to the bedrooms through another door. The bedrooms were large and spacious; the bathrooms were at the base of the bedrooms, beside the landing, more or less, complete with walk-in closet.

Making a right, Jack passed his sister's room and stopped in front of the door to his. He reached for the handle, stopping before he could even graze the knob. He turned back to the hallway. His white grand piano was still in the sunny corner nearest the balcony entrance. But it wasn't as…empty and cold as it had been when he had been home.

Small pine shelves were dotted around the landing here and there, stuffed full of novels and movies. One shelf had a record player at the very top, and was crammed with all sorts of records! Everything was still fairly neat, thankfully; the plush chairs that had stood around the hall now had small baskets beside them with all sorts of blankets and quilts stuffed in them.

The upstairs felt so personal; it felt lived in now.

He glanced back at his door, something clicking.

Everything in the house had changed so much! There were personal touches everywhere, and it was a lot cozier than it had been in his youth. Even the hallway looked lived in! But his room? Well. He hadn't been in it in fourteen centuries. It was plain, and ordinary, and probably crazy dusty. The thought of leaving the coziness of the rest of the house, for the coldness (and dustiness) of his room had him hesitating.

But the longer he stood about, the more tantalizing the mere thought of collapsing onto his bed was. His body was practically screaming for a comfortable reprise. The longer he was home, the more...relaxed, almost, he seemed to be getting. He hadn't realized how tense he'd been up north all year.

Exhaustion pushing him forward, Jack finally opened the door to his room and entered his sitting area.

Thick blue curtains were shut tight, the icy lights on the walls lighting up as he walked in. The bookshelf was still in its spot in the middle of the wall, a sleek blue armchair next to it. Matching couches, black and leather, formed a cold and empty sitting room.

It was just as he had left it.

Plain, ordinary, and (compared to the rest of the house) completely empty.

He walked through the sitting room as fast as he could, stopping in front of the door to his bedroom and turning the knob.

The icy lights went from dim to bright as he pushed the door open and walked in. It was just as plain and empty as the sitting room before it. There was nothing personal about it. Sure, there were some icy touches here and there (he was pretty positive no other rooms in the house had his dimming lights, for example), but there wasn't a sign of life. No mementos, no photos...nothing. Jack could only wonder what his sister's room must look like in comparison. With a sigh, he moved to the heavy curtains and pushed them back, sunlight pouring in, the icy lights dimming themselves as the dark room lightened up a tad.

The curtains did not stir up as much dust as he had expected. In fact, they barely stirred any dust at all! He trailed his finger across the surface of his large vanity, glancing at the pad of his finger. No dust. Huh. The desk was clean, too; everything was pristine.

He wasn't sure if that was better, or worse.

"I kept it clean. Just in case."

Startled, Jack turned around, holding his chest in a very over the top manner. It was just Winter, small in the door frame, dishrag crushed between her hands.

"Winter! You frightened me!"

She smiled softly. "Sorry, Jack dear. I didn't mean to."

"I'm, uh, over exaggerating. It was barely a start! A mere fright! Not even a, a full scare. No need to fret, or-or anything."

"You look perturbed. Is everything okay?"

Everything's not fine, he wanted to say. I want to make things right between us. I want to be able to use my powers again, and not have to rely on my little sister for help doing my actual paying job, he wanted to add. I want to apologize for all the hurt that I caused, for cutting our connection, for leaving and nearly killing my sister! I want to fix things.

But what came out instead surprised him.

"Everything has changed so much," Jack found himself saying, "And everything in here, in my room, is still the same. It's like I never left—or maybe never even lived here. Was I really this cold and distant?"

"Well," Winter said, stepping into the room. "You did move out long before you left."

"The uh. Condo looks. Very similar to this," Jack admitted, sheepish.

"Then it's an opportunity for a fresh start," Winter said, softly. Reassuring. "We all change as we grow older. And you've had quite a bit of it in the last year alone," she said, the slightest hint of worry in her voice. "But that's the beauty of it, isn't it? You have a blank canvas. You can fill your room to the brim with new memories now. And I'm sure they'll make their way to your condo, too," she said, almost teasing, Jack thought with the smallest of smiles.

"A fresh start," he said, thoughtfully.

"Indeed," Winter agreed, scrutinizing him.

The silence stretched between them, not uncomfortable, but definitely not comfortable. He found himself opening his mouth, trying to speak; wanting to make a crack about fresh starts before he choked on the words of everything he wanted to say—

But the words died in his throat. He exhaled, closing his mouth and frowning, once more rubbing the frozen bits of his hair.

Winter cleared her throat. "I should. Go finish up. Dishes. I just wanted to say—" she thought about what she wanted to say, everything she really wanted to say. I want to make things right with you, Jack. I want to fix our connection, and apologize for breaking it in the first place because I'm your mother, and maybe some support would have gone a long way for you? Oh gosh, now I sound like Blaise. He has a point, of course, anyway, I'm not even sure we can fix this, but would you like to try?

But what she said instead was, "It's good to have you home, Jack."

And Winter was mortified. She froze a bit, nearly getting another face full of wet dishcloth but remembering to keep her composure.

"Oh. Ah, thanks," Jack replied quietly, trying his best to not grimace while his mother was staring at him.

She nodded. "Of course. Good talk," she said, abruptly turning on her heel and nearly flying out of the room and down the stairs, mentally shouting profanities the entire time.

Jack watched her leave, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He shifted his weight, leaning on the vanity, unsure if that had been good or bad. He glanced at his reflection, quirking an eyebrow at it.

"What have we gotten ourselves into," he lamented, shaking his head.

"Good talk?! Good talk?! What the FROST was THAT, Winter?" she said out loud, halfway down the stairs to the first floor.

Why was this so hard?!

That had been the perfect opportunity to just. Break the ice, and get moving with the whole healing and forgiveness thing! And all she had said, was GOOD FROSTBITTEN TALK? Winter was absolutely positively mortified and wondered where the heck Blaise was so she could perhaps bury her entire face into his chest and not emerge for the rest of the day. "Good frostbitten talk indeed," she said, facepalming. Thankfully, the dishcloth was not as wet as she had expected, given that she had been wringing it out the entire time. She huffed, thinking of the trail of water that had probably followed her up. It'll evaporate, she thought to herself, heading down the stairs. Or freeze.

She had watched him leave the kitchen, wanting to say more but being unable to parse the words. One furious dish wash later she had found a burst of confidence and went right up the stairs, and then up the stairs again, fully intending to say everything on her mind then and there.

But by the time she had made it, the confidence had left her. Mom instinct had kicked in, instead. He had looked so down in that moment, that all she could think to do was her best to reassure him. And even though the opportunity to say what she had wanted to say had arose once more, she had, of course, completely bombed it.

"Good talk. Honestly Winter, why would you—" she stopped short, a faint ringing tickled her ears.

"Is that the crystal ball?"

The sound seemed to be coming from within the blue parlour.

The door was open a crack already. Pushing it open gently, she stuck her head into the room.

It was indeed the crystal ball, and it was glowing a lovely shade of right-after-the-rain green. She blinked, keeping her eyes shut for an few extra seconds. Did she really have the patience to talk to Spring now?

She opened her eyes, and the green turned to sunshine-glistening-off-the-water yellow.

And then fresh-maple-leaf red.

And then back to the green.

Winter groaned, pulling her hands down her face.

Why on earth were all three sisters calling at once? Surely, the news of Jack's homecoming hadn't travelled that fast.

Unless Mother Nature had talked to Santa and found out about their departure. It wouldn't be out of character for Jacqueline to forget to tell her something, and it was very in character for Jack to do that on purpose.

Oh, dear. Mother Nature had most definitely found out. Spring had probably heard through the grapevine and rallied the other seasons, and now all three of her dear dear sisters were calling to demand answers on what was probably one of Winter's worst days in recent memory.

She could just close the door and ignore it…but if she did, she knew without a doubt that all three sisters would appear in seconds on her doorstep, thinking the worst.

And quite frankly, Winter did not have that kind of patience right now.

So, throwing the dish towel on one of the couches, she faced the crystal ball, eyes closed, and placed her hands gently above it. With a deep breath, she opened her eyes and threw her hands away from the crystal ball, landing at her sides. Green, yellow, and red sparks flew after her fingers, pausing above the ball until all three sisters appeared in magical call clouds.

"Spring. Summer. Autumn. The next seasonal council isn't for another two months. To what do I owe the pleasure, of all three of you calling at once?"

"Hey Winter! How's it hanging?" Summer asked, eyes glistening, hair piled way high above her head in a sunlit ponytail.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that the three of you already know how it's going, and Spring put you up to this. Am I right, Spring?" Winter said, turning to Spring's call cloud with a very disapproving look.

"Summer! You said you'd take care of the pleasantries to waive suspicion!" Spring snapped.

"Yeah, and Autumn and I both told you she'd know immediately something was up."

Autumn nodded, humming in agreement.

Spring sighed, her annoyance dropping. "Surprise, Winter! You caught us!" her red bob bounced, a few petals flying out of her hair (of which there was no shortage of flowers).

"Caught us? Girl, we pleaded guilty the moment you insisted we all call at the same time," Summer said, crossing her dark arms.

Spring laughed through clenched teeth. "That's neither here nor there, dearest Summer."

"Oh snap, I got a dearest," Summer teased.

"Play nice," Autumn said.

"I'm playing very nice," Summer replied.

"I agree," Winter piped up. "At least she's direct! Instead of trying to pretend this was a normal call."

"Alright! I get it. Chill out, Winter." Spring sighed, face growing serious. "I heard from Mother earlier today. She was late for our lunch date. Apparently it was because she had gone down to the North Pole to check on Jack and Jacqueline, much to my surprise, and found that much to her surprise, they had left the North Pole to come back home to Crystal Springs. What is going on, Winter?!"

"Yeah, we one hundred percent need deets, sis," Summer began. "Jack? In the same room as Jacqueline?! And now home?! It sounds wild!"

"Care to elaborate?" Spring asked, a weird mix of curiosity and protectiveness? Anger? In her green eyes.

"It's...a lot," Winter said, unsure where to start.

"I'm sure you can give us a little summary. A brief synopsis, a kind of too long, here's what you need to know," Autumn said gently, smiling softly. Her deep auburn hair was pulled up above her head, hair poofy. Her brown eyes were warm with understanding, something that Winter loved about her sister Autumn: she understood. She also knew exactly how to reign back the other two seasons when they went a little overboard, which Winter was certain was going to happen very, very soon.

"You know what? Maybe we should just pop over for dinner tonight to hear the full story," Spring said.

Oh, there it was! The boat had flipped! Season overboard!

Winter sighed heavily, loudly, and with as much audible annoyance as possible.

"Or we could do tea? Maybe a snack, if that's easier?" Spring said.

"How is going earlier easier?!" Summer asked.

"Well, the sooner the better!"

"Spring, I think you need to chill, not Winter."

"I need to chill? I-SUMMER!" Spring said, appalled. "I am just looking out for our dear sister! She needs our support!"

"How do you know?!" Summer demanded. "You haven't even asked!"

"Thank you, Summer," Winter snapped.

"Summer! Jack is in her house!"

"He lived there too," Autumn pointed out.

"I know, but I-It's just-AH," Spring spluttered, frustrated. "I just think it's pertinent that we pop by and check in. The earlier, the better."

"For whom, exactly?" Autumn asked. "We're all very busy ladies, Spring. Maybe we should wait a moment before we make any rash decisions."

"I gave options! Dinner, or teatime!"

"That's ENOUGH!" Winter said loudly, startling all three seasons. "NO. There will be no dinner, and there will be no tea time, or snack time, or 'can I borrow a cup of sugar?' time, alright? Not today. Today has been a little...a lot crazy, actually. More so than usual. Good talks. Ugh." She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm a little all over the place, you see. Today most assuredly is not the best time to come by, seeing as how the snowy kids just got back from the Pole, not even two hours ago, and are exhausted! they have both had one hell of a time and I—"

"So he's thawed?!" Summer blurted out.

Winter sighed. "Yes."

"But the curse said it couldn't be done!"

"Summer! Please, keep it down," Winter said, popping her head outside the parlour door and looking down the hall and up the stairs. She closed them gently before turning back to her sisters, wearing her best snow queen look. "You know how Blaise feels about the curse and the circumstances surrounding it."

"He can't ignore the facts," Summer said.

"He still wants to think the best of his brother," Winter defended.

"Even after all these centuries? Damn. That's impressive. If any of you cursed my kids, I'd have your heads," Summer said, Autumn humming in agreement.

"I'd straight up kill," Spring said, covering her mouth and flushing afterwards. "Sorry! That slipped out."

Winter chuckled. "I almost did, if you'll recall. I almost had that man's head," Winter spat, glaring. Composing herself, she took a deep breath before continuing. "You're all making very good points, and while I agree, I'm not going to force Blaise to feel differently. I love him; I'm not going to tell him his feelings are wrong! And he knows how I feel about it, and he's not going to tell me that my feelings are wrong. Now then. Curses aside, something we thought would never happen, COULD never happen, has happened. Jack has thawed, and yes, he came home today. He's here, slushy as can be and I—am having a very rough go of it. Your interrogation, Spring, certainly isn't helping," Winter snapped, glaring at the green call cloud.

"Completely understandable," Autumn said, brown eyes sparkling. Summer snorted; Spring protested with a little hey, crossing her arms and scowling. "It's best we let Winter have some her time," Autumn said. "We can visit her for dinner another day."

"Tomorrow's another day!" Spring said, perking up a bit, petals fluttering off her head.

"Spring!" Winter protested.

"I can clear my schedule," Summer said.

"You too, Summer? Can't we wait until the end of the week? Or next weekend?" Winter asked, though she knew what the answer would be before she even asked.

"Oh no," Spring said, fierce. "I am not letting him patter around the place for a week without seeing for myself if it's actually true. What if something bad happens?"

"Then it would have already happened!" Winter nearly shouted.

Spring looked shocked; Summer looked like she was very much enjoying Spring getting told. Autumn gazed at Winter quietly; thoughtfully.

Winter sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to shout." She took a moment to compose herself, breathing deeply before continuing. "If you're going to insist on coming by, fine. Just. I'd like the evening to myself. It's been a very off day, good talks and all, and I just. Need a moment to go be completely mortified without my sisters breathing down my neck. I can handle myself, Spring. You know full well."

Spring sighed. "Alright, fine. Tomorrow evening it is, then," Spring said, frowning thoughtfully. "But I don't like it."

"And what, you think Winter does?" Summer asked, eyebrow arched.

"I'll make some pie," Autumn interrupted excitedly, before Spring could erupt. Again. "After all, seasons, we wouldn't want Winter to prep everything herself, would we? Given that we've invited ourselves over?"

"Of course not!" Spring said.

"Which pies?" Summer asked.

"I was thinking the apple pie? And maybe the pumpkin one, if I have time. There's no shortage of pumpkins my way, after all," she said with a grin.

"That sounds DELICIOUS!" Summer said, excited. "I'll see what I can whip up over here. I got a ton of fresh fruit—oh, you know what? I'll cover sides. See you ladies tomorrow!" And with a wave, the yellow call cloud puffed out of existence.

"She didn't even wait for a time!" Spring said.

"Dinner time is a time," Autumn replied.

"I guess," said Spring. "Does six o'clock work, Winter?"

"Well it's not like I have a choice," Winter mumbled.

"Sorry, what was that?" Spring asked.

"Yes, Spring, that should be fine."

"Excellent! I'll see you tomorrow, then. This is exciting!" Spring was all sunshine and daisies, now. Any trace of anger or annoyance had vanished. "We haven't had a sisters dinner in a while! In the meantime, if anything happens, let me know," she said, intense once more. "I'll be over there so fast."

"Nothing will happen," Winter said, irritated.

"Fingers crossed!"

And with that, the green cloud went out, leaving Winter with Autumn. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"You should've seen her about an hour ago," Autumn said. "Believe it or not, Summer and I actually calmed her down a considerable amount. She was blooming all over the place! Summer nearly had to tackle her down."

When the very common imagery of Summer tackling the tinniest season didn't even garner a snicker from the coldest season, Autumn hummed. "You okay?"

"As fine as can be, given the circumstances," Winter admitted, perching on the armrest of the nearest sofa. The call cloud drifted towards her, hovering beside her now. "I imagine, had you and Summer not intervened, that could've been way worse. Thank you for that."

"Of course! We all know how she can get. You sure you're okay for the time being? If you'd like to chat, I'm happy to listen," Autumn said with a warm smile.

"Oh, I appreciate the offer, Autumn. I really do. But no. Not right now. I'm just going to process what's happened and then perhaps crawl into bed and bury myself in blankets for a bit."

"Smoking hot husband included?"

"Goddess willing," Winter said, sounding exhausted.

Autumn laughed. "Well alright. But if you need anything, I'm a call away, sis. I don't have any plans to leave the chalet today, especially now that I have pies to make. Feel free to drop by, if you need some space? A chat? A vent, even?"

Winter laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, but I think I'll be alright. I've got to prep for a feast now, after all. That's distraction enough! I suppose I'll have to go do a little shop as well."

"Let me know if I an help in any way. I don't mind making some mains, either. You can always send me a leaf."

"Oh, not to worry, Autumn dear. I'm sure Blaise will have it covered."

"Let him know I'm here if he needs anything as well, alright?"

"I will."

"Good. Sure you'll be okay?"

"For the time being, yes. But I'll keep what you said in mind," Winter added, offering her sister a warm smile. "Promise."

"Then I'll let you go, Winter. I'll see you tomorrow," Autumn said. Blowing a kiss (Winter replying in kind), the red sparks dissipated, leaving Winter in silence as she slowly tipped backwards and landed on the sofa.

Not only was she unable to talk to Jack about anything, she now had no time to try and figure that out seeing as how she now had to prep a feast for her overbearing sisters! Sister, really. It was mainly Spring's doing, not all three of them. And given Spring's end of season track record, Winter was more than happy to blame her for many, many things.

"Okay Winter. Deep breaths." Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Good. Time to focus, she thought, pushing herself up and over the armrest, gliding out of the parlour.

"Blaise dear," she called out gently, closing the parlour doors behind her, relieved when she heard him reply from the den. "We have a bit of a...predicament," she decided, heading towards his voice.

Bernard and Quintin stood side by side, surveying the Dome.

It was in one piece. There weren't any visible cracks or crevices. Not even a trickle of water tickled their ears. The lights shone once again, dancing high above them, the area cold as it should be—not as warm as it had been, and not as cold as it would be if they were on the other side of the Dome, in the empty expanse of the North Pole itself.

For all intents and purposes, the Dome appeared to have been fixed. Properly.

"It's as good as new, Bernard," Quintin said, breaking the silence. "All of our equipment is coming back with positive readings. Secondary, erm, manual checks came up clean, too. And I think our eyesight is good, despite our ages," he teased.

Bernard chuckled. "I know. I just…Jack said that it wasn't permanent."

"I know. You've mentioned that at least twenty times now, if not more. But there isn't a single crack, dent, scratch, leak, or any other variation of aberration that I may have missed on my list! We didn't find a single one. How's it feeling?"

Bernard shifted his weight, tilting his head. While he wasn't the Dome expert and couldn't tell with certainty if it was leaking magic at all, a quick dip down should be enough to give him a sense of the magic levels presently at the Pole. Sure enough, as he focused, Bernard felt the slightest amount of magic still leaking out. Barely a trickle; a minuscule amount that could easily be mistaken for seasonal norms.

Or, you know. Maybe it was the norm. December was a few days away, after all. That was usually when the Christmas magic that moved through the Dome seeped out, coating the world and spreading joy and cheer throughout the world. And the tiny inkling Bernard felt could very well be just that.

"Impossible to tell," Bernard finally replied. "Seems okay. There's a small amount of magic trickling out, but given the time of year…"

"Seasonally appropriate?"

"Yep."

"Hmm. Quite the conundrum," Quintin said, crossing his arms.

"Seems pretty straightforward to me," another voice said.

Bernard and Quintin turned around, the former brightening as Elle crested the hill, jacket buttoned up and scarf around her neck.

"Hey Elle," Bernard said, turning back to the Dome.

Brushing some stray sparks off of her shoulders, Elle joined the pair at the hill, staring at the Dome now too.

"I didn't even hear you come up!" Quintin said.

"I'm sneaky," Elle said, winking.

"When she wants to be," Bernard teased. Elle laughed, gently swaying into him.

"So," Quintin said. "Straightforward, eh?"

Elle nodded. "Yeah! I mean. The Dome's fixed," she pointed out with a shrug. "Sure, it's only temporary, but everything is more or less back to seasonal norms around here. You guys triple checked, with and without tech," she added, nodding to the bag at Quintin's side. "So why so frowny?"

"That's what's got me so frowny," Bernard admitted, a half smile at Elle's chosen word. "It's stopped. Seemingly. Jack said it hadn't; that whatever they did? It's only temporary. The Deliquesce is still going on."

"And he is the Dome Expert," Quintin said, only half joking.

"Exactly. It's the one thing he's always been on top of, even when frozen solid. So I'm a little concerned still. It just feels like we're brushing it under the rug, you know?"

"Very true, mate, very true. But, we do know that if anything were to start up again, Jack would come down ASAP to fix it. I think it's safe to say that, what with our first walkabout so successful, and the plans you've put in place for future ones, it's going to be all right."

"For now," Bernard said, frown deepening.

Quintin glanced over at Elle, quirking an eyebrow. He pointed at Bernard with his chin, tilting his head at her questioningly.

Nodding, Elle moved closer to Bernard, gently grabbing his hand. "Hey," she said, placing her free hand on his shoulder. "I know it feels like you've brushed it under the rug, but you really haven't. Quintin's right! We've got everything set up to keep tabs on this thing throughout the month. That's anything but brushing it under the rug," she said, gently squeezing his hand. "Besides, if you keep standing up here staring at it, you'll brush everything else under the rug," she added, squeezing him one last time before letting go. She crossed her arms, a knowing smile on her face.

"Like lunch," Quintin said, Bernard chuckling. "If you two will excuse me, I find myself a mite bit peckish. I'm going to head back down. And you should too, Bernard! If I'm peckish, Kringle knows how you're feeling," he teased once more. Bernard flushed, Elle hiding laughter behind her hand. "See you both back at the shop!" Quintin said, waving as he set off down the hill, his tall hat disappearing rather fast.

"So. Lunch?" Elle asked, laughing when Bernard's stomach grumbled right on cue.

"I could eat," Bernard said, sheepish.

Grabbing his hand, Elle gently pulled him down towards the hill.

Bernard watched her closely, giving her hand a little squeeze. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah! Mostly. Just a little worried, is all. Less so now," she said, squeezing his hand back. "But it's not entirely gone."

"Jacqueline?"

"Yeah."

"No word from her?"

"No, not yet. But you know how she is. Frequently forgetting she has a phone and more often than not forgetting about our direct line," Elle said, tapping her head.

Bernard laughed, stepping in sync with Elle as they made their way down the hill, both agreeing wordlessly to take the long way down.

"I'm sure she made it in safe. Both of them did, probably. I mean, if you don't hear from her, you can always bug her later."

"That's the plan! But it's not just if they made it in okay," she said, trees beginning to dot the path down.

"Those weird meltdowns of hers?"

Elle nodded. "Yeah."

"They're bugging me too," he said, squeezing her hand. "Very odd; super out of character. I can't even think of what could be causing them, but I know she's not doing it on purpose."

Elle was silent as they continued down the path. The trees thickened; snowflakes blew in the air, the pines rustling. "She's not," Elle said finally, sounding very certain.

"Oh!" Bernard said, realization dawning. "That voice you were hearing?"

"Yeah. It's been bugging me," Elle admitted. "It seems like I was the only one hearing it. I don't know why and...it's bugging me. A lot."

"Did you bring it up with her?"

Elle shook her head. "No. I didn't have a chance too, and honestly I have no idea how to bring it up. On the way back from our coffee date the other day, we both heard the voice; I made sure to tell her as much. But since she's forgotten most of the lead up, I don't know if she even remembers hearing it, or me telling her I could hear it, too! I'd love to bug her about it right now, but I'm not entirely sure all's well back at her place. With the fam, you know?"

"Oh, I know full well. Just thinking about it is taking years off my life," Bernard said dryly, lips pressed together in a tight line.

Elle snorted. "Well, I mean, they'd be back by now if something had gone wrong, right?"

"Most likely," Bernard said.

"Yeah. That's why a message would be nice, you know? Just a quick hey bud, I'm a-okay! But does she? Nope," Elle said.

"Might as well drop a line," Bernard said. "We're both worried and, you know, it's been a few hours already. It's like you said; if they haven't made their way back here already, then things are probably fine. You should be good to launch your attack."

Elle laughed. "I hope so. Mother Nature came by," she said.

"She did?"

"Yeah! Came in to check in with the pair of them. She was very surprised when I let her know they'd gone back home."

"I don't blame her. She was livid about the Day of Darkness. More so when she learnt what happened to Jacqueline," Bernard said. "Plus the fallout Jack caused? Yeesh. If the year hadn't gone the way it had, I would not want to be in Jack's shoes right now."

"That's the thing, though! Like, is it going to be okay to check in with her now? Or do you think Mother Nature's paying them a visit?"

"Hard to say," Bernard said. "She's also seen Jack change this year, just like us. I'm sure she was surprised, but I bet she's glad to see him finally make up with the rest of the Frosts. That, or she's gone right to their front door to check in."

For some unfathomable reason, Elle found herself laughing, picturing Mother Nature in all her skirts and headdress and general tall presence marching right up the porch of Frost Manor to pay them a visit. She grinned to herself. "I guess it won't hurt to check in on her once we get back to the Workshop."

"Why not now?"

"Because I like spending time with you," she said, squeezing his hand tightly.

Bernard grinned, squeezing hers back, the two elves continuing their very long walk down to the Workshop, happy just being with each other.

Jacqueline sat at home in Jack's not-so-secret "secret" library, doing some of her own research. Determined to not think about the meltdowns, she decided to throw her efforts into trying to figure out two things: first and foremost, why Jack's core wasn't working properly. It was the most pressing problem at present. Next on her list was that strange thing that had happened to them both just before leaving the North Pole. There wasn't much information for her to go off of there. Neither Blaise nor Winter had ever heard of anything like it. So, definitely a Legate Law thing that she'd have to figure out outside of the resources she had at home. Plan of action in place, she had picked a few older volumes and gotten comfortable, scouring them for clues about Jack's freezer burn.

Jack had collected a lot of books. Personal volumes handwritten by people Jacqueline had only heard about in stories, until Blaise had given her the Rosehaven talk when she was sixteen-hundred and two. Like the Winter Warlock, the Snow Queen, Old Man Winter...figures from fairy tales and legends outside of the Council. She hoped that perhaps one of these specialized volumes would have some direct mention of what could be causing Jack's freezer burn, since the ones she was looking at were specifically about winter sprites. And, if she found nothing, she'd branch out to other sprites. After all, other sprites could have their own version of frozen hearts. Maybe there'd be some similarities with a summer sprite's stony heart cracking, or something.

Focusing on the books at hand, Jacqueline found herself jumping in her chair a bit when Elle popped into her head.

Hey Jacquie, you there?

The book in her hand nearly slipped from her grip as her concentration was knocked. Yes! I'm here. Sorry, you startled me!

Sorry! I would've texted you but you forget you have a phone.

I actually haven't seen it in like four days, Jacqueline realized, frowning. The direct approach was probably best. Anyway, what's up? Do you already miss little old me?

Elle laughed. Whatever helps you sleep at night, pal. I actually just wanted to know how things went at home. I was getting a bit worried.

Jacqueline sighed, closing her book and stretching, trying to think of the quickest way to summarize it to Elle.

It went fairly well, I think.

Oh yeah?

Yeah! Fiera slapped Jack.

She did what?! Elle exclaimed, the thought loud enough to give Jacqueline the impression that she had also said it out loud. The sprite laughed.

She slapped Jack. Someone was bound to do it eventually!

I'm honestly a bit mad it wasn't me. Had I known slapping him was an option, I would've done it for you ages ago!

Now it was Jacqueline's turn to laugh out loud. You're my favourite person, just so you know.

I know, Elle replied, a little bit smug. For real though. I will slap a brother out. Just say the word and I got you, dude.

Jacqueline laughed. I think Fiera covered that. But! Seeing as how that was the worst physical thing that happened, I'd say things went fairly well!

...So how went the uh. Emotional side of things then?

That's a loaded question. Let me think for a sec.

Jacqueline put down her book, thoughtful. She tapped her chin, deciding to give her friend the quick version of events.

Dad was outside when we arrived. He and Jack talked right away. It went really well. Like, surprisingly so! After that, he i ntroduced himself to the Twins; got slapped by Fiera, and then answered all of their questions and then some over lunch. But when it came to Mom...they're both being super weird with each other. She seems to be having a hard time like, seeing him, if that makes sense.

Metaphysically or like, do you think she should look into glasses, Elle teased.

The first one, Jacqueline thought back with a brief chuckle, tucking her feet under her legs. She placed her elbow on the armrest, resting her chin on her hand. She can see him just fine, but she's acting like she can barely believe he's there, even though she sees him. Which is weird, my mom isn't usually this...awkward. I mean, she can be awkward, but not like this. It's. It's awkward between the two of them. I don't really understand what's up. I think Jack does, though.

And he hasn't told you?

No. He said he would once he straightens things out with Mom. Oh! I should've told him to look on the bright side! At least she let him into the house, Jacqueline thought with another chuckle.

I see he was no match for the big, bad, scary sentient gate, Elle teased.

Jacqueline laughed out loud. Yeah! It was pretty funny, actually, the gate literally shoved him onto the grounds!

Like it just. Whacked him in the back and tossed him into the yard?

More or less, yeah! Seemed very excited about it too. The gate, that is. Jack was perplexed. It was funny! Jacqueline finished, yawning. It's been a crazy day, she added.

Speaking of crazy things, mind if I ask you something? It's about the blackouts.

Jacqueline frowned for a moment, shifting in her seat. Sure. What's up?

The last blackout you had...how much do you remember?

Jacqueline frowned, sitting up a bit. We were getting food...I thought I saw something. I went after it, and then woke up on the floor. Again.

So you don't remember the moments before it?

Not in detail, no. It's kind of…foggy. Sorry, Elle. Why?

As we were walking back to the Workshop, you were hearing someone say something. The thing is, I heard it too. I was hearing someone, too.

You were?!

Yes. But nobody outside from the two of us heard it. Not Santa, not Jack, not even Bernard. I'm thinking that maybe it was a telepathy thing. Maybe that's why your connections were blocked, too?

"Hold on a sec," Jacqueline said, both out loud and in her thoughts. She fully straightened on the armchair now, nearly leaning off of the seat. You're telling me, you heard a voice only I was hearing? Coming from my head?!

More like in your head. I couldn't find a source, but it was there. From...I don't know where. But I heard it! And so did you.

Jacqueline blinked, fully absorbing what Elle had said.

A voice that only she could hear. She and her telepathic bestie.

Nobody else could hear it.

It was saying things to her, and she had a horrible feeling that whatever it had been saying was...working. She blanched. Someone was getting into her head, getting into her thoughts, and maybe was doing something so that she'd forget it all completely?!

Frost coated the chair she was on, spiralling onto the book she had just put down on the side table, her hand having barely left the surface.

How? How were they doing it? What even was it? How do you stop something when you have no idea what that something even is? Or how it was happening?

How could anyone help her? She couldn't even help herself!

And that was the most terrifying thought of all.

On the other side of the wall, Jack was having a similar crisis. He lay on his back on his bed, frowning up at the ceiling.

The whole thing with Winter was…weird. And he couldn't even figure out what was up with his mother because he had, of course, gone and cut his connection with her the day after he had left the family home for good (or so he thought, at the time).

Severing connections wasn't unheard of amongst magibeans. Even magibeans sometimes have to go no contact with loved ones for their own health and wellness. And it wasn't taboo; it just wasn't a topic of conversation that came up very often. When it did, it was usually from the child's perspective—generational divides and such could make it hard to get along with old fashioned parents, especially when you lived as long as magibeans did.

And when he was frozen, this seemed like exactly what he needed to do. And though both parents had connections with their kids, maternal connections were a lot more tangible than paternal ones (which is why Jack hadn't actively sought out ways to cut paternal ties—just block). And when he had woken up a month after leaving, a little calmer (though not by a lot), he had noticed that the tangible connection was weak. Unsure why, Jack thought it'd be best to just. Slice that thread right off.

And so he did. It went from tattered, to a dead end. Line disconnected.

A dead end that, as he lay and reflected, he could still find. It was worn and terribly frayed, cut and torn badly in comparison to the light blue connection that linked him with his Legate. But it was there. And maybe, just maybe, he could fix it, and it'd be as bright and strong as the one beside it!

Speaking of, Jack wondered what Jacqueline was up to. She had all but disappeared after lunch, which was really quite rude, leaving him alone with the rents. Of course, if he were in her shoes, he'd have run off as soon as possible, too. Between those odd blackouts she had been having, not to mention, that weird power…thing the two of them had discovered while fixing the Dome, he'd want to find answers asap!

Which was probably a better use of his time than laying about, even though the idea of sleep was very tempting. His mind was running way too fast for him to even attempt to get some shut eye!

So, with a spring in his step he hopped off the bed and strode over to the bookshelves lining the wall in his sitting room. His finger trailed the titles, stopping on an unmarked book and pulling it off the shelf.

Or rather, out of the shelf. It teetered on the fore-edge, and seemed to stop in place.

There was a creak; the high pitched grating of gears (he'd have to do something about the noise, this shelf used to glide!), and the shelf started spinning, bringing Jack into a whole other room that only he really knew about. Or so he thought. As the shelf clicked into place, Jack slid the volume back in it's spot and turned around, nearly jumping when he saw a whole other person sitting in his library like she owned the place.

"Excuse me, what the frost is this?"

"Look, sometimes, I get a little frosty, okay? Geez, it's not like you were a master of your craft at nineteen hundred."

"No no no, not this," Jack said, gesturing to the ice all over his favourite arm chair. "This," he said, pointing at Jacqueline.

"You just. Pointed to all of me."

"Yes! What are you doing in here? This room's a secret!"

"And I was a very curious kid! I don't know what you expected!"

"For a secret room to remain a secret. I'm sorry, is that a door?!"

Jacqueline turned in her armchair. "Yeah, the door to my sitting room."

"You put a door in? Well that completely defeats the purpose! It's supposed to be a secret room, Jacqueline. You know, with a cool secret entrance?"

"It's very Scooby-Doo," she replied, smirking.

"Oh live a little, sister dear. You know," Jack continued, moving deeper into the room, "fun is a very big part of this job and I think if you're going to be taking it over one day, you could do with a bit of it."

"Hey! I have fun all the time! Oodles of fun! More fun than you, probably." She leant forwards in her chair. "I even have fun in the snow, which I know is a concept you can't seem to fully grasp," she said with a smirk.

"Ou, that is a low blow, Jacqueline! A low blow!"

She laughed, waving the frost off of the armchair and onto her skirt. "Have you ever looked at the plans for the house?"

"No. Why would I?"

"I have, after a teleport mishap landed me in here. I asked Dad about it, and he said it was a spare room that you had decided to use for something or other. Of course I explored it. I mean, it was a secret library you were using, and I thought—well, what I thought is beside the point. The gist of it is there's a lot of cool stuff in here! I didn't know winter sprites could do half of the things in these books, let alone that some of these sprites actually existed. I added some notes to some. I hope you don't mind."

Jack blinked, taken aback. "But did you have to put in a door?"

"It's not easy getting a secret bookshelf door when you're twelve hundred, Jack. Not a lot of people take you seriously, and I didn't want anyone to like, take the stuff in here, you know? Especially since I started keeping a couple of important keepsakes and crap in here, too. Where did you get all this stuff?"

Jack shrugged, wandering around the room. The few bookshelves were crammed with bound journals, scrap pieces of paper hanging off some of the shelves. It was brightly lit, for an average sized room. Between glowing magical artifacts and a decent sized window, a fair amount of light came in as sunset drew closer. A long, curved stick was against the window, covered in its own layer of frost. On the high up shelves, a paintbrush, a few old wands, and some sceptres sat, once used and now forgotten by magical figures long, long ago.

He had expected the room to smell stale and bookish, but it didn't. It smelled of paper and ink, of course, but not old. Jack figured his sister had made use of the specialized library, especially when he noticed a few other items on the shelves that he didn't recall placing there.

"That is a teddy bear," Jack said, pointing to a white bear desperately in need of a wash.

"His name is Bearnard and he's very magical, before you ask. And also very important to me. You didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"Where'd you get all the stuff?"

Jack smiled. She looked tired; small bags were under her eyes, but despite the exhaustion, she leaned forward, eyes lit up, excited. It remind Jack of simpler times, when he was five or six hundred years older than she was now, and she was barely four hundred and learning at an exceptionally fast rate. He had nearly run out of things to teach her! She was full of so many questions, some of them that had no business being as good as they were, given her age.

"I was always an over achiever. Mother taught me everything she knew, but I wanted to know more," he began, taking a seat in the armchair across from her. "So I snuck into Rosehaven to talk to the old myths and legends that used to roam about, before the call."

"You broke into Rosehaven?! You're sitting here telling me you broke into the actual afterlife, totally not dead, risking potentially being trapped there for numerous reasons including but not limited to forfeiting your life because you jumped into the afterlife, without meeting the criteria, and potentially incurring the goddess's rage by going into Rosehaven without being called or retiring, and you're mad at me for accidental witch trials?!"

"Execution and research are two very different things, ma sœur."

"But being dumb of ass is not, seeing as how your "research" could very well have ended in an execution."

"Hey! Be nice! I think my pride has taken enough hits for today."

Jacqueline cackled, leaning back in her chair. "That slap, eh? Fiera dunked you, dude."

Jack rubbed his cheek. "Not my first slap, and certainly not my last one. Surprising, though; did not expect that from her. How can one so tiny have such force?"

"Just Fiera things," Jacqueline said with a grin, as though that explained everything.

"...I'll take your word for it. Now, I answered your question; stop avoiding mine."

Jacqueline looked puzzled. "What question?"

"What are you doing in here?"

"Same thing I expect you came in here to do. Research!" She said, picking up the book on the side table and giving it a little flourish. "I was looking into core stuff, because I had no idea where to even start with the magic-splosion stuff."

"The what now?"

"Magic-splosion! you know, that weird thing we did? That fixed the Dome? Where it felt like your powers were back in working order? That thing?"

"Magic-splosion? We are not calling it that."

"Why not? It's fun!"

Jack rolled his eyes, shooting out of his seat and over to the shelves. "I'll look into that. Maybe I'll be able to find out what it's actually called before magic-splosion catches on."

"Bold of you to assume it hasn't already."

"What about those blackouts?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't play dumb, Jacqueline," Jack said, glancing her way through the gaps in the shelves.

She was flushed; her armchair looked a little bit frosty again. "I uh, hadn't thought about that," she lied.

Jack could take a hint (surprisingly). "Right," he said. "Well then, let's see what we can dig up on cores and power surges? Power merges? Sudden overpower-ed-ness?"

"Those names also suck."

"Magic-splosion's worse," Jack said, trailing his fingers across a shelf labelled "amplification of magic", a raspberry Jacqueline's only response

A/N: Edited as of July 8th, 2021; touched up August, 2023.

This one took a little longer originally, there was a LOT to sift through though the opening didn't need much editing, just some refining-though there was a lot ADDED to the chapter. A good chapter overall, I think. lots of thoughts, feelings, and everyone beginning to get down to business. And of course, nosy sisters. Poor Winter, they do cause a lot of sighing for the coldest season. I have once again shuffled events in these two chapters, but I think they flow a lot better now! Writing the last scene was a lot of fun. I love me some good old sibling banter! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the rewrite/edit so far! Do drop a line and let me know how it's going!