Secret of Frost and Moon

Bright Memory

Alaia Skyhawk: Here's the next chapter guys! And a shout-out to orion-redde for drawing this super cute picture of a Winter Sprite. They've got them pretty-much bang on, just picture the little fellow with his fur fluffed out as if he's had an encounter with a vandergraph generator, and you get the idea :D

The picture can be found here: www . orion-redde . deviantart art/Winter-Sprite-347796233 (Take out the spaces either side of each " . ") Thanks again, orion!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 17: Bright Memory

'October 2nd 1738' is what the icy numerals on the wall declared, placed above a pair of hooks that held a certain wooden staff, which in turn were placed above the 'bed' below. That bed was little more than a slab of ice with a huge pile of snow heaped onto it, and buried among that snow as if it were blankets, was the Spirit of Winter.

The faint sound of whirring cogs came from behind the wall, a soft background noise he was used to by now, but nothing could ignore the sound which was about to replace it.

Behind the wall was something akin to a perpetual calendar and alarm clock, designed by Ombric and then built by Jack so that the power within the Winter Sanctuary would fuel it and keep it going forever. And that 'clock', once per day at the exact same time, played a melodious but VERY loud tune using two-dozen bells made of ice, much like the rest of the collection of icy cogs and pivots were made.

The bells began to ring out, loud enough to make the snow on the bed tremble, and a head of white hair emerged from that snowdrift.

Jack yawned and reached up to grab his staff from its perch, before floating up out of the snow and whisking it smooth again in the matter that normal people would straighten their blankets. He then landed on the polished floor and strolled over to where an Ice Mirror about eighteen inches across, was held in a delicately fluted stand of ice. Beside it was a large armchair, also made of ice, which had been heaped with snow in the place of cushions.

He dropped in among that snow comfortably, at the same moment the mirror shimmered. He still hadn't managed to make them much bigger than this one, but he'd at least perfected controlling them without touching them. As for where he was looking using this one, it was the bedside-table in Emily and Albert's house.

Jack blinked, staring in curiosity, at the sight of a folded cloth bundle and a small scrap of paper on that table. His 'alarm clock' was built in part for this reason, so that he would always check-in for messages from his sister at the same time every day. But he also leaned forward to stick his head through, and confirm there were no visitors in the house before he grabbed the items on the table... The first year he'd started using Ice Mirrors this way, he'd almost treated one of Emily's neighbours to the sight of a floating letter. It had only been Albert's quick thinking, in stepping to the side to block that sight, which had prevented it. 'Check before take' was now the rule, and Jack obeyed it.

Inside the cabin was empty, although there were the usual signs that Emily and Albert had just had breakfast before going out. It was early morning at village time, which was almost noon at the Winter Sanctuary, but Jack didn't mind. He tended to go by village-time for everything anyway.

He grabbed the bundle and the note, lifting them carefully through the mirror before changing the view in the mirror to an image of his pond. But then he changed his mind, and altered the image to one of Santoff Claussen. The sun would be setting there soon, and it was always breathtaking to watch. Besides, he could get sounds though his mirror now, and listening to the children of Santoff Claussen playing with Bear, brought a smile to his face.