Secret of Frost and Moon

Thaddeus Burgess

Alaia Skyhawk: Hehe, I know you guys have been looking forward to seeing how I do this bit :)

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.

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Chapter 25: Thaddeus Burgess

Jack stared at the family in great concern, his mind churning over the numerous blizzards and freezing winds he knew would be bringing to this part of Northern America over the next few months. He had the whole season almost entirely planned out for each of the major areas, with a little bit of room to change things if Mother Nature came calling with a specific storm in mind, but there was certainly no chance he could ease off the weather in any way.

This family were going to be in serious trouble, if something wasn't done to get them to prepare.

He flew up off his perch, turning to dart the few hundred yards to the village, which being on a small rise was actually visible from the new cabin. Upon reaching the village, and checking for any children being in sight, Jack then carefully slipped into James' cabin through one of the rear windows. His arrival startled the occupants, who had been in the middle of a meal when he made his entrance.

James hastened over to the window, to close the shutters once the immortal was inside.

"Jack, you're back early."

Jack was solemn.

"I've got early preparations to do, bringing the temperature down in advance of the official start of Northern Winter... It's going to be a bad one this year, which wouldn't normally cause me concern because the village always gets word from me to prepare... but."

James winced in understanding.

"The cabin down by the river. They are Thaddeus Burgess, his wife, Mary, and their children, Grace and Liam. They arrived a little over a week ago, and got that cabin set up in just a couple of days, they worked so hard at it. They were invited to build their cabin here, but refused. They wanted to be by the river."

Jack cursed under his breath.

"I can't go easy on them. If they're not warned about what's coming, they're likely to freeze or starve before winter is even half done."

James set his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"I'll go speak to Thaddeus tomorrow, and invite his family to attend the Festival of First Snow. Gavin can tell his son to take the village children down there as well, to spark the beginnings of belief in you with Grace and Liam."

"Good." Jack let out a sigh. "That will mean I can have them pass weather warnings to their parents, although there's no guarantee they'll listen. Do what you can, James. I'll be back with the first snows in four weeks."

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The weeks had passed by, seeming both swift and yet slow. Swift in that very little direct contact had been made with the family by the river, except by the children, and slow in that bringing up the matter of the Spirit of Winter, was something best left until circumstances actually meant it would be normal to mention it.

If he'd gone to Thaddeus on the day of Jack's visit, the man would probably have closed the door in his face.

James walked along the narrow trail, through woods dusted with the snow that had fallen just this morning. The path was well-worn now, thanks to the daily passage of the village children, let by Gavin's seven-year-old son, Grayham. Every day they'd gone to the cabin by the river, they'd helped Thaddeus gather firewood and get his farming-plot cleared of tree stumps, and then they'd led Grace and Liam into the woods to place games.