Secret of Frost and Moon

Carvings and Cookies

Alaia Skyhawk: Here's the next one!

And lol, there seems to be a bit of confusion over Mother Nature's "young Guardian" line from last chapter. The way she phrased it she was talking about Jack, but to Bunny and North it sounded like she was talking about North. Because North IS a young Guardian in comparison to Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy :)

Mother Nature was playing word-games heheheehe!

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 42: Carvings and Cookies

Stepping through the portal, from modest warmth into frigid chill, was a transition that to Jack was what walking into a cosy home from a cold night would be to a human. The cold air roused a sigh of contentment, as snow began to dust down within the sanctuary's cavern, but the reaction from North wasn't so pleased.

Used to the cold as his was, what with living near the North Pole and originating from Russia, that still didn't help him when he wasn't wearing his hat and only had a thin coat on. The sudden shift in temperatures made him visibly shudder in reaction, and Jack glanced at him apologetically.

"Sorry, I tend to just let this place stay the same temperature as outside. It never bothers Sandy." He frowned a little in concentration, which was followed by a noticeable increase in the air temperature around them, and then he smiled. "That better?"

North pulled his coat a little tighter around him, but nodded. The temperature was still sub-zero, but now it was only around minus two instead of minus twenty. Only now did he really take a look at his surrounding, and what he saw made him gasp in wonder.

"...Rimsky Korsakov... This is Winter Sanctuary?"

The Russian stared at the massive cavern, the fluted stalactites and stalagmites of ice, the sculpted snowflakes they held, and the Ice Palace that dominated one side of the central plaza. At this point Jack was glad he'd reworked the palace façade two decades back. It actually looked like a palace now, all ornate and intricate on the outside, instead of a structure made out of boxes of ice with doors and windows cut into them.

He smiled at North's reaction, and began to glide towards the palace entrance. Stopping far enough away that it was only by virtue of the walls and floor of the cavern holding a pale glow, that there was light enough for him to be seen.

"It is... The room with my carved sculptures is this way."

North began to follow him, still looking around in wonder, although he now looked a little puzzled.

"Is it always so gloomy in here?"

Jack let out a quiet snort of laughter.

"You live near the North Pole! Surely you know what Polar Night is?"

North blinked at him.

"Course I do! But it's summer, and Polar Night only happens during winter."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Um, it's Northern Summer right now, which means it's Southern Winter."

"This is South Pole?"

They were inside the palace now, where the glow from the floor was added to by little crystal globes sat in holders like tree-branches along the walls. Jack had landed, and was now walking as he answered.

"No, we're not at the pole, but this is Antarctica. The Winter Sanctuary sits within a glacier, a few hundred miles from the mountain range on the side nearest South America. Polar Night lasts four months here, we get two months of mixed dark and light, four months of Polar Day, then another two months of light/dark. I didn't pick the location, the sanctuary was already here before I was chosen, but I'm definitely glad it's not right at the Pole. A four-month Polar Night is bad enough, without having to deal with a longer one."