Now There Are Five... Wait... Six?

Prologue

There are many entities and spirits in the world, each with its own tale and personality. Some are famous, some less so. Some linger as mere local legends, and some remain universally well-known. 

And then some are a mixture of both.

They all had something in common. The Moon. The Man in the Moon created all of them.  Among them all, a select few were raised to the status of Guardians. It was a cherished and valued position that bore a heavy responsibility.

Every one of them had a story to tell, and it was deep within the forests of France that those stories were kept.

Jack Frost was long used to being invisible.

That didn't mean it hurt any less or that he'd accepted that fact. Even a hundred years after he'd been awakened by the moon, he'd never stopped trying to find at least one person who could see him. His name was known, a passing byword for the cold bite of winter, but no one seemed to believe in the actual Jack Frost.

It was beyond frustrating.

However, existence-even Jack couldn't quite categorize his immortality as 'life'-went on. It was just another day, flying around the world, refreezing the recent spring thaw wherever he went until he reached a region north of Paris that he'd never visited before.

Soaring on the powerful air currents of the atmosphere, Jack momentarily enjoyed the freedom and elation he felt every time he was in flight. It never grew old, no matter how depressed or disheartened he sometimes felt.

This and the prospects of a new adventure were enough to boost his spirits higher than he'd felt in months, and it was with a light heart that he approached the unexplored forest he'd found. 

He felt it the instant he drew close. A power that resided deep within the forest. It was a similar feeling of magic Jack had felt when trying to break in at the North Pole but held that ancient grandeur of the Tooth Fairy's palace of Punjam Hy Loo.

A vast forest of trees, stretching as far as the eye could see, like a pale ocean of newly growing leaves. Sycomores, some of them older than Jack himself currently, stood majestic and tall against the sky, almost humming with whatever energy Jack felt in the air.

The overwhelming joy and curiosity in Jack's eyes sparkled more brightly than his snowflakes. He had to explore this place, and he had to explore it now!

Landly lightly on the ground, Jack rested his staff on his shoulder, confidently striding into his next adventure.

Jack was long lost.

After spending an immeasurable amount of time wandering willy-nilly, jumping through the trees, and freezing over the occasional pond, Jack was well and truly turned around with no idea where he was anymore. He'd tried to fly above the trees, but the almost leafless branches were too widely spread and tangled to pass through without breaking them. Something told Jack that wasn't the best idea. If, by some small chance, these trees were alive, or worse, an alarm to some territorial spirit, things could quickly turn ugly. Jack was more than confident in his abilities, but he never pranked people unless he had an escape route in place to bail.

So he was stuck wandering the woods until he found his way out or ran into one of the locals; that is, if there were any locals.

Lost in thought, Jack tapped his staff against a nearby stone, glazing it over with intricate frost patterns before flopping down on it. He absently tapped his bare foot on the ground, leaning his head back to peer at the sunlight streaming through the branches overhead.

Time seemed lost within this forest, not because of some magic or curse but simply because of how quiet it was. There were a few sounds from the local wildlife, but it was like hearing them all through a thick mist.

It was peaceful, but it gave Jack the same feeling he felt inside a library. It was too quiet, even when it was not. He embarrassingly realized that he hadn't once made a single noise beyond a chuckle after entering here.

He suddenly wanted out.

The excitement he'd initially felt was slowly turning to paranoia. Years of being ignored and unseen were too much to deal with already. Not feeling the freedom to make a sound was grating on his soul.

With a huff, Jack planted his staff against the ground and pushed himself up, heading in what he felt was a northerly orientation. There was no sense of direction here, but it wasn't like Jack was great with sticking to a path in the first place.

After seemingly endless hours of trekking down faint forest paths, retracing his steps, and the rare attempt to leap through the trees, Jack finally reached what seemed to be a clearing.

What he saw surprised him. 

A unique structure that was difficult to describe sat among the branches of six of the biggest sycomore trees Jack had ever seen. It had many towers, and it was beautiful, graceful, intimate yet rambling, and, in some ways, rather grand, but it was neither a palace nor a castle. The thick, elegant limbs of the sycomores served as paths and stairways upon which one may walk from floor to floor or simply sit and daydream amid the treetops like giant leafy umbrellas.

For a moment, Jack just stared at the odd building. The sense of quiet was still heavy, but the peaceful atmosphere and sudden spike of curiosity about who lived inside sparked his interest once again.

"A visitor?" a strange voice sounded behind the winter spirit, causing him to whirl around.

A pair of clear gray eyes met Jack's striking blue ones.

Jack felt the breath leave his body as he realized they were looking at him, seeing and unclouded by the restraints of belief.

"Y-you can see me?"

The girl smiled, shifting the storybook in her arms as she lifted a hand in greeting, "Welcome to Ganderly, Jack Frost. My name is Katherine."