May 12

It soon became obvious that Pitch had found out about the ravens when another owl began regularly harassing the pair.

Aster, however, all too gleefully asked North to put his woodworking skills to work and carve a boomerang. The Russian agreed, happy for an excuse to use his workshop. None of the others could say anything about him spending too much time in there and not enough out laying trip wires in the forest. Instead, Aster was put to that task. It was worth it in the end.

Jack made several snarky comments about the fragility and uselessness of a boomerang as Aster tested it out once it had been made. The comments had been ignored as Aster got the hang of using it.

The comments then went the way of the dodo when Aster smacked one of the owls straight out of the sky.

"Better than your useless staff."

Jack glared at him and stalked away. Aster smirked and followed him the short way back to the cabin. North was outside, sitting on the ground by the door. He looked up as soon as Jack came into view and smiled, getting to his feet and brushing dirt off.

"Works great!" Aster said, holding the boomerang up in the air. "Nice handiwork. Think you could make a second one?"

"I can do it faster, too," North replied. "I know how to make that one, now, and I also am not working on other project." He held out a hand, gesturing for them to stay where they were as he opened the door and reached inside. When he pulled his arm back out, the once-broken staff came with it and into view.

"You fixed it!" Jack said, jogging the last few steps forward. North handed it to him with a smile, watching Jack run his hands over the surface and examine it. "Wow, looks great! But…" He frowned and North's smile faded. Jack's fingers trailed in streaks down the wood, feeling something unusual. He glanced up and saw North's expression. "It's not a problem," he said with a laugh, "I'm just wondering what's different."

"Do you want me to tell you or do you want to figure it out?"

"I'll figure it out!" Jack bounded away, staff twirling expertly in his hands as he went to test it. "I'll be right back!"

"What'd ya do ta it?" Aster muttered. "Looked pretty broken ta me. Lots 'a hot glue?"

"When swords are attached to hilts, the wood has a hole carved out and the end of the hot blade is seared into it. They hold together very well. I heated up strips of metal and inserted them into the wood to reinforce it. Someone who tries to destroy Jack's staff again will find the job much harder this time, and it will give much more power to Jack's swings."

Aster blinked. "Sounds…complicated."

"It was! Why do you think I was so unfocused with other projects?"

"Where d'ya get the metal strips from?"

"Scrap yard."

"An' how'd ya heat 'em up?"

"Forge."

"When did ya get a bloody forge?!"

"Right before I started making the nails for the house."

"You've had it for months then!"

"Yes."

"An' ya didn't mention it? Where is it?"

"It is in the middle of the forest so sounds and smoke will not attract attention, and I may have forgotten to mention it."

Aster rolled his eyes at the sky. "Of course."

"Woah, North!" Jack called, hidden away in the trees. "This staff is incredible!"

"Sounds like he likes it." Aster clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Good job. On that one an' on my boomerang. Now I'm lookin' forward to yer next project a whole lot more."

-.-.-.-

Sandy and North trailed behind as Jack jogged ahead of them, testing his staff out sporadically on everything he could. His laugh trailed behind in the wind, letting them know exactly where he was. Occasional flashes of his white hair could be seen through the trees. The two of them exchanged glances. Looked like someone was having fun.

North had been keeping an eye on the staff the entire time, seeing how well it worked and wanting to be on sight if there was a break. It would make the repair faster. However, he didn't expect the staff would perform anything less than exceptionally. He was positive the metal strands would hold. On the other hand, he wanted to see how well Jack was going to use it. Sandy had come along to see what was going on and to share in Jack's contagious enthusiasm. Aster and Ana were working with the ravens with Katherine supervising.

"Jack, should we turn back soon?" North called out. "We have been out here for a while."

"Just a bit longer!" Jack shouted back.

Sandy gave North a look and the latter shrugged. He'd tried, hadn't he? They needed to get back soon to return in time for their rounds that night. At this rate they were just going to have to leave Jack and hope he realized at some point that he had a job to be doing. Ana and Jack weren't going to be happy if they were patrolling two towns on their own.

"Jack…" North started.

"Look, we're almost to the tree line. We'll get there and then head back, alright?"

North sighed. "I do not think he remembers how long it takes to get back," he muttered. "There has got to be a faster way for us to get around besides walking across the forest all the time. The terrain is too rough to take straight paths anyway."

Sandy nodded. Some of the hills seemed more like small mountains and sometimes the edges were too steep to climb. There were also rivers that blocked their path and redirected their routes.

A few minutes later, North peered through the trees. They could begin to see the road cutting between the forest and the nearby reservoir. Jack should have been coming back their way by now. North turned his gaze upward with a groan, regretting the struggle he and Sandy were going to have to go through to drag Jack away from testing the staff. "Jack!" he called.

"Yeah, hold on a-"

A truck screeched and Jack cut off with a yelp. Something crashed to the ground and the truck stopped skidding, picking up speed and driving off. North and Sandy froze, looking for a sign of Jack. He didn't yell out one of his usual cheery comments.

"Jack!" North shouted.

There was no response.

The two sprinted the rest of the way, barely looking to see if there was another car coming. A cage had fallen off the truck, probably what they had heard crash. Jack was lying on the side of the road on his back, one arm up by his head. He didn't look badly injured and before they could ask if he was alright, they heard him groan and rub his forehead. His other hand reached out and grasped his staff, pulling it towards him.

He sat up and shook his head slowly. "Didn't see that coming," he said and got to his feet, using the staff to support his weight.

"What hurts?" North asked.

"Nothing. Everything. I'm fine." Jack walked over to the cage and nudged it with his foot. "What's this?"

"Jack, your head is bleeding."

"Probably why it hurts so much. Seriously, what's this?" A fabric was wrapped along the outside, preventing anyone from seeing inside. Jack stuck his fingers into it experimentally. He pulled them out almost immediately as something bit him. "Ow!" Sandy walked up beside him as he put his fingers in his mouth.

Sandy righted the cage and started unfastening the fabric. He pulled it off and set it aside. A shriek greeted him and a bird glared out of the cage. It wasn't as big as one of the owls that had been attacking the ravens, but definitely a big bird. It was white with specks of black, and a streak of red across the back of one of its wings. The same wing was unmoving, drooping to the bottom of the cage and unsupported by muscle.

"What's with all the birds in the area all of a sudden?" Jack asked.

"What type of vehicle hit you?"

"I didn't really see it, why?"

"This could have been one of Pitch's birds. Owls are night hunters, not day time hunters. Their pupils are very large so a lot of sunlight can hurt their eyes. Maybe he is bringing in day time raptors to deal with that," North suggested. Jack stared at him. "What? I have been talking to Katherine a lot."

"Okay, so what're we going to do with it?"

Sandy picked up the cage by the handle on top and carried it off the road. They followed behind him as he entered the trees and sat down out of view of someone driving by. North and Jack exchanged glances and then sat down beside him. Sandy pointed at North and then tapped the tree behind him, pointing between it and one beside it. North gave him a confused look. Sandy rolled his eyes and stood up, walking between the two trees and pretending to trip.

"Oh, the trip wires?" North guessed.

Sandy nodded and sat down by the cage again. He mimed picking the lock. North nodded and walked off. "You're going to use some of the wire to get the padlock off?" Jack guessed. Sandy gave him a thumbs up before starting to examine the lock critically. The bird was staring at the two of them, swiveling its head back and forth. Jack stared back. The bird was undeterred.

North returned a few minutes later and handed Sandy a few wires. Sandy began picking the lock, moving the wires around in specific directions to manipulate the inner workings. It clicked open a few moments later and the lock came off in his hands.

"Wouldn't it have been smarter to wait until we had Katherine to keep it calm?" Jack pointed out.

"Did you want to carry a heavy cage with a heavy bird all the way back to the base?" North shot back.

"Ah. Never mind. Why are we taking it again?"

North's reply trailed off before he even started it, looking at Sandy in confusion. Sandy glanced up at them before looking back down, determined. He gestured for both of them to back up. The rest of the Guardians had learned long ago that when the little guy told them to move, they had better do it. North and Jack took several steps away, out of reach of any sudden problems but in range to help.

Sandy opened the cage door slowly, staring at the bird. It lowered its head and peered at the door as it began to open. It stepped off its perch and edged closer. Sandy put his knee in the way of the door, making it sure it couldn't open further unless he wanted it to, and reached in with his hand.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Jack muttered as the bird's head tracked Sandy's hand.

Five minutes later, and Sandy was carrying a sleeping bird in North's jacket, North was walking with only a long-sleeved shirt on in the cold weather, and Jack was unsure as to how this situation had come about.

"You know Aster's not going to be happy about this, right?" Jack said. "I mean, we've already got two he doesn't like."

"He does not need to know about him for a while," North replied. "We can treat our fallen friend here and then send him on his way."

" 'Fallen'? Uh, he crashed."

"You do not seem happy with the idea of bringing him back."

"I like the idea, I'm just saying there's going to be some problems." He glanced at them. "Anyone else noticing that even though there's no reason why we should be, we're doing things that are more mystical and belong in a storybook?"

North frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well… I'm using a staff, and we had planned that out before the kids started calling me 'Jack Frost'. Aster's using boomerangs, and who even knows how to use one anymore? Sandy's convinced kids that their nighttime excursions are all in their heads and that it's all just a dream. You're a blacksmith and are using methods that haven't been used in hundreds of years-"

"What are you talking about? There are still people who blacksmith as jobs."

"What?"

"It is true."

"Okay, well, it hasn't been a well known job for a really long time. And Ana's been looking at the sky in a way that's making me really edgy."

"What do you mean?"

"Just wait. She's going to do something really weird soon and we're all going to be saying 'What are you thinking' for the eighth time, and then it'll be the best new thing that's happened. Which is what happens every time we do something weird and we all think it's stupid."

"I suppose you have a point."

"And then we're suddenly nature spirits too. I mean, it makes sense since the Tooth Fairy was, obviously, a fairy and they're usually classified as being a part of nature, and we've got a bunny in our group too, and you supposedly use reindeer…" He glanced at North. "Now we're using a forest like it's our own magical world and it almost seems like someone meant for us to be doing this. The ravens showed up at just the right time for us to start getting messages to each other, and now this bird just randomly drops into our lap."

He gestured at the sleeping bundle in Sandy's arm. Sandy was staring at him with a 'What's the problem with all that?' look on his face.

"You do not seem to like how luck has been on our side," North commented.

Jack groaned. "You don't get it. I'm not complaining about our good fortune, I'm just saying it seems to be less like good fortune and more like someone intended this to happen."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing, I'm just saying it's a little odd is all."

"I like the ravens," North said a little randomly. "We are now creatures of the night even though we belong in the day. Light is almost always associated with the day, but it is the moonlight that people love about the night. It is what leads people home when they have strayed too far out in the dark. If we are the moon, the guardians, of children in the darkest part of their sleep, then the ravens are our light, our moonbeams, carrying our messages across to the children."

"What do you mean?"

"We cannot work as efficiently without them. They allow us to get our job done with confidence without being concerned for our safety as well as the children's."

"I'm not sure I understand, but… I suppose I can kind of get your point."

"We are very similar to them. We are all day creatures, but we have to work in the night. The only difference is that the children expect for us to belong at this time and the ravens look like they are supposed to belong at this time, considering their dark plumage."

"You might be putting a little too much faith in them," Jack said.

"I think you are putting too little in them. They have warned us too many times for me to believe they do not enjoy our presence as much as we enjoy theirs."

"That 'we' doesn't include Aster."

"And you will notice that they do not help him as much. Ravens are smart. I believe they have taken a liking to us. The roles for the children change when it comes to us. If Manny is our moon and we are the children in need of guidance, then the ravens are our light, our guiding force to know what we need to do."

"Kind of. We give them the information to be a guiding force."

"But much of our information comes from Manny, no?"

"You're looking pretty deeply into this."

Sandy hadn't reacted much throughout the exchange, but he tilted his head now and looked at Jack. He made a worried face. North glanced between them for a moment. "Jack," he said, catching onto Sandy's concern. "Are you worried about something? What's wrong with the ravens?"

He sighed. "It's stupid."

"Tell us anyway."

"Most civilizations acknowledged ravens as being smart creatures. They can do acrobatics in the air, and when a raven dies, they hold a vigil for a few minutes before all flying away. They can solve multi-step problems to get food. Edgar Allen Poe wrote a poem about them."

"The British poet?"

"He was American, actually. From Baltimore."

"Really?"

"Anyway, ravens have often been seen as very intelligent, but they're also well known for being heralds of death."

"But they come after something has died in nature."

"That's what modern scientists say, but that's not what was going around hundreds of years ago."

"Usually people use modern science over past folk tales to prove something," North said lightly.

Jack rubbed his head. He flinched away almost instantly as his head reminded him that he had just been hit by a truck. "I know, it's just… I don't like the idea of death being predicted in any way, especially after some of our close calls."

"You should not worry so much," North said. "You are almost as bad as Aster!"

Jack shrugged. "Sorry."

"We will have Aster check your head when we get back," North said. "There is not much we can do for it right now, though."

"There's nothing wrong with it," Jack scoffed.

North stared at the back of Jack's head, where the white hair was slowly being stained red. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it, deciding that there was nothing they could do about it now anyway. Besides, at least Jack wasn't bouncing around and running off to who knew where anymore.

-.-.-.-

"Alright, so what happened this time?" Ana asked as soon as they walked into the clearing. She was leaning on the outside of the house, clearly having been waiting for them to return for a while. They had been gone significantly longer than expected.

"I got hit by a truck," Jack said bluntly. "Staff's working great!"

"What makes you say something bad happened?" North said, even though it was a wasted effort now that Jack had so blatantly spilled the beans. "Does something always go wrong?"

"Yes," Ana sighed. "Now what else happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Sandy's got that look on his face like he's expecting a storm. What happened?"

"Nothing, is all fine," North said, waving it off with his hand and hoping that Jack didn't turn around. "Where is Aster?"

"He's already on patrol. Why?"

North and Sandy exchanged dismal looks. Neither of them were as good at first aid as Ana and there was no way they were going to let Jack treat himself.

"Um…" North said.

"They think I need medical treatment," Jack sighed. "It's nothing."

"How hard were you hit?" she asked suspiciously.

"Didn't feel that bad. I just got knocked over."

"Did anyone see you?"

"Doesn't matter. We think it was one of Pitch's guys."

"Why?"

"We found a bird!" He stepped aside so Ana could fully see the bundle in Sandy's arms. They had been partially hiding him in case Aster had been around. "Where's Katherine?"

"In the back. North, go get her. Can I see?" She moved forward cautiously, parting the sides of the jacket. She cooed. "Aw, he's a big fluffy one, isn't he? Do we know what kind?"

"Waiting for Katherine on that," Jack said. "Don't jostle him. His wing got messed up when the crate fell off the truck. North thinks Pitch was planning on branching out on what kinds of birds he was using. He seems to have taken a liking to Sandy. Aster's going to hate him."

"Oh, of course."

"What happened to your head?" Katherine said in shock behind them.

Jack turned around. "What's wrong with it?" His turn had brought the side of it into view of Ana and she gaped.

"What did you do?" she demanded.

"I told you, the truck knocked me over. That's it!"

"Knocked you into what, a steel pipe?" Ana grabbed his arm and tugged him away from Sandy. She forced him to sit down on the ground. "Let me see. North, grab water so I can wash this blood away."

Katherine glanced over from where she was hovering over Sandy's bundle. "I'll need some water, too. Set him down, Sandy."

The two girls kept asking questions as they wrapped up the injuries and cleaned away the blood. Jack thought that Katherine's treatment of her patient was a lot nicer than Ana's, but as soon as he mentioned it, she whacked him. Sandy stayed with the bird and North ran errands for both of the girls to get whatever they needed. When it got darker and Ana finished her work, she and North left to go do their rounds. Jack went with Ana, but she was going to drop him off at Manny's so the doctor could give him a better evaluation. Katherine requested Sandy to stay since the bird seemed to be reacting so well to him.

When the last over the other three had left, Sandy gestured to the bird and shrugged, asking a question without stating what it was. She took the vague motion as a request to just tell him everything she knew.

"It's a gyrfalcon, largest of the falcons. It's pretty young, probably not even old enough to be on its own. If Pitch was trying to use this one, he's smart. This breed's been known to kill animals twice their weight like domestic dogs or wild turkeys and eats birds up to their own size. I can't tell for sure without an x-ray, but it looks like the wing joint hasn't been damaged. If it had been, I doubt our little friend here would be able to fly again. I can't say for sure that he'll still be able to, but it's possible. He's going to be in shock when he wakes up, and we're going to need to keep him warm. I don't see any signs of a broken bone. It looks like it's just a superficial wound. I put cornflour on it to stop the bleeding. He doesn't seem to be at any risk of dying now, but if he flips out when he wakes up, we could end up back at square one."

Sandy wasn't sure whether he was more surprised that cornflour worked to slow the bleeding or that they had cornflour.

"Are you guys going to keep him?"

Sandy shrugged.

"I guess it's up to him, though. If he wants to go, you'd be stupid to stop him."

Sandy grinned and nodded in agreement. He was a big bird and he wasn't even done growing yet.

"I'll help you if you want to keep him around and if he wants to stay. The hardest part might be convincing Aster it's alright, but to be frank, that's not my problem." She got to her feet. "Alright, let's get him inside. I just wanted to stay it out here to make it easier for North, but that's not really necessary anymore. What're you going to call him?"

Sandy pointed up at the stars that were starting to come out and then trailed his finger down to the ground before making an explosion gesture with his hand.

"Meteorite?"

He shook his head.

"Meteor?"

No.

"Falling star?"

Sandy paused, looking thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head again.

"Comet?"

He nodded.

"He'll be large enough for the name soon enough, I'm sure."

-.-.-.-

May 13

Jack had come back last night after Manny had declared him as being temporarily out of commission with a concussion. Between him and the two, they hid their new friend in one of the cabinets in the bedroom and made sure he was comfortable enough. Comet was easily irritable, but he never snapped at Sandy even if he gave him many glares. By the time the rest of the Guardians returned home, the gyrfalcon was tucked securely away and out of sight.

North and Ana didn't say anything and couldn't ask after him, seeing as how Aster was around. They all went to sleep upon returning home, exhausted from the night before and needing to get some sleep before dealing with anything else. They woke up at noon, courtesy of the alarm clock Manny had provided. Again, there was no time to ask after Comet as they all left to go take care of other matters, like collecting firewood and water. Sandy stayed behind with the job of feeding the ravens. He did that quickly enough before taking the meat Jack had brought from Manny and giving it to the gyrfalcon. He grabbed some water for him as well.

The rest of the day went by quickly, with everyone running around and doing their individual jobs. Sandy stayed with Katherine to further "train the ravens", which somehow included another avian but they didn't have to tell anyone that. By the time anyone had spare time, it made more sense to head out to patrol rather than ask after the gyrfalcon.

As a result, an entire day passed before anyone but Sandy knew about how the bird was doing.

-.-.-.-

May 14

Aster returned back from a random trip to get water. He still wasn't sure why everyone was so insistent that he go get water right then, but they sure had been. There was still plenty of water left from yesterday, so there was clearly something wrong with their heads. Jack had even kept his insulting remarks to a minimum, as if encouraging him to go get the water faster.

As he came back, he saw the rest of them sitting in a circle outside. There was a quick flurry of motion until they all calmed down, reclining casually as he approached. He did nothing to try and hide his wariness, setting the water down and joining the circle. "Okay," he said slowly, "what's going on?"

"Nothing," Ana said innocently. They should have had Jack come up with a lie instead. He was much more convincing.

"Right," Aster said doubtfully. "Really, what happened?"

"It's a secret," Jack said. Aster glanced at him and noticed the unfocused eyes. Oh, right. Jack had a bad concussion and probably wasn't the best one to be lying right now. "Can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't like it."

"Okay, is it dangerous?"

"Yes."

"No!" Ana insisted. She gave Aster a pleading look. "It really isn't, it's just that you wouldn't like to hear it."

Aster stared at her for a few moments before turning and looking at Jack.

Jack beamed. "It's not dangerous to anyone."

"…Alright."

"Except North."

Aster glanced at the Russian, who was hunched over like he felt ill. "You alright, mate?"

"Is fine."

"Really? Ya look like yer goin' ta hurl."

"Not exactly," Jack said mysteriously. "Anyway, North's got some new ideas for extending the layout of the building."

"Extendin' the layout? More construction? What else d'ya want ta add?" Aster groaned.

"We need more! We can add workshop for Sandy and I, and it will make it easier to build without having things cluttered around the rest of the house."

"I second that," Ana muttered.

"Don't you have somethin' else ta be workin' on?"

"This is a better idea."

"Really?"

"Yes! I feel it!"

A strange, low, almost animalistic sound came from North's stomach. Aster stared at where the Russian was holding his hands over his midsection.

"…in my belly," North added awkwardly.

"Alright, what're ya hidin'?" Aster asked suspiciously.

"Did we not already tell you that you don't want to know?"

"I want to know, North. What is it?"

"It's a-" Jack started. Ana clamped a hand over his mouth.

"North," Aster said with a warning tone.

There was a shriek from North's belly and a series of sharp gestures from North as he frantically uncurled his legs and pulled up his shirt, letting a white object tumble out from its hiding place. Sandy's hands struck out, grabbing it before it could hit the ground and tucking it into his arms. Two white wings flapped the air uselessly upside down in an upset gesture. Sandy stroked the bird's head and the wings slowly retracted, folding back in.

Aster glared at all of them.

"We have another freakin' bird?"