Title: Of The Moon

Summary: If you had asked Toothiana yesterday how she would have imagined a bear's voice to sound, it would not be like this one's. It would be deep, and gravelly, and rough. It would sound like a roar between words. This bear's voice sounds like laughter./ / Or, Jack Frost is a bear. Toothiana is a princess bound to him for a year. East of the Sun, West of the Moon retelling.

Notes: So this is my first (published) ROTG fanfiction. Woo-hoo! Anyway, a while ago I lost a bunch of chapters of another ROTG fanfiction. I was going to re-write it. Then I thought: POLAR BEARS. And of course the only logical thing to do then was make Jack Frost one.

Unlike my other (lost) fanfic, i only have one chapter written right now. This is it. It will be different from the real EOTSWOTM. And the same. I hope you enjoy it.

Toothiana, princess of Punjam Hy Loo, runs through the forest, and she can barely feel her bare feet hitting the ground.

Run, run, run, is the only thought crossing her mind as her legs pump.

Finally, she has to stop, and collapses to the ground, chest heaving.

She knows exactly where she is. It normally takes her much longer to reach the place, but it is painfully familiar. She is in an open stretch of the forest, a small pond in the middle of the shining light. She must have come here by accident, or by some natural magnetism. She and her youngest sister found this place three years ago when she was sixteen and her sister was ten.

This had always been the sisters – all eight of them – secret place. Not even their parents knew of it. Toothiana's body is raked with a sob as she remembers her sister Kunjani sitting by the pond, holding one of the many frogs who lived there.

Kunjani had always been the one of the eight sisters who enjoyed the earth and nature the most. Even though she had not been one of the two sisters who had found the place, all of them felt that she was the one who truly owned it.

Standing here without her felt like trespassing on a sacred ground.

Toothiana lets out all of the tears she has been holding in since she learned of her sister's death. And though she is overcome with grief, relief is also spread through her as she finally releases all her pent up emotions.

She does not know how long she has lain there, crying, but as she wipes the tears from her face she notes the darkening sky, and resolves to head back.

Her family already has enough to worry about.

But as she whirls around, she shrieks and falls back onto the ground.

There, a mere ten feet away from her, stands a bear.

A large, white bear. With eyes that shine like a humans.

And then the bear speaks.

If you had asked Toothiana yesterday how she would have imagined a bear's voice to sound, it would not be like this one's. It would be deep, and gravelly, and rough. It would sound like a roar between words.

This bear's voice sounds like laughter.

"Hello." The bear laugh talks to her, and even as she is frightened, Toothiana is overcome with curiosity.

This bear, this oddly colored bear with his human eyes and his human voice, seems to show her no harm.

"Hello." She repeats back to him.

He laughs – it sounds like the wind, she thinks – and leans closer to her. Even though the rational part of her tells her to move back, she stays where she is.

"Why were you crying?" the bear asks, and he sounds curious, not wise like the magical beings in the stories always seem to.

"A Hunter has been plaguing my family's kingdom since my parents were wed. But today, today he struck harder than usual, and killed my sister in the process. Even our best warriors cannot stop him." Her voice breaks several times in her declaration, and she fears the bear will find her weak.

"I can help you with that!" the bear says excitedly, and then he smiles.

Toothiana gasps – in both fear and wonder – because this beast has the most beautiful teeth and the most deadly teeth.

"How can you help me?" she asks after the initial shock wears off.

"I can kill the Hunter." He says as if it is no big thing. Though, she muses, he is a giant bear. But still, the Hunter has killed many in his time.

"Truly?" she asks, and finally realizes that she has been on the ground for this whole encounter.

She stands up as he chuckles. "Truly."

Her heart feels light as she begins to thank him, but her words are cut off by the bear. "However, there will be a price."

She sighs. There is always a price. But no price is too high. "What is it?"

"You must live with me for a full year in my castle." He answers and she thinks, that isn't so bad.

But then she remembers her family at home, who have already lost a daughter and a sister.

"I agree." She says with little hesitation. "But you must allow me to go to my home and say good bye to my family."

"Agreed." The bear says, and he smiles again. "I will come for you tomorrow, and by then, the Hunter will be dead."

Toothiana shivers slightly at the conviction in his tone.

"Now," the bear laughs, throwing his head back, "I will walk you home. I've been told there is a Hunter in these parts. I would not want my companion to die before she even comes to stay with me."

The doors to the castle burst open, and nine heads rise to see the guardswoman – Kunjani's second in command – walk into the throne room, her face somber.

"No-!" Queen Rashmi gasps, as her husband holds her close. Tiya cries and holds tight to Toothiana as the guard confirms their suspicion.

"I am sorry, your highnesses. She was killed by the Hunter when our forces attacked."

Radha, the eldest of the sisters, nods and leads the guardswoman into the next room as King Haroom helps his wife follow them.

Toothiana breathes in deeply and then leads her younger sisters along to their respective rooms, and remembers when Kunjani was the one to do so, not a mere forty eight hours before.

After all her sisters are busy elsewhere, Toothiana goes into her room. She only stays there for a second. She feels as though she will burst if something does not occupy her mind, take her away from all the misery.

So she runs. She runs down the castle steps. Runs out over the grounds. Runs and runs and runs through the forest.

She runs, and hopes to leave the thoughts that occupy her behind.

But they catch up.