Winter Moon (Jelsa)

Chapter 4: Jack

"Jack! At least try to be helpful," Toothiana chided me with a nudge.

I turned to face her, running my hands through my snow-colored hair in an absent gesture.

Toothiana was the Tooth Fairy and the Guardian of Memories. She was vaguely human-shaped but covered from head to toe in vibrant tropical feathers. A pair of iridescent gossamer wings extended from her back.

"Here," Tooth extended a pile of forms to me. "Fill these out."

"Do they really need to know how tall I am?" I complained, glancing down at the school enrollment forms. "I don't even want to go to New Dawn Academy."

"You could always attend Skylin if it pleases you," Tooth reminded me smugly. "Either way, you have to do some schooling to become a full-fledged Elite like I am."

I shuddered at the name Skylin. Several months ago, Tooth had dragged me on a tour of Skylin, the Elites' private school, where they instructed burgeoning magic-users. Only Under Elites, magic-users who were under seventeen and hadn't finished their schooling (like me) could attend Skylin. After I got into a brawl with one of the students during the tour, however, I decided I didn't want to attend Skylin, so I had settled for New Dawn Academy. New Dawn wasn't bad either. Most Experiments went to school there, as well as royalty and the extremely wealthy. It was in Skyara, the Elites' home base, unlike Skylin, which was located in the obscure North Pole.

"Not Skylin," I protested firmly.

"No matter what, you still have to go to school," Tooth pointed out.

"School is a waste of time. What do you even learn there? How to read? I'm not illiterate. How to knit a scarf? I don't get cold."

"Jack. Frost."

"I'm being serious! I have no real reason to go."

"Technically, to be a fully qualified magic-user, otherwise known as an Elite, you have to do at least six years of secondary school. You're lucky you even get to attend New Dawn instead of Skylin. You're going to be an Elites soon, Jack. You should take magic seriously."

"Ah yes, the Elites and their mandates. We are the protectors of the world and the rulers of the First and Second Kingdoms. We have complete control over magic and its users. To be an Elite is to possess magic. Only Elites have magic. Magic, magic, magic!"

Tooth sighed, wings fluttering. "Can you not act like a brat today? I have a lot of teeth to collect, and you're wasting my time."

"Okay, okay," I reluctantly picked up the quill. It was made out of a peacock feather that largely resembled Tooth's feathers. I refrained from mentioning that. Glancing down at the enrollment forms, I noticed New Dawn's school crest at the top. It was a fleur-de-lis rendered in white and gold. 

"I hope you're taking this seriously," Tooth said.

"Of course, Tooth Fairy. I have absolutely no reason to not take this seriously. I take everything seriously," I replied sarcastically.

"Once you submit these, you'll be enrolled with the rest of the fourteen-year-olds."

"I'm pretending to be fourteen although I'm technically over three hundred? Sounds fun."

"You're the Guardian of Fun, Jack. You're supposed to create fun."

"I'll create plenty of that."

Tooth massaged her temples, like I was her exasperating younger brother. When we had first met, I thought that she might have had a little crush on me, but over the past three centuries, that had seriously degraded. Eventually, she gave me a long, evaluative stare and said, "You always do."

Author's Note: There's a bit of confusion about ROTG Jack Frost's physical age, so I went with the idea that he is fourteen. Technically, he's about three hundred in this story, but he's physically a teenager.