Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Origins

Origins

...

Silence. It had been so for almost ten minutes now and Jack was desperately wracking his brain for a way to end it. He didn't really mind the dark, but darkness and silence was not only boring but awkward, as well. Especially when you were sharing it with three other people.

"So I take it no one can come up with any other questions, then?" he asked finally.

"It would seem so," May murmured from his right.

"I've got one," Lleu suddenly perked up. "How did you all become spirits?"

It was an innocent enough question, but Jack found himself suddenly increasingly uncomfortable and dreading the moment when they would look to him for an answer. The nature of his 'turning', if you will, wasn't something he was all that willing to talk about. It was bad enough the way the Guardians had acted like they were walking on eggshells around him when they'd found out. How would these three whom he barely knew react? Even though they were technically his older sisters.

"I would assume in a similar manner to the rest of you," May said. "Mother liked my garden and approached me, asking if I'd like to become the spring seasonal."

"And you said yes just like that?" Jack asked incredulously, inner turmoil put on hold.

"Well, no, I still had my family to think about. But I wasn't yet married, though I should have been many years earlier if truth be told, and the only true obligation I had was to my parents. But when you live by yourself with only yourself to take care of, the decision wasn't really a hard one."

"Did she have to put on a show to get you to see her?" Ceres asked knowingly.

"Naturally; at my age belief in any spirits besides demons and the like was condoned, especially one such as Mother Nature."

"Most thought she was always just a term for the weather or the environment in general," Lleu hummed, agreeing.

"What about your garden?" Jack frowned, though he doubted she would have stopped caring for it despite her promotion.

"I still have it," May replied, a smile in her voice. "It's my pride and joy."

"I was already a goddess," Ceres began, taking the lull in the conversation as a cue to answer the question herself, "of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships."

Jack silently snorted at the last one. If she was a mother, he seriously pitied her kids.

"It was a natural jump from that to autumn duties; especially after the fall of the Roman Empire and the large belief base I'd had."

"So basically you had nothing better to do," Lleu summarised. Jack didn't have to see to know she was scowling at the summer seasonal.

"What about you, then?" she huffed.

"Ah, you know, regular summer-loving girl with far too much time on her hands, an out of control imagination and a very small sense of responsibility. Not exactly the popular type back in the 1300s. Anyway, I happened to see Mother Nature one day and I guess she took a shine to me. And what better way to skive any and all mortal responsibilities than to become an immortal summer seasonal?"

"I hope that lack of responsibility didn't carry over to you seasonal duties," May said, sounding a little horrified.

"Nah, I get the work done. Small price to pay to enjoy summer all year long and get a bunch of supernatural abilities. How about you, little Snow Cone?"

And there it was. And it wasn't like he could avoid the question either. It certainly didn't make it any easier that Mother Nature hadn't had a very active role in it.

"I… um, I took my sister ice skating," he said uneasily, and a hushed silence fell as if the sudden change in atmosphere was tangible. "I guess I must have forgotten to check if the ice was safe. It… it cracked underneath us. I turned it into a game," he smiled despite himself, remembering the way she had laughed and genuinely enjoyed herself regardless of their precarious position. "I managed to get her where it was thicker, but the recoil pushed me where she'd been and I fell through. The Man in the Moon… saved me, I guess, gave me my name. I quickly realised what I could do and not long after Mother told me my position as the spirit of winter."

The silence continued for a long time afterwards and Jack shuffled restlessly.

"Well it's no wonder you became a Guardian, then," May said quietly, sounding slightly awed. "You had it in you all along." Jack could have hugged her, even for just having broken the suffocating silence.

"I'll say!" Lleu cut across. She was seriously impressed and felt guilty for all the previous things she'd done to her little brother "That's some serious devotion. She was lucky to have you. And now we know to check the ice before we step onto it."

"Yes, because he should take lessons in responsibility from the guy who has a self-proclaimed 'small sense' of it," Ceres said dryly. And just like that the serious, heavy air evaporated.

"Hey! Better that than being overly serious like May!"

"I resent that," May said tersely.

"I'm sure you do."

"May's got her merits," Jack protested. "She may take things a little too seriously but I've yet to see a garden better than one she's tended."

"I'm sitting right here, you know."

"What would you know about gardens?" Ceres asked.

"Touché, but the point still stands," Jack rebuked.

"I'm not even sure if I'm being insulted or complimented anymore," May sighed.

And so it went on until they got bored again lulled once more into silence.