Crystal Compass Book 1: Part 4: Camp NaNo July2014

“Tea?” She asked, poking her head around the corner and looking at the guy who, despite looking like he was in his twenties was probably about three to four hundred years old. When Sam nodded she went back to making a pot. “I know I can Sam, but it’s getting ridiculous. I thought a Haven was supposed to be neutral ground. Safe, for the inhabitants and for the immortal who visit? Faebeasts are not safe.”

“I’ll have a word with Si Ren.” Sam promised, “But her and her Fae don’t hold themselves beholden to the same rules as the rest of us, they never have.”

“Different Compass.” Twilight frowned slightly. The Crystal Compass, the organisation of Immortals that Sam and Jack belonged to was the purview of the nature spirits and those Immortals whose powers related to the way the world worked. Each direction belonged to a Season. The north belonged to Winter, the east to Spring, south to Summer and West to Sam’s Autumn. Each direction had two leaders. The Kings or Queens who kept the seasons running smoothly and the Protectors, who were supposed to be the ones keeping the peace. They were the ones who were supposed to organise the Monster Hunters and keep a watchful eye on the elemental Immortals who refused a place in the compass and went out of their way to cause harm to the mortals that shared their world.

Si Ren and her following belonged to the other Compass, the Dark Compass. The one that was full of Immortals who were born of myths and tales. Some of whom even had been around as a species in the days when mankind had still been evolving as a race. They had Kings and Queens too, those who best exemplified the seven sins ruled the Dark Compass and were supposed to keep their people from going too far off of the rails.

Si Ren was the Queen of Lust. She was also the one who had invaded the home of the Fae King, who had refused to follow any Compass’s rules and hated mortals and immortals alike and forced him to bow to her. Twilight was mostly convinced that the Fae King was causing deliberately sending his beasts into a Haven’s territory purely because he knew it would get her into trouble and he would not be blamed for the actions of ‘mindless beasts.’ It seemed like something he would do.

That did not mean that she had to like it. She was willing to fight to protect her home and the people in it, but she was, as Sam had reminded her, mortal. The crossbow he had given her helped, but to the faebeast the only reason the bolts would have been gnat bites if they had not been cold iron and laced with salt. She and the entire village could have been in real trouble if it had not been for Elena, the Spring Protector.

That was one of the many dangers of having one foot in the human world and one in the realm of the immortals. Getting caught up in the politics was never fun. She normally tried to let it pass her by. It was certainly easier to ignore the politics than it was the monsters that came through town.

Not that faebeasts were her only concern. They were not the only creatures who liked to go bump in the night. It had been a shock to her system to realise that all the tales her grandmother had told her were true and the monsters under the bed were quite real. Still, none of that related to the fact that there had been a faebeast roaming her village.

“I’m fine anyway.” She reassured Sam as she picked up the tray, upon which were two mugs and a teapot, “And hey, it’ll be Ukko and Fawkes’s issue soon. Maybe you should have words with them so they know to keep an eye out...” She let out a huff when she realised Sam had already left without saying a word. “A goodbye would be nice.” She scolded, though she knew the Autumn King could not hear her.

Crystal Compass book 1 - July 2014 Camp NaNo - 1

Aldhaven Village was a small, sleepy seaside town. Home to about three hundred people at most, it was not exactly a thriving tourist spot. That was fine in the eyes of the locals. They were happy with their small beach, their row of local shops, their park, their library and their three pubs.

They did not need the big fancy supermarkets that wanted to move into town, though none of them objected when ASDA set up a shop twenty minutes down the road. It was far enough away, they said, not to disturb them, but still close enough that they could go if they wanted.

Not that there were not occasionally tourists in town. A simple stroll down the beach from any of the four local holiday parks would take you onto the small strip of beach behind Aldhaven’s sea wall and from there it was as simple as ascending a set of stairs and descending the other side and anyone could enter.

It was only those odd few who really noticed when the peace and quiet of the village’s square was disturbed by the sound of a motor. A moped, with its helmet wearing passenger flew past the park and headed up the hill, to the most modern looking building in the whole village.

The library had been rebuilt within the last fifty years after a fire had decimated both it and the books within. Though the builders had tried to make sure it fitted in with the local aesthetic, it still stood out like a sore thumb. There had been grumbling at first about the glass walled building, despite the fact it was tucked away, mostly hidden by trees and bushes. Now however everyone used it, just like they had before the fire. In fact for the young children of the town, it was one of their favourite places to go.

The youngest librarian had something to do about that. ‘Miss Twilight’ as she was known to the youngsters, was a regular feature of the library and would more often than not put aside what she was doing to read to the children or play with them. Even when she was working on sorting the library inventory or had brought her university work in with her, she did not hesitate to shove it aside for them.

There were, of course, the parents that pushed it. Who would drop their children off at the start of the day and leave them in the library all day, when they were aware that Twilight would be in, using her as an unpaid babysitter but she, mostly did not mind. Someone had to look after the kids, after all, and she was there and free to do it.

The moped pulling up outside the library belonged to her. She had saved up for the deep blue Honda out of her wages and used it to not only get to work, but to travel to and from her university, where she was taking a Bachelor of Art in Creative Writing. It was not the fastest method of travel, in fact her course mates had often asked why, if she had to make an hour long commute to the university, she did not just get a car, but it suited her. She did not need anything faster or more powerful, not when she travelled as little as she did and enjoyed her simple life.

Once the moped was chained to the railings, she headed inside, pulling off her helmet only to get swarmed by an army of mini-monsters, all of them clamouring for her attention. “Easy, easy!” She chuckled, a bright smile on her face as her bright, chocolate brown eyes scanned the crowd.

“Come on,” Her boss laughed, trying to herd the children away, “Miss Twilight needs to go clock in and sort herself out. She’ll be back in five minutes.”

The children groaned and complained but headed back to what they had been doing before she had gotten there, allowing her to head through the stacks to the back of the library and the staff area. Her boss followed, looking amused. “Safe trip, Aella?” She asked as they stepped beyond the double doors.

“As always.” Aella Rodgers, for that was the young woman’s real name, responded. “Sorry I’m a little late, had a late call come in and, well...” She grinned sheepishly.

Her boss just waved it off. “Don’t worry, I probably wouldn’t believe the explanation anyway. I swear they’re just ideas from those books you bring in.”

Aella blushed but did not respond to that. She had another such book in her bag, the ninth one of the series. All written by a T. Light about Jack Frost, his human friend and their adventures. It was a well guarded secret between her and the children about where the books came from, but she was not about to share.

“Where do you get them from anyway?” Her boss asked as Twilight put her helmet on the shelf and brushed out her hair, grimacing as the brush tugged on the rat’s nest it always became when she rode anywhere. “My neice wanted copies to take home with her.”

“Trade secret.” Twilight’s reply made her boss huff, “Sorry, Madison, but I only have two copies of them and I’m not giving up my personal copies.”

“But...”

“If I can get some money together, I’ll get some more copies.” Twilight promised as she shrugged out of her bike leathers, “But they’re not cheap.”

“I’m not surprised.” Madison sighed as her employee straightened out her tidy clothes and adjusted the silver snowflake necklace that never seemed to be too far from its owner. “I searched everywhere online, it’s like the Compass series doesn’t exist.”

The younger librarian could not help the small, amused smile that appeared at that. Technically the Compass series did not exist, not as officially published books. The books she read and had on her shelves were ones she had put together especially for her and the library and had cost her a pretty penny to make. The only other finished copies of the Compass series books were in her safe or on her laptop, as digital copies. Twilight would have loved to publish them properly but as much as the children liked the tales, she did not have the confidence to present them to a publisher who could take them further.

That and they were not really just her stories to tell. She took them and turned them into stories for children, fictionalising certain parts and changing names, places and dates, but everything that happened within her series had happened at some point or another. She did not feel right putting the tales out as fictional children’s tales without the permission of the other hero of the series and she really, really did not know how to bring it up to him.

Not that anyone would believe her if she tried to tell them that. Not when the Compass series was full of myth and legend, magic and monsters. They would think she was crazy. It was only the children who did not, who were still innocent enough to believe the truth when Twilight told it.

It was not really the fault of the adults. Twilight was an aberration, a young woman who had passed the ‘Age of Disbelief’ when most children lost their ability to believe in the fantastical, without it failing her.

It was good for her and her writing, but it occasionally left her feeling estranged from the rest of the adult population of the village. Still, even if the adults thought she was a little strange, the children loved her and she had her friends at university so she did not really mind. In her mind, it could have been a lot worse.

“You are still okay for the overtime next week, right?” Miranda asked, following her back out again, “I know you’ve got exams starting soon and...”

“It’s fine.” Twilight promised. “I can always bring my revision notes into the library and it’s only the weekends where we’re this busy. During school time, it’s pretty much dead in here.” She grinned at her boss, “Besides, if I’m not here, who’ll run the place when Jessica’s away on her honeymoon?”

That was true but Twilight did not get a chance to acknowledge the fact as her boss saw her pull the new volume of the Compass series out of her backpack and let out a delighted squeal, recognising the logo on the spine. “You didn’t tell me you’d managed to get a new one!”

The student blushed, always pleased when her books were received well but she did not correct Miranda in her belief that she had purchased it. “I thought I’d read it to the kids, before I put it on the system, if you don’t mind?” She asked the Head Librarian, letting her examine ‘The Icebound Heart’ which told the tale of her and Jack’s trip to Japan last year and the Yuki Ona they had met there.

“Sure.” Miranda nodded, “We’ll never get it on the system if the kids realise you’ve got a new one and aren’t sharing.”

Twilight couldn’t deny that. The kids had never seen the cover before, it was an image she had had a friend of hers at university draw as a commission, but the logo on the spine was clear enough. They would recognise it on sight.

Podium of Seasons: Original Fiction: Podiums and People

Sorry today's post was late, I'm still semi-distracted by Pokemon Y. Here's some details for Podium of Seasons to make up for it while I write tomorrow's blog post.

Before

Chaos
Order
Nepenthe	Death

Sealed

The Three

Tiamat	Oceans
Gaia / Mother Nature	Earth
Celest	Skies

Podium of Seasons/Crystal Compass:

North = Winter			Symbol
Belief	Santa Claus	Nicholas Nowell	Golden Sleigh
Seasonal	Old Man Winter / Jack Frost		Silver Snowflake
East = Spring			Symbol
Belief	Easter Bunny	Elena Rabbit	Green Egg
Seasonal	April Showers		Azure Raindrop
South = Summer			Symbol
Belief	Sandman	Morpheus	Black Wadjet Eye
Seasonal	Summer Thyme Blues		Yellow Stylised Sun
West = Autumn			Symbol
Belief	Tooth Fairy	Tania	White Fairy Wings
Seasonal	India Summers		Red Maple Leaf

Podium of Darkness / Shadow Compass

		Symbol
Fear	Sam Hain
Wrath	Lyssa
Sorrow	Banshee
Pride	Arachne
Envy	Invidia
Greed	Mammon
Lust	Si Ren
Sloth	Awar
Gluttony	Behemoth

Podium of Seasons: Original Fiction: Writing Up Some History

Jack had known Twi for years, since long before she had actually been known as Twilight, when she had been twelve and had just gotten into a fight with one of her classmates over the existence of Santa Claus. He hadn’t expected her to see him, after all no one else had ever been able to, no mortals at least, but he had not been able to let the bruised girl sit and mope about the trouble she was in for fighting back when she had tried to stop the kids in her class pushing her around.

Aella, which was her real name, had been a tiny child back then, with wide brown eyes and straight, chestnut brown hair that reached halfway down her back. All of her classmates had towered over her and while Aella had been top of her class material, she had never allowed herself to get there, if only so she could fit in better with the others and try and make friends even if it never seemed to work.

It was Aella’s need for friendship that had made Jack take the risk and try and cheer up the small twelve year old, creating creatures out of the ice he had formed on the windows and letting the girl play with them before they exploded into snow. Unlike other children her age, who seemed to grow up too fast these days, Aella had been delighted rather than freaked out by the icy critters and it had been about when the ice cat she had been playing with had exploded into snowflakes which had drifted around her hiding place when she had finally seen him properly.

That had been the start of a long lasting friendship that had lasted through more than a decade, long past the Age of Disbelief, when almost all children stopped believing and as such, seeing the spirits in the world around them, and not changed when Twi had gotten herself a job and joined the ‘adult world.’

Other than Jack, Aella had not had many friends until she had started at university, just Keighley, who unlike Aella had stopped believing years and years ago but was willing to let her friend live in her fantasy world if she wanted to as long Aella kept up with her school work. And between Kei and Jack, Aella had started pushing herself again, not fearing the reactions of her classmates and pushing herself to get the grades she knew she could achieve.

By the time Twi had reached University, she had already worked out a way around the problem of no one but her being able to see Jack, a small, wireless earpiece that was supposedly connected to her phone, but had never actually received a phone call in its entire life, lived on her ear, allowing her to talk to Jack without seeming like a crazy person. Not that Jack was around the entire year. He had duties to do after all and even if he hadn’t, he was too much of a free spirit to want to stay in one place the entire year, not to mention when Spring hadn’t been able to shift him, Summer had chased him away with brilliantly sunny skies and swelteringly hot days.

It had been disconcerting for Jack the first year Aella had gone to university, when he had been chased away by Summer only to come back that Winter to find that Aella had not only moved cities, which he had been expecting since she had warned him about university, but that she had finally managed to find other friends. Friends who didn’t call her Aella, but Twilight instead.

His book nerd of a friend hadn’t changed other than her suddenly increased collection of friends. Twilight, nicknamed after a certain book obsessed pony in what Jack had thought was a cartoon for little girls, had welcomed him back with open arms. Though none of her friends had been able to see him either, they had just assumed that since she was ‘on the phone’ with him a lot of the time, he was just some boyfriend from back home (a fact that had embarrassed Twi to no end), they had been the ones to encourage her to write a book using her ‘rather vivid imagination.’

She had not managed to write that book before graduation, but she had at least earned her honours degree in her chosen subject, something that was rather impressive considering that her final term had fallen in the Spring she and Jack had run into Bloody Bones, aka ‘Tommy Rawhead,’ one of the Bogeymen who hunted children for sport. It had cost Twi her 2:1 but they had saved several kidnapped children, something Twi reassured Jack, was much better than any degree classification she could have gotten.

Without a high classification Twi had moved back home, looking for a job related to her degree in Creative Writing and Journalism, even as she returned to her part time job in the local library, sorting books and helping the school groups when they came every week. It was a job she loved but one that gave her plenty of time to work on her book since most people didn’t bother going to the library any more.

Earning just enough to move out of her parents’ house and into a place of her own, which she got at a reduced rent in exchange for doing the place up, Twi slowly let it fill with books, until she had to move some of her bookcases down to her basement. Helpfully the attic had a skylight, which was always left open to allow Jack free access to the house, and Twi put boards down before putting a camp bed up there. It wasn’t exactly ideal, but it was somewhere extra for Jack to go when he needed to crash.

Podium of Seasons: Original Fiction: Meeting April Showers

Twilight was certain she had seen a girl hovering around the street for the last couple of days, quite literally at times, a girl with long, blonde hair and brown eyes, dressed in greens and yellows and with a staff not unlike Jack’s, except hers had blossoming spring flowers curling around it. However when she brought up the presence of what she assumed was another spirit to her friend, the Spirit of Winter had chuckled nervously and distracted her with something new in one of her books.

She had yet to have an opportunity to talk to the new spirit on the block, the only times she had spotted the girl there had been others on the streets and even the children from two doors down, who still believed in Santa and the Tooth Fairy, even if they didn’t believe in Jack, had run straight through her, so she had not wanted to start a conversation with what would look like an invisible friend.

When she opened the door in order to take the rubbish out only for the girl to attempt to dart into the house by going through her however, she felt it was a good moment to say ‘Hi.’ At least she did after they had both picked themselves up from the collision that the girl’s actions had caused.

“You know,” The girl stared at her, confusion obvious as Twilight brushed herself off and then turned to look at her, “It’s rude to try and enter someone’s house without their permission.”

The girl glanced up and down the street, saw there was no one else around that the young woman in the doorframe could have been talking to and asked, “You can see me?”

“You bounced off of me, didn’t you?” Twilight snorted, “I’m Aella Rogers, my friends called me Twilight, you are?”

“But...” The spirit seemed to shake herself, then nodded and changed what she was going to say, “I’m April Showers. I need to talk to Jack Frost. I know he’s in there.”

“Well yeah, he’s a friend of mine. Let me see if...” Twilight looked through the open door to the living room where Jack was frantically shaking his head, “Sorry, he doesn’t want to talk to... hey!” Twilight yelped as April brushed past her and entered the building, stalking into the living room and confronting the Spirit of Winter, who had grabbed his staff as if expecting a fight. “Oi,” Twilight protested as she slammed the front door shut, forgetting her bag of rubbish, “No fighting in my front room.”

“You’re late leaving.” April growled at Jack, ignoring the young woman behind her, “You were supposed to be out of England two weeks ago!”

“I lost track of the time.” Jack actually sounded a little sheepish at that, much to Twilight’s surprise, “But it’s not like I’ve been frosting much over, surely you can work around...”

“I shouldn’t have to. It’s spring. Not winter. Get out of my territory. Go plague the Southern Hemisphere with storms or something.” April interrupted him.

“I bring snow and ice, not lightning storms, you want Blues for that.” Jack pointed out.

“Summer Thyme Blues has promised to help me kick your ass out of my turf if you don’t leave.” April warned him, “So I suggest...” April trailed off when Twilight got between her and the person she was trying to get shot of.

“My house, my rules. I like Jack, so he’s welcome here whenever he wants.” Twilight informed her, “You, however, have overstayed your welcome. Get.” Twilight pointed towards the door.

“As nice as it is to have someone who can finally see us,” April snorted, looking the rather unimposing looking bookworm over, “You’re a human, you can’t understand our world and how we work. Jack has to leave before I can get going because while he’s still here, he’ll wreck anything I grow.”

“That’s not true!” Jack protested, “I don’t wreck everything...”

“1968.”

“Oh come on.” Jack groaned, leaning against his staff. “It was one blizzard, forty years ago, brought on, I’d like to remind you, by the fact I lost control after your friend, Blues, knocked the sense out of me.”

“You never had any sense to begin with.” April waved his comment off with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“That’s it.” Twilight growled, pointedly shoving the Spirit of Spring, who seemed surprised that the human could. “Out of my house. If you want to talk like a civilised being, than you can come back tomorrow. Right now however, you’re being rude so you’re leaving.”

“Oh shove off.” Twilight yelped as April counter shoved her, the much stronger being managing to send Twi crashing into one of her bookcases. Jack let out a furious yell when his friend hit the shelving unit hard enough to break some of the shelves and shot a blast of ice at the attacking Spring spirit.

April narrowly dodged the attack, calling to the wood in the bookcases around them, warping it and growing it. The tendrils of wood slamming Jack into the wall on the other side of the room. The Winter spirit snarled as he picked himself up. April had the advantage here. Jack’s only friend was in the line of fire and was already hurt. He couldn’t risk a fight happening here.

Outside he reckoned he could take her, but even if it would not bring a lot of unwanted attention down on Twi, if he got into a fight with April, it would bring Summer and possibly others down on his head. Worst case scenario being the Guardians. Elena Rabbit, the Easter Bunny and the Guardian of Spring was a friend of April’s after all. That and she had yet to forgive Jack for the blizzard of ‘68 either, even if she did not know the reason behind it.

“Fine, April.” Jack lowered his staff, dropping the conduit for his vast powers, admitting defeat, “Put Twi’s bookcases the way they were and I’ll go. I’ll get out of your hair till its Blues’s turn. Deal?”

April thought about the offer for a moment and she got her vines to pass her Jack’s staff and considered the Sheppard’s crook like weapon for a moment. The intricate frost patterns that formed at Jack’s touch were gone, leaving the weapon little more than an ancient wooden stick. Jack froze as April tested the springiness of the wood, afraid she would break it.

“Stay away till you’re due back here and I might think about it.” April replied as she compared her own staff, which looked younger and much more vibrant, against the old, rickety staff that Jack had owned since before his change, “You really should take better care of... hey!”

Twilight, looking unsteady on her feet, yanked Jack’s staff away from the Spring spirit and tossed it back to its owner. “Bugger off.” The human growled, “My home, my rules. If Jack wants to come here during your stupid Spring, which I’d like to remind you is always bloody cold and frosty in England anyway, I say he can.”

“You...” April paused and smirked slightly, “Your home, your rules, you’re quite correct.” The Spring spirit allowed, “So if you don’t want Spring in your garden that’s fine with me. As long as Jack doesn’t touch the rest of my Spring, I won’t complain about him coming here, but I won’t build your garden up for you either.”

“So?”