Winter's Daughter

[Winterfrost]

The world was made of snow as far as her eyes could see. Everywhere she looked there was snow- on the ground in vast untouched expanses, clinging to the trunks and branches of the trees, falling steadily from the grey sky. It sucked up all sound, leaving only the sound of her breathing and the crunch of the snow beneath her feet and silence. It had been years since she had been in this place but Abigail instantly knew it. It was exactly as she remembered it; the cold air blowing at her hair and burning her lungs, the quiet that hung over the landscape like a blanket, the tingle on her skin wasn’t just the cold but the feel of where the world was thin…

This was where she had met the Elementals.

She was dressed in her bed clothes, just shorts and a t-shirt, but it had been years since she had to bundle up against the cold. She walked barefoot through the snow, occasionally looking back only to find the snow had already filled in her tracks. There would be no backtracking here. She had no destination but her feet seemed to know the way.

Soon she could see small ice elementals out of the corner of her eye and she knew she was getting close. Soon she was in a clearing and she was surrounded by them. They were all sizes, some small enough to dance on the air on wings made of frost, other huge beings of ice and snow. All were as quiet as snow fall, and they all turned their attention to her.

Abigail stood in the center of the clearing. They wanted something from her- she could feel it in the silent stares. “What do you want?” The winter wind carried her words away, small and lonely. “What is it that you need me to do?” The only response was the silent gazes. “Please… just… tell me...”

The wind suddenly kicked up, the snow that was falling gently just a moment before suddenly turning into cold knives against her skin. She squeezed her eyes shut as the sudden snow storm blinded her and nearly stole her breath away. The girl started to slowly sink to her knees when she heard it, a whisper in the storm.

“Find us.”


She awoke with a start, her white hair a tangle as she sat up in bed. The girl, the bed, and the floor and wall surrounding her were covered in a fine layer of frost sparkling like fairy dust in the moonlight streaming in from the window. Abigail looked around to make sure she hadn’t woken one of her roommates, and then let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes.

This was the third time she had this dream. The first time had been last month, the second time last week. She had been writing it off as nothing, but… it was getting harder to do. She closed her eyes for a moment to let her heart slow down, her breathing calm, then threw off the light blanket she used and began to strip the bed. The frost wouldn’t last long in the summer, and she didn’t want a wet bed. Figuring out the dream could wait until morning.