Snow

The next morning Arthur woke up to an incredibly bright and chill room. With a deep breath, he climbed out of his bed, and he went over to his blinds and pushed them aside.

The sight that greeted him was, ‘magical, this is magical.’ As this was Arthur’s first time experiencing snowfall, he couldn’t help but be intoxicated by the sight before him.

In the sky were momentary hints of blue coupled with fluffy white areas. The bits of light that streaked the hints of blue were enough to release a flash of diamonds across the vast landscape. The beauty before Arthur was reminiscent of a master artist’s work of art. This level of purity and exquisiteness present was perfectly encapsulated, bringing forth a feeling of peace. From the sky were small, gently falling puffs of white, with the occasional star-like blue gems. It was a fairy-tale world, child-like and pure. Especially so when Arthur looked off into the distance where boughs of trees were adorned with thick pillows.

Seeing this enchanted view before him, a small smile tugged at the corners of Arthur’s mouth. Opening his window, he leaped out and into the snow.

PUFF!

The sensation of sinking into sixty-centimeters of snow felt surreal to Arthur. It felt like a mother’s embrace, firm yet soft, rough yet gentle. The feeling felt foreign but somehow familiar, like something once gone.

Laying within the snow for a while, Arthur sat up and watched the slowly drifting puffs of snows, as he breathed, little clouds appeared. He was enthralled by this natural phenomenon causing him to blink thoughtfully as the frost patiently kissed his face. Captivated by the soft, dusty illusions of light that now sat heavily on his eyelashes, Arthur smiled a happy smile. He adored the snow, more so while it fell.

It was also at this time, and Cal, Aegon, and Luna walked out of the Village Manor. Seeing their master happily enjoying the snowfall, they grinned at each other before pouncing on him.

What followed next was flying snow in tandem with laughs and giggles.

…

…

After playing in the snow for a while, Arthur rushed back into the Manor to prepare for the day.

Finished, along Cal and rest, he made his way toward the Village Hall.

Seated peacefully outside sipping some warm tea, Myrddin was enjoying the sight of children playing in the snow of in the distance. Some were at war with each other, and others were making art.

It was times like this when one realizes just precious peace was and why it was worth fighting for it.

Nevertheless, as Myrddin watched, he noticed Arthur’s approaching figure from the corner of his eye.

Pouring another cup of tea, he gestured for Arthur to take a seat, while Aegon and rest went to join the fun.

“Festive, isn’t it?”

“Mhm.” Responded Arthur as he took a sip of Myrddin’s signature tea. “Who knew Hiems could be so beautiful.”

Myrddin laughed, “trust me, as we go through Hiems, there will be even more beautiful sights. Especially halfway through when the auroras begin to color the sky.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Of course,” chuckled Myrddin.” Depending on where you go, some people might be called them Hiem’s Lights or Pandora’s Dance.”

Enjoying learning something new, Arthur took another sip of his tea as he watched the children play while some adults even joined. Not one to ruin such a pleasurable atmosphere, Myrddin had already canceled all tasks for the day, thus allowing everyone to enjoy the first day of Hiems.

It was also at this time a stray snowball flew in Arthur’s direction. Swiftly catching it, Arthur held the spherical object with interest.

While he examined it, a child rushed up to him, a bit out of breath.” Super….super sorry. Are…are you okay?”

“I’m alright,” replied Arthur as he handed the snowball back with a smile. “This is quite well made.”

Receiving his snowball back, the kid smiled, “thank you.”

He then looked from his snowball to Arthur and Myrddin. “Do you guys wanna join? It’s super fun.”

Exchanging looks with one another, Arthur and Myrddin shrugged. ‘why not?’

Clearing away the tea, Arthur and Myrddin stood up and followed the kid, whose name they found to be Zion.

After a short walk, they arrived at a large clearing. There were four large mounds of snow acting as cover for four different factions.

As they were the only people without cover, the moment the group walked onto the clearing, they garnered everyone’s attention.

It took about a second before someone yelled,” They have no cover, fire at will!”

WHOOOSH!

Countless snowballs dotted the sky descending toward Arthur’s group.

It was also at this time that Zion grabbed the duo’s hands and dived into the snow.

Small puff sounds were heard as the rain of snowballs made contact with the ground.

Forced to crawl, the group then made their way around the clearing until they reached Zion’s faction.

As they arrived, a kid popped up. “Welcome back, general,” he saluted. He then looked behind Zion at Myrddin and Arthur. “Ooo good job general, you brought back reinforcement.”

“Of course, more manpower is needed if we are secure a clean victory. What is our current status?”

“The adult faction has increased their manpower and ammunition reserves, while the big kids’ faction has shown signs of cooperation with the adult faction. We are currently monitoring the girl scouts faction for any suspicious behavior. But…”

Hearing the ‘but,’ Zion raised an eyebrow. “But what lieutenant, Crys?”

“Our current ammunition reserves are dwindling, we don’t have enough manpower to cover their production.” Finish Crys as he pointed to a pile of snowballs. “If we keep going at this rate, we will be wiped out sooner or later. Why don’t we ally with Ashelyn’s faction?”

Zion gritted his teeth at this. As if forced to swallow something unpleasant, he forced out,” Fine, make contact.”

Watching this play out, Arthur and Myrddin were left dumbfounded. Were these children or adults?

….

Soon after, a squad of girls appeared. In the lead was a brown-haired girl with an assertive air around her.

As she approached Zion’s squad, she respectfully greeted Arthur and Myrddin before giving Zion a cold glare.

However, despite the clear hostility between the two, they still formed an alliance joining their two forces together.

During this time, Myrddin was assigned to ammunition manufacturing, much to Arthur’s amusement, while he was assigned to the attacking squadron.

Over time more and more people joined until eventually, the whole village was split into two opposing sides.

The battle raged for the entire day, and eventually, both sides were forced to call a truce. Some of the highlights included Marie building a working snow cannon for the adult and big kids alliance. Siegfreid leading a charge in retaliation to take it out and Cisse leading his own counter charge to intercept him. There was also Arthur who secretly fortified Zion’s faction’s defensive mound, or they would have lost to the cannon.

It was a fun day for everyone as they enjoyed the snowy warfare.

As the night rolled around, a large bonfire was made. Everyone was seated around it, draped in heavy blankets as they enjoyed warm food.

Sounds of laughter and chatter filled the area as everyone reveled in each other’s company.

It was like this that the first Hiem’s Day ended.

.

.

[Tidbit: Not relevant to the story, but apparently in 1992, the city of Syracuse passed a decree that any more snow before Christmas was illegal. Pity, because two days later it snowed. Go figure, laws don’t work on Mother Nature.]