Frozen

Once upon a time, she had been sunshine. She had been joy and light, a laughing whirl of flowers in the breeze. She had been the beginning.

But that was long ago. 

Back then, the world had bent itself to her will. A dream brought rainbows, a song the rain. Her will sprouted from the earth effortlessly. Oh, the wonder of her magic, and the ease of it! Wistful memories tumbled forward, miracles unheeded and victories unsung. Back when she was the creator.

It had been a long time since then. Slowly, her skills had ebbed from her. The laughter had left her lips years before. She no longer spun on the meadow, golden hair alight. Instead,she trudged her doughy form through muddy hills. Her face remained in the shadows, even from herself. The meager light of candles flickered around her, as she blindly fumbled in the dark for tasteless food and serviceable clothes. And sat.

The ice was everywhere now.

Frost ran over the windows, locking the doors. It coated the steps, slick as glass. She didn’t go out. It ran tendrils down the chimney, extinguishing her fire. She got used to the cold. It seemed to reach into her very lungs, and she saw her breath hanging in the air. Blank. White. Stagnant.

She was the ice.

There is no time when you are frozen, so she couldn’t have said how long she had been sitting there, day after day after day. They passed unchanging as she placed herself by the window, just to see if, perhaps, anything happened. Nothing ever did. Nothing, until that day, when at the edge of the snowfields she saw a dot of red.

Color flowered out of the haze, burning her eyes. It seemed to magnify everything around it…the black tree trunks, the blue hollows in the snow, the powdery confetti dusting everything in the wind. The scene became a vortex, with the scarlet apex growing ever closer.

It was a person, she realized. A child. She wondered at their folly, crossing the deep banks by themselves. Abruptly her hand extended towards the sight. Was she needed? The frost receded from her eyes for a moment as she focused deeply on the child. It was…hopping.

Hopping?

Yes, there was no doubt about it, the child was hopping through the snow, apparently following a rhythm she could not hear. What strange behavior. Leaning in, she cleared frost from the window so as to better see the interloper. A closer look revealed that it was a girl, with long golden hair and a dazzling smile, falling over and over and over through the snow, and laughing each time she got up.

It made her uncomfortable, watching this little one throw herself into the frozen abyss. Surely there was a broken ankle to risk, to say nothing of frostbite? She got to her feet, and hurried to the front door. Her supplies were feeble but she thought she could manage small injuries. As she passed the fire she felt its wan warmth, and she added more logs. Sparks leapt joyfully, ravenously hungry for the fuel. The door stuck as she tried to open it, but she grabbed her sturdiest boots and whacked the frame with a stout heel. Warped wood slammed back to its place as she wrenched open the handle and emerged from the house, shattering the ice on her steps.

The air! Oh it was so…bracing. Everywhere around her the snow glittered, and the breeze giggled as it kissed her face. How long since she had felt it! How long since she had truly been awake. 

“Hello!” the child waved.

“Hello,” she croaked, her voice tense from long disuse. “Are you alright?”

“Of course I am! Isn’t winter wonderful? I can play all day!”

Play.

She was playing.

And here was the torrent of memories, the laughing days of her younger self, who twirled through sun and through snow and sang with the rain and the wind. Here was her memory, older than she was, of turning with the earth and seeing each day with new beauty. The cycles unfolded in front of her, lines twisting through the snow, becoming more faded as they approached her, almost as though they were asking, “Are you still there?”

She was. She was standing right there, at the intersection of time and magic, staring at a small girl who had once again fallen in the snow.

Slowly, she descended the steps, mindful to place her feet firmly. On either side of her, the snow melted away as she passed, surrendering its shape to her heat. She extended her hand. Tiny gloved fingers grasped her firmly, and suddenly, they were up.

For a moment they stared at each other, pale eyes to bright, and smiled. 

“Have fun.”

And off she went, falling forward and leaving a path behind her.

The Earth sighed a great breath of relief, and rainbows lit the ice with promise.