Snow

As I breathed in, the chilliness in the air iced my lungs, feeling like they had almost entirely stopped from how cold they felt. Waking up and coughing out the air, I noticed I was able to see the exhales from my coughs. They had been semi-opaque clouds which rose upwards after they had been released. I start rubbing my shoulders to stop the immense chatter from my skeleton. The freezing air had done more than attack my lungs, it had managed to also make me cold.

I wrapped the blanket around myself tighter in hopes of warming myself up further. However, this action failed as the rag I had been using as a blanket had started to become more and more battered, leaving holes all over. Trying to look outside the window to get a gauge of what was happening, I was met with an intense shades of whites and grays, which made it difficult to see anything based on my distance from the window.

Begrudgingly, I gave up my futile attempts at warming myself up and instead walked to the window to see what was happening. As I dropped the blanket to the floor, the cold began to further overwhelm me, causing me to regret my decision of disregarding my blanket. Freezing on my bed wasn’t a much better alternative either, so I continued to get up.

Reaching the window with great difficulty, I once again tried peering outside. I could see gentle flakes falling down. They looked as though they were giant clumps of white. However, when some landed on the window, they could be made out to have a far more complex structure then I initially credited them for.

“This is… snow!” I spoke aloud, trying to confirm the words which I uttered.

Looking down at the capital, I could make out that the once nice gardens were replaced with desolate trees and white powder. The bricks which emanated their colour and polish had now hidden their cowardly faces against the wrath of the new crusader. I see some people enjoying the new found condition they were in, but others were weary to trust the possible enemy in front of them.

Bang! The door to my room slapped open with a force far greater than the snow had been falling at. Into my room stepped a child bouncing off the walls in excitement. The brightness on her face felt like it emanated far stronger than the sun and I was worried that it would even start to melt the snow.

“Did you see it?” She asked, almost unable to contain the answer to her question.

“See what, Cordelia?” I responded, trying to play along.

“The snow you dummy!”

“Oh, that’s what you meant. Of course I saw. It even woke me up in some regard.”

“And?”

“What do you mean ‘and’?”

“We’ve got to go play in it Hibiki!”

“But it’s sooooo cold.”

“It doesn’t matter! This is too rare to miss.”

“Fine. I’ll go take you to play in it once I finish my work for you father today, okay?”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Okay!” She turned and ran away from my room to get a better look at the snow outside.

While she was turning, she had hit me in the face with her golden locks, which resembled her mothers more than her fathers. Well, I better start getting ready if I want to get enough time to complete all my tasks for the day. Then I’ll take Cordelia to go play in the snow. She said it was rare to see snow, so I guess that explained the unfamiliarity and fear of some of the people on the street. Those who experienced their first snow and were curious about it were probably ecstatic. At the same time, the snow made others recoil back inside.

With this light amount of snow though, it was far better to enjoy than fear it. Maybe I could skip washing myself for today. After all, the normally cold water would just be frostbite levels of cold today. Resolving on this, I made my way to the bathroom to clean off my teeth at the very least. Finally, I checked my hair making sure it looked presentable enough to show to the kind man who was taking care of me.

Making my way downstairs, my feet had still not adjusted to the coldness of the floor, causing me to hasten my pace. Doing this wasted far more energy, although by now, running down the stairs felt far easier than it had been before. Reaching downstairs, I could see a well prepared meal waiting on the table for me to eat.

Cordelia most likely alerted Flint that I was getting up and was on my way down, so he took the opportunity to make it in advance. I could hear the clanging of a hammer banging against silver from the other room, confirming Flint was home and was indeed working. Realizing I was going to start falling behind on my work, I quickly ate my food and made sure not to leave a singular bite on the plate. I sped over to the sink and placed my plate gently into it, making sure not to cause a loud sound.

After doing this, I made my way over to the shop where I saw Flint working on shaping a silver bow. I could also see Cordelia watching not Flint, but the fluffy white snow falling from the sky instead , anxiously waiting. I approached Flint quietly so as to not disturb him from his expert work. When I had first seen him work, I knew he seemed masterful at what he was doing, but now I was able to understand what made it seem that way.

From the way he sharpened various parts of the item he was working on, to the way he cooled the item, it was all done in a very well versed manner. I made my way over to the other forge Flint had recently installed to help me practice. As I approached it, I examined the rock of the exterior. The polish looked far better than Flint’s forge, and the rocks looked to be in far better shape. However, due to my shabby work, the inside of the forge was more charred than Flints.

Grabbing a piece of silver lying next to the forge, I began working on an order for swords. This was the first job Flint had given me where my work would be sent out if it was decent enough. Taking great precaution and care, I worked through all six of the swords I was tasked to make. I apparently looked so concentrated even Cordelia took a break from admiring the snow to watch me for a while. It was as if I had sucked up all the available concentration in the area, including Cordelia’s. After a few hours of meticulous work, I had finally finished the ordered swords.

Each sword looked far better than my first work and they shined in the same way Flint’s had when he was first showing me how to use the forge. Proud of my work, I wiped the sweat off my forehead, making sure I could look presentable before I asked Flint how well I did. The thought of showing him my work equally excited and terrified me, causing my heart to pump out of my chest.

After a couple of moments of trying to calm myself down, I approached Flint with my work, ready to receive his criticism. He’s normally not harsh about things, but when it comes to weapons, he’s like an entirely different person.

“Sir, please take a look at this.” I told him while handing him my charge.

“Hmm, not bad. These look really good.” He replied by inspecting the blades.

“Really? Then does that mean….”

“But, while these look good, they aren’t good to use. This one here is probably the worst.” He pointed out the one I was least confident in.

“R-right..”

“Look, the issue with these is that while they look good visually, they are far too brittle. Watch.”

He hit the sword against the logs he normally tested them on, shattering it to pieces. Seeing a part of my work shattered to pieces so easily started doing the same to my heart.

“Keep practicing, you’re definitely getting better. As for the rest of these, since they aren’t as bad as that other one, I’ll ship ‘em out.” Flint reassured me after seeing my dejected expression.

“R-Really, but don’t those have the same problem?”

“They do. But to a far lesser extent than the other one. Not to mention these are simply going to the guards anyways, so it doesn’t really matter all too much.”

“But wouldn’t it be bad if the blades failed on them?”

“Eh, they wanted it for free, so they’ll also have to deal with the free quality.” He chuckled at the idea.

Feeling a tugging on my clothes, I looked over to see Cordelia looking at me expectantly. Over the past few hours I had even forgotten I had made a promise to her, instead being far more focused on my work. But seeing her now reminded me of the urgency of her request. There was a chance that the snow would be gone after today. Not to mention it was already beginning to turn dark.

“Hey, F-Flint, I promised to take Cordelia out to play in the snow today. I know the sun is already setting but would it be fine if I would make good on my promise?” I questioned.

“Hmm, yeah it should be fine. Just keep a close eye on her and watch out.” He reminded me.

“Alright Cordelia, let’s go!”

Hearing my words, her eyes lit up as though they were Christmas lights. She quickly took hold of my hand and started dragging me out of the shop. While being dragged away, I tried my best to wave goodbye to Flint, but Cordelia strengthened her tugs when I slowed down. As we reached the main road, we saw how most of the street had been cleared out, putting the snow to the side.

“It’s all gone.” She spoke sadly as her excitement began to fade.

While it was still snowing, it seemed too light to stick to the ground like it had before.

“Wait, I know! The gardens should still have lots of snow in them! They wouldn’t clear those out.” I remembered.

The fading sparks had suddenly reignited in Cordelia once again, causing her to start pulling me, this time moving much faster. It seemed she had picked up the pace more than last time, making sure she wouldn’t be missing the snow this time. However, while the paths had been cleared of snow, the persistent ice still remained. As we ran, Cordelia began slipping, causing her to lose balance and fall.

“Look out!” I called out to her, noticing her imminent fall.

I quickly jumped for her catching her in the air, however this had caused me to lose balance myself, so I quickly positioned myself to take the impact of the fall. Hitting the ground, it seemed Cordelia was relatively unscathed, and I myself was lucky enough to get away with just a bit of back pain.

“Ah, I’m sorry!” She apologized

“Are you injured?” I wondered if I had done enough to protect her.

“No, but I should be asking you that.”

“Well, I’m perfectly fine so there’s nothing wrong then, right?”

“Are you sure?”

“Completely.”

“Okay then, let's keep going.”

We moved at a far more controlled pace this time in order to make sure we didn’t slip as we continued going to the garden. Along the way, Cordelia did slip a little, but not with the same force, recovering her balance by grabbing hold of me. Finally, after a long walk, we made it to the garden where it seemed I was proven correct.

Seeing the white blankets, Cordelia made her way over and started walking around in it. The different feeling underneath her shoes caused her to giggle. I tried my best to avoid stepping onto the snow as my rags for shoes would not fair the best against the cold dampness the snow provided. But seeing my reluctance to step on the snow, Cordelia pulled me onto it, assuming I had simply been afraid of it.

Feeling the cold on my feet made me almost shout aloud, but I held it inside so as to not scare Cordelia. After a while, I had learned to tolerate the cold underneath my feet, but I still would’ve preferred to have left the snow instead.