As curiosity and endeavors entangled, she became another part of the background, a rose, a wildflower, a songbird nestled in the abyss of winter’s caress, blending and altering, morphing and quieting. She watched the two unfamiliar creatures reach for each other in their time of enigmas and mysteries, and settled into her amiable, charitable smile, a quiet, hushed witness until they required her voice, her presence, her sonnets. The routine was habitual, if a bit lonely, but she’d been so accustomed to merging, fusing, and mingling with the brush of snow, with the chasing, chilling winds, with the preserving peaks. Her eyes went back and forth between evening scenery and newfound companions, never pressing, never forcing, never coercing, allowing decisions to be stoked, kindled, and unfurled without the grinding, fractious fission of another’s motivations or ambitions. But to watch Ashamin, excited, animated, enlivened, was to understand the nature of joviality: he seemed uncontained, unraveled, at the notion of being within the frozen sanction. Wasn’t that what they all yearned and craved: to find a world where they belonged? To ensure purpose? To revitalize triumph? To strengthen themselves, their homes, their empires? To grow, to dream, to invoke and then inspire? Her grin widened, absorbed the tender notions of his radiance, of his reverie, and assembled them to new heights, painted brushstrokes of her own ebullience and elegance in fine, coated raptures, the twinkle of an eye, the soothing composure of her flowing limbs, shaking away the doldrums, the melancholies, of previous days, months, years, and seasons past. He wanted to be here – within the towering Basin, where power lurked and enduring beasts constantly waited, perennial rapiers and makeshift hearts. Her words flowed with gentle, winsome exuberance, a delicate morsel captured in the bottle and jars of the aurora’s everlasting bloom. “Of course you can.” She winked again, all the more emboldened, like fire, like earth, like snow, hastened into the elements by a series of contentment, softening the arch of her lilting movements, polishing its rhapsody, its grace, its holy minuets. “The Basin would be happy to have you.” Even in his gentleness, even in his shyness, even in his reserve, he could serve the way of their world in many different avenues, broaden his fledgling wings towards grander heights, launch a thousand ships and a million stars – it all depended on what he wanted to do, where he wanted to go, what he wanted to see. But first, she’d shown him the pathways, thread him through the avenues and corridors of ice, of rime, of majesty, of unspoken treachery and dastardly precipices. She could weave and lace him amidst the grandeur, the opulence, and the splendor, but he’d have to pick which door to open. She could erase his fear, but he’d have to learn to face it without her. She could bestow him shelter, but he’d have to discover how to hold, treasure, and refine it.

When Rexanna agreed upon their sojourn, it made the notion merrier. Her eyes shifted, glancing past the striking borealis, over the snowy peaks and dappled valleys, towards the ramparts and cliffs, along the pine and fir borders, amidst the caverns of mirrors and lights. Imogen chirped, nodding her head towards the nearby waters, and Lena’s smile shifted to a quieter, blooming stance. She inclined, she advanced, she embarked into the murmurs and croons of their glacial abyss, of their Siberian paradise, an essence of refinement and subterfuge beneath the wake of all their blinding hues and fleeting fragments; a guide, a muse, a beacon, until they found their own way. Her voice lifted in keen notes, nightingale wings, lullaby compositions, magnificent, gilded rhapsodies, a mellifluous invitation embarking into the wind, extending towards their makeshift party of newcomers and augured resolves. “To the unfreezing lake first?” Then her hooves stretched, in a merry dance, in a gentle sway, in a soft, dulcet edge, towards the small, enchanted parcel of the sea – the ivory kitsune chirruping alongside, calling to their pristine brethren to follow.

@[Ashamin]