Small exhales brings the briefest of clouds
She's always known that.
The chill from the icicles,
She's always known that.
Yet she could never remember.
Such was her life,
A frozen shell.
And everywhere she looked, a terrible reflection.
A crooked nose, jagged teeth, phantom limbs.
Abhorrent, monstrous, unbecoming.
So she was content, hidden away.
The visage her own, herself, impinging on her eyes only.

She was shined, they all said.
Her beauty, her strength.
She shined as she burned, and they praised her.
But none ever looked into her heart.
They praised its power, its benevolence,
The heart she wears outward.
They saw, but do not see.
They all turn away, pleased with answering smile.
The light she gave, never once returned.
And she was lonely.
And she burned, brighter with time.
Looking for a light for her soul.
Till she found a shell that rejected her light.

A slight breeze was the only warning she had before a shadow slipped through the solid ice. That was all she let herself see before she shrank into a corner, hiding her face under her arms as best she could.

"Why is it so dark in here?"

Dark? It wasn't that dark, features were just difficult to make out. It suited the girl who inhabited the shell. She slowly let her arms down to peek at the stranger.

And came face to face with a hand stretching out, fingers just about to reach her face. Frozen in fear, she lost her breath.

The mist drifted between fingers, around an arm, and lost itself in thick tresses framing a feminine face. One almost as frozen as their surroundings.

The hand pulled back slowly, and the figure held it to her chest, trembling slightly.

"Wow... What are you?"

Her arms came up immediately, to cover her face and to smother the scream that would echo painfully. And just as quick, a gentle hand brushed against her own.

"I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I didn't know there was anyone in here at all. Did you make this? Why are you in here? How did you make it so–"

The figure started to ramble louder, hiding a soft cry. A small cloud flew between the cowering girl's hands promptly hushed her words. The second cloud lifted the long hair of the figure before dissipating.

A warm tinkling came and passed before she realized the figure had laughed.

Light hands stroked her own. "Can I make this place lighter?"

The hands were already touching her own, and this stranger wants to shine light into her shell? It was too much, and a small sob escaped her lips. But it seems like the intruder completely mistook the sound.

"Hey! I totally can. You just don't think I can because you can't see. I'm…" The figure struggles for words for a moment. "Bright! I bet I can make this place even more pretty."

Tears were threatening to fall already, and the sudden flash of light only makes her realize that this person was about to see everything she is, all her flaws bathed in unforgiving light.

Then the figure sat down beside her and even slid an arm around her shoulders.

"I bet you've never seen this before. C'mon, look up with me. It's beautiful."

As quickly as they can startle her, words froze her again. Tears still fell, but something stuck in the girl's mind. Beautiful? More pretty? Her shell was cold, decorated with unflinching and uncomfortable icicles. Slowly, her hands were pried away from her eyes.

Her arms dropped as the sight of her shell fills her field of view. Crystal formations stretched in all directions, all shapes, and all sizes. And all of them were absolutely clear. They took in light, and it made them blaze from the inside with the intensity of a blizzard. Her eyes tracked the patterns made in the air, following a beam around. Eventually, her eyes landed on the stranger that came into her shell. It was then that she realized that her face was naked, and made to hide once again.

Unfortunately, her hands were caught by the stranger, who smiled brilliantly at her.

"Please don't hide. Won't you share this place with me?"

Slowly, the stranger's hand reached up to wipe errant tears away.

"I bet you made this place, only someone as beautiful as you can make something as pretty as this."

She cringed at being called beautiful, and the stranger pulls her closer. So close that all the two could see is each other.

"Yes you are." Warm hands stroked trembling cheeks. "Look in my eyes. See what I see."

And it was amazing. Those lilac eyes reflected an unbroken image so clear it stopped her heart. A girl in white, marred only by tears. Tears that were wiped away by the kind stranger.

"This place shines for me. But this place is you, isn't it? Cold and beautiful. So let me shine for you, like you shine for me."

Her heart sang, and she strains her little used voice to reply. But it was too much, and she falls forward against the kind woman. Before she slips off into sleep, she hardened a single resolve in her heart.

One day. I'll tell her one day. As long as it takes. I will tell her.

"Yes."