It was so cold.
A small figure whimpered silently as an icy breeze blew past her.
Long glistening strands fluttered in the breeze and once again she shivered.
The freezing winds were biting and bitter and she wanted to cry so badly but each time a tear fell from her eyes it simply solidified on midway down her cheeks. Trembling hands reached up to pick the tiny icicle off her face before returning to their place wrapped around her frigid form in a vain attempt to stay warm.
Under her breath she began to hum a tune, one her mother had taught her what seemed like so long ago…
The child shook her head in an effort to delay the drowsiness that was overwhelming her senses. It had been forever since she'd slept, somehow knowing that if she closed her eyes in this cold she would never open them again. Platinum tresses covered her naked form protectively as she huddled deeper into a ball.
Unnaturally blue tinted lips quivered as they urge to cry once again overpowered the small child.
Abandoned and lonely, she waited.
She wasn't sure whether she was waiting for someone to come find her or for Death to come claim it's young charge.
Abruptly the winds stopped.
Had death claimed her so swiftly and she hadn't even realized it?
Opening an eye cautiously the little girl looked at the surrounding carefully. Gone were the frozen grounds littered with snow, the dismal gray sky was replaced with an unusually clear shade of blue only the occasionally white fluffy cloud completed the almost heavenly scene. Curious, the small child gazed at her surroundings with a renewed amount of energy, the sight of the revitalizing sun working its magic on her young body and making her tiredness disappear like she believed it had made the cold.
Innocent eyes took in all the wonder around her.
Exultant at having escaped the unforgiving bitter cold, she began to joyfully skip. Twirling and dancing out her happiness, her cheeks became flushed and her radiance shone from her tiny body almost illuminating the area around her.
Nothing around her was familiar but as long as she didn't have to feel the hopelessness and loneliness anymore she was content. For know anyway. Twirling once more she stopped in mid-spin and her heart leapt, overjoyed.
She wasn't alone.
Before her bright eyes she saw four other little girls, all with their backs to herself and each other. From what she could see of them their little bodies were tense with fear but what she could feel from them was also a sense of awe.
"Welcome…", that one word caused all their heads to snap in one direction. The tall woman before them didn't seem the attention they bestowed her with. She regarded them each individually with the tender gaze of a thoughtful mother. Never in any of their short lives had they ever seen a women such as she.
Blue eyes, the shade of lakes gazed at them affectionately while vibrant green locks tumbled down her back, some strands reaching for the sky from intricate twists and braids with the occasional leave and twig sticking out of her hair, others descending freely and with restraint to skim down her body. Tanned skin, the color of the very Earth, peeked through the veil her hair created around her.
She wasn't beautiful in the traditional manner but something about the way she held herself…
Wild Elegance.
That was the only way she could describe this woman nothing else fit.
The mystery woman gaze roamed over all the girls before it landed on her. Lovingly blue eyes gazed at her and she got the feeling of being tucked in and kissed on the forehead by her mother; something she had never actually experienced but had been told by a friend was the best feeling in the world.
Shaking her head she looked back to the other girls and saw that they all had adoring expressions on their own faces as they looked to the woman. Without even needing a mirror she was certain she had adopted the same expression and curiously didn't really care.
"I know you are wondering why you are here…", again the soft tone of her voice soothed their once troubled minds, "… not too long ago a decision was made concerning each of you. A decision concerning your futures that none of you had a say in…" a frown marred the lady's face and the girls felt their own faces mirror that frown.
"So disliking the position you were placed in I decided that you would choose what your fate and the fate of those that would force your destiny on you would be…"