Three children of royalty, parentless at a young age. The eldest, a girl named Irunya had to act as a mother to her two younger siblings: The middle child, a boy named Ivan, and the youngest - another girl named Natalya.
Natalya was a special case... She was normally quiet and kept close to her brother. Despite Ivan being a kind soul as well as the heir to the throne, he was picked on by other kids. Natalya kept saying they'd be sorry when winter rolled around... And every winter, Karma struck them if they had picked on him during the summer... Why was this? Natalya was the one that summoned the winter each year due to her power to control the snow. Her brother quickly grew accustomed to her winters, eventually not being bothered by the cold at all. Her sister not so much...
Despite this, her siblings didn't find out that Natalya was responsible for the coming of winter.

"Aw, look at him. He's starting to cry. What'll happen if we throw more rocks at him?"
"He won't do anything. He'll just sit there and take it. Like always."
"GET AWAY FROM MY BIG BROTHER YOU MEANIES!"

Natalya ran up to the group of bullies, one of them being the white-haired Gilbert. Natalia folded her arms and glared them down, standing in front of Ivan to protect him. "If you continue this, winter will be harsh on you..."
"Haha! He had to get his little sister to protect him!" Gilbert laughed.
Natalya continued to stare them down. "That's no way to talk to your future leader, now is it? Back down or face consequences."

Gilbert just laughed some more. "Throw em." Rocks were thrown, but Natalya caught two of them with her hands using unearthly reflexes.
"Leave. Now."
Gilbert became terrified and ran off, followed by the gang.

Ivan smiled and got up to give his sister a hug. "Thank you! At least I know you care about me!"
"... You're welcome big brother. Let's go inside now... Big Sister will be waiting to give us lunch... Probably." Natalya said.

"Ah, look Natalya!" Ivan pointed up at the sky. "It's beginning to snow!"
Natalya ran up to Ivan and clung to him. "Winter has come now... Just as I predicted it would today. Right brother?"
"Uh-huh!" Ivan nodded. "Once there's a bunch more snow, we can build snowmen and make snow angels! Maybe we can convince big sister to play with us this time!" He happily smiled. "Ah, speaking of big sister, she needs to see this! IRUNYA!" He called.

Irunya came running. "What is it? Are you two alright?!" She asked, worried.
Ivan quietly giggled. "No. Look up." He pointed up at the sky, Irunya looked up.
"Ah, how beautiful. The first snow fall of winter. Just like you predicted Natalya." Irunya then looked down at her younger sister. Natalya merely replied with a nod.

Ivan reached out into the air, cupping his hands. He then looked down after a quick while to see nothing. "Aw... I'm still no good at catching snowflakes..."
"Just try again big brother..." Natalya insisted. She moved one hand behind her back, and flicked it about before twitching her fingers. Whatever she was doing made a thumb-sized snowflake fall into Ivan's hand.

Ivan looked down in his hands. "Whoa, and it isn't melting! Look big sister!" Ivan showed the snowflake to Inunya.
"What a catch!" Irunya smiled.
"Let me see." Natalya asked, tugging on the sleeve of Ivan's coat.
"Ah, right!" Ivan bent down a little and let Natalya look at it.
"It's so pretty..." Natalya said, before gently picking it up and tossing it back into the wind.
"I kinda wanted to keep that somewhere... But it's fine!" Ivan responded, gently petting his little sister on the head before looking up at his older sister. "So is it time for lunch now?"
"Of course, come inside." Irunya said, grabbing her siblings by their hands and walking inside with them.

Natalya quickly looked back to look at the town beyond the gates of the courtyard. She glared over a bunch of specific houses and storm clouds form over them. "Enjoy your winter, you big bullies." She whispered before looking forward again.

"There's enough snow to play around in today!" Ivan commented excitedly, looking out his bedroom window. He jumped up and down excitedly and ran out into the hallway, knocking on the bedroom doors of his sisters bedrooms. "Can we go outside and build a snowman, please sisters?" He politely asked.

Irunya opened up her door and greeted Ivan with a warm smile. "I'll make some warm soup for breakfast first. Alright?" Despite still being in her PJs, she walked off to make soup.
Natalya opened her own door and rubed her eyes. "Ah, big brother..." She quickly dashed to his side. "Don't worry, I'm awake enough to play... Huh? Why are you already dressed?" She sleepily asked.
"Winter is my favourite time of year. You know that right? Did you know there was a bad time where winter didn't come at all?" Ivan replied.
"Oh yeah... It only ended when I was a baby, right?" Natalya commented.
"Yep! Although I think it lasted only a few years." Ivan said, taking Natalya by the hand and walking to the dining room.

"The year the winters stopped was when an old man in the village died. Everyone just called him 'General'. The strangest thing though... He gave his blessings to our parents before he passed. Why do you think he did that?" Ivan looked down at his little sister.
Natalya looked down at the floor. "I don't know. And I don't think we will ever find out." She answered.

Mr. Winter, or 'General'... He made the winters come. He told me in a dream when I was two. He said he passed his powers down to me, having failed to pass them to my big brother, and I was his last chance. My father died protecting the kingdom from a raging fire and my mother died after giving birth to me. Mr. Winter gave blessings in hopes his powers would be passed down to one of us so winter wouldn't go away forever. Big sister was already born but barely a month old... Mr. Winter also said I need to control my powers. One slip up could mean disaster. I can't let him down... But I can't tell my siblings either.

"Ah, there you two are! Took you long enough to get here! The soup is heating up, just a few more minutes..." Irunya said with a happy tone.
Ivan sat down at the table, awaiting the soup. Natalya copied him.

"Come on sister, let's make snow angels!" Ivan pulled Irunya along and then gently threw her back-first into the snow.
Irunya laughed and started making a snow angel. Ivan jumped in the snow next to her and started making his own.

"Despite this warm clothing... It's so cold. How can you stay so warm with just that coat and scarf, Ivan?" Irunya asked.
Ivan chuckled a little bit. "I think I'm just born with a resistance to the cold..."

Natalya looked at the two. They were not paying attention to her so she rubbed her hands together then pet the snowy ground before raising her hands off the ground. A snowman made from a somewhat squashed circle for a body and a circular head emerged from the snow. Although, it lacked twigs for arms and rocks for facial features and something else for a nose. She looked back at her siblings again quickly. "I guess I could look in the forest for some rocks and sticks... Those two wouldn't dare going outside the walls of our kingdom." She ran toward the brick fence that leads toward the forest and then made a pillar of snow that pushed her up and over the fence, then she ran off.

"The snowman looks nice! Where'd you get the rocks from Natalya?" Irunya asked.
"Oh... I went into the town. There's rocks and twigs buried under the snow there." Natalya lied.
"I thought we told you to go out with one of us. You're only four... You're small and fragile compared to us. What if you get hurt?" Irunya replied, showing concern then gently dusting Natalya off.

Ivan simply stared at the snowman. "Look, he's got a curly twig in his hair!"
"Yeah. I thought it would be cute to give him a hair curl when I found that stick..." Natalya responded. "Oh, and I saw the houses of those bullies... Almost completely covered in snow. I guess you got some kind of payback, big brother." Natalya softly giggled, then giving him a hug.
"Ah, I hope they won't freeze this winter. Even I wouldn't wish death upon them..." Ivan said, keeping a smile.
"Even after they attacked you last year, and..." Irunya stopped herself from continuing her comment.
Ivan gently pressed against his neck, and it causes him to twitch slightly. "Yes. Even after that... We are but children, and we will mature and learn from our mistakes eventually." Ivan said softly.

It started snowing again.

"It's time for lunch once again. Perfect timing too! Let's go." Irunya started walking back inside. Ivan followed and so did Natalya.

Those days of play and loving winter are long gone now... 15 years long gone. Big brother now hates winter, seeing it a nuisance where all the sunflowers and most crops die out. And I'm still treated like a little girl...but I'm turning 19 tomorrow. Anything I try to do, my siblings just shrug off... I haven't heard any heartfelt compliments from either of them in so long... What am I to do? And I fear I'm starting to lose control of my powers. I can't fail Mr. Winter but...

"Ivan... It's 10pm, what are you doing out so late watering the sunflowers?" Natalya asks.
"I want to make sure they look their best for the party tomorrow! Even if it drags on into the night, the guests will still be seeing the sun with these..." Ivan replies, turning his head to look at his sister.
"...Well, go to bed soon alright? It's going to be a busy day tomorrow." Natalya says. "Irunya is already asleep... Uh, goodnight big brother." Natalya quickly gives Ivan a kiss on the cheek before walking back inside.

Ivan happily hums. "Maybe I'll find myself a lovely life partner at this party... This king is getting rather lonely without a queen."