Winter winds swirled and whipped at a white haired boy's face, sprinkling sharp ice and snow fall against his reddening cheeks. He stood just within the cover of the beginnings of a thick forest… the trees were blanketed in an eerie white; all that could be heard was the screaming wind and in the distance, arguing in a foreign tongue.
The boy stepped forward, peering out of the trees towards small homes in the distance… shabby, temporary homes, set up by people who would soon leave the area… and he would follow. There was little else for him to do…
A man's figure emerged from the home, carrying a bundle in his arms. A woman came out after him, pleading with him, grabbing him by the arm. A fight broke out- the wind whipped between the two like an angered bystander, forcing them apart. The man yelled a vicious order at the woman, who let out a choked sob and returned to the cottage. Heads peered out from other dwellings; mutterings of disapproval at the woman's 'weak' actions ensued.
The boy watched the man approach, closer and closer, until he could see the bundle he held in his arms. The man walked past with his newborn child, deeper and deeper into the woods, ignoring the muffled cries of the child. The white haired boy followed, unseen.
The man stopped, placing the bare child on the ground. Harsh cries reverberated off the trees, but went ignored; the man turned and returned from where he came.
The boy knelt down next to the freezing child, wrapping his arms around the babe. He knew what would happen… he did it out of mercy, no matter the pain it filled him in. He was a spirit of ice, snow, and hail… not warmth and love. He knew he could not change who he had been created as; he knew he could not save the child.
The warmth of the child drained from his small body, and the fussing quieted. The white haired boy's mouth opened… a gentle voice emerged, quivering:
"Sleep, baby, sleep,
You´re in the Aesir´s keep.
Old Mani sheds his softest beams,
Frigga sends you pleasant dreams,
Sleep, baby, sleep…"
He laid the child down once more, and sat beside her. It was all he could do for those children abandoned by parents who did not want them, who deemed them unhealthy or unfit… it was all he could do, to quicken their end, to lessen the suffering…
It was all he could do to mourn the loss of another child to his hands…
All he could do… was weep.