Winter Wonderland

A winter evening. There is frost on all the windowpanes, a bite in the air, and a light dusting of snow on the ground. In a moonlit park, two figures sit together on a bench, gazing out at the snowy forest around them. They sit together, sharing a bench, yet slightly apart. If one were to look upon their faces, one would see that each is carefully not looking at the other. Finally, the girl speaks.

"I've always loved winter. Everyone else complains about how cold it is, but I don't see it that way. It's beautiful, as if everything has been covered in white icing, then dusted with diamonds."

"I've never envisioned you as the type to appreciate aesthetic values. Still, the season does seem to suit you."

A short, brittle laugh. "Why? Because I'm cold?"

The young man looks taken aback. "Not at all. I meant no insult. Winter has a sort of beauty in mine eyes as well. Even the smallest icicle, clinging resolutely to a gutter, has a sparkling elegance all its own.

An eyebrow arches delicately. "You consider me elegant?"

"Very much so. Elegant, charming, and graceful. The definition of nobility and beauty."

"What about my sisters? They, surely, are far more attractive than I." The girl's voice has taken on a more playful tone.

"No. True, they have their own attractions, of a sort. The lovely Akane. She is a fire raging out of control, hot, fierce, and strong. Her affections, to the one who might win them, would be passionate and protective, as a tigress defending mate and cubs."

"Kasumi?"

"She has charm. Womanly, gentle, fragile. Her love would be a feather's touch, gently guiding husband and children."

"And I?"

"Cool, elegant, poised. Neither fierce nor gentle, you reset somewhere between. You go from smoldering and argumentative to cool and passive in hardly the time needed to blink. Some might call you a maiden of ice, but they have never looked deep enough to see the spirit and fire waiting always within."

"And you have?"

"Indeed."

She is silent, digesting these revelations. Finally, she gives up trying to comprehend the workings of her companions mind. She leans against him, and the moon shines tranquilly down; bestowing understanding, a touch of romance, and a moment of peace in the never-ending carnival of life.

And the young couple sits, leaning against one another and gazing at the silver orb. Lost in their own private winter wonderland.

//Gone away

Is the bluebird.

Here to stay

Is the new bird.

He sings a love song,

As we go along,

Walking in a

Winter Wonderland.//