Chapter 1: New

She was unbelievably warm. No just in a sense of pleasantness, but more of a happy feeling within her core. The warmth seemed to dwell dormant in her heart, like a sleeping volcano, and spread throughout her entire body.

By the way she laid it was obvious that warmth was not something she was used to. She and her siblings had been evicted from her old home years ago, due to her parents' neglect to pay the bills.

During the summer months it was easy to keep warm and fed. Most of the time she would sleep in the woods, were there was an abundance of plants to harvest and eat. And when it came time to sleep she climbed up a tree for comfort and safety. However, those months of bliss were always fleeting, and the warmth of summer tended to quickly dipped into autumn, then to winter.

Unfortunately, the current winter was the worst of the decade. Blizzard after blizzard swept across the girl's city. It was intensely cold and brutal. Snow had fallen in thick blankets, while bitter winds shot already staggering freezing temperatures down even farther.

So, while the new-found warmth slightly baffled the young girl, she wasn't concerned with it at the moment. Instead, she laid completely still, afraid that if she moved she would be thrown back into reality, were she back laying in an alley covered by cardboard.

For a while, she drifted in and out of sleep. She dreamed about her brothers before being evicted, about her parents being taken away forcefully. They were all vivid, like she was reliving each and every experience she could remember. It was calming and unnerving at the same time.

But as each memory came closer and closer to the present, they all began swell throughout her mind. Thousands of conversations, millions of paths, trillions of people (some she knew, some she didn't) all vibrating through her head until she finally shot up, clutching her head, and feeling like she was going to throw up. Desperately, she flung the covers from her bed, fell against the ground, scrambled to the nearest wall and retched. Unfortunately, having nothing in her stomach, nothing came out. So she stood there, leaned over, her forearm braced against the wall, eyes clenched, and saliva dripping from her mouth as she went through the motions of dry heaving.

As she finished, she collapsed with her back against the wall. She breathed harshly, her tongue lolled out. The calmness in her stomach, coming back twice as worse. Her arms crossed over the front of her belly and she immediately doubled over, pressing her forehead hard against the cool, hard ground, and began dry heaving again.

If the warmth before was pleasant, then the heat now was a burning inferno. Her mind was foggy. The clearness from before was lost as her mind burned with the new heat. It set fire to her memories, leaving nothing but ash.

Somewhere amidst her sickness she vaguely heard a door opening. Panicked yelling filled her ears, before it was joined by more voices. Multitudes of footsteps headed towards her, causing her to panic.

"Hurry! Get her back into the bed!" Small hands sounded many parts of her limbs before she felt herself raising from the ground. Soon, she felt the softness of the bed. However, it didn't procure the same amount of comfort as it did moments before. It only served to bring more heat to her body. When she was covered with sheets again she desperately kicked them off.

This movement upset her stomach again, she rolled over to her belly and inched for the side of the bed to throw-up. As she retched, the many hands gently pulled her hair out of her way, cooling her face slightly.

When the girl finished, she was comfortingly lifted by the hands and placed back into the bed correctly. After a few moments, the blankets were pulled completely away and a couple of cool, wet objects came in contact with her skin. The gently scrapped every part of her body, allowing the burning temperature within her to dull and fade. When her entire body was cool and dry the blankets were returned.

Then a set of small hands lifted her head up and something was placed against her lips. She cracked her eyes open slightly, to see a small, green bowl filled with a clear liquid. "Here lass," a voice said softly. "Drink this, it will make you feel better."

The girl slowly drank from the bowl. The liquid flowed down her throat, cooling everything it touched on the way down. It filled her veins, killing any and all heat left over.

Sighing contently, the girl felt her head being lowered back down to the pillows. The blankets were returned over her body and they returned to their former comfort. She was asleep before she heard the door opened to allow her guests to leave.

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When she awoke this time, it was due to normal circumstances. Asher eyes fluttered open, she took in blurry, beautiful colors. Deep reds, passionate blues, vivid greens, and bright yellows blurred together. Distractedly, the girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Reopening them, everything came into focus. She became aware of the small room she was in. The walls were a brown, mahogany and decorated with one picture. It was of a small moonlit alley. The scene seemed familiar, but only distantly so.

"You're awake!" A bright voice said, startling her from her musings. Turning her slightly to the left, she saw a small girl sitting in a chair beside the bed. "Sorry, sweets. Didn't mean to startle you." The small girl smiled, her cheeks and nose sparkling slightly. "My name is Judy." Judy hopped off her chair, please wait here for a second! I'll be right back."

The girl in the bed nodded her head in response. Judy smiled before sprinting out the door. Moments later she returned with a three people in tow. A small red hair boy, a medium boy with dark brown hair, and a large, fat man with white hair and red clothes.

When they all stood in the room, Judy closed the door before bounding over to bed. "Okay, little candy cane." She held out her hand. The girl hesitated for a moment before touching her hand. Judy closed her fingers around the girl's hand and gently pulled. "Common, lets see you."

The girl clumsily scrambled out of bed. She pulled back the covers, cool air meeting the bare skin of her legs. She kicked one leg to the side of the bed, then another.

"Okay, sweetie, try to stand." Using Judy as support the girl rose to her full height, started by the distance between her and the ground she swayed dangerously. The red hair boy rushed forward to help Judy steady her again. After the girl was standing, Judy and the red haired boy let her go.

The red haired boy looked up to the taller boy. After a moment the tall boy nodded his head and the red haired boy sprung into action. Her quickly walked up to the girl and circled her. It made the girl a bit nervous. "She seems a little skinny, but it's easily fixable." He but his hand to chin and scrunched his eyebrows together.

He finished his rotation and stopped in front of her. "Could ye bend down a bit lass?" He asked. She looked to Judy, who nodded to her encouragingly. The girl did as she was asked. The red haired boy quickly captured her chin in his hand. "Her speckles haven't come in yet, but they are close to revealing themselves." He turned her head slightly and brushed her hair behind her ear then to the other side, and pushed the hair back. "Her ears have fully formed." He raised his hand and snapped sharply, causing her ear to twitch slightly away. "And they respond beautifully."

The red haired boy nudged her face back forward and stared into her eyes. "Her eyes seem normal to, though I'm worried about the lass's eyes."

"What do you mean?" A slightly deep voice said.

The girl's eyes left his for a moment, to search for the voice, but a nudge from the boy's hand brought her focus. "Keep ye's eyes on me lass." She stared into his eyes again, his brown eyes analyzed hers. "Well, ye see, one eye is brown and the other is green. Now different eye color is greatly uncommon, it's completely normal. It just means the lass inherited genes from both sides accidentally."

"Oh." The deep voice responded.

The red haired boy moved a thumb to her lip pulling it down. "Could ye open ye mouth?" When she did so he responded with a, "There's a good girl." He looked in there for a moment, to, before commenting. "Her teeth are all placed properly, and the gums seem to be grown well, no sense of plaque or decay." His hand left her face. "The lass is as healthy as a horse!" He said happily, smiling a bit causing his cheeks and nose to intensely sparkle. He had twice as many sparkles as Judy did.

"Well then," He stepped back from the girl and turned to the tall boy. "Speaking of horses, one of our horses have come down with a slight stomach ache, excuse me." He bowed a bit to the man in red, then left.

The girl looked up the tall boy, who stared down on her. He was a little intimidating, standing there with his arms crossed, legs slightly apart. His cloths seemed a little strange to her. His legs were covered with brown pants, his torso endowed in a baggy, striped shirt, and his curly dark brown hair was covered by a black beanie.

"So," The red man next to the tall boy spoke up. "What's your name?"

She went to speak, but she cut herself off. What was her name? It was on the tip of her tongue, and yet there was nothing. It was confusing and alarming.

"She doesn't have a name yet." The tall boy said. His voice was sharp and commanding. "It's your job, as Santa, to give her one." He said quickly.

"What? Aren't you the head elf? Isn't that your job?"

"Nope. I can't. Not my job. It's yours." He said rolling his eyes.

"A Santa gave us all names. It's how its always been." Judy spoke up

"Ah." The red man walked forward to her and squatted in front of her. He stared deeply at her. "Well, how about-"

"It can't be a name that some other elf has either." The tall boy said again.

"Mary?"

"Taken."

"Sara?"

"Taken."

"Lily?"

"Taken.

"Erica?"

"Already taken."

The red man sighed and turned his head to the boy. "Well is Ava taken?"

"No."

"Good." The red man grumbled. He turned back to the girl. "Your name will be Ava."

As soon as the words left his lips the wind around the room spiraled. It centered to the girl, it pulled at her hair and at her white dress. It tickled her, making her laugh. She threw her arms out and spun around in it. The wind felt like home, like warmth, like she belonged. Then, suddenly, the wind threw itself out, carrying her laughter throughout the vast building. As soon as the wind left the girl stopped spinning, allowed her arms to drop to her sides.

Then, she spoke her first words: "My name is Ava."