At first I was going to write about Cloud Mountain, because it's my favorite song in the album Melodies For The Mended Wood, but then I remembered In the very beginning of the first book, Picket mentioned "The infamous snow match of last winter", so here's my take. The inspiration is Heather And Picket Catch A Star. The exploding trees thing is actually real. Look it up.

Nick Hollow

Heather shrieked as a snowball came flying out of nowhere and hit her in the back of the head.

"Picket!" She scolded, her scowl giving way to a laugh. "I don't remember snowballs being a part of Starseek!"

Picket popped up on the other side of a snowbank and grinned. "You scream like a girl."

"I am a girl. And anyway, here's the Starstick, and here you are, so are you ready to play or are you going to hide behind that snowbank and make sassy remarks all day?"

"I'm coming."

Heather grinned, and climbed on top of a bush so covered in snow that it was like a hill in itself. If playing Starseek was an adventure in summer, playing it in winter was going all the way around the world and discovering every inch of it. Four inches the night before had left Nick Hollow a marshmallow wonderland, filling their footprints and weighing the trees down with ice. Some of the oldest trees, at the very edge of the meadow where they lived had exploded, the sap inside of them frozen, expanding enough for them to collapse under the weight of the ice. But their Elm tree home had stayed sound, hollow as it was, no sap left inside to expand. The bark from the destroyed trees sticking out of the snow looked like the spines of an ancient monster, sleeping under the blinding whiteness. Heather shook her head at such folly, and shouted to Picket.

"Are you ready?"

Picket nodded. Heather placed herself in a leaping position, and threw the Starstick as hard as she could. It flew through the air, scarlet ribbon trailing behind. The moment it touched the snow they were off, pounding through the snow at top speed. It flew in drifts behind them, their trails looking more like someone had continually dropped out of the sky into the snow, because there was hardly enough traction to get a good leap in. Heather had expressed her regret at not being a snowshoe hare that morning, and had received a gentle scolding about appreciating who you were. Now she laughed. No snowshoe hare could have this much fun in the snow. She was getting so close to the stick now, Picket only inches behind her. But when she reached out to grab the Starstick, she did an awkward sort of somersault, and skidded on to a patch of ice, sending her sliding down the hill toward East Wood, straight towards a tree. She tried in vain to stop, or roll off the ice, or something, but she just kept sliding.
Faster,
faster,
faster,

WHAM.

Heather felt a searing pain in her head, like her brain had just exploded, and tried to open her eyes, but everything was a blur. Picket was there, shouting a name. Was it hers? What was her name? What was his name? Who was he? She was fading, fading, the sky was turning from blue to yellow to gray to black, and then everything was black, black, black.

"Drink this, dear." Someone was spooning soup into her mouth, someone Heather thought was her mother. Yes, it was her mother. Where was she? "That's it," Murmured Mother soothingly. "Again, good girl." She was slowly regaining consciousness, opening her eyes, and sitting up. Her head hurt. It hurt so much. She groaned, and fell back onto the pillows.

"It's alright, Heather, you're going to be alright." Mother positioned snow wrapped in a towel behind her head. "You had quite a bump out there, but you'll be back to normal in a couple of days."

"Did… did Picket win?"

Mother chuckled. "I don't think either of you won. You'll have to try again, I suppose."

I know this is really short, but it felt like the best ending. Here's to an amazing prompt challenge! My writing has improved more than I could have hoped, and I had so much fun! I can't wait for the next one. My place beside you, my blood for yours, til the Green Ember rises, or the end of the world!