Everything was quiet. The type of quiet that Onya would have thought would last forever, before she met the Skaigada. A quiet so pure and deep it almost seemed unreal.
Sitting on her bed, Onya was trying to pierce through the silence, through the quietness around her, just to see if she could hear something.
The door to her bedroom burst open and Natshanagada entered the room, her eyes wide. Onya sighed, almost falling back on her bed.
"What the fuck is that?!"
"What?"
She ran across the room and pulled the curtains that closed the window, letting the winter chill into the room.
"Hey!" Onya exclaimed. "Stop it!"
"What is that?!"
Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Onya got up and walked to the window, glancing outside. Sure enough, the whole landscape was covered with a thick layer of white, the branches of the trees stood out in silver against the white of the sky. The joyful cries of children echoed through the streets.
"It's snow."
"What?! That's snow?!" Kassy exclaimed. "Why is it so cold?!"
"Because if it wasn't, it wouldn't exist."
"Why is it so white?!"
"I don't know."
"What do we do? Do we stay inside waiting for it to melt?"
Onya shook her head, slipping on her coat, wrapping herself in her thickest clothes.
"If we did that, we would just be waiting around for half of the year. Come on. Let's go outside."
As Onya stalked through the halls of the tower, Kassy jogged after her, half-hopping with excitement. Onya found herself wondering once again what it would feel like, to get excited about the smallest things, like a child on the morning of the winter solstice.
The cold instantly whipped her cheeks as they exited the tower. Residents of Polis were going about their business, the adults acting as if the snow didn't exist and the children running around excitedly.
Kassy stopped abruptly in the forecourt of the tower, reaching out to stop Onya. Onya sighed.
"What is it?"
"Are we just walking on it? What if we slip and fall?"
"We won't."
As Kassy seemed determined not to move, Onya added:
"The first time you touch the snow in a year, you get to make a wish. For good luck."
Kassy looked at her for a long time, then turned back to the snow, watching it carefully. Then she slowly spread her arms, and let herself fall forward.
She hit the thick layer of snow and sank a few inches into the powder, without a word, and Onya sighed. Immediately, Kassy straightened up, screaming like a raging hen.
"It's coooooold!"
"What did you expect?" Onya asked, grabbing her by the collar to pull her to her feet. "It's snow!"
"I didn't know! I never thought it would be this cold!" Kassy cried trying to brush the snow out of her hair.
Onya thought that if Natshanagada was not a child of the moon, then she was surely a daughter of winter, seeing how her skin and her hair blended perfectly with this immaculate universe.
"Miss Kassy!" A voice cried, pulling Onya out of her contemplation.
Aden, muffled up to his eyes, was waving at them, amidst the other Natblidas. Leksa, still standing straight and proud, stood majestically a few steps away, conversing with Titus. Kassy flashed a huge smile and immediately ran to meet her students, who greeted her with cries of joy.
They had really come to love her, over the past couple of weeks.
"Miss Kassy, Miss Kassy!" cried Nova jumping in place.
"Hi Pumpkin!"
"It's your first snow, isn't is, miss Kassy?" Aden asked.
"It is."
Immediately, the children all started talking in their native language, big excited smiles on their faces. Obviously, they were dying to introduce her to the joys of snow. Nova and Toni gathered bundles of snow, presumably to make a snowman, but Onya didn't think it looked like anything. Aden and Angel were running around, having given up all restraint to throw snowballs at each other.
Kassy was turning to Onya to say something, a smile on her face, when a snowball landed in her hair.
"Holy shit!" She exclaimed, turning around.
The children were laughing like crazy, squealing with delight as they saw the snow melting on her face.
"What's going on?" Kassy asked, confused.
"I think they are inviting you to a snowball fight," Onya replied.
Kassy looked puzzled at the kids who were throwing snow at each other.
"Oh," she whispered. "What are the rules? Is there a point system or is it until one of them is knocked out?"
"Kassy!"
"What?"
"It's a child's game! No one is getting knocked out!" Onya exclaimed, puzzled.
"Right. So, what do I do?"
Onya rolled her eyes, heaving a sigh.
"Watch."
She leaned forward, scooped up some snow and shaped a ball with her hands. Snowflakes clung to her gloves, Kassy watched her in religious silence. Onya stretched her arm back, then threw the snowball, as precisely as she could.
Toni received it on the head, fell to the ground with a surprised cry, causing the other children to burst out laughing. Kassy flashed a huge smile, and Onya felt the corners of her own mouth lift.
"'Iight, I see what it is."
She took off running, slipping in the snow as she reached the level of the children. Natshanagada leaned forward, picked up bundles of snow, shaping them into balls as Onya had taught her, and threw them into the air.
The Natblidas responded immediately with cries, Kassy ran to protect herself. Onya couldn't help but let a chuckle escape her.
"She seems okay."
Leksa approached, her hands behind her back, straight up. Onya shrugged.
"I guess so."
"You didn't tell her, did you?"
The heat in Onya's chest melted away like snow in the sun, leaving her with only a chilling twinge.
"No, I didn't."
"I see."
Silence. Onya and Leksa just watched the Nablidas play with Kassy, pelting her with snowballs until her coat was covered in white stains.
"I knew all the Natblidas were going to die when I was teaching you," Onya continued. "I knew it, and yet I decided that you would be the one walking out of that Conclave. And I loved every moment spent teaching you. In the end, even if you had died, it would have been worth it."
Leksa showed no emotion, but Onya knew she felt none the less. Kassy crashed into the snow headfirst, knocking Nova over in the process.
"Did she tell you that?"
"She told me her daughter's life was worth it."
A snowball hit Onya in the side, she turned to see Kassy, sitting in the snow, laughing as hard as she could. The rest of the Natblidas seemed to hesitate between laughing or running away.
"So is ours, it would seem" Leksa added softly.
And Onya knew she was right.
So she grabbed a snowball and threw it right at Kassy's laughing face. The young woman crashed backwards and the Natblidas immediately resumed their game, joining forces with Onya to bombard Natshana with snowballs. Kassy laughed so hard that she didn't have the strength to run away, and just gathered snow in her hands to throw them at random.
Behind her, Leksa screamed as she was hit by a snowball.
Onya scooped up a pile of snow in both hands, lifted it above her head, ready to throw it at the giggling Natshana, slumped in the snow.
Suddenly, she lunged forward, grabbing Onya by the waist to tip her backwards, and her snowball flew out of her hands, falling on them as they skidded through the powder.
Kassy's scream, mixed with a burst of laughter, rang in her ears, too loudly. Onya, lying on the ground, snow everywhere, saw her sit up, and her white hair brushed her face. She was almost pretty like that, half slumped over Onya, her face above her, a smile on her lips. Onya, stunned, did not dare make a move, frozen in surprise.
"That's it!"
Kassy sat up suddenly upon hearing Leksa's voice, Onya twisted her neck to observe Heda, who seemed to have been hit by yet another snowball.
She grabbed the first child closest to her, in this case Aden, stuffed snow into his neck. The young boy couldn't stop laughing, his cheeks flushed with adrenaline.
"Please, mom—Heda! I meant Heda!"
Surprised, Leksa let go of the young boy, who took a few steps away, frightened at his mistake. Time stopped, Onya sat up in amazement.
Of course, it was Kassy who broke the embarrassment, howling with laughter.
"Come on, Momheda! Let's give these kids hell!"
And Onya launched herself on her heels as she sent snowballs in all directions.