Snow fell gently from the sky as two Snezhnayan girls ran outside, all bundled up for the winter. The sun hid behind the gloomy grey clouds, keeping itself warm on this frosty afternoon.
"Reina, come on! I have something really cool to show you!" The oldest said.
"Luda, I lost my mitten! Hang on!" Reina replied, frantically searching the snow. "Found it!" she said as she returned her light grey mitten to her hand. She eventually caught up with her older sister and the two girls raced along a snow-covered path through the woods. As they journeyed, the wind slowly picked up and the air got a little bit colder by the minute. Finally, they stopped at a deep hole dug into a hill. It looked rather cozy in there. Patches of dry grass bedded the inside of the cave, animal bones littered the ground, and little tufts of dark grey fur were all over. "Is that…?" Reina started.
Luda nodded, "A wolf den. There's a decent-sized pack that lives here. Usually, they'd be here around this time of day…"
"What do you think happened?"
Luda was about to say something when an earsplitting howl pierced the cold winter air. The two sisters quickly turned toward the direction of the howl. All they had to do was nod before they both took off towards the howl.
They arrived to see multiple fallen wolves with large wounds, and who was standing over them but a friend by the name of Ajax. He had ginger hair and blue eyes. He was already taller than Luda, but he was only 12; just 3 years younger than her. Ajax was a battle-hungry troublemaker that's always in some kind of fight. He wasn't always like that though…
Ajax smiled in satisfaction as he looked down upon the fallen wolves. He proceeded to wipe the blood off his blade. Reina gasped in horror, which ended up catching him off guard. Out of pure instinct, he threw the blade at them. It narrowly missed the girls and hit a nearby tree.
"What the hell?!" Luda exclaimed,
"Luda… mommy said not to use that word…" Reina muttered as she pulled on her sister's arm.
Ajax's face softened. "Hello to you too," he said with a soft smile as he began to approach them. "Sorry about that. You scared me." He grabbed the short sword that was stuck in the tree.
"You almost killed us!" Luda shouted, clearly upset.
"It was an accident! It was just instinctual!" Ajax said, defensively, while sheathing his blade. The air was getting colder by the minute and the wind was getting more and more unkind. "You know what? Let's just forget this whole ordeal happened and go back. It's getting too cold out." Reina, who was now shivering and huddling close to Luda, nodded in agreement. Luda scooped her little sister up, and the three-headed back home. The girls parted ways with Ajax when they came to a fork in the road. They said their goodbyes and continued on.
It was nearing dark now, and the wind and snow showed no mercy. It was the coldest it had been in years. Luda looked down to see Reina fast asleep in her arms. She looked at her surroundings and quickly came to realize that they were lost. She panicked a little and quickly searched the area for a place to take shelter for the night. She spotted a luxurious-looking cabin not too far from their location.
With her determined, frost-bitten hand, she knocked on the door. A short, elderly-looking man with glasses, a rather large nose, and the robes of a fatui opened the door. He was clearly a harbinger and would have had every right to shut the door on them, but he took pity on the frozen sisters. He took them in and let them stay the night.
The next day, Luda and Reina were taken back home by the kind man who turned out to be Pulcinella, the fifth of the eleven Fatui Harbingers. Pulcinella knocked on the door of Luda and Reina's house. There was no answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. He opened the door which was unlocked and went inside to investigate.
The house was dark and there was a small snow bank up against the back wall. It seemed abandoned. The girls were heartbroken. Where could their parents have gone?
"Where did…?" Reina began.
A Fatui soldier came up to Pulcinella. "Sir… I…" the soldier said as he looked back at the confused sisters. "I-I don't know if I can tell them…" He continued.
Pulcinella thought for a moment before turning to the girls. "Luda… Reina… The storm last night… Your parents were worried sick and… went to go looking for you. They… unfortunately… never made it back. I'm so sorry…"
