Sang-froid
To this day, I don't know why I took him. I'd seen him the winter before, staring at me through his window as I did my thankless tasks. He was bright. Brighter than anything I'd seen under the winter sun in such a long while. I beckoned to him, and withdrew into the warmth of his house. I sent my bees to watch him through their eyes, and felt...something. It took me a while to identify what I thought it was.
Need?
Was it need to have a friendship like that he shared with the little girl who lived in the garret next to him?
I had not felt anything for so long. Perhaps that's why I went looking for him when my time came again. He was different that winter...colder. Cruel. I saw the splinters in his heart and eyes, twisting him,presents from the demon's mirror.
But he loved the beauty of my subjects, admiring the patterns I made of them. I was flattered. Not many took the time to look at what I made.
I gave into the alien impulse. I donned a white fur coat, disguising myself as a human, and when the boy hitched his sled to my sleigh, I simply drove away with him. He was angry and shivering when I finally stopped, but I saw something else, hidden behind his rage. Admiration? Fascination? I have so much trouble telling human emotions. Why are there so many?
I kissed him twice, so he forgot the cold and everything else but me. Then I took him home, this boy with a heart as cold as mine.
And knew not what to do with him.
I could have given him my third kiss, and granted him the freedom he so wanted, but I was strangely reluctant to kill him. So I set him a task instead. A task give him freedom, and perhaps give me the understanding of humans I needed. I created shards of ice, and told him if he could spell a word, I would set him free.
Then I left him to his task for the next few years. From time to time, I'd sit on my throne, looking at his efforts, but he never succeeded.
I was almost relieved when his little friend showed up at my palace. I ordered my subjects to block her path as I studied her, beautiful face determined to find her friend, her blood warm with love and courage. I admired her persistence. The rest of the world had forgotten and mourned her friend, but she stayed true. What magic was this? My little snow-bees melted in the face of that determination, and I ordered the darker beasts that guarded my home to let her pass unmolested.
I watched, unseen as she ran to her friend and cried over him.
I watched as her tears melted his heart of ice and freed him from the mirror's curse.
They left my palace, hand in hand, as I entered my throne room to pick up the word formed by the ice shards.
Love.
I squeezed it hard enough to pierce my skin. The word burned in my veins, turning my insides to fire. Before it consumed me completely, I threw the icicle away from me, shrieking. I lay, panting int the throne room, watching the water drip slowly from the cuts in my hands, turning to ice as it hit the floor. My surviving bees rushed to my aid, cooling my blood again until my hands healed over.
How could humans bear something that hurt so badly?
I would never understand. I would never want to understand.
But in the depths of the darkest winter nights, when my other duties permit, I fly to a certain city and listen to a loving mother and father tell their children stories of me.
And I smile where none can see me.
Need?
Was it need to have a friendship like that he shared with the little girl who lived in the garret next to him?
I had not felt anything for so long. Perhaps that's why I went looking for him when my time came again. He was different that winter...colder. Cruel. I saw the splinters in his heart and eyes, twisting him,presents from the demon's mirror.
But he loved the beauty of my subjects, admiring the patterns I made of them. I was flattered. Not many took the time to look at what I made.
I gave into the alien impulse. I donned a white fur coat, disguising myself as a human, and when the boy hitched his sled to my sleigh, I simply drove away with him. He was angry and shivering when I finally stopped, but I saw something else, hidden behind his rage. Admiration? Fascination? I have so much trouble telling human emotions. Why are there so many?
I kissed him twice, so he forgot the cold and everything else but me. Then I took him home, this boy with a heart as cold as mine.
And knew not what to do with him.
I could have given him my third kiss, and granted him the freedom he so wanted, but I was strangely reluctant to kill him. So I set him a task instead. A task give him freedom, and perhaps give me the understanding of humans I needed. I created shards of ice, and told him if he could spell a word, I would set him free.
Then I left him to his task for the next few years. From time to time, I'd sit on my throne, looking at his efforts, but he never succeeded.
I was almost relieved when his little friend showed up at my palace. I ordered my subjects to block her path as I studied her, beautiful face determined to find her friend, her blood warm with love and courage. I admired her persistence. The rest of the world had forgotten and mourned her friend, but she stayed true. What magic was this? My little snow-bees melted in the face of that determination, and I ordered the darker beasts that guarded my home to let her pass unmolested.
I watched, unseen as she ran to her friend and cried over him.
I watched as her tears melted his heart of ice and freed him from the mirror's curse.
They left my palace, hand in hand, as I entered my throne room to pick up the word formed by the ice shards.
Love.
I squeezed it hard enough to pierce my skin. The word burned in my veins, turning my insides to fire. Before it consumed me completely, I threw the icicle away from me, shrieking. I lay, panting int the throne room, watching the water drip slowly from the cuts in my hands, turning to ice as it hit the floor. My surviving bees rushed to my aid, cooling my blood again until my hands healed over.
How could humans bear something that hurt so badly?
I would never understand. I would never want to understand.
But in the depths of the darkest winter nights, when my other duties permit, I fly to a certain city and listen to a loving mother and father tell their children stories of me.
And I smile where none can see me.