It was a quiet day in Strynhalde, specifically the capital Iorumund. Carried over from the night before, a gentle snow was settling down upon the land. Some small birds used to the cold were already awake, greeting the morning sun with gentle chirps. While some would be offended by the cool air and the abundance of snow littering the ground, it was truly a sight to behold. As the sun was rising to greet the residents, the snow faintly sparkled. It was too cold for it to melt but it painted a lovely scene so far.
Some Elnin and other residents already accustomed to the cold climate were out and about. Some were off to work, others meeting up to get some delicious breakfast. Others…were already dreading the day ahead of them. This is where our little short story begins…
Like every day so far Deidra had spent in Strynhalde, the moment she stepped out of the lodging door she was met with a frozen wind. It was sharp, chilling, and made her want to retreat back inside to sleep the day away. She could already hear the sheets calling her name. ‘Deidra, Deidra, Deidra…come back to bed. It is safe and warm here’. However she could not bring herself to turn around. Her grown sister, Maelie, was blocking the way back inside.
“Isn’t it wonderful Deidra?” Maelie smiled brightly, “look at all that snow! It is sooo much different compared to back home. There’s a lot less flowers but look at all the pretty wildlife we’ve encountered so far!”
Deidra looked out to the frozen ‘wasteland’ before her and sighed. She missed the warm breeze of Faerindell. It was so much different compared to home. If it wasn’t for the people being friendly and hospitable here she would have absolutely dreaded the trip.
“Why does mother have to perform here anyways? Are people really that excited to see the Song Bird perform?” The small, spotted Kittom looked up to Maelie.
Maelie nodded her head. “Yes, she performs all over Eyre. From the warmest to the coldest places her voice needs to reach! That’s her sworn duty.” The fluffy Elnin reminded her sister, “after all, when you grow up you’ll be taking on this role yourself. We all agreed when we were big enough to travel on our own we would make a wonderful band! Spread the word of the Sylvan Meadow and bring peace to Eyre.”
The Kittom rolled her eyes and sighed. “When I’m an adult I’m sleeping in till noon and I’m going to drink all the honey ale I can get my hands on!” Deidra exclaimed. At least she was enthusiastic about something.
Maelie was about to retort with something but heard the shuffling of several more footsteps from the side of the logged building. She turned her head to the left and spotted some familiar faces. At first it was a green trio even Deidra would find familiar. It was soon followed by some other spunky companions.
“Isn’t it a pleasant morning Maelie, Deidra?” Fiorello, the oldest of the Sylvan Meadow children greeted the pair. He placed himself in between three younger, green Kittoms that resembled Aletta much like they did.
“Come on guys you’re already late!” Ulysses exclaimed, leading his group of newly acquired Kittom friends away from the Inn.
“Wait for me Ulysses!” Xhaiden, the firefly Kittom, quickly followed after his littermate. He wanted to make sure he didn’t miss out on any of the fun planned for today.
“W-wait for me! I want to play toooooo!” Yarrow chased after his brothers, laughing the entire way. He seemed eager for whatever fun they were about to partake in.
“What exactly are we late for again?” Deidra looked to her grown siblings for clarity, “what are they talking about?”
Fiorello chuckled and motioned for the ladies to follow. “It seems our mother has left us responsible for entertaining some of her fans’ children for the day. Children here seem to partake in an activity called ‘snowball fights’.” He began to explain, “Since there is plenty of snow on the ground from the night prior now seems like a perfect time to understand this tradition of hurling heaps of snow at one another.”
Maelie gasped, taken back by the idea. “T-that sounds really violent don’t you think? What if someone gets hurt?!” Already the worry wart of the siblings was regretting bringing the younger ones out of the lodgings. “Maybe we should find something more peaceful to partake in? I hear the shopping is absolutely wonderful here. I also heard there is a light show that we could observe too!”
“It already seems too late guys…they are starting without us!” Deidra bounced towards the large clearing where many were already gathering. As usual she could spot Ulysses in the middle of the crowd. It looked like they had found a small park area that the residents set up for the children to have fun in while visiting/living in Iorumund.
“Okay, now listen up everyone!” Ulysses exclaimed loudly as his other siblings approached, “we’re going to have a good, fun game of snow ball fight! We’re going to divide ourselves into two teams, one significantly cooler than the other because I’m one of the captains.”
Deidra groaned and placed a paw on her face. Of course her younger brothers were already being dorks while visiting a new place. She scanned the crowd to see if she recognized anyone. Thankfully she spotted her friend Xiao Lan. She briskly made her way over. “Hey, are you actually going to participate in this silly thing?” She asked.
Xiao Lan smiled brightly at Deidra and nodded. “Yes! My parents are with your mother for the day so I think now would be a really fun time to play.” She exclaimed, “We have to be on the same team okay?”
Deidra looked to see if she could spot any other familiar faces, ignoring Ulysses as he continued to put people in teams for this supposed snowball fight. There was Feiga, the purple aunt of Xiao Lan. There was also Oxylus who seemed a bit timid compared to the rest of the group. Over to the left was Trúc talking with Xhaiden and Yarrow. All in all there were eight Kittoms and two Elnins. What could possibly go wrong?
“Okay so I repeat, the teams are as followed!” Ulysses cleared his throat, “On my team is myself, Feiga, Trúc and Oxylus.” He smirked at Xhaiden. “And on Xhaiden’s not so cool team are him, Deidra, Yarrow, Xiao Lan. Everyone has ten minutes to prepare their base and their weapons. Big bro Fio will whistle when the game is about to begin. Any questions?”
Maelie and Fiorello waved from underneath a spruce tree as they were more privy to spectate the game than to actually participate. Fiorello had a sack beside him already filled with snowballs as he had been preparing while the Kittoms were goofing off and deciding teams. Someone had to be prepared around here.
“Annnnddddd break!” Ulysses and the rest of his team darted off in one direction while Xhaiden and his team bolted in the opposite way.
Deidra followed after her brothers and friend, not sure what to make of this. She was supposed to be the older, cool sister, and yet here she was getting swooped up in a game of snowball fight. The best course of action was to make sure she could keep herself and her friend Xiao Lan safe. If that meant building a small mound of snow to hide behind until the game was over then so be it.
“Okay so here’s what I’m thinking,” Dei was panting but was already starting to work, “we’ll focus on building a wall. It will be a great wall. We’ll use it to hide behind while Xhaiden and Yarrow throw snowballs at the other team. They can’t hit us with snowballs if we hide behind a wall. It’s brilliant right?”
Xiao Lan thought about it but nodded in response. “Yes, that sounds like an awesome idea. I’m sure the whole team will approve of this.” She looked towards Xhaiden and Yarrow who were already piling snowball after snowball on top of one another. They wanted to make sure they were prepared for the war they were about to endure. Xiao Lan did her best to help make the wall stable. While Deidra was aiming for height she knew she had to brace the bottom so the wall didn’t topple over onto them if it was hit.
Once the snow wall was constructed Deidra looked to see where the enemy team was at with their progress. She scanned her surroundings with her shimmering green eyes. Oddly enough it was quiet…too quiet. She scanned the few spruce trees in the park but no one seemed to be hiding in them…unless the birds counted. She assumed birds were a neutral party and ignored them.
Suddenly a loud whistle broke the silence in the park. The battle was about to begin…
Before Deidra and Xiao Lan had time to react several snowballs came hurling over the wall. “Duck!!!” Deidra pushed Xiao Lan out of the way and took a snowball right to the head. She fell over with a thud but it wouldn’t slow her down. The adrenaline was kicking off and she needed to keep Xiao Lan safe.
Xhaiden and Yarrow hid behind a couple trees and began counter firing. “Watch out, incoming from the left!” Xhaiden exclaimed as he tossed a snowball at Feiga.
Feiga twirled mid-air and gracefully landed near another tree. “So close but you’re going to have to do better than that!” She picked up a clump of snow and packed it tight. She then threw it at Xhaiden, nailing him right in the shoulder.
Xhaiden fell over, reaching out to Yarrow to stabilize him. “Y-you got to take out the leader! They are useless without their leader Yarrow!” He let out a sigh and rolled towards the wall the ladies had built to protect them. “Try to make a distraction you two. If we can get Ulysses to come out of hiding we’ve won this game!”
Deidra looked to Xiao Lan. “This is going to be incredibly dangerous so I want you to stay here and help Xhaiden. If I run out into the open and make myself a target then Ulysses is going to get cocky and run out. He’s super predictable like that.” She dug her paws into the snow, ready to take off at a moment’s notice. “If you two can aim for Feiga so I can run right by her then we have this.”
It wasn’t long until Yarrow joined them behind the wall.The trio nodded to one another, understanding what needed to be done. Without another peep the spotted Kittom was off. Her green fur stood out against the pure white snow which was no longer neat looking with a bunch of Kittom prints throughout it.
Feiga’s deep green eyes landed on Deidra almost instantly. “Wow you’re really brave for coming out behind your precious wa-“ before she could even finish that statement snowball after snowball came flying in her direction. She gasped and immediately took cover behind a tree. “What on earth?! That’s not fair!”
“Run Deidra run!” Yarrow yelled as he managed to finally hit Feiga with a snowball. It was on one of her tails but a hit was a hit after all!
Deidra briefly looked back at her companions and nodded, continuing to run towards the other side of the park. She wasn’t sure where the other three enemy team members were but she was certain it wasn’t going to take too long to find them. “Ulysses I’m here to take you down!” The Kittom proclaimed, “Come out if you’re not a coward.”
From the corner of her eye she saw a green blur come out from behind a tree. Before she had time to react there he was, his pink hair tied back to avoid getting into his eyes. “I’ll make you eat those words big sister!”
Deidra yelped and rolled out of the way before she had snow dunked onto her. “I don’t think so…not today!” She quickly packed some snow together and threw it behind her, hoping it would land on him.
Ulysses yet out a squeak before getting dinged in the stomach. It was enough snow to knock the air out of him for a moment…that or he was being really dramatic as per his usual antics. “I’ve been hit! You’re fabulous leader has been hit! SOMEONE GET HER!” Ulysses pointed towards Deidra who took no time getting on top of him in attempt to silence him.
“Surrender child!” She yelled at him, “or I will take you as my prisoner!”
The two began bickering as the other Kittoms continued to yell and holler with such glee and enthusiasm. Snow went flying this way and that. Neither side was letting up as they continued to throw snow at one another.
“Strynhalde is such a pretty place Fiorello. It’s hard to believe that they condone such violent games such as these.” Maelie was still sitting underneath the tree her and her older brother found that was close enough to look over the Kittoms but far enough away to avoid a stray attack.
“Oh sister, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The customs of Strynhalde are very different from those in Faerindell. Consider it this way, Faerindell finds its strength through communing with nature. In Strynhalde the environment allows for strength to be found through enduring what it provided.” Fiorello explained, passing his sack of snowballs to Oxylus and Trúc so they could continue playing. “Already I feel I can take what I’ve learned so far from this experience and say Strynhalde is raising some impressive little warriors for the future. Oh how I wish to be young again…”
Maelie sighed and looked towards the bright blue sky above. “Oh…well no matter what path all these children take to becoming adults, it’s the right one just for them. I guess we should let them have fun while they can.”
And so the war continued…all of them winners for just having fun!
