All the Little Frozen Things

[Valerica Moldovanu]

The raven haired girl sighed softly to herself as she walked through the doors of the library, feeling almost relieved when she saw it was relatively empty. After being only in the company of her admittedly odd family, with the exception of some strangers and the odd acquaintance at gatherings of her family and the others, being suddenly thrust into a situation with hundreds of other people her age was daunting. But, daunting in an exciting way, if she was being honest. She had never left the borders of her home country of Romania before this week, not even on trips. Her family was secluded, and preferred the general isolation of the Carpathians to the outside world. It provided the perfect backdrop to the strange goings on that happened in their ancestral home, a castle of black and grey stone. Looking back on her childhood home, she could see why the rumors had started all those years ago about her bloodline. Their home alone was enough to cause mutterings here and there in the nearby villages. It did look rather haunted, she would admit.

But enough about the past and where she came from. It would do no one any good to continue to fix her thoughts on that place, with it's hidden passageways and doors that led to nowhere -or so it seemed. It was best to just think of the here and now. She was enrolled in Ashford Academy, a place where other young people with...abilities such as hers could go and learn to better control their powers. Being as new as she was, she had heard nothing of things such as the Battle Front, nor what really happened when students graduated. She thought it was just like any other preparatory boarding school, only with things like power classes.

Even though the weather outside was still rather warm for the time of year, it was expected in such a climate. Despite this, Valerica's breath was fogging inside the building as if the temperature was in the below fifty zone. She had gotten used to the fact that she was always cold over the years, though it was always a shock when people touched her. After her skin had grown chilled to the touch to match her breath, people had stopped touching her as much, then altogether. She couldn't blame them, not really. Touching cold things was always unpleasant, and to wear gloves every time one wanted to touch her would just be a hassle. So, instead of resenting that fact, she had accepted it. There was nothing she could do to reverse it, and trying to warm herself up had only made her sick.

She walked over to the many shelves the library housed, and began to just wander through them. This was arguably where she felt most comfortable so far on the island, surrounded by all the books and the pages and the inked words. She was one of the few, she thought, that enjoyed coming to the library just because. She felt calm, here. And not so crowded. A soft smile lit her features as she ran her fingertips over the spines of the books she passed, violet eyes finding their titles. She didn't know what she wanted to read at the moment, but she had no doubt that she would find it.

[Mikhial Zolnerowhich]

Mikhial wandered the shelves, looking mostly for old lore of his homeland or the areas around it. His father rarely found time to give him a normal childhood between training him and fortifying the woods around their cabin, but when he did have some off time or decided to take some he would always tell him stories of great heroes and epic clashes always with the best details and ways to pull him into the stories. He missed those the most at night, it felt so odd going to sleep to silence. At the gulag he had the occasional groan or scream or just chatter of those who were allowed sleep during the morning so they could work until dawn without passing out. Now there was no noise at night, just the silence and feeling of being alone. He ran his fingers over the spines of the books, looking for the ones he wanted, the stories would bring back memories and give him new things to paint, just one paragraph could contain a whole ten paintings of scenery and four of subjects. The giant pulled a book of the shelf, the cover was brown leather with a faded painting in the standard dull colors of the old days and depicted a very old wood cutting of a large bearded warrior swinging an axe as if it was a baseball and sending the head flying off his opponent, a large, gourd nosed troll, shoulders. The title was in gold colored letters in a bold font, Slavic Lore. He smiled, hoping his favorite story was in there.

[Valerica Moldovanu]

She continued to wander through the realms of nonfiction, of biographies and atlases, before she found herself in the fiction section. While she liked to learn, storybooks were always her favorite. Perhaps because much of her early life had seemed like one; her parents making her read tomes penned in the dark ages, about magical remedies and make believe ailments. How to summon helpful spirits and phantoms. How to ward off demons, even a cure for lycanthropy. As a girl, she had believed, and had salted the windowsills of her room, and salted the doorway to keep the ghosts that no doubt called her castle their home at bay. But of course, as she grew up and began to join her parents more at gatherings she grew more aware of the modern world, and of the fact that ghosts and goblins and fairies and trolls did not exist. At least, if they did at one point in time they did not any more. She was sad, of course, as the world had lost some of its wonder, but it had gained some too. She wasn’t sad for long, as she grew obsessed with learning about the land outside the castle walls, and indeed outside of Romania.

But stories were still her favorite. She loved old fairy tales and folklore and legends, particularly ones about the unlikely hero going on an epic quest to defeat a monster for one reason or another. So it was really no surprise when she ended up in that particular section of the library where they housed all the old legends. She hoped that there would be more to it than only Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood, though the latter had always been a favorite of hers. It might have to do with the fact that the area where she was from still had a relatively large population of Carpathian wolves, which happen to be quite large in the general scope of things. At least in Europe, that is. She thought she had heard somewhere that the gray wolf species was the largest of all the Canis lupus, but since they had none roaming the Romanian wilderness, it wasn't quite a fair comparison, now was it?

She turned down an aisle of shelves, almost stopping short when she saw that there was another student already in the same area. He was humongous! She had seem some tall people in her life, but they had not been over six and a half feet at the very most. This man had to be...no, it couldn't be. But to her, he seemed to be over seven feet tall. She wasn't very tall in the grand scheme of things, really, her standing at a solid five foot ten inches, so being suddenly confronted by a giant was a little unnerving. She pressed on though, and walked down the aisle to look at the books. It seemed he had already selected one, so Valerica saw no reason to bother him. It had always been one of hr pet peeves to be interrupted while reading, especially when it was to ask about the very same book.

So instead she walked slowly along the other side of the aisle, looking at the different titles and waiting for one to pop out at her.

[Mikhial Zolnerowhich]

Mikhial picked through the book, there were plenty of old Slavic tales but sadly none were the one he wanted. He placed the book back and turned to look in the other shelves. Then he spotted her, she was someone he'd love to paint, there was just something about her that popped and would make her an amazing subject. But right now he had to keep his mind on what he was after. "Hello miss have you seen any Slavic lore?" He asked the girl, hoping it was a reasonable question, I mean it's not like it was ridiculous to ask someone in a fantasy section and ask if they've seen one of the original versions of fantasy. He hoped she wasn't one of those people who was so business like in a library that they refused to talk. But he doubted that, her features were way to kind for that to be the case. "Oh and um, I am Mikhial by the way." He added with a friendly smile.

[Valerica Moldovanu]

If anything, she thought that she looked like some strange ice creature, what with her breath steaming in tropical climates and her lips tinged with a shade of light blue. If one didn’t know better, the girl could look almost hypothermic. Indeed, when she had first manifested her powers her parents had gotten scared, afraid their daughter was freezing from the inside out until they realized that she needed the cold. Then they did everything they could to keep her cold enough. Hot baths were permitted just once a week, though that number raised to three during the winter months, and instead drew her ice baths. Sometimes they even had pails of the snow outside brought in and allowed to melt in the tub when the ice wasn’t enough. She had always hated them. While she grew sick from heat, she still loved it as all human beings did. She loved curling up with thick blankets and coats and being all cozy as she read. At least here on the island, there was no one to tell her not to take hot showers, and she had routinely been filling the bathroom with steam. Her normally pale skin would even turn pink from how hot she kept the water.

She was still off in her own little world, thinking about her life now and reading the spines of books when the giant in the aisle with her spoke, causing her to jump nearly out of her skin. She had forgotten he was there, and his voice shocked her back to reality. She turned and blinked her violet eyes at him, her cheeks coloring for a few briefs moments. Her blushing was always a little odd, as the blood made her skin turn a pink color, but thanks to her powers none of the heat was there. A sort of frozen warmth, she liked to call it. He was looking for Slavic lore? She blinked some more and tried to think if she had seen any such titles. “Were you looking for a specific story?” She asked him, her accent coloring her words, and in her mind, making her sound a bit old world. She liked her accent of course, and liked that it was heavy enough to be pronounced, but not thick as to confuse people into mishearing her words, but still. It seemed rather out of place here on an island in the Pacific Ocean. It really seemed more appropriate for a certain Bram Stoker novel.

But at least she wasn’t alone, she detected a Russian accent in the other student’s voice if she was not mistaken. “I am Valerica.” She introduced herself after he did, offering a small smile to him in return as she did so. Hopefully he would not be put off by her constant output of cold and ice crystals, but she learned not to put too much stress on making friends. She was okay with being alone, she had grown used to it, so she could get by without friends. However, that did not stop her from wanting them.

[Mikhial Zolnerowhich]

Mikhial liked the accent, which he knew was something similar to Russian but with it's own sound to it. A sound he liked. The giant placed the book back in place and cleared his throat. "Well I'm looking for a very old Slavic story, but it's not in this book it's called the Death of Koschei the Deathless. Could you help look for it? it's quite a large one." He hoped he wasn't imposing, he hated being rude and she must have been looking for something as well. Dammit why couldn't he just go and find it on the computers or something or just look himself? He hated making a bad start and he may have just done that by just butting in and asking. He tried not to get embarrassed because if he did his skin would change and that would make an even worse impression with her. His cheeks peeked with red for a millisecond then it happened, with a liquid metallic sound his skin was seemingly covered in a thin layer of shiny silver metal. Mikhial groaned internally and closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry this happens now and then when I get flustered and don't know what to say."

[Valerica Moldovanu]

She was familiar with bad starts as well. Her family, not liked and not trusted as they were, cultivated a certain image that people thought of when they saw them and spoke to them. They were thought to be insane, and expected to be such. Whenever she would be introduced to people as a little girl she could see it in the way they carried themselves and conducted themselves around her and her parents. They would keep glancing at them like they were going to suddenly spring into action and do whatever is was that they thought her family did. Probably curse them. Curses seemed to be frighteningly prevalent, in her world nowadays it seemed. It appeared that the relic was making a come back, as her coldness was thought to be a curse as well as a blessing. Well, at least had the power to curse people. They thought it was a virus once upon a time as well, before they figured out what was really going on. Amid the rumors of powers and blessings, a few of her more distant relatives whispered that someone had angered a witch versed in the old ways. It seems everyone in her family had opinions about how she came to be as she was, and it was all horribly confusing for the young girl. It sounded like it should be the plot of a supernatural soap opera.

That all being said, it still came as a bit of a shock when the giant in front of her suddenly turned to stone. She was half tempted to try and make a quip about the possibility of her being descended from the likes of Medusa, but she didn't think that would go over too well. Instead she just blinked up at him, having stumbled a half a step back from shock. He was rather...shiny. She would love to know what kind of metal was covering him at the moment, but she feared that would only seem to embarrass the poor golem more. She stifled a chuckle and shook her head, even the strands of her hair chilled as they brushed against her neck. "It is quite alright. There is no need to be flustered." She smiled softly at him, not wanting him to feel as if he did something wrong. "And you are looking for Koschei? I believe I may have read that...the name sounds vaguely familiar. I think." She mused, more so to herself than to him.

Then again, she may have just been saying that because the name itself sounded like it was more at home in a fairy tale than in real life. Even a person who has never read Goldilocks and the Three Bears knew that the former lived in some whimsical realm far removed from their own. It was just the nature of stories. Her lips pulled into a slight frown as she thought, trying to think of where such a book would be. It couldn't be far away, as they were already in the right section, but it seemed books always became more skilled at hiding when one was looking for them. She made a soft "hmm"ing sound to herself as she began to walk again, her eyes scanning the shelves around her. As she walked she left cold patches in her wake, and normally she would be worried that she was disturbing others around her, as nearly no one liked to be cold, or even wanted to be, but right now her mind was focused on her pursuit.

But it seemed like this was her lucky day, for after a few minutes of searching she spied what she thought to be the book he was looking for. She smiled fully now and went to pull it from it's place, her eyes quickly scanning the title, feeling that it was a rather heavy thing. "I believe we have found your book, Mikhial." She turned to him and showed him the title, so he could see for himself. She always liked helping others, and tried to do just that when the opportunity presented itself to her. Even if it came at a cost to herself, she couldn't just...leave someone when she could do something, even something small. She knew what it was like to feel alone, after all.

[Mikhial Zolnerowhich]

Mikhial couldn't help but notice the chill creeping up her hair when it touched her neck. He smiled as she set to helping him search. He looked back at her from time to time with a smile playing at his lips. She was quite pretty and maybe if she had time he would draw or paint her. She seemed like the perfect subject to him, and he didn't quite know why. The fact she seemed to almost laugh at his metal skin actually made him smile, he took it as a compliment that she wasn't intimidated by it. When her triumphant voice rang out behind him he turned around to see her holding the book and smiles, running his hand over the picture of the decaying face of it's titular character. It had been so long and now he could finally hear it's words again flowing through his mind, each section and character running through his mind. His father's voice telling in hushed, soothing tones to listen without making a noise or else he'd stop right there and only continue the next night. He smiled wider at those memories, his eyes having a far off look and a warmth forming in his chest. "Thank you Miss Valerica." He mumbled to himself.

[Valerica Moldovanu]

She continued to smile, it taking on a warm cast as she watched his reaction to the book, it clearly being the right one. She was truly happy that she had helped him find this book, as it obviously meant a lot to him judging by the look on his face as he took it in his hands and ran his fingers over the face of who could only be the Koschei in question who was gracing the cover of the book. She was almost...jealous of him for that fact. She didn’t believe that she had anything like that, something that was a part of her like that book as to him. She had to wonder what it felt like; if it was like finding a part of yourself that you had lost. That feeling had to be…wonderful, to put it simply. To feel complete after so many years...She couldn’t help but wonder now if she herself was incomplete, looking for something to fill a void in her that she hadn’t realized existed before then.

As for her being a perfect subject, she didn't know if she would go that far. Or any length, really. She remembered seeing the paintings that lined most of the walls in her family's castle. To her the subjects of the paintings always seemed severe and far away. It didn't really congeal that they had been real people once upon a time until she was much older. Until that had happened she had been creating stories for them in her head, making up worlds for them where they existed and had feelings and motivations. Even when she had learned the people in the paintings had been participating parts of her family once, the imaginations didn't really stop. More often than not, she liked her renditions of the people more than their real selves. It was simply more enjoyable to have characters living in other realities and interacting with each other rather than being constrained by historical events and fact.

"Do not mention it," She told him, her voice soft and gentle. She did not want to disturb the faraway look in his eyes, and hoped that her speaking at all wouldn't take him out of whatever moment or moments he was experiencing. She figured it was at this point that she should take her leave, while he was off in his own world. It was something she had grown quite good at, fading into the background like the sun leeching color from a photograph. She watched him for a few moments more before she began to move. Her footfalls were light and muted, her trying not to make much noise as she began to wonder around the aisles once more. She didn't go very far at all, not even leaving the aisle they were in and instead just drifting over to the other end of it that she had yet to explore.

[Mikhial Zolnerowhich]

Mikhial didn't register her words at first, he was too caught up on the happy memories of the past. But when he did realize she had been speaking to him he blinked and watched her. He didn't want to stop talking to her, in fact he wanted to stay near her. But he didn't know how to exactly get her to stay. Valerica didn't seem like the type to just agree to be drawn by someone she just met but he couldn't think of any common subjects to talk about.Then it hit him, he walked over and tapped her lightly on the shoulder, holding the book tightly and looking at the floor. "Um....Valerica since you seem to be looking for something to read and you haven't read this....would you like to read it with me....?" For some reason the question was hard to get out, like part of him was scared of hearing a no. It was odd because he was usually so confident but with her for some reason all his confidence turned to confused and nervous doubt. That really bothered him because he'd never felt like that before and he didn't like it or the fact he couldn't pin the reason down. "It's fine if you don't want to, I just was hoping to talk a little more." Mikhial offered a small, welcoming smile to show he was genuinely interested in just talking.

[Valerica Moldovanu]

The girl may be cold inside and out on account of her particular gifts, but that did not mean that she wanted to be mean or rude. She tried not to be, in fact. Even though her family was shunned by the others, she did not feel resentment or even hate for them. It was an understandable shunning if there ever was one. Her family was rather odd, even by old world nobility’s standards. So she put on a smile every time but she did not try to talk to them unless spoken to. She might be a kind soul and try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but most were not the same in the circles that she traveled. They  tended to thrive on gossip and were not concerned in the slightest when it came to the feelings of others. So Valerica kept her mouth shut most days, because if something was said to her that she didn’t really care for...well. She was not always the proper, nice young lady her parents had attempted to raise her into being alongside occult studies.

She had taken a book into her hands, finally finding one that with a title that caught her eye when he tapped her shoulder. She jumped, startled since very little people tried to deliberately touch her nowadays, and also out of a bit of fear. Her skin was chilled to the touch, even now, and people tended to react unfavorably when they expect something specific and get its complete opposite. She turned to face him with her eyes a bit wide, not unlike a deer caught in the headlights, and the look didn’t fade when she heard him speak. He...he wanted to read with her? He would be willing to share this obviously treasured book with her, a stranger? She gulped slightly with her cheeks coloring a pale pink. She nodded and slipped the book she had been holding back into its home.

“I would be honored to.” She said with an answering, small smile. It was almost tentative and shy, even though she liked to consider herself not so. She may be on the quiet side of the spectrum but that didn’t mean she disliked being around other people just because she was around other people. That would be a rather silly way of being in her mind. She tucked a few strands of her dark hair behind her ear and couldn’t help but hope that the obvious way her breath was fogging truly wasn’t bothering him like it seemed to be. If her hopes were right, then she liked him all the more. People didn’t tend to really like the cold, and therefore, usually didn’t want to spend a large amount of time around the girl.

[Mikhial Zolnerowhich]

Mikhial was used to the cold, Siberia wasn't known for it's warm spring periods, it was known for it's harsh winters though and he and his father both were used to the cold so he'd gotten used to being a little chilly, and really his skin was a bit uncomfortable with the islands humid air. Then he noticed the pink on her cheeks, he couldn't understand why they were like that at first, then it hit him and his skin acted up, his cheeks briefly turning red before his skin turned into a shiny steel coating. He quickly backed up and cleared his throat. "Uh...sorry about that I hope I didn't startle you at all..." He rubbed his arm and chuckled a little.

"So you have ice abilities? That's interesting." He saw the way her breath fogged...he liked that a lot. He would have loved to draw it, mist and all but he worried it would be too soon to ask her about that. So instead he motioned for her to follow him to a set of chairs nearby where he could read to her. "I hope you don't get bored. I might not have the best voice when it comes to reading aloud." His father had always had a good grasp of English and had taught him pretty well but he was always scared his accent would trip him up or make him hard to understand.

[Valerica Moldovanu]

She blinked when his own skin turned a shade of pink to match her own, however the hue didn't last long as his skin turned to metal once again shortly after. She couldn't help the small chuckle that left her at that, finding the transformation almost...sweet. It was his form of blushing. Strange, but not altogether unwelcome or the opposite of endearing. "No no, it is quite alright." She said with another of her small smiles. "I was just...surprised." Yes, that was the word she was looking for. Surprised. Not made uncomfortable or startled or anything of that nature. In fact, she wondered if she could be made uncomfortable or startled by the large student before her. He had a comforting air about him, though Valerica wondered if that was only because he had a similar accent to hers and came from a similar culture. Nevertheless, she was comfortable around him.

At his question she gave a nod, pleased that he didn't seem to be put off by the fact that she had such abilities. "I do indeed." She wouldn't begin to explain what exactly those abilities were, partly because she didn't want to seem overly proud or arrogant of her powers, but also because she didn't want to bore him or anything like that. She knew how unexciting it could be to listen to someone go on and on about what they could do, having one such person in a class of hers that liked to wax poetic about his powers. Truly sleep inducing, as far as she was concerned.

At his insistence she followed him, looking forward to reading with him. She took a seat in one of the chairs they came to, her movements easy and graceful with a practiced elegance that she had learned from her years of being a fixture in nobility, despite her family's reputation. She was still a noble and was expected to act as one, even in her own home. She waved off his concerns, looking rather happy with the situation all things considered. She was still smiling, and seemed to be looking forward to hearing him. "Do not worry, I am sure you are better than you give yourself credit for." She assured him, waiting for him to begin reading. It had been years since someone had read to her, and a part of her missed hearing another person's voice recite the words of a story instead of hearing her own inside of her head as she turned the page.

[Mikhial Zolnerowhich]

Mikhial took a moment to collect himself from the accidental change that he'd let happen before cracking open the book. He thought of how to start it, his father always knew how to make sure little Mikhial was enthralled the moment his father began reading, giving the book a voice of it's own, keeping their emotions high and tension at the boiling point. He hoped he could capture even a fraction of what his father had for this reading. For some reason he really didn't want to bore her, probably because she was his first audience and he wanted to make a good impression. He breathed in deeply and locked his eyes on the words. "The Death Of Koschei the Deathless."

He went through the tale of the brave warrior Ivan and his warrior lover Marya, of the monstrous Koschei and his fiendish kidnapping of Marya. Of Ivan's struggle to chase her and his defeat. His triumphant return and his search for the soul of Koschei, then the final climactic battle. He never looked up from the book, and was lost in the narrative, giving life to each scene, each sonnet. When the tale was finally done he looked up at Valerica, hoping she didn't fall asleep or get lost in all his talking.