skill: [none]

It was a most interesting thing, to see delicate flower petals amidst the dead of winter. They floated and fluttered and fell where they may. Euphemia, who was quite well-versed in the flora of this place, knew immediately that it was out of place, but she couldn’t (for the life of her) imagine why.

Euphemia walked closer and snuffled around with her black nose amongst the pink flowers, and that was when she noticed a pattern in the snow. A glowing, shimmering path that immediately had her enraptured. Too virginal to know any better, the maiden was delighted. Had beautiful winter flowers and shimmering wintertide bioluminescence existed this whole time, and it wasn’t until now that the wonder had revealed itself?

There was no choice to be had. Wherever this path led, she would follow. If it were a dream, the girl hoped the universe would have the grace to allow her to enjoy it to its fullest extent. If this were real life, she was overtly pleased to have finally learned how to tap into this seemingly alternative reality of beauty. She felt light as a feather, and it showed in her gait as she bounded down the path, eagerness writ across her features.

---

skill: [none]

Euphemia was enthralled. There was no part of her that wondered if this was a dream. Euphemia was well-versed in alternate realities, and knew that the limits of the universe were far beyond the limits of her own mortal mind. Before this moment, Euphemia had never known the snow to fall so softly, and she had never known snow to glow; but here it was, clearing away any doubt that this was ever not possible!

who was she to question it evermore?
what would be the point?

She could scarcely feel her paws touch the ground. She felt as light as the snow and the petals that gently stirred around her, not only lithe in body but effervescent in mind. The entire scene created a miasma for her that pulled her forth, as if riding upon an undulating cloud. The silver ophelia spared no thought for what lay at the end of the path, or if she would ever return home once more. If this was the path of the fae to lead her into other words, then so be it! Euphemia would be a fairy if so needed, just as she filled her duty here in the Vale, she would do it there –

It was only then that Euphemia realized she was not alone. His voice rolled out behind her like the tide itself, somehow evading the glowing flurries to come lap at her heels. It brought a simper and a smile to her maw, whereas in any other situation, the maiden might have felt put at ill-ease being followed but a strange, briny seaman. Phia permitted herself to frolic a moment longer (lest the spectacle disappear as quickly as it had come), but she slowed down, turned around in a motion that resembled a pirouette,

and then she gazed upon the speaker, whose image was obscured by the many falling flurries.

Hello? the maiden echoed, unintentionally mirroring his own words, shifting her weight between her front limbs as she waited, for he appeared to be coming closer.

---

skill: [none]

---

Euphemia moved naught a muscle as he moved closer, his movements as smooth as beads of mercury pooling here, then there, until he moved no more. In moments like these, it was a difficult internal battle regarding what she should pay attention to. The unseasonable snow (as if there was ever a season for heart shaped, glowing snowflakes) or the entirely new milieu, or the man who strode closer. It all fought so fiercely to be the sole subject of her thoughts and curiosities,

so Euphemia did her best to keep her attention loose, gaze easy, and mind clear. She might have been in danger, and the maiden would have been the most willing victim to whatever was destined to befall her. It was not her usual experience to be so passive, but it came easy to her in this moment. Maybe it was her innate understanding of how fleeting something like this was, even if it was only a just dream. She also understood the ego’s own tendency to ruin anything good and wonderful, and like hell Euphemia was going to fritter away this dream world –

she wouldn’t dare let it turn into a nightmare.

Before her stood a handsome man with the gravitas of a creature far grander than he, or she, or they together. It felt, truly, like anything might be possible. Perhaps she could fly, if she tried hard enough! Or maybe she could speak to the dead, rouse her parents from their slumbers, and commune with them. She wondered if she might be able to lay hands upon another and heal them like the doctors in her books could.

Even if these things were possible (and maybe they were, if she tried! Just try!) it was a clear decision of hers not to pursue them. For in the world of glowing snow and endless, magically unfurling trails, there was him. A thing that, for all appearances, was living and breathing. Just as she was.

No, she chirped. Logical thought would lead her to believe she was just outside of Frostfang Vale somehow, but her intuitive mind was overwhelmingly certain that was not true. Have you ever seen such a thing? she then asked, a natural continuation of his line of inquiry. It’s as if… as if the snow was aflame… the maiden grappled for words to describe it, failing miserably to capture its wonder.

but, how could that be?

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