Chapter 20 Snow, Snow Everywhere! Part 2

“A village!” The elf pointed at the houses buried in snow; smoke rose up from the chimneys, and people worked on removing the snow from the walkways and roofs, despite it still snowing.

“Hello, are you a traveler?” A man with fox ears and tail came to us.

“Ah, yes.” The elf replied friendly. “What happened here?”

“You mean the snow? It just started a few days ago, and it isn’t going to stop anytime soon.” The man said in a collected but worried voice.

I looked around the village as these two continued their conversation. Fay flew out of the bag, “Wait for me, I come with you!” and sat down on my back.

The trees in and closely around the village had all lost their leaves; they turned brown, and as I taped at one that wasn’t completely buried under the snow, it cracked and crumbled into tiny pieces.

Fay flew up to one of the trees and circled it; the tree had lost most of its leaves and instead was now coated in white snow sticking to its branches. “It is totally out of balance and confused!” Fay angrily flailed her arms and legs around.

“Could you help it return to normal?” I sat in the snow and disinterested observed the angry fairy.

“Of course I could, but with the snow, it would return to its current state not long after.” Distraught, she let her body hanging.

“Ah!”

*swoosh*

I turned around, behind us a man fell from the roof into a pile of snow.

“Is everything okay?” A woman asked, who was a moment before occupied with shoveling snow out of the way, to make a path.

“I’m fine; the snow cushioned the fall.” He replied while standing up and removing the snow stuck to his clothes, “Sigh, when will this damned snow stop falling?!”

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“Stop complaining and get your ass up here!” Another person on the roof called out.

“Coming, coming!”

I observed how the man hurriedly climbed up again, and I let my eyes wander to the elf who was coming our way. “The man I just spoke to, Olaf, invited me to his house. Are you coming with me?”

“Sure, why not.”

I and Fay followed the elf to the man’s house. Inside, it was warm and cozy, making me want to take a nap. “Make yourself at home; I will brew tea for us.” The man walked to the simple kitchen, which was in the same room as the living room where the elf sat down. Fay directly flew to the fireplace next to the couch, where I hopped on and leisurely laid down next to the elf.

“Mr. Olaf,” The elf politely began to speak, “I’ve been wondering, the houses here are vastly different in build than elsewhere in this region, why is that?”

“Nice catch! They look like they were built to withstand the cold, even though it shouldn’t snow around here normally.” I thought to myself, as I started my symbioses with the couch.

“Ah, right. Normally it would never get this cold, let alone snow here,” He brought the tea over and sat down across from the elf, “but this village experiences a weird phenomenon since hundreds of years. Every 25 years, out of nowhere, it would snow for an entire month. Our ancestors tried to investigate and find the cause, but no one ever managed to figure it out.”

He and the elf sipped on their teas, “You should better continue your travels; the snowfall will get worse and worse. Like I promised, I have old winter clothes that you can have.”

“Thank you for your generosity.” The elf replied, holding the cup of tea in his hands to warm himself up.

“Haha, don’t mention it. It’s rare for a traveler to come here at this time; all the merchants already know and avoid this route when it’s about to get cold.”

The man looked at me. “Do you need some warm clothing for your cat as well? I have blankets you could wrap them in with.”

I stared back. “I’m not a cat!” I thought to myself, “Sigh, always the same ignorant people…” I gave up my protest as quickly as I started it.

The elf quickly shook his head, “Thank you for the offer, but they quite like the cold.”

“Is that so?” The man stroked his beard and continued looking at me.

“I want winter clothes as well! Why is no one thinking about me!?” Fay cried out.

“Because he can’t see you.” I said while the elf ignored her.

She looked at the man deep in thought and then flew around before his eyes, but he showed no reaction whatsoever. “You are right, I completely forgot!” she exclaimed with an expression as if she had an epiphany. “But wait, I still want my clothes! Álfur, ask him if he has fairy-sized clothes as well!” Fay hovered around the elf excitedly, but he ignored her completely and let out a small sigh…

“Is something the matter?” The man asked.

“No, it’s nothing.” The elf took another sip of his tea.