2892 P.C., the first of Winter, Hylicia’s Vale.

Unlike the other seasonal festivals, the winter solstice was not an occasion for feasting and the village to get together; The cold meant gathering outside was not the most appealing, and food had to be conserved to last until spring. Instead, fires lit every home and households celebrated in a more humble way, proportionate to their means.

But to Alunya, the day holds little joy as he beholds the outside gloomily.

“What’s wrong, Alunya?” Reia asks, lightly placing one hand on his shoulder and looking down at him. Alunya looks back up at her indignantly.

“Theres no snow! It's supposed to snow in winter!” Aluna protests, pointing outside. It’s true; despite the weather having gotten colder, there had not been a hint of snow, merely frigid overcast skies.

Reia kneels down next to Alunya, glancing outside. Truthfully, the lack of snow was preferable to her, but she still wanted to say something to make her son feel better. “There there, I’m sure there will be snow in short order. It's just the first day of winter.”

Alunya didn’t seem particularly cheered up, but Antares, who had just gotten out of bed and left the bedroom he shared with Alunya, traipsed into the room, surveying the outside from behind his mother and brother. Seeing the glum mood his brother was in, he places a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Alunya, I know a place we can go, but only while it's not snowing.” Antares offers.

“Oh, no you don’t! We need firewood for the winter, and it's better to chop it before it's all icy outside!” Reia interrupts Antares.

Alunya’s pout gets even bigger, and he tugs on Reia’s tunic, looking up at her with the big doe eyes he had mastered for when he wanted to get his way. “Aw, mooom! C’mon, he’s busy enough the rest of the year! Won’t you let him show me?” Reia looks down at Alunya’s big doe eyes, and then away, as if flustered.

“I mean... I... Oh, alright, fine. But you had better not stay out too long, you two!” Reia finally lets out, caving almost immediately.

Alunya pumps his fist, triumphantly. “Yessss! C’mon Antares, what were you going to show me?”

Antares watches the interaction between the two of them with something resembling contempt, shooting both of them a dark look before responding. “Just, follow me, I’ll show you.”

Alunya looks up at him, questioningly, but he would receive no answer as Antares opens the door and stalks off. Alunya glances back up at Reia, who shrugs, before he takes off after his brother. “Big bro, wait for me!”

[...]

Alunya jogs after Antares, catching up with him as he enters the village at a brisk pace, quickly catching up to walk side by side with him. “Where are we going, Ari?” Alunya questions, taking hold of his brother's hand just to keep him from walking off again.

Antares huffs. “Just you wait, you’ll see it soon enough.” Antares looks back forwards for a moment before looking back at Alunya, his expression softening. “...You’ll like it. Well, I mean, I think you will, anyways...” He trails off with significantly less certainty than he had started with.

Alunya nods eagerly, wondering what it could be. A flight of fanciful ideas flash through his head- Did his brother make a treefort? Maybe he’d taken down a vicious monster or found a magic sword? Alunya quickens his pace as he continues thinking up increasingly fantastical and unrealistic possibilities.

Antares struggles to keep pace as Alunya bursts first into a brisk walk and then into a jog, dragging Antares along. “Hey, you know, I’m the one showing you where to go!” Antares protests dryly, as he yanks back on Alunya’s arm, who had tried to just scamper off forwards towards the town center instead of off around the corner where Antares was trying to go.

The pair crosses the village, heading down to where the river bisects the village near the center then crossing the ancient stone bridge to the other, less populated side of the village, and up to the rocky ridge, where Antares motions for Alunya to follow as he treads off the beaten path.

“C’mon, it's just up here!” Antares points forward as he weaves through the underbrush, until they come upon a large boulder striking up from the ridge, which Antares climbs up onto, offering a hand down to Alunya, who promptly ignores it and just jumps up to the rock lip where he scrambles over the edge. As he stands up on the monolithic precipice, his eyes widen while Antares watches his reaction.

“Woah...” Aluna murmured, taking in the view. From that place he can see the entire village from a perspective he never had before, perfectly framed with the mountain in the background and the river just before the village. With the forest stretching past beyond them, it looks small by comparison. He had never had such a high vantage point to look out from in his life, so the experience was entirely novel to the boy.

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Antares breathes a sigh of relief that Alunya likes the view. “It's nice, right?” Antares dangles his legs off the edge and scoots up next to his brother. “I come up here sometimes when I want a spot of peace and quiet.” A flicker of doubt crosses Antares’ heart as he realizes that he had just let his very energetic, very not-peace-and-quiet brother know where to find him in those times.

Alunya smiles brightly, and after he has taken in the view fully, he turns to the side and takes Antares’s hand in his own, silver eyes shining brightly as he looks into his brothers. “It’s really pretty! Thank you for showing me, brother!”

Antares blinks, and the feeling of doubt vanishes as he warmly smiles back at Alunya. “No problem, I’m glad you like it.”

The moment is interrupted as Alunya gasps and springs up to his feet, somehow kicking off the rocky cliffside to land in a stable position on top of the ledge. “Snow! Antares, it's snowing!” He exclaims, holding out his hand to pick a little snowflake, which was quickly followed by another, and another.

Antares climbs up to his feet too, looking up at the sky with some difficulty- the white clouds covering the sky were rather bright to look at. A darker series of clouds was steadily moving in, bearing falls of glistening white snow.

“Let’s head back home, I should get my chores out of the way! I don’t wanna be stuck chopping firewood when the snow’s all settled.” Antares replies, as he remembers that he had put off his chores to take Alunya out here. Alunya looks up in alarm, and nodded emphatically.

“I can help! Then you’ll get done faster!” Alunya offers. Antares makes to leave, but Alunya simply jumps forward, off the boulder.

Antares whirls around in a panic, kneeling over the edge. “A-Alunya!” The boulder was some fifteen feet off the ground, way too far to safely jump down. But Alunya had just slid down a small part of the boulder which was sloped enough to serve as an impromptu slide.

Antares breathes a sigh of relief and quickly scrambles down the boulder, climbing down more conventionally but still in a rush to get down to the ground. “By Hylicia, please be more careful. Heavens know what a scolding I would get from mom if I let you hurt yourself...” Antares protests, dusting Alunya off. “You’re alright, aren’t you?” Although it never ceases to cause him to panic, Antares had by this time become somewhat used to Alunya’s constant reckless behavior, and apparent penchant for coming out the other side unscathed.

“I’m fine!” Alunya pokes his tongue out and winks at Antares mischievously. “Gosh, you’re such a worrywort!”

[...]

Alunya looks around in the stone hut they call home, curiously. “Mom?” He calls out, dashing between each room before returning to Antares. “Mom’s not here! She must’ve gone out for something.” Alunya announces. “That means she’s not here to tell us to do our chores!”

Antares gives a deadpan look at Alunya. “She’ll still know if we did them when she gets back…” He replies. “Plus, the firewood needs to get chopped if we wanna eat.” Antares shivers slightly in the cold- It also probably helps that firewood would keep them warm.

Alunya hangs his head, disappointed. “Awww… Alright! Let’s get chopping!” Alunya runs over to the storage chamber- Not so much a closet as just an indent in the wall where they kept tools and supplies- and picks up the small hatchet. “Sooner we get started, sooner we’ll be done! Right, Ari?” Alunya beams.

Antares hesitates. Was it really safe to have his kid brother using something like that..? But, Reia wasn’t’ home, and looking at the pile of uncut wood gives Antares a sense of dread… “Alright, let’s get started. Here, you cut the kindling, I’ll cut up the bigger pieces, ok?” Antares picks up a bigger axe- oversized for himself, even though he was reasonably tall for his age. This was probably dad’s, before he died…

Antares gives the axe an experimental swing, then sets the firewood down. It wasn't the first time he was doing this, but it had been some time. Raising the axe, he swings down and splits the first piece of wood.

[...]

By the time Reia got back home, Alunya and Antares had just finished setting up the fireplace, and lit it using Alunya’s fire piston. It probably wasn’t the greatest idea to have the kids in charge of lighting the fire without any oversight, but it wasn't unusual; Reia just couldn’t be home all the time, and fire’s needed to be lit.

The two boys are huddled up in front of the fire- Seemingly, even Alunya got cold sooner or later. Reia shuts the thatch door behind her and breathes a sigh of relief, carrying a bucket of milk in her other hand. She looks exhausted.

Setting the bucket down on the counter, Reia barely has time to catch her breath before she is mobbed by Alunya and Antares, each clinging to either side of her. “Mom!” Alunya shouts, maybe too loudly- it makes Reia’s ears ring as his voice echoes in the stone chamber. “You’re home!”

Reia gives a tired sigh and leans down to pet both of the boy’s heads. “Well I think someone saw the snow falling.” Reia chuckles. “And I see you did your chores, finally got cold enough for you?”

Antares frowns slightly. He’d done his chores to get them done, not just because he was cold. He lets go of Reia and steps back, smoothing out his tunic and clearing his throat. “What’s for dinner, Mom?” It was after all the winter solstice; Even if the time of year precluded a large feast with everyone of the village, the families of the village still celebrated according to their own means. If nothing else, the fresh yak milk was a treat.

“I don’t know, I was out longer than I thought I would be and I still have to clean the dishes.” Reia states, exhausted. Such was life in a single parent household; With Reia always taking care of providing for the two of them, chores around the household tend to pile up. “If you want food, maybe you can help with the dishes and we’ll see if we have time to cook dinner afterwards.”

Antares flushes deeply. “Mom, that’s a girl’s job...” He mumbles. It was bad enough that he was always hanging out with Alunya, but if the village kids caught wind of this, he’d end up with the same reputation.

But, as anyone probably could have guessed, Alunya wasn’t taking it. “I’ll help! I’ll help!” Alunya finally lets go of Reia and jumps up and down. A few dirty dishes wouldn’t stand between Alunya and his dinner!