Long ago, the Kitsune of the North created palaces of Ice and Snow. Their enchanters knew the secrets of Eternal Ice, of how to crystalize the very essence of that chilled substance to create palaces and castles made from naught but the frozen waters of the North. They created domes of giant glaciers and used their glassy surface to pull the light of the sun to sprawling fields. Inch by inch they grew each year, and each year they saw more prosperity than ever before.

It was in this time that a small child was born to a family of scribes and scholars. They were a low family in the courts of that time, one that was but a minor house amongst minor houses. For the Kitsune clans all considered themselves Noble, and each family was placed according to their seen nobility. But that would change as this family attained something new, something that had never been seen before.

For their child was born with something truly strange. A second tail came from their back and mystic power flowed into the young creature. The higher nobles were delighted to see such an unusual thing and allowed the Scribes to take over new duties and rise in an ever so small way. So they became the Librarians of their clan, and the young two-tailed fox was raised up amongst their clans knowledge.

This young creature, known as Astrania after her favourite flowers, was a bright star amongst her peers. She read scroll after scroll while others would barely pay attention to the dull words of old men on ancient paper. She mastered the writings of old and by the time of her fifth summer had already composed and compiled records that had long since been forgotten or left to fade. And when the Clan Enchanter came to read of old techniques, he found that each scroll she had crafted was uniquely infused with Kitsune magic.

He found the small girl with her family, and took her on as his apprentice. Each morning she would learn of his craft and guide her power toward more refined goals. Each evening she would return to her precious scrolls and learn more of her clans ancient ways. She grew from a child to a young woman and learned the amazing things that her clan had done, and now dreamed of the future.

So it was one day that she went to the dome of Ice that surrounded her home. It was late in winter then, when the sun had long since gone and the sky was dark even during these waking hours. Her people were cold and growing weary with the waking night-time, and she could hear the dark spirits outside moaning and wailing in the winds.

She stood brave and proud as she approached the barrier with an ancient scroll in one hand and a small bauble in the other. She held that bauble as she read the instructions put forth by the scroll to make a lightstone, then looked at the small warm bead in her hand. It was a firestone from a smith that she had begged for and traded a bit of knowledge to gain.

She held the stone to the dome and reminded the stone of the heat of the forge that was like the summer sun. She held her other hand to the dome and reminded it how it could take the heat of the summer sun and amplify it throughout the day. She balanced them in her hand and ignored the spirits that jeered and cackled outside as they hoped for her to fail and break the fragile glass-like ice that protected her people.

With stone in one hand and gem in the other, she called forth summer and day to balance the winter nights. Spirits howled from the flash of a sun they had not expected to see as the stone glowed ever brighter in her hand. The dome slowly began to shift with light as a dawn in the middle of the winter night came. The small firebead rose like the morning sun in the east as the cool night of winter was banished for her clan.

She watched the sunrise over the cold fields and was glad as she basked in the warm sun. Famers and laborers, smiths and carters, even the caravans that had been trapped by winter looked up in awe. The Palace nobles came out to their balconies and watched in awe as something they had never hoped for came to be as the Sunstone, an artifact for her people, was made from a childs wish and the guidance of their young apprentice enchanter with two tails.

And when Astrania returned to her home she was greeted with wonder and joy for her works. The enchanters studied the stone when it fell to the other side of the dome in the evening hours, and watched as it slowly moved back with a dim starlight glow to its morning position. She was hailed as the Morning's Herald for her work and her family rose in prestige. And the people around her were amazed when they saw that she had changed as well from her actions.

The young teen laughed and smiled with joy as she watched her gladdened people, and her three tails moved with the breeze that swept through the warming air. For she had grown, and her people could only wonder at their amazing fortune.Long ago, the Kitsune of the North created palaces of Ice and Snow. Their enchanters knew the secrets of Eternal Ice, of how to crystalize the very essence of that chilled substance to create palaces and castles made from naught but the frozen waters of the North. They created domes of giant glaciers and used their glassy surface to pull the light of the sun to sprawling fields. Inch by inch they grew each year, and each year they saw more prosperity than ever before.

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It was in this time that a small child was born to a family of scribes and scholars. They were a low family in the courts of that time, one that was but a minor house amongst minor houses. For the Kitsune clans all considered themselves Noble, and each family was placed according to their seen nobility. But that would change as this family attained something new, something that had never been seen before.

For their child was born with something truly strange. A second tail came from their back and mystic power flowed into the young creature. The higher nobles were delighted to see such an unusual thing and allowed the Scribes to take over new duties and rise in an ever so small way. So they became the Librarians of their clan, and the young two-tailed fox was raised up amongst their clans knowledge.

This young creature, known as Astrania after her favourite flowers, was a bright star amongst her peers. She read scroll after scroll while others would barely pay attention to the dull words of old men on ancient paper. She mastered the writings of old and by the time of her fifth summer had already composed and compiled records that had long since been forgotten or left to fade. And when the Clan Enchanter came to read of old techniques, he found that each scroll she had crafted was uniquely infused with Kitsune magic.

He found the small girl with her family, and took her on as his apprentice. Each morning she would learn of his craft and guide her power toward more refined goals. Each evening she would return to her precious scrolls and learn more of her clans ancient ways. She grew from a child to a young woman and learned the amazing things that her clan had done, and now dreamed of the future.

So it was one day that she went to the dome of Ice that surrounded her home. It was late in winter then, when the sun had long since gone and the sky was dark even during these waking hours. Her people were cold and growing weary with the waking night-time, and she could hear the dark spirits outside moaning and wailing in the winds.

She stood brave and proud as she approached the barrier with an ancient scroll in one hand and a small bauble in the other. She held that bauble as she read the instructions put forth by the scroll to make a lightstone, then looked at the small warm bead in her hand. It was a firestone from a smith that she had begged for and traded a bit of knowledge to gain.

She held the stone to the dome and reminded the stone of the heat of the forge that was like the summer sun. She held her other hand to the dome and reminded it how it could take the heat of the summer sun and amplify it throughout the day. She balanced them in her hand and ignored the spirits that jeered and cackled outside as they hoped for her to fail and break the fragile glass-like ice that protected her people.

With stone in one hand and gem in the other, she called forth summer and day to balance the winter nights. Spirits howled from the flash of a sun they had not expected to see as the stone glowed ever brighter in her hand. The dome slowly began to shift with light as a dawn in the middle of the winter night came. The small firebead rose like the morning sun in the east as the cool night of winter was banished for her clan.

She watched the sunrise over the cold fields and was glad as she basked in the warm sun. Famers and laborers, smiths and carters, even the caravans that had been trapped by winter looked up in awe. The Palace nobles came out to their balconies and watched in awe as something they had never hoped for came to be as the Sunstone, an artifact for her people, was made from a childs wish and the guidance of their young apprentice enchanter with two tails.

And when Astrania returned to her home she was greeted with wonder and joy for her works. The enchanters studied the stone when it fell to the other side of the dome in the evening hours, and watched as it slowly moved back with a dim starlight glow to its morning position. She was hailed as the Morning's Herald for her work and her family rose in prestige. And the people around her were amazed when they saw that she had changed as well from her actions.

The young teen laughed and smiled with joy as she watched her gladdened people, and her three tails moved with the breeze that swept through the warming air. For she had grown, and her people could only wonder at their amazing fortune.