The Snow Maiden

A song rings out in the frozen forest where all life seems to have disappeared. The trees, the bushes… everything is covered with ice, giving the whole place a bluish hue and lending the tune I'm now hearing a crystalline quality. It's a soft and somber melody, hummed slowly, and it immediately draws me in. Who could be the source of this lament? I follow a vague path that winds among the tree trunks. A feeling of loneliness moves me to my core. Though it's a sad song, its mood is one of melancholy, not despair. And suddenly, the tone shifts – it becomes more cheerful, with a quicker tempo. With a whoosh, a rabbit made of ice dashes between my legs. I look around wide-eyed, trying to figure out where it came from – which turns out to be from the same direction as the singing, apparently. I quicken my pace. And whoosh, I'm nearly run over by an ice fawn charging by at full speed. All at once, I see her: a beautiful young woman with pale skin and a snowflake-shaped crown on her head.

She turns in place, humming her tune as she sculpts the ice coming out of her fingertips into a streamlined body, four delicate little paws, a slender snout, and finally a long bushy tail. It's an ice fox taking shape in her hands. It comes to life and runs a few circles around her. There's something strange here: The farther we push on into the frozen expanse of Storhvit, the more Eidolons we find manifesting without being summoned. It's not unheard of to see one spontaneously appear in Asgartha, but it's certainly rare. I should ask Akesha about this – surely she'd know why they appear to us here even if we don't know them or have any memory of them. The young woman keeps making one animal sculpture after another, as though trying to repopulate the whole place with icy life. Her creations frolic around her. And the feeling of loneliness that had haunted me now gradually fades away.

Also known as Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden is a character from Russian folklore. She is the granddaughter of Ded Moroz, or Father Frost, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus. In the fairy tale she comes from, a peasant couple, distraught at their inability to have a child, decide to make one out of snow. The snow maiden then comes to life, growing up quickly while maintaining a very pale complexion. When spring arrives, she becomes listless and lethargic. To cheer her up, her friends invite her to dance with them around a bonfire and take turns jumping over it. But when she jumps, Snegurochka turns into a snowy mist and disappears.

RIN

393 AC