She was the daughter of a fur trader, whose mother lived many miles to the south. Her dreams of travelling kept her from being sad. She loved her father, but he was always busy with his trapping, and hardly had time for a little girl's chatty needs. She was cared for, but she was lonely. She had many books, and grew up to be quite smart. But she longed for a companion.

Every winter, since she was a very small child, Solaire would wait until her father was asleep on the Solstice, and go outside to a very special place. In the Summer it was nothing but a dried up pond. But in winter the water collected there and froze forming a perfect circle - mirror-bright, reflecting the moon and the stars flawlessly.

There, she would pray and wish for something - anything - that could take her dull life and make it brighter...

She was the child of Winter and the Moon, whose distant kin dwelled in the forests beyond and clopped along on four hooves or burrowed in the snow. If anyone had ever asked her, she would have said her life was pleasant - but she would say it with a sigh, and she would look away distantly whenever she thought of the world beyond her woods.

Lunaire could breathe life into solid ice statues, she could cause a snowflake to dance in the air. But she did this listlessly, without passion. But there were nights that the barriers between her world and the other world, the mirrored world beyond every reflection, came down. One night she stole down to a brook-fed pool, which froze over at her touch.

There, she gazed longingly into the reflections she saw, and wondered if some day she might do more than merely wish...

Solaire knew it was going to be chilly, but she couldn't bear to bundle up, besides her father would wake hearing her bumping around in her closet. So she put on only what she'd stuck on her dresser earlier in the night - a scarf, her furry boots, gloves and a shawl, and her ear muffs. Her ears stuck out to the sides of her head, some said she was more elf than person. So she was always timid even though she deseperately wanted friendship and attention.

She snuck down and opened the kitchen door. It was easier to get out the kitchen and the back way, since her father's room was toward the other side of the house, and he wouldn't hear it shut gently. The front door, Solaire avoided because it was big and heavy and squeaked terribly on its old hinges. She made sure that the door wasn't locked, but was closed so that no snow or cold air would come in. Then, looking at the chilly, dark sky, she moved away from her home and toward the hills.

The trees had all lost their leaves, but higher up were the evergreens, one of which her father had cut and made into their holiday tree. There was little under it, Solaire was a bit disappointed that her mother or her aunties hadn't sent her at least something this year, at least - more than socks. Who wanted socks! Her father could give her those, which he did, in fact this year she knew he was pretending to give her the socks that her auntie had sent, and had been searching for something else to replace them just to make her happier.

But Solaire wasn't quite happy. She wasn't desperately sad, but she didn't feel right. The crisp air and the stunning stars - so bright - made her feel a little better. As she walked on, she was both numbed from the cold, and warmed from the effort of moving over the newly fallen snow.

Where had the snow come from? There were large clumps of snow falling, but the sky was cloudless. Well, sometimes it did that. There was probably a storm nearby and the winds kicked it over the hills, was all.

She made her way over the hill, and down toward her pond. She was positive that her father used this pond in Autumn, when the animals fur was starting to turn and he could trap many of them near the water. But now it was frozen, and it reflected the moon.

Only... Tonight was a new moon - the first time in her life that there had been no bright smiling face on the calendar on this special night (or near it anyway). So where was the moon coming from, exactly?

Lunaire saw movement on the reflection pool's surface. But that had to be an illusion, right? Nothing was out this time of night, at least, not on that side of things.

But there was something moving. It was a girl! Lunaire took in a breath, she couldn't be seen, could she? The Solstice was nigh, the borders between worlds had been broken. Her wings rustled, if she got caught...

It didn't matter! Now or never!

Lunaire reached her dark skinned hand into the frigid water, and grasped the first thing she felt. She pulled, but it wasn't a gentle pulling - this was much harder than she thought it would be!

On the other side, Solaire gasped - there was an arm sticking out of the pond?! She almost screamed but then curiosity got the better of her, and she reached out toward it. The hand was chilly, dark, and gripped her hard around the wrist!

"Oh - wait!" Solaire gasped, but it was too late. She took her other hand and grabbed the dark wrist herself, was she pulling, or being pulled?

It turned out they both pulled too hard. Solaire and Lunaire wound up butt-down on hard ice, both of them still gripping each other's wrists.

"You're - an angel!" Solaire gasped, looking at Lunaire's wings and pristine appearance.

"You're ... I'm not an angel," Lunaire said, blinking after a moment. "I'm not, really."

"But your wings!" Solaire pointed, "and your dress! I've always imagined angels like you!"

"But I'm not," the girl protested, "I'm as much an angel as you are, and you look like an angel to me, who else could break a barrier between worlds?"

With that, Solaire shut her mouth and looked around oddly. ".... Okay, I don't think I understand that. But... We're not angels, I get that much."

Lunaire laughed a little, but was nervous too. For something odd had happened. They were neither in her world, which was eternally shrouded in snow and moonlit in a way that only her father could shine; nor were they in Solaire's mirrored world of humans and sunlight and change.

They were sitting on a small pond, all right - but it was surrounded by healthy, fresh evergreens and a strange dryness to the air. Sounds came to their ears, men and women's voices. Some called out, telling them to stay where they were, while others encouraged them to skid back to the pond's side.

This pond, they both noticed about the same time, was much bigger than the one they'd both visited a moment before. Lunaire took Solaire's shoulders and whispered, "hold on to my waist," and began to flap her wings. She could fly, of course, but she'd never once had a person to carry. Lunaire didn't have to actually carry her, just make them glide enough off the middle of the frozen pond that they wouldn't break the ice and drown.

Not that either of them thought they'd let each other die in an embarrassing way like that! Not when they didn't even know each other's names!

They eventually learned who they were, and, oblivious to the others around them, how similar they were despite their visual opposition. They both stated how dull their lives were and how much they wanted to be able to move freely to where things were more interesting.

"Well you can have that chance here," someone spoke up. The group of people who had come to see what the matter was, had gone mostly, but there were two or three left in the ankle-deep snow. "This is a dragonry, after all, and our business is to provide companions to those in need... Won't you come in, it's chilly out here. It's been really cold this season."

"This is hardly cold," Lunaire muttered, and Solaire giggled. Neither of them thought much of this tiny amount of snow. If it wasn't snowing where they lived, it was raining, or sleeting, and then on the few days when it was really dry and clear, it was mid Summer already, and would quickly go back to being cold. For Lunaire, it was hardly ever sunny - as though the tilt of the world was so strong that it was always like the long, long sunless days of the far north where Solaire lived.

They followed the man into a large structure, was it a cave first? Or a building? Or both? When they looked around, both girls noticed that there weren't just people here. There were dragons. Like in books - Solaire pointed and gasped, and Lunaire tried to look sagely at the dragons but realized she too had never actually seen a dragon up close. They were far more likely to live in her world, than Solaire's.

But perhaps... since the barriers between worlds waxed and waned like this, maybe there had been dragons. And maybe that's why they were here now. They took him up on his offer, what would come, would come.

The girls wouldn't be separated, even by distant ideas like fairy realms and real worlds. Maybe they'd have to return home - to each home separately - but they would always now know they had a kindred soul waiting.

It wasn't snowing, and that actually kind of bothered both girls. There were pieces of ice here and there - strewn up like decorations though. "It's like pictures I have seen," Solaire commented, "where the weather won't snow - they have fake icicles and padding for snow!"

"What's the point of that!" Lunaire shrugged. "Well, there are eggs... Oh look, they're going to hatch! They're shaking!"

And the girls shook too - with anticipation, because they just felt something tingling inside. It wasn't hunger, it wasn't chill, it was excitement.

And joy! There were so many beautiful dragons - just enough to go around, it looked like. The pair waited, patiently but not for very long. Eventually, though there was only one or two more after them, a pair of pink and purple dragonets came barrelling out of their eggs toward them!

***from the hatching***

The two had been hidden close together, confusing the hatchlings about which limbs and wings were their own. Finally they sorted out who they were and two females, one pink and one purple emerged from the snow.
Both the bright kunzite pink and the soft tanzanite purple female headed to Solaire and Lunaire. Two very distinct girls with matching characters. The both of them had managed to break free of a life that had bored them and now they found themselves at the center of excitement. The two baby dragonesses seemed to be racing to reach them first. Both of them already knew which one would be their rider, but they still wanted to make that choice known first. It was the kunzite pink that won. Victoriously she called:
"Solaire! My name is Ferann Kalte." then she sat down panting trying to hide the sounds of hunger leaving her belly.
"Hmph." the tanzanite purple female said to Lunaire, "She doesn't know her limits. My name is Zenri Shnee by the way and I'm far smarter than her."
"Slowpoke." Ferann hissed.
"Overachiever." Zenri hissed back before both of them were shut up by the angry glances of adult dragons and their riders. There wasn't time to argue on a hatching day.

***

 .|.

Because they knew it was magic, they trusted that they could remain at Lantessama for a bit. While their dragons grew up, learned to fly, learned many things! They were both very competitive, but eventually they developed a more teamwork approach to things, instead of competing against one another they would compete against everything else!

Zenri was indeed a bit smarter than her brighter clutchmate, but that was okay, because Ferann was definitely faster and stronger. So between the two of them, they would cause a good amount of trouble - and of course, their riders had to figure out how to talk their way out of it!

The girls weren't irresponsible though, they made sure that Zenri and Ferann went with them on their heavy water-carrying trips, helped clean up the dens, and did dishes. Nothing ever got broken, but people never quite knew when the pair of glimmering winter dragons would pop up!

And eventually, they knew they had to part ways. Lunaire would have to return to her wintery eternal twilight world, while Solaire would go back to her home with her father isolated from the cities.

What of their dragons! Well they'd have to come too - and be explained away as very different things indeed. Lunaire's world would accept a dragon in it, particularly one so beautiful. They almost decided that Ferann should stay on the twilight side, but eventually they knew that Solaire would be so lonely without her friends that she would be frantic for them. So ... Ferann would cling to her own rider, while Zenri to hers.

They headed to the pond, which by now was quite warm and full of fish - how would they ever explain how wet they were to be on the other side?

And how would they return?

Well - that didn't matter. The dragons and their girls flew over the pond, found around where the spot was they'd first appeared (by guesswork really) and dove in head first.

On either side of the mirror-smooth tiny pool, surrounded by permafrost or by flowers, the girls said their brief good byes, knowing that they would be able to visit each other now.

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2025

The girls had grown, well, Solaire had matured into young woman, Lunaire would remain as she was eternally. They had spent much time debating what to do with themselves now that they were not really beholden to their points of origin. They knew there were other worlds! With dragons!

Few of them looked like these two, though, with their long noodle-taur bodies, and lovely large wings, but also the bonus upright torso and added arms! Ferann was less adept with her pawed hands than Zenri's dextrous ability, they each truly complemented the other, bolstering where there was weakness.

At some point, they crossed the path of another 'Autumn Meets Winter' pair, though both of those girls were obviously fey in nature like Lunaire. Solaire was going to feel a little left out, when Aili, the fire spirit, pointed out that "only a truly gifted Human would ever glimpse a spirit".

The thing they decided as a foursome to do, with three dragons (since the fire and ice sprites had bonded a single dragonet), was to visit Solaire's mother. She lived 'in the south', but truth be told even though Solaire had visited her on a number of occasions, she didn't really understand why her father had kept her up in the northern forest.

"He is a good man," her mother told her, while stitching gold thread through fine linnen for a customer. "But he is too wild and like his grandfather to live among civilized folk."

Though they were hidden by magical means, the three fey glanced at one another with frowns and concern. As she'd grown up, she had also seemingly grown more distant from that half of her family, here in the city.

So back to the house built among the snow-capped trees they went. Solaire found her father easily, as he stood taking long breaths to cool himself after chopping an undue amount of logs for their next winter.

She cleared her throat, and his shoulders dropped, "you can show yourselves, I... know there are others here."

As a group then, the fey dropped their illusions, with the dragons also suddenly visible. But that didn't seem to surprise the tall man. Instead he turned and appraised them, one by one. "You're an interesting bunch," he chuckled softly.

"Father." Solaire said, not asking, but it was obvious. "I - we've been to see mother, in the city."

"Ah," he carefully replied, "I see you did not come back with gifts."

She looked down, but not in shame or being chastised, "I understand why we didn't stay with her, but... she said..."

Solaire had been much too young to understand the nuances, only felt their effects as time went on and fewer and fewer visits or gifts arrived.

"She was always afraid of the woods," he sighed, putting his axe carefully down by the large pile of firewood and turning to more properly see the audience of girls. He knew that three of them were far far older than 'girls'. He was a handsome man, young looking enough still to pull in glances when he did go to the city to trade his pelts. "She didn't care for my family though."

The four women finally saw a form - not a shadow because it was pure white - half-revealed from the odd fog that had come in and rapidly receded. A stag, carefully looking them all over.

It was the blue-white Waneyta that took in a delicate if sharp breath. "The Herald," she said, and bowed her own head. Though she might be a child of Winter, there were other royal families to consider.

Solaire on the other hand took this in with wide eyes and an open mind. The stag changed, as he approached the group, but remained standing beside... his son. He kept his horns, however. And the white beard and hair. An equally handsome man, wild as the wind.

"Ah, so you are finally shown your old grandfather," he spoke with a deep but slightly scratchy voice. "Had you been a boy, you would have had to learn earlier."

At that, her father gave a little private chuckle. "You got lucky," he told her, "when I ... changed, your mother and I had barely met, our mothers knew each other from her family's fur shop..."

"You did surprise me waiting so long to show your furry side," the Herald glanced away with half a grin.

There was an awkward pause. Solaire put two and two together, "but... she was..."

"Already with child, yes," her father admitted. So he was rather young at that, the fey behind their friend realized.

It was a complex thing, being the son of a human and a winter spirit. That was the Herald's own story. One which was told over a pleasant fire (lit by Aili) with cocoa and cider and sugar treats to share. (Solaire had hardly wasted her effort on understanding her mother's behavior, and put that effort into finding nice gifts for herself, her new friends, and her father while in the city!) The Herald and his son Oscar made sure that their secret was kept, by putting flawless pelts and furs into a pile and...

"Bribing them, I mean it works," Solaire waved her hand at the secure and pleasant cabin. She sipped at the rum-doused apple cider, "I feel very slightly cheated," she glanced at her grandfather. "I... don't get to change?"

He shook his head, gently tapping a dangling bough of herbs with his antlers and making the others laugh. "No, my dear, but you will have many other benefits, you already have discovered the best one." He looked carefully at the others, Lunaire in particular, "you are still surrounded by the spirits of the season."

The seasons had brought odd new worlds into view, the autumn fairies were likely from a slightly different realm but still, everyone here would return for the holidays for a very long time to come.

Lineage

Mates and Descendants

Lineage

Mates and Descendants