The Ice People

9

The Ice People

 

   ‘This is a weird village.’ Astrea said.

   ‘It’s amazing though!’ Skye added as she scanned the surroundings.

   To their surprise, the whole village was entirely made of ice and snow. Although the houses were quite small, it was still very spread out. Little houses and igloos surrounded the relatively large area with a tall watch tower in the middle of the village.

   A little woman who was around 4 feet tall and made of snow rushed over to Astrea and Skye.

   ‘My goodness!’ she yelled, ‘did she drink from the pond?’

   ‘Yes, how did you know that?’ Skye quickly asked.

   ‘That fountain is cursed to all but the few people who are descendants of the Ordokon hero! What is your names and what is the poisoned one’s name?’ she asked while 2 other little ice people rushed behind her with a little sled.

   ‘Her name is Kathy, I’m Skye and this is my older sister, Astrea.’ Skye responded. She took Jefferson out of her pocket. ‘This is Jefferson.’

   ‘Hi!’ Jefferson smiled.

   The little woman looked shocked for a moment and hesitantly asked: ‘Skye and Astrea… would you two so happen to be the children of Athena fox?’ the little woman asked leaning closer to them.

   ‘You know our mom?’ Astrea asked surprised.

   ‘Yes, and you should all come inside and get out of the cold.’ She offered while pulling Kathy on her sled to her house. Astrea and Skye followed.

   Astrea realized that the house was just less than twice her height and only a few feet wide. ‘We’d love to… but there’s no way we can fit in any of these houses.’ Astrea replied shivering.

   The little snow lady turned to her house and raised her hands in the air. ‘Enlarge.’ She boldly said.

   Just then the house that was once the size of a carriage was now the size of a small mansion. As it spread out, all the other houses shifted away from it and scattered across the snowy surface.

   ‘Come on in.’ the little woman said.

   She brought Kathy onto her kitchen table while Skye, Astrea, and Jefferson became speechless.

   The house was absolutely gorgeous and open when they walked in. the snow covered walls glowed and shimmered against the orange colour of the candles hung against the wall by golden candle holders. An amazing and detailed ice chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling above the living room area. In it were 6 more little candles at the top which made it glow with the mixed blue and orange colours. A rectangular red carpet with yellow borders, spirals, squiggles and designs lay flat beneath the comfortable snow sofa and loveseat. In the middle was an ice coffee table with a small stack of books under it.

   ‘Wow, this place is amazing! Its much warmer in here than it is outside too.’ Skye was nearly speechless but managed to slur out the words.

   ‘Just wait until the sun sets. The whole house shines a vibrant yellow, orange, and red for a half hour before night fall. As does all the other houses.’ The little lady explained as she chuckled at the end of her statement. She was happy about where she lived, and she could never get used to the amazing mountain view, the beautiful sunset that made the whole village sparkle, and not to mention she was completely in love with snow and all the kind but energetic children of the village.

   ‘Oh by the way, I forgot if I asked, but what’s your name?’ Astrea asked.

   ‘The ice people have no names. I know it’s strange but we refer to everybody as… well for example; you would call me elder. You might call your best friend by the name of “best friend” and you might call the children by their personality. Here, everybody is family. We are all related in some way once you think about it.’ Elder explained.

   Skye and Astrea had never thought about their village like that before, or the Village of Elves.

   ‘But you must tell me…’ elder continued, ‘did either of you drink from the pond?’ she asked. She placed her hand on Kathy’s head. ‘Heal.’ She simply said. Her hand glowed for a brief moment and then the glow transferred to Kathy’s entire body.

   Kathy shifted a bit but was still half passed out. Astrea knew that Kathy was alright now that she was moving. It would take time for her to regain strength though. Skye remembered the question that elder had asked.

   ‘Yes we did drink from the pond… why aren’t we sick like her?’ Skye replied while getting worried.

   ‘I washed my sword in the pond too.’ Astrea added as she glanced at her sword that leaned against the icy wall beside the front door.

   ‘The reason may be because you two are the children of Athena.’ Elder said.

   ‘What do you mean by that? What does our mom have to do with this?’ Skye persistently asked, even though she knew that she was already explaining it. She couldn’t help but say it.

   ‘Let me tell you about the time that your mom and dad came to this very village 31 years ago.’ Elder sat down on the love seat, leaned forward, and explained her story. ’31 years ago a young girl and a boy who were both Astrea’s age stumbled into the village. The girl was supporting the boy by his shoulders, he was barely able to stand because of that same water you drank from the pond. Your mom and dad had both drank the water, but Athena was not ill at all. I took the boy into my house as I did with Kathy and healed him up. Athena waited and waited for him to wake up, and when he finally did, she told him what her decision was. She had been thinking for the whole time he was out. She said that she didn’t want to go any further on their adventure because she didn’t want him to get hurt anymore. He had been injured by a few monsters already.’ Elder proceeded on with her story. ‘And so they stayed in the village for a while and helped around as much as they could. They befriended the children of the village as well as the other adults. Athena studied our customs and culture while James helped rebuild a few small structures, because of what we call the “great blizzard” that had overlapped the village and damaged some houses from the ice chunks that were ripped out of the ground. The blizzard happens every 30 years, but it has been delayed for a while now. You’re all lucky you weren’t in the middle of it. Yet. Anyways, as Athena continued to help and defend our village from the monsters that got lost in the blizzard, I realized more and more by each day that she was most likely the descendant of the creators of Ordokon. The evidence was in plain sight; she was able to drink the enchanted water that all others couldn’t, her name was that of a goddess, she had an unbelievable amount of strength, skills, and power. And now the two children of her who’s names happen to be Skye and Astrea have come to the village to confirm my theory. Skye’s name refers to all of the sky gods and goddesses. Astrea’s name refers to Astraea, who was a goddess of the golden age, she was innocent, pure, and was the daughter of Zeus, who is believed to be the main creator of Ordokon. A name was also given to her; “Star Maiden”.’ Elder explained.

   Now Astrea knew what her mom meant when she had always called her Star Maiden. But what connection did her mom really have with the gods? Why was she named after Zeus’s daughter, in which Zeus was one of the creators of their own world?

   ‘Have you ever noticed that your dad is not a name of a god? That’s because, if the theory I put together long ago would appear to be correct, the women of your family have some kind of connection with the gods. I still don’t know if that connection is spiritual, the connection was given to your family, or your family is direct descendants of them... but if I am right, then I know you two are destined to find out the truth of your family, and have the power to overcome any obstacle that stands in your path. It would be in your blood. But if you fail, your family’s connection may be lost, as in the cycle would be broken.’ Elder added.

   Skye thought this was way too good to be true. Then she remembered the boots their mom had given them. Skye took hers out of her bag and showed them to elder. Elder’s eyes widened.

   ‘Those are the boots I gave your mom and dad when they came here all those years ago.’ She said as she held the white boots in her hands. ‘it was the gift I gave them for their proof of travels.’ She gave them back to Astrea and Skye, and then she smiled.

   Kathy woke up from her sleep but was still quite wobbly.

   ‘You should rest more, ok?’ elder stated while putting Kathy back to bed on the table. Jefferson crawled over to Kathy and slept beside her.

   A few hours later when supper was ready, Astrea and Skye watched the shimmering light and glow of the sunset on the icy walls of the house. The chandelier was so bright it was almost blinding.

   After supper elder cast a spell in the living room that made a bunk bed appear. It was made of ice, but there was an enchantment on the mattresses that made them warm no matter what. They all slept well that night.

   When they woke up in the morning, Astrea, Skye, Kathy, and Jefferson said their goodbyes to everybody and watched the sunrise come upon the pure white snowy village. With their things packed up and ready to go, the four travelers continued their journey to the west.

   But Astrea never stopped thinking about what elder had said to them since she did. Astrea thought it was too good to be true, so her troubles and doubts about the dragon were still alive, but were now in question.