Winter in the Kawani Lands is normally a time of joy. Beings of all walks of life celebrate holidays, as well as rejoice in the new changes winter brings. But here, in the keep of the Green Queen, there is no joy. An air of menace hangs about the place, as if the very walls wish you harm. There are no celebrations, no frolicking in the snow. A grave silence pervades for even the birds know to avoid it, broken only by the shrill screeching of the wind. A heavy snowstorm has blown though, bringing the ire of the one who resides there with it.
"Why does it have to be so bloody cold?!", Hussa lamented to herself as she wandered through her castle. It had begun to snow earlier that day, and as a being of fire herself, she detested the snow and everything cold. Now the whole of her castle, and every inch of the land beyond, was covered in it. A lot of it. It had turned what was normally a comfortable coolness, into a biting frigidness. Normally her right-hoof crow, Archimedes, would have been able to take care of it, allowing her to continue her planning and scheming. As luck would have it, Archimedes was currently on an errand away from the keep, so she had had to disengage herself to handle the issue. Hussa was no stranger to winter, it was a regular occurrence after all. This winter however, was colder than any other she had yet experienced, and so she had been caught unprepared when the blizzard had descended upon them.
Why in the world did I choose a place so large for my base of operations!?, she thought as she descended staircase after staricase, finally coming to a sitting room on the ground floor. This room had a large fireplace with several pipes attached that allowed the heat to rise to the rooms above to be heated. There was multiple fireplaces on this floor for this purpose, but she had only needed her rooms heated and so only needed use of the one. Hussa growled in frustration as she saw that it had been allowed to go out. It must've been out for some time, as there was a dusting of snowflakes on top of the ashes. "I'm going to have to remember to have Archimedes order these goons to put some type of covering over the main flue. This is unacceptable.", she grumbled. She had taken this castle, a mere pile of abandoned ruins, and had found a small following to reconstruct it into her own stronghold. Apparently, no one had had the sense to make sure nothing could come down the flue. At least the place didn't fill with smoke when the fires were lit. Small mercies, she thought with what would have been a roll of her eyes, if she'd had actual eyes.
With a sigh, she casted about for some dry firewood, but found none. Growling, she also thought about having Archimedes just off her goons altogether. What good was having followers if you couldn't use them when you needed them? Hussa thought about yelling for someone, but decided against it, her impatience winning over her desire to be waited on. With stomping steps, she made her way towards the small side door, kicking a rogue piece of wood aside. With a frustrated movement, she opened the door and made her way to the little lean-to that had been constructed to keep the cords of firewood handy. She took a bundle by it's twine in her teeth, and went to make her way back inside. As she turned, she heard the finality of the door's lock click back into it's place in the door jamb.
"You have got to be kidding me", she mumbled between her teeth. Now she began to recall overhearing several of her minions grumping to each other about the tricky door that always closed itself, and how they had to keep a stopper to prop it open since they had no way to open it again from the outside. She felt her blood pressure rise as she realized the small piece of detritus she had kicked was the doorstop. Swearing under her breath, she began to make her way through the ever-deepening snowfall, around to the back entrance that led to the kitchens. She knew that door was always kept unlocked, since it was across from the outbuilding where her minions kept their quarters. Trudging through, she felt herself begin to shiver involuntarily. The wind blasted her then, making the rings in her wings so cold it felt as if they were burning her. It was agony, but it wasn't as if she could turn the storm off as much as she wished she could.
It took several minutes, but she eventually made her way to the back of the keep, where the kitchens were. As she rounded the corner, she saw light through the windows of the small outbuilding, and heard raucous laughter and cheers. Hussa stopped then, agitation and curiosity mixing within her. Curiosity won out as she crept toward the window, carefully peeking over the snow that had built up on the sill. There was a fire lit in the hearth, and food spread before it, while the group played a game of some sort, moving about and making ridiculous faces. She watched for a few minutes, irritated that they would waste their time with such frivolities. She backed away from the window with a snort of derision. How ludicrous, she thought.
She made her way to the covered porch-like entry to the kitchens, stomping the snow off her hooves, and shaking it from her body. If she tracked it into the kitchens, someone would inevitably slip in the resulting puddle, and then she'd be down a lackey. She couldn't afford to have any of them injured; she needed all the help she could get in her play for domination of the Kawani Lands. While some might mistake her actions for some type of kindness, it was really just practicality on her part. An injured minion was a useless minion, and she did not tolerate uselessness.
Hussa pushed against the door, only to realize it was stuck fast. She pulled back, staring at the door, realizing that it was frozen shut. Swearing again, she huffed, her breath one big cloud of steam enveloping her head. This snow business was much more trouble than she'd initially thought. She turned around to face the minion's outbuilding, debating on whether or not she should go in and stay the rest of the night there. Surely the morning sun would melt the ice that kept the door secured, so she would only have to tolerate their company for this one night. No, she realized she'd rather bed down in this doorway than be in the company of her underlings. Besides, there was one more door worth trying; the front doors.
The cord of wood still dangling from her mouth, Hussa began slogging through the snow again, around to the front of the keep. It took longer than she would have liked, as the snow was now past her ankles, almost to her knees. About halfway around, she had found a patch of ice and slipped, legs completely going out from under her. As she lay on the walkway, dazed and limp, she resolved to take over a salt mine. This snowy experience was definitely going to ensure she would be better prepared in the future. With a groan, she rolled over and hoisted herself back onto her feet. Taking more care, she finally made her way to the front door...only to realize she didn't have the wood.
With a cry of anguish, Hussa stomped back around to where she'd slipped, angrily kicking snow around, only caring to exercise her rage. In her recklessness, she struck the cord of wood with a front hoof. Howling in agony, the pain only further stoked her rage, and she picked it up by the twine and flung it as far from herself as she could. She hadn't realized she was standing on the same patch of ice, and the momentum of her throw sent her off-balance, crashing back to the ground. Rolling onto her back, she screamed to the air, thrashing her legs everywhere like a bug in it's death throes.
Reaching the end of her outburst, Hussa rolled back onto her feet, and looked around for where she'd thrown her wood. She saw a disturbed patch of snow in the hedge that bordered the outside edge of the walkway, and stalked over, ripping it from the shrubbery. Truly disgruntled now, she made her way back to the front door, head bent low, and a string of curses mumbled from between her teeth.
She went to push the doors open with a shoulder, only to find it too was stuck. Frantically, she began banging against the door with her shoulder, eventually using her whole body to slam against them, to no avail. Huffing and puffing, she glared at the doors, willing them to open. When nothing happened, she began slowly banging her forehead against the doors, chanting "Open, open, open" to herself, over and over again. With a sigh, she rested her head against them, resolving never to send Archimedes away on an errand again. None of this would have happened if she'd had him to send on what she was quickly realizing was a waste of her time.
Taking a deep breath, she took several steps back, looking up at her domicile. She could see her room was still lit by candles, the light flickering in the glass of the window that had swung out, leaving her room open to the elements. She wished she could just fly...up...there. Standing perfectly still in her realization, she silently berated herself for not realizing sooner that she could just fly up to the windows. How many times had she wrought havoc from the sky, and yet it didn't occur to her to use her wings to help herself? She felt incredibly stupid as she took off, and quickly climbed in through her chamber window.
Shutting the window against the increasingly heavy snowfall, she dropped the wood with a thud, and crawled onto her plush mattress. Archimedes would be back by morning, she'd just make him deal with the fire situation. She'd had enough of trying to do her own drudgery, the snow, and the overall incompetent feeling she had after her little adventure. For now, Hussa would just go to bed, and wait for someone else to do the dirty work tomorrow.
WC: 1,780
