#autumn and winter>>>>>>>>> summee and spring

[holysheithyall]

wow i love summer so much (its 5 am i havent slept a wink because some bitchass mosquito thinks its very funny to fuck w me)

[vilda-ravenhill]

Chapter ##: Four Spirits Gather

In a sunlit meadow on the first day of spring, three spirits gather.

Although they were all human once, it was so long ago now that their living memories are less than memories, less than shadows of memories. The youngest spirit, (although really she is only the youngest in spirit, since her human age stopped mattering long ago,) spreads out in the grass and laughs, and laughs, the bubbling souns of her giggles coarsing through the moss. She takes the form of the little creeks and rivers that form after it's rained, and only then, fleeting and quick. Her fins glisten in the sunlight.

"You mustn't get distracted on such an important meeting," the second spirit remarks, where she perches on a branch above her younger pupil's head. She is older than her, (although of course only in spirit,) and her voice is warm like sunlight. She takes the form of the tallest leaf on every tree, when their branches grow tall enough to filter through the thicket and reach the sun above the forest.

"But it's summer!" Says the first spirit. "In every country in the North the rain clouds gather above the mountains every night! The summer rains are here. How could I not be happy?"

The second spirit puffs up her feathers and gets more comfortable on the branch.

"I do say," she mutters, with a smile. "You youths and your infatuation with fun."

"Don't get too comfortable." The third spirit brushes some pollen off her pelt. "And stop talking like you're her mother, Autumn. You shouldn't coddle your children when they're her age, anyway."

The third spirit takes the shape of deer's antlers, although only after they've been shaken off and discarded by the deer themselves. She is the oldest (in spirit, of course.) Her voice sounds level and tired, although not all that serious.

"I believe love is the only way to raise a teenager correctly," the second spirit says with a grin. "Come on, Winter. Why have you gathered us here today? What could be so important as to require all four of us?"

"Four?"

"Oh. Drat." The oldest spirit turns around, fumbling in the bushes. Gingerly, as though she would really rather not, she pulls something out of them.

It takes the form of eggs. This is pretty much all that can be said about it.

"Baby!" Says the first spirit, half sitting up out of the moss and reaching for the little creature. "Oh where did you find him, Winter? He's just adorable!"

"Da," says the baby.

"Would you take him, Autumn," Winter almost pleads, her tone nearing exhausted.

Knowingly the second spirit takes the baby and lifts him into the lower branches, coddling him and surrounding him with her feathers. The baby makes unknowable baby noises, clicks it's mandibles and tries to grab her nose.

"I guess that means I'm not the youngest spirit anymore," says Summer.

"It does that. And what a cute little spirit he is... Yes he is!"

"Now, what is it, Winter?" Summee lean back in the moss. "You sound worried."

"She always sounds worried, dearie," says Autumn, without taking her eyes off the baby.

"Oh, no." The oldest spirit pinches what could be called the 'bridge' of her 'nose,' closing most of her eyes for a moment. "It's Her again. She's not doing so well. One of her acolytes has severed it's internal connection."

"Oh no," says Summer, sounding genuinely upset. "How horrible? Are they both okay?"

"They are... Together, but not united." Winter waves an appendage in the air vaguely. "And they're thinking of asking the Vala witches for help to reseal the union."

"Oh." Summer thinks for a moment. "Wait! That's us, isn't it?"

"Regrettably."

"You're not suggesting one of us goes to do it, are you?" Autumn chides. "Winny, I have a baby to take care of and my joints aren't what they used to be!"

"Imagine how I feel," Winter sighs.

A moment passes. They all crack up, even Winter, briefly. Of course, fallen deer's antlers or the tallest leaf of every tree don't have joints.

"You should really think about letting Summer do it," Autumn smiles, dangling the baby upside down from the branch, to laughter and various babbling sounds. "She's old enough to go out on her own now, isn't she?"

"Nooo," Summer complains, kicking what passes for her legs. "I don't wanna... It never rains on Jorvik anywayyy..."

"Fine," Winter suggests, as Autumn laughs quietly. "I was suggesting I'd do it anyway."

Summer's fins perk up. "Really? Oh thank you, thank you!"

She would've jumped up and hugged the older spirit if she wasn't already sinking into the moss.

"Indeed. It's been a long... Long, long time since I took physical shape, anyway. I'll be leaving immediately."

"Immediately?" Autumn turns to her, still with the baby in her talons. "Aren't you going to help us name him?"

Winter gives her a Look.

"Noo."

With that, she draws a five-pointed pentagram in the air, which lights up blue, like starfire, and then disappears from their plane of existence entirely.

Autumn sighs.

"She worries too much. Don't you think she worries too much, Summer?"

Without waiting for an answer, she corrects the baby's dragonfly wings, like a fussing mother. She hums to herself, where she sits upside down in the tree.

"I think I'll call him Spring."

"Gwough," says Spring.

Of course, this conversation never actually took place. Other, of course, than in spirit.

(Read the whole thing here!)