The Snow Maiden

Resourcing Life

Ganon waited impatiently as his mothers, Koume and Kotake, took their sweet time stirring a huge cauldron, passing the ladle to each other across the bubbling red mixture. Now and then it would turn blue as well and a distinct chill would come over the hot room.

"Well?" he demanded. "Why didn't it work?"

Koume rolled her bulging eyes to him. "Sister, the boy's forgotten."

Kotake passed the ladle. "I always told you his memory was shoty at best, but you always insisted he was intelligent."

"But he is! Memory has nothing to do with it."

"Will you two stop talking like I'm not here and just answer my damn question?"

The sisters sighed in unison. The changing light of the cauldron and fire highlighted the lines in their faces, which they spotted in one another at the same time.

"We won't be here forever to answer your questions, you know," said Koume.

"Maybe it's time you used that brain and figured this out for yourself." said Kotake.

"I don't have the time for that right now." he growled. "That phantom was a mess, and all it could do was copy me. I don't want a copy, I want a servant that can think for themselves-ones that don't have to be told how to do every damn thing!"

"What about your Stalfoes?"

"Lizardfoes?"

"Wolfoes?"

Ganon pressed his thick fingers against his forehead. "Those are monsters. Idiotic, single-minded monsters that only think of attacking, killing, and in the animal's case, mating. They're useless for anything other than mass destruction-I need delicacy! Surely you can see that?"

Koume paused only for a moment to sneeze before passing the ladle. Kotake glared.

"You're going to ruin it!" she snapped.

"Snot ain't going to do a thing to it." Koume said.

"Aren't you two listen to me!?"

"Boy, you talk too much. You don't have to explain your reasoning to us, saying they won't do is enough." said Kotake. "And I don't want snot in my potion nonetheless."

Koume huffed. "Well, excuse me for not blowing my brains out."

"I'm not a boy!" broke in Ganon. "And will you just tell me what I did wrong already? The spell should have worked, I did everything right!"

"Then why are you asking us what you did wrong?" asked Koume.

When Ganon just glared, the twin witches cackled to one another. The potion turned to a swirling purple.

"Let's stop messing with him," Kotake told her sister as she bent her long nose over the cauldron and sniffed, "our potion is about done anyway."

Koume nodded and handed off the ladle to her sister before turning to Ganon. "No magic can create true life. True life has the characteristics you seek in a minion. If you want this minion, you need to find a life force that already exists as a template for your spell."

"When you did your spell, it sought out life, and since you were the only one there it copied your characteristics," Kotake ladled up a spoonful and sniffed it more thoroughly. "Damn it, Koume, I can smell you in this. Disgusting."

"You'll live," said Koume.

"How am I suppose to harvest life?" asked Ganon. "Must I kill someone and use their blood?"

"Gods, your thinking is so base. Of course not. You just go find something living. Get a damn squirrel if you want, and just redesign the life to your needs."

"Just keep in mind," said Kotake, "the richer the life, the more powerful the end result."

"Life. Youth."

"Vivaciousness. Energy."

"Remember those days sisters?"

"Yes. You were quite the whore."

"Excuse me? I think you're remembering yourself, we do look an awful lot alike."

"Idiot, of course I can tell myself from you. I'm the one thinking."

"You can't delude yourself forever."

As the sisters continued to bicker, Ganon left without so much of a goodbye. He had gotten what he came for. He wasn't going to stay there a second longer listening to this idiocy. Sometimes he couldn't believe these women actually raised him.