The Snow Maiden

My Brother

The sun came out.

It had to be one of the strangest experiences Link ever had. He and the family stepped out of the house to early summer temperatures, but with snow glittering all over the ground. Families were digging themselves out of their houses and children played in the snow that, for once, stuck enough to make perfect snowballs rather than being too dry and cold for anything other than misery. Jewels and Kane trotted out cheering at the sunlight. A few young men ran up to Kane and then, all at once, they started tearing off their shirts to expose their chests to the sun for the first time in three years. Even Carrol couldn't disapprove. Her and her husband, the mayor, took each other hands and left to check up on the rest of the village, leaving Nani and Link on the porch. Nani glanced at him.

"Did she die?" she asked.

"Wow, you could win an award for bluntness."

She gave him a look beneath her eyebrows that said, 'what else did you expect me to say?' He sighed.

"She left."

She kept looking at him in that piercing way of hers and he shifted uncomfortably. Kane and his friends had begun swinging their shirts above their heads to the giggles of girls. A branch of the pine tree by the barn broke free of the snow with a 'thuwamp'.

"She didn't realize she was killing people, and when Shadow died she just left. She said something about changing and I think...I think we were all in the wrong. It's starting to look like some weird misunderstanding, because she was just looking for something and was hurt while she was vulnerable. What's even weirder to think is that maybe Shadow was the least wrong of us all yesterday. All he wanted to do was help a girl he loved." he blinked. "It's still hard for me to wrap my mind around."

"So he loved her?"

"Yeah. I can't think of anything else it could be." he let her see his confusion. "How could he love her? He's only known her for as long as we have known..." then he stopped, feeling foolish. She smiled at him.

"Sounds like a question someone else asked me a long time ago."

"Who?"

"I..." her gaze grew distant as she watched her adoptive family. "I can't quite remember. I don't remember a lot before the good mayor and his family. I don't even remember what my old name was."

He perked up. "Do you know what happened to your original family?"

Her eyebrows furrowed and she said nothing. Link decided to leave it at that. With Nani, silence was rarely ever uncomfortable. He let it be for a few moments as they watched the happy villagers. Snow slipped off of roofs and gave off steam wherever it was. Above them the sky was a beautiful, tearing blue. All around he could hear more 'thuwumps' as pines slipped out of their winter loads. It was finally over.

Several villagers came over then, beaming at him. He felt his insides curl as he realized what they were there for.

"Thank you," they said. The tears in their eyes wrenched at him. "Thank you!"

"The king wasn't wrong to send you!"

"I never thought a real hero would save us, I thought we would all freeze!"

"We can live now."

They gushed similar comments before Link had to put up his hands.

"Stop, please," he said with a grimace, "it wasn't because of me."

They fell blank, confused. He dropped his head.

"It was Shadow, my brother. He..." how could he say that he had died and that's why they were saved? How could he give justice to it without sounding awfully blunt? Especially after calling him brother, for that was what he had been, he realized. A brother of the soul. They do say you fight with your siblings the most. Didn't much matter in the end that he was made of dark magic, but the thoughts confused him so utterly he couldn't speak. He hated Shadow. He hated him so much.

Unlike with Nani, the silence that came over the villagers was not comfortable at all. Without another word, he strode back into the house. He didn't come back to their calls but headed to the ladder. It was strange how his lent room had become a haven in such a short time.

Nani didn't come up until an hour later to find him staring at a wall with his boots still on.

"I wanted to give you time to think." she said. "I told them what happened. They didn't understand. They never knew that it was a girl who had caused it all."

He shrugged. "It's to be expected."

In her soft way she lighted next to him and waited. She was good at that. Only made sense for someone who had so much practice in listening. But he didn't know what to say.

So they just sat there and watched water drip past the window and felt the warm sun from the little attic window. At one point he gave a shuddering breath and she wrapped her arms about his waist.