Tears Of Ice

Fille De Givre

A mysterious girl with mysterious powers? What more could a guy want?

Eirwen was dropped off one day at Miss Peregrine's home. The girl was only 16 years of age and was beaten and bruised badly by what looked to be a blunt object; tears running down her cheeks that dripped to the ground where she stood, frost layering where she sat.

Only the tears were not of salt water - but ice.

~~~~~

A loud knock sounded on the door of the children's home. All of the children inside gathered on the staircase, impatiently waiting for Miss Peregrine, their ymbryne, to open the door. All knew that there was a new person coming, but none were prepared for the sight before them when she opened the door.

There, on the porch, was a young girl on her knees, shaking, hands bound, tears running down her pink cheeks. A man stood behind her, gun aiming at her head. Miss Peregrine, being the fantastic woman she was, must have seen this coming because she smiled calmly at the man, who sneered in return.

"This belong to you?" He asked in a gruff voice, poking the back of her head with the funnel of his gun. She whimpered, hiding her face in her hair.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, she does." Miss Peregrine replied, smiling down at the girl as she raised her head in a small tilt. The man growled, ramming the butt of the gun on the top of her head, a cry escaping her throat as more tears dropped to the floor. "Kindly let me take her and leave, sir." Miss P glared at the man, who grunted in response and kicked the girl hard enough to make her fall right onto the doorstep.

She lay there for a while, snivelling, until she finally gained the courage to get up and rub the back of her head, eyes red and slightly puffy.

Her cheeks were dusted with a natural pink colour and icy mist came from between her lips when she exhaled shakily.

"Welcome, Eirwen, to my home for peculiar children."

~~~~~

Over the next few months, Eirwen adapted to her surroundings and became happy and comfortable; but that didn't mean that she was confident enough to use her powers in front of the others. In fact, the only peculiar she was willing to be with was Fiona. Both were quiet and reserved and liked the peace of the gardens. They both had a tendency to shy away from social interactions and never really talked unless it was with each other or to Miss Peregrine. Well, in Fiona's case it was only Eirwen that talked.

Fiona loved to grow flowers and give them to Eirwen to cover in a layer of frost. Different flowers of different shapes were turned to icy crystals and snowy petals as bookmarks or gifts to each other.

Eirwen's favourite flower went by the name of galanthus nivalis, or more commonly known as 'snowdrops'. They grew in Eirwen's part of the garden, which was a beautiful sight that only her and Fiona knew about. The pretty flowers aligned the grass and around the bushes, one frost covered tree standing small yet proud in the center; a ring of frozen water pooling around it. Every day Eirwen would come here to tend to her garden and make it snow. A small, white bench sat in the corner of the garden and she liked to sit on it and read a book, careful not to freeze the pages.

In order to keep her peculiarity under control - because most of it emanated from her hands - Miss Peregrine had given her beautiful, thick white gloves to protect her blue hands. Her skin was as pale as snow, her ice blue eyes the colour of the sky in winter. Her lips were tinted with blue and hints of pink, her cheeks dusted with freckles and her hair the purest of white. She was tall and skinny, and smiled quite often.

She was truly a sight to behold, and it was no wonder that Enoch had such a deep crush on her.

"Fiona? I need your help with the carrots!" Bronwyn called from behind the bushes. Fiona stood, dusting off her muddy dress and running off to go help her friend. Eirwen remained seated in the grass, having sat on her dress to stop herself from freezing the ground. She wouldn't want to harm her friend's flowers.

Rising up, she stood at full height and picked a beautiful rose, smiling sweetly at it. Using her teeth to pull off her glove, she used her bare finger to trace small frosty patterns on the flower until it was all ice. It was quite pretty, one of the best she'd done. So she gently placed it in her curls and sighed a soft tune through her nose, watching the other children play football in the garden.

She was a friend to all of them, and all of them respected her want for privacy because they knew that growing up, she had nothing but herself.

She was always alone.

Her parents neglected her all through her life and one day, on her sixteenth birthday; sent her away to Cairnholm. She found herself in a bar called the 'Priest Hole' and, whilst asking for a room to stay in, tripped and froze the barman. The people in the pub were more than shocked, and a police man bound her hands and took her to the children's home, assuming that that was where she came from.

And here she was. Happier than ever.

She never even realised that the little clay man running over the grass and through the bushes to plonk something on her foot would change her thoughts on love forever.

Upon looking down, the clay figure patted her foot three times before running off back to where he came from. Eirwen leaned down to look at the small object that was placed on her foot and blushed.

A pretty yellow tulip sat on her shoe, bright and full of life. A small note was tied to the stem with string, the words reading,

"You may have the power to freeze things...

But you still managed to melt my heart."

The sweet words made a tear drift from her eye, freezing into a crystal and then falling to the ground beside the note. She decided to freeze the flower to keep it lasting and carried it to her part of the garden where she placed it in a decorative pot in front of the frosty tree.

She wondered who wrote that kind message but shrugged it off, just sitting on her little bench and gazing at the flower that suddenly meant so much to her.