Chapter Text
Once upon a time, many years ago, the siblings of the seasons worked hard using their magic to help the good folk. While each brother worked just as hard as the other to ensure the year went well. Autumn, Summer, and Spring all had their work praised by the good folk. The three brothers were adored for bringing in warmth, flowers, food, and rain. They brought good fortune and things well needed.
Winter, however, was not treated the same.
The good folk always complained over the bitter cold and slippery ice. Their crops withering in the frost making food scarce and hard to come by. Their bodies bundled in layers to hold on to what little warmth they had. Fires hard to keep going and each day harder by the last until Spring came.
Decidedly, the good folk did not like Winter.
The good folk complained to the oldest brother and aired their grievances. Winter calmly listened to them and heeded their counsel. He came to a decision that the good people were pleased with. Winter swore he would no longer take the seasonal mantle. His season would never bother them again.
The good folk were happy. So happy they cheered and even celebrated. No more blistering cold or whipping winds. No more withered crops or canned foods. They danced into the wee hours of dawn and rested with smiles on their faces. Winter passed the mantle to Spring for the new cycle to begin. One finally without Winter.
The year began well enough with Spring bringing the rain and sewing the seeds for harvest a few seasons away. Next came Summer who brought the warmth and sunny days. Growing the trees and cooling breeze of fun days. Then Autumn glided in, changing the leaves so the trees could rest and signaling the harvest to prepare for Winter.
However, there was no Winter. No Winter which meant no cold or bundling up in late dark nights. The good folk didn’t bother finishing the harvest. Canning and preserving what they could to last through the cold was a thing of the past. They lounged about, happy to eat fresh food for a change.
Yet the harvest left began to rot. The plants could not keep the fruits of their labor fresh forever. Bugs and animals began to pick at the rotten food, leaving none for the good folk. Only pestilence and decay in its wake. The people were hungry and went to Spring for help.
Help them, Spring did. He sewed new seeds and used the rain to wash out the rotten fields. The good folk were happy, until the crops began to come in. The fields were dry and barren. The good folk went to Spring but he could no longer help. The earth was not allowed to rest and recuperate to prepare for the next season. No cold to hibernate and snow to wet the depths of the earth.
Summer came next bringing the heat and breeze. The good folk sweated all summer as more crops withered away in the heat. The good folk went to Summer demanding to know why he was so unbearably hot. Normally Summer was fun and warm, not hot and unbearable.
Summer snarled. It grew hotter and humid, more water lost to his annoyance. The good folk were appalled. Summer never spent his time cooling off with Winter. Normally his older brother tempered him, helping Summer grow each season and keep his calm. But there was no Winter. No one to cool Summer’s heat. The heat only grew worse, dead plants even catching blaze. The good folk were miserable.
Autumn stumbled in and harvest came. It was the smallest one the good folk had ever seen. Barely enough to go around if they rationed. Their calm fall days were filled with whipping winds and rainstorms. Autumn wailed and wept over the small harvest and the one the good folk wasted.
The good folk stayed inside, not wanting the ire of yet another sibling. Autumn’s wails became torrents of wind and rain tearing into the earth. What little the good folk had was nearly lost to towers of wind and howling storms. The good folk stayed inside all season, waiting and praying for the last one to come already.
Finally, Winter came.
Winter calmly took in the scene before him. Spring had failed to bring new life. Summer could not control his temperament. Autumn had no harvest to give and stressed from the rot. The land was in chaos and disharmony.
The good folk came to Winter and begged him to take back up his mantle for the next season. They needed Winter to set things right. To let the earth rest. Bring the waters in for Spring. Keep Summer cool. Be by Autumn’s side. Winter was important, even if they did not like the cold.
Winter agreed to take the mantle back, so long as they worked with him. The good folk were hesitant but agreed. Anything to get their home back to normal. Winter took the mantle up and snow began to fall. Winter, at long last, had arrived.
As the snow fell and the good folk shivered, Winter reached out and caught a snowflake. He held it out to the good folk to look at. They looked at the tiny crystal, so unique in shape. Winter caught another and showed it as well. The second looked nothing like the first. The good folk were confused.
Winter made each snowflake special, like each of them. Each one different and no two alike. They spent so much time hating the snow, that they never stopped to see the beauty he put into it for them. The good folk quickly bundled up and began looking through the snow, looking at each one. Then playing and throwing it at one another.
Snow shaped and flew in the air. Laughter bubbled and smiles were had. Winter watched on with a small smile of his own. The day ended and Winter said he would see the good folk on the morrow. Come next morning he was ready to teach. The good folk were ready to learn.
Winter led them into the woods, following tracks. Winter told them if they were hungry, the snow could help them find food. The good folk followed the tracks and found game grazing on dying grass. They managed to snag a few animals to cook and preserve to feed them through the cold months. Winter also showed them plants that grew in the cold so not only animals, but they could eat as well.
The good folk found wonders in Winter they missed before. The importance of his job and the beauty hidden within it. Months passed and the good folk adapted. At the end, Winter asked the good folk if they wished for him to remain or go. The good folk agreed they wanted Winter to stay for his season, as was intended.
As an apology for treating Winter so poorly, the good folk came up with a new celebration. The knowledge he shared with him were appreciated but also gifts. Gifts that saved their lives and humbled them. The Hearth’s Warming Eve was a night to celebrate Winter’s generosity but also the gift and importance of family. Two days of merry celebration and revelry.
The good folk loved all seasons once more. And any further grievances were carefully minded, lest they lose another season.