Chapter Text
Winters in Asteria are cold, or so others say, because she hasn’t seen winter anywhere else.
She pulls a chair to the window, stacks some books on it and sits on top of them, arms on the windowsill to rest her head. The first flecks of snow drift down and she stares, transfixed, and though she wants to go outside she knows she is not allowed to, so she sighs in resignation and stays put. She’s never been one to get in trouble, anyway.
There is a group of kids playing outside. That means school is over and Fern is going to be back soon, and maybe she will teach her something new today, too. Two kids run past her window, and a third one slows his pace when he sees her out the corner of his eye.
He’s the kid from the end of the street, the one Fern always complains about. She blinks at the novelty. He sticks out his tongue and leaves with his laughing classmates. How dull.
She doesn’t know how much time she has spent in front of the window when a smiling woman knocks on the glass, and her day becomes much brighter at once.