We had seen many different species develop, but you were the first bearing a resemblance to our own. When you first began to stand upon two legs, we took a great interest in your beginnings. Had we known what you would become, perhaps we would have done things differently.
It was we who gifted the first cave man with fire. A whim, just to see what he would do with it. We remained apart, watching, guiding when we deemed it necessary. Such crude creatures you began as. But really, has evolution changed you for the better?
It seemed like only a few years – a few hundred, a few thousand? What are years to a race as long lived as we? We grew bored with watching you stumble about. You were no longer entertaining and we moved on to other things. When next we noticed you, you’d already spread across the face of the earth.
Civilizations rose and fell with alarming swiftness. Your barbarism was appalling. You preyed not only on other species but each other as well. Your population was ever expanding, and there were some who were concerned. But the world was large. We foolishly believed there would be room for all.
We were not a prolific race, we had only a handful of colonies scattered across the globe. Our tolerance for the heat of the sun was beginning to wane, and those of us living in this region took to the high mountains, coming down only when the cold would support us. There were still many who believed co-existence was possible.
Peaceful by nature we were ill-prepared to meet the violence of your dealings with us. In a few short centuries we had gone from gods to creatures to be hated and feared. And what you feared you destroyed.
Some, among us, could not let go of the belief we could be friends. You were so much like us. They tried to make peace, to make you believe we meant no harm, that we had much to share. They were the first to die.
In the end we did the only thing left to us, we fought back.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
His new friend was quite nice, Joey later decided.
“I think Grandpa would have liked you,” he told her. “You’re not at all scary. I think he got his stories wrong.”
The creature didn’t answer, but he no longer minded.
“I really wish you could talk,” he continued. “I want to ask you about being a winter’s child. Like, what’s it like to be in the cold all the time? And does it hurt when you have to be in the sunlight?”
The creature cocked her head to one side but didn’t seem to understand what he was saying.
“That’s okay,” Joey said. “But I bet you could tell stories even better than Grandpa.”
She didn’t seem to know where he lived, any more than he did, but that was okay with Joey, as long as they were together. He had no idea she was leading him further into the woods, not closer to home. In his mind, there was no reason not to trust her. Never mind Grandpa’s warnings about how winter’s children always led people astray to freeze to death in the snow.
Having her for company made Joey forget how cold it was. He was having way too much fun for that. Snow began to fall again but they laughed, running and jumping through the swirls. Joey fell over backwards trying to catch a snow flake on his tongue and while he lay there he made a snow angel. She looked at him curiously before laying down and copying him, making an angel of her own.
There seemed to be no end of the things his friend could do. She held out her hand to let snow collect, then swirled it around to make a tiny snow whirlwind. She showed him how to build castles, just like the ones he built of sand in the summer, but there would be no tide to wash these away.
When they came to the small clearing with the pond, she reached up and broke an icicle off a maple tree branch and gave it to him to suck on. It was just like candy. Then they took a running start and slid across the pond, landing with a puff of snow at the other side.
Neither of them seemed to notice how the light was fading. Nor did they notice the way the fresh snow blanketed their tracks. Joey’s friend breathed on a clear patch of ice and showed him pictures in the frost. Joey laughed with delight.
She stood up, giving herself a shake that sent the snow swirling. Joey’s eyes were getting heavy but he watched as she broke off some of the reeds sticking up out of the ice on the pond. Then she dug a cosy nest out of the snow for him. Joey curled up, dowsily listening to the lullaby she played on the reeds. It made him forget how cold he was; soon he was fast asleep.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
Missed an installment? Catch up here:
Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12 Part 13, Part 14, Part 15
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