The Winter Tales are unfolding and will be here before you know it.
The old ones say the forest watches from a thousand unseen eyes.
Listen. The only sound is the snow settling on the pines.
In the boundless white, where the sun's fading gold offers no warmth, a heart of wood and flame is commanded to beat. It spits and crackles, devouring the frozen timber, hissing steam where it meets the snow. For a few precious feet, it carves a kingdom from the cold—a temporary truce offered by hands unseen. This is not just a fire; it is an argument. A single, burning word spoken against the inevitable silence of the coming night.
The sun does not set in the north; it bleeds out.
A wound of saffron and gold opens across the horizon,
spilling its light onto the snow's blank page.
For a moment, the world is forged in fire and ice.
Skeletal pines become sentinels dipped in copper,
and the frozen lake, a dark mirror for a dying king.
It is a beautiful lie, this warmth of color,
a final, defiant breath before the cold claims its kingdom,
until only the long blue echo of the light remains.
What secrets does the ice keep?