"Prayers for Spring"

Gabrielle wishes the snow fairies would surrender to the sun, prompting spring to enter the stage. Instead the curtain of gray ice refuses to reveal the world's players. A pall of coldness shrouds each and every actor like a poorly crafted costume of imminent death incarnated. Somewhere there is a battle between tiny winged creatures and the greatest star in our galaxy, but it's too distant even for the audience to see.

This girl, donning her usual black and purple, sits upon a crystal boulder. It smells of pure water. Gabrielle shifts in her velvet and listens for the clinking of the fairies' swords. No sound but the dripping of reluctantly melting icicles. It's the first time she has heard anything in days, maybe weeks. She cannot remember. Time is frozen like the trees.

All she asks for is sunlight, or at least more than what currently touches the ground. She's only aware of the sun's existence anymore because it's light outside, not dark. But there are no golden rays in sight, no hints of any warmth. Gabrielle shivers and wonders if the fairies shiver, too.

Of course not. They love the snow---they thrive in the snow. It's the only reason that they continue to live. Once the sun returns, the fairies will die. But why can't they make that sacrifice so that everything else may live? No, all that matters to them is their own survival.

So the fairies continue to fight the sun and the sun continues fighting a predictable victory. Meanwhile, we here on earth long for a new season. As soon as the sun wins, spring will come.