Hibernal Equinox

While she was carrying a steaming mug of hot cocoa across the lit living room, a glint of something shiny caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Dorothea turned her head to face the unknown object, almost unconsciously. It didn’t really alarm her or anything - it was just the kind of thing your mind tends to focus on whenever it can, making you notice small details that stand out. 

From this distance, Dorothy couldn’t really see exactly what it was, but the glint hadn’t been machinations of her mind. Being a Dreamweaver, she was naturally imaginative and creative, but the steady flicker of the hearth’s fire against the shiny surface didn’t waver out of existence when she approached it. The hot mug of chocolate still steamed as she rested it on the center table, but the shimmering runic magic that encroached it and allowed it to float almost immediately faded as soon as the red object hit the top of the furniture. As the hybrid got closer, her shadow progressively eclipsed the warm flickering light that danced across the small object’s metallic surface. It still gleamed from the slight, natural moonlight that projected itself from the small circular window on the door, from which the object was directly across. 

She crouched to inspect it better. The letter’s creamy color was similar to the tone of her light wooden floor, and a ribbon was affixed to the letter’s seal. The glint she’d spotted was actually from a small, silvery bell right at the center of the ribbon, where the knot rested. The rope from which the ribbon was tied together was thin and made from two different colored strands, one red and one green, twisted like some kinds of licorice candy. It looked very festive. 

Wondering who could’ve sent it in the first place, Dorothy picked it up and turned her heels, heading back to the table where her cocoa slowly cooled. She rested the letter on the wooden surface and took a long sip of her beverage, sighing contentedly and closing her eyes. Maybe one of her friends had decided to send a season appropriate gift, or a mysterious Secret Santa was being held and this was her formal invitation. With enough pondering from her part, the pouflon decided to open it, at last, quickly grabbing the letter opener that laid across the top of the fireplace. It made a small, but satisfying tearing sound, and she pulled a piece of paper from inside the envelope. 

Dorothea spent a few moments reading the short message, growing progressively excited the more she understood. When the pouflon finished inspecting the message, she had the urge to happily hop up and down, squirming. Dorothy was very dignified, though, so she refrained from doing that, limiting herself to a slight excited sound from her throat. She felt enthusiastic about winter decorations every year that passed, so this couldn’t come at a more perfect time. The way the colorful lights shone in multicolored tones, even at a distance, was just a part of the seasonal celebration that she was bound not to miss. Dorothy grabbed her blue scarf and slightly peeked her head outside, testing the temperature, before actually stepping out into her porch. It was as cold as it could be expected from a winter night, but the overexcitement that coursed into her bloodstream made the hybrid feel like she was so warm she could light a fire with willpower alone. 

The pouflon observed her surroundings. The orange hued light from the hearth illuminated her porch as the door was kept open, making the snow glisten in yellow and the trees around the mountain nestled cottage bathe in the slight brightness. There was not a soul in sight, but that was to be expected - aside from the late hours, Dorothea had purposefully chosen this location for the solitude it provided, a quiet place for leisure whenever she wasn’t required to live closer to Asterfall for her studies. This was perfectly fit for her, however, as it allowed her to do stuff like decorating her house in the middle of the night without being judged by noisy neighbors, who certainly would’ve called her a lunatic back at Roseacre. Maybe the gossiping would have a bit of truth into it, since going outside in this weather was just asking to get a cold, but Dorothy simply couldn’t wait until morning (as a sane pouflon would). She had originally planned to wait until further in the season to light her house up, but the noble motive in the letter made her want to shove all reason aside and just get on with all of the decorating. It was as if she’d been hit with a nataline fever!   

She inhaled the chilling breeze of the night once more before entering the homestead and closing the door behind her, a few specs of snow that’d found their way in quickly starting to melt now that the home was enclosed by the warmth of the fireplace once again. The pouflon hurriedly made her way upwards, to the attic, where she was certain she could find all sorts of nataline attires and decorations. The gear was actually pretty organized, since Dorothy was methodical about her yearly embellishment of the homestead being executed in an orderly fashion, whether she had aid in doing so or not. It wasn’t long before the hybrid had several boxes containing an assortment of decorations stacked near the doorway. She was used to organizing it all alone - it was actually to her liking - so it didn’t take much time before she’d envisioned a perfect theme for this year’s garnishings.

Without further ado, Dorothy put herself to work, climbing atop of a ladder to adjust some of the details, moving glittering nataline balls and other embellishments around until they had reached the perfect placement, and overall just having a ball with the beautifying of her porch. She carefully twisted multicolored fairy lights around the long, prickly garland, adorned with colorful ornaments all over, but without being too much (she’d made sure of that this time, since her nataline decorations from a few years back had received a few complaints about how “over” they’d been. Dorothy now made sure to strike a balance and pay closer attention to the general composition instead of just mixturing every one of her ornaments together like she used to). 

When the work was done, the porch had been completely transformed. The shiny lights shone bright against the other garnishings, illuminating the courtyard even from a distance, as was the original intention of this endeavor. The hybrid even made sure to wrap fairy lights all over the lamp post that stood near her house, together with a green garland and a few ribbons. Hopefully, this would be bright enough for the tastes of St. Veti! She smiled proudly at her doings, stepping a few meters away from the house to inspect it better, but dared not to fly - now that the excitement of yearly decoration was slowly dissipating from her body, Dorothy was starting to feel the effects of the harsh cold. She sneezed once, then twice, and decided it was time to gather the rest of her things and get back inside. 

Dorothy actually spent the next few days curled into her bed, nursing what would turn out to be a nose-wrecking cold, but if anyone asked, she’d say it’d been worth it (even if it had turned her ‘nataline fever’ into an actual one).