Frost Impressions

As winter creeps in, the old dilapidated Witherbloom estate grows colder and colder. The buildings are made to withstand the harsh mountain cold, magically reinforced against collapse as foot after foot of snow heap themselves upon the rooftops. The estate is soon buried, and Paloma is all but snowed in. There is no electricity - only magic keeps the halls lit. It used to keep them warm, judging by traces of old wards and intricate spell work on the walls, but that was one of the first enchantments to burn out. Paloma has attempted to restore them before, but Witherbloom magic is a tricky thing. Their faerie runes don’t yield to her browbird sensibilities, no matter how much study she puts into them. It knows that she isn’t one of them, despite her invitation, and resists any of her attempts to tamper with it. 

She keeps herself warm the old fashioned way, instead, building fires in the grand old fireplaces dotted around the estate and bundling herself up in thick woolen layers. At night she drapes sheets over her elegant, aged fourposter bed, makes a nest with every blanket in the room, and wraps her wings around herself to keep warm. She even takes old cloaks from the closet of the master bedroom, in the coldest, longest nights of winter. The starleaf cloak she finds still flickers with phantom embers, made in the style of the Witherbloom crest. It’s one of the warmest things she’s ever managed to find, and she wears it frequently in winter. 

Sprite rarely leaves her side in these freezing months. Aircorns are built for cold weather, but they’re also social creatures, and they snuggle for warmth. Though she’s sometimes scared she’ll crush them on accident, she allows them to hide in her pockets and curl up under her wings in bed. Any added warmth is welcome, until spring comes again.