Smoke came from the chimneys high above. Which whipped a trail that blended with the ash trees. Some men returned from their various jobs, returning with blocks of ice, fish, and spoils from hunting land animals.
Mainly goats and deer corpsed were the common spoils among the pile. Each animal was blood let from the slice of their throat, allowing the meat to stay fresh for a longer time before being processed by the others.
The snow piled onto the branches of the trees and the roofs of their homes in piles of dense clouds. Cloette went outside through the inn's front door to see what it was like.
But she saw the nimbus clouds heading towards the center of the Valley and fresh droplets of icy flakes fell from them. Odin came outside and stuck his tongue out at the sky and a couple of snowflakes fell onto it, instantly melting back into the water.
Odin giggled, looking at Cloette trying to open her mouth, swaying around the area trying to catch a snowflake as well.
"What are you doing? Haha!" giggled the Dwarven boy, he limped with the help of the porch railings.
"I'm trying to catch one 'cause I'm tursty!" grunted Cloette while speaking with her tongue out.
Her efforts were almost for naught if it wasn't for the snowflake that finally fell onto her tongue. The shock from the snowflake was exhilarating and fun.
She tried to show Odin the snowflake on her tongue, but it had already melted by the time he came over to see.
"Aww! Id mewlded!" Cloette said disappointed.
Odin put his hand on her shoulder and pointed at the falling snow, explaining, "Don't worry! There is still more fluffy water dust around!"
Both children giggled and ran down to the center. Odin did his best, but he fell into the snow.
He rolled down the slope into a giant snowball, spinning so fast that nobody could see his face. Cloette looked at the ground when the shadow loomed over.
She looked back and collided with the pure white boulder. Cloette sat up from the snow and heard a muffled sound next to her.
A leg was wiggling in the air and Cloette clawed through the snow hastily to help her new friend.
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, two crows were looking from the top of Hana's Inn, witnessing the young dwarven boy in the snow and the small girl trying to dig him out. They let out a cawing laughter at the scene.
It amused one but brought intrigue to the other. Both were donning eyes that were opposite colors.
One had red eyes, while the other had white eyes, and both were standing at a meter tall each.
'Brother, I think we may have found the one that we may be looking for,' said the red-eyed crow.
'Agreed dearest sister, seems as though we are now going to be asked for a greater cause to an extent of these difficult times to come to pass,' said the white-eyed crow.
The white-eyed crow fluttered its feathers and flapped its wings to get rid of the accumulating snow on them. Cawing was just for show to the mortals, but sometimes they would speak smaller words.
They knew what they were doing as part of the culture, to manipulate the other beings with whispers of truths that some thought to be lies. Plumes of darkness shone iridescence of green and blue hues when the snow reflected onto the bird's bodies.
They witnessed Odin's final escape from his fluffy icy prison and laughed full-heartedly. Both children laughed so hard that it shook the trees and some of the snow fell on top of Cloette's head.
Odin fell over and laughed manically at the snowboard that took shape on his face when another pile of snow fell on his head. Since then, they spent the day throwing snowballs at each other and rode down slopes with a makeshift sled made from the bark of an ash tree.
The fun day was gone by early evening, night took over as a shadow; the crows left their posts. They flew through the trees, past a waterfall, through the mountain trail, passing by many monsters, prehistoric that were slumbering in the depths of the hypothermic seas.
Waves crashed along icebergs that housed ecosystems with moss, seals, and seagulls. Until they flew to the skies, unbothered, to the violent winds of the air, the gales would have ripped paper into small pieces if met with the force they were flying at.
The white-eyed one looked over to his nest sibling and informed her, 'We must not get in the way of their plan dear sibling. We are only scouts and nevermore.'
'I know, I know. But wouldn't it be nice that they would recognize us as more than a couple of good birdies to that disgusting person?' Red-eyed gagged from the thought of the individual they were speaking of.
~~~~~~
Both birds of a feather had flocked to a line of movement, one of them looked down and witnessed the progression. These were warriors who were coming back from their civil war, evidently from the heaviness they brought to the once joyful atmosphere that they had briefly experienced.
Arid the air was, frost stung their throats, and crisp sleet would build up the piles of moving snow. They bore cold iron, with symbols of the hammer adorning their shields and armor.
Scratched from battle, being worse for wear, and dragged their weapons through the fluffy snow. Grunting, heaving, and coughing this group of warriors bore.
One of them was taller than the rest, embellished with a necklace made with a ram's horn, and stag's leather. The headpiece was made of its face, and the antlers were glorious.
Tipped with metal caps that had blades on each length of the antlers, as if it could tear down flesh, and cut through bones. The murderous duo of crows looked down and descended towards the being, perched on their shoulders.
Cooing and cawing into his ears with wisdom. Whispering knowledge that made their master smile a toothy grin that lifted his soot-covered beard and plaque-ridden teeth. His beard was covered with the smell of sulfur and iron from his previous conquest.
Once the white-eyed crow said the last words, their master bellowed a scream to encourage his exhausted soldiers. They treaded along the path, to claim new victory for their spoils.
"WE RISE ONCE MORE MY BROTHERS, WE MUST ENSURE THAT WE MAKE IT BACK HOME! WE WILL TAKE THEIR WOMEN, WE WILL TAKE THEIR MAGIC, AND TAKE THEIR POSSESSIONS!" yelled the man, raising his great axe in the air.