The Snow Maid

As she urinated, a niggling thought crossed her mind. There had been something...off... about her reflection. What was it?

Her head snapped upright, and ten seconds later she was in her bedroom, looking in the mirror, horrified.

Rather than the long, straight river of gold which had been hers since the moment she had first come into existence, her hair was fire-red, tumbling about her head in a mass of riotous curls. She looked wildly from the mirror to Bill, her hands shaking as she clawed at her head frantically.

Suddenly, she knew.

"You!" she shouted, hurling herself across the room to catch him by the collar of his robe and shake him furiously. "What have you done? What did you do to me? Make it stop!" she wailed, shaken to the core by the sudden change in her appearance.

"Gladly," Bill groaned, and sagged as the tense muscles of his face and back relaxed. Instantly, her hair changed back, the crimson hue running out like water from a pitcher, curls disappearing into the field of fallow gold. Polina grabbed a handful and examined it suspiciously, making sure no trace of red sullied her tresses.

Once satisfied, she crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him, but her expression was defeated by his triumphant grin.

"Well?" she asked, the corners of her mouth twitching. "What do you have to say for yourself, young one? What foolishness is this? And how the hell did you do it?"

With a shout of joy he caught her up by the waist and spun in place, laughing as her feet kicked his shins. He put her down and kissed her thoroughly, emerging flushed and gasping.

"I've saved us," he said.

"What?"

"I've saved us. We can leave this place. Together."

"Don't be stupid. I can't leave."

"Why not?" he asked reasonably.

She opened her mouth to answer him, then stopped. Because I've always been here, she had been about to say. The Snow Maid lives in the World Below. That is what the legends told. That is what others believed.

But if the one who was the prime source of her belief chose to believe otherwise...

She gasped, and he nodded, following her thought.

"If I believe that the Snow Maid can leave the World Below and journey and live in the World Above, she can. You can. If you wish."

Her eyes welled with tears. "And the hair?"

"A test," he shrugged. "I needed to be sure. And I had to change a part of you that was so fundamental that there could be no doubt that I could make other changes as well. The hair seemed to be the best thing to try.

"God, it was hard," he said. "I couldn't relax for an instant. As soon as I did it went blond again. I tried other colors, too," he said, eyes twinkling. "You looked very nice with black hair. Kind of like Morticia Addams."

Polina's eyes narrowed. She fisted her hands in his hair and used the grip to firmly thump the back of his head against the wall."I don't give a tinker's damn how cute you thought I was, or who More-tisha Addams is. If you touch my hair with your mind again, I will feed you to the crows."

Bill nodded. "And the rest?" he asked gently.

She raised her head to the heavens and gave a scream of primal triumph.

"Yes! Yes, I will leave this place. Yes, I will come with you. Yes, I will share my life with yours."

He dropped to a knee and took her hand in his.

"Snow Maid. Polina of the Frosts. Will you be my wife? Will you marry me?"

She cupped his face in her hands.

"Yes."

%%%

They stood by the stone, each shaking; Bill in memory, Polina in fear.

They had spent weeks planning and re-planning their journey. Their intent was to walk to Belushya Guba, the only settlement of any size on this forsaken spit of land. From there, they would barter for a boat to take them to the mainland. Polina had brought precious metals and jewelry, the treasure of centuries of sacrifices, for that very purpose. Once in Russia proper, they would buy, beg, borrow, or steal any transportation necessary to get them to Archangel'sk or St. Petersburg. Bill was confident that once his name and story was known to the western media, the American government would fall all over itself arranging for transportation back to the States.

In the meantime, however...

He sighed and hoisted his pack higher on his shoulders. Polina bore one nearly as large. At their feet was a sledge, the wooden runners polished, piled high with supplies for the trek. They were each dressed as warmly as they were able, for the feeble summer that this place enjoyed was still weeks away. But for today at least, the April sun was bright on the snow, and he and Polina stepped into the harnesses which they had painstakingly crafted.

"What I wouldn't give for a good set of sled dogs," he grunted, as he buckled the straps. Polina slanted a nervous smile at him as she did the same on her side.

"Do you really think that your people will accept me?"

"My mother has been pestering me to give her a grandchild for the last three years. She will be so happy that I am alive that I could marry a seal and she wouldn't say a thing," he said as she laughed.

"I have had a thought, my husband," she said, voice low and loving.

"Which is?"

"That we have made ourselves effectively immortal, as long as our love holds true. With your faith to sustain me, and my power to keep you young, who knows now much longer we will live."

Bill laughed. "Now that would be the gods' own joke. That a man who intended suicide ended up living forever.

"But immortality would be cold comfort indeed, if I did not have you by my side.

"Now pull!"

Epilogue

"...So you see that tonight we will be seeing some pretty heavy snow coming in from the northwest. The NWS is calling for four to six inches, but I talked to the Snow Maid before I came to the studio, and she says we will be getting about seven inches here in the city, and almost eight in areas east of town.

"Tomorrow the clouds will break up, though we still might see some flurries until about noon. After that, it is going to get cold, with a high on Saturday of eleven degrees, and a low Saturday night of four below.

"The rest of the weekend looks to be about normal for mid-February in Iowa. The high will reach into the mid-twenties Sunday afternoon, and the low Monday morning will be about fifteen degrees. No snow in the extended forecast, and we will be at seasonal temperatures, with a lot of sun on Tuesday.

"Rick and Janet, back to you."

Bill smiled as he walked out of the studio of KRNL is Des Moines and hugged his wife, who had been watching behind the cameras.

"How did you like it?"

"It still seems silly to me. All you did was stand in front of a green wall and talk!"

"But just think of how many children heard me talk about you," he said as they walked towards the exit. He stroked her belly, where their child lay sleeping. "If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, you and the baby will be safe."

"Hmph," she said, somewhat mollified, but gripped his hand hard. Her fingers were chilly around his, but he had grown so used to it he didn't even notice.

"Ready to go home? Or would you like to get something to eat first?"

She perked up at the mention of food. "There is a new Mexican restaurant in town, near Chamberlain's Antiques. How about we call Abby and Sara and meet them there?"

Hand in hand, they opened the door and walked into the falling snow.

The End