An ice witch who only appears during the coldest of winter nights to guide lost travelers through the chilly forest. She is mostly preoccupied with her brews for the rest of the seasons, combing through her ingredients for her secret projects with her familiar, but will emerge from her abode when winter encroaches on a lookout for anyone in need.

Sonoma, Griffi's Depart


Griffis are a much beloved sign of winter in Sylestia. They descend from the mountains to partake in the land's bounty and create the next generation. They can't stay forever, though, and follow the chill of the north back to their homes nearing the end of winter. Sonoma, a caretaker of the mighty North Wind, gives them one final blessing before their return to the mountain peaks.

When Griffis are born, their frost-touched wings are fragile as a pane of glass and soft as down. They must be reinforced for their long journey north. Sonoma's partner, a spirited Griffi named Yule, calls the young Griffis to her. Sonoma holds her staff over each chick, chanting blessings of strength and vitality to the young creature. Their frozen wings glow then blossom, thick crystals of ice expanding in all directions and forming pointed fractals. Their new wings are hard as stone but light as a feather and beautiful as stained glass, as if reflecting beams of light through a prism. After some final words of encouragement (and a hearty meal), the young Griffis follow their herd back to the North.

Now, Griffis are not the parental sort. Even the best-cared for chicks are expected to leave the nest after only a few short weeks. Adolescents are precocial, able to take care of themselves quickly. However, parents will sometimes abandon their nests and leave eggs and young chicks to their own devices. This is what Sonoma discovered this year.

A small, downy-feathered Griffi's cries attracted Yule. Bounding over to a partially hidden nest, Yule twittered for their partner. Sonoma bounded over, tightening her grip on her cape against the biting winds. She brushed snow and debris from the nest, uncovering a very young Griffi still surrounded by fragments of its eggshell. Sonoma crouched down, cupping the shivering chick in her hands. It must've been one of the last born of the season; its wings weren't even formed enough to fly.

"Such a young pup. Even with my blessing, they couldn't manage the flight north." She tucked the chick into a pouch slung across her body, filling it with soft grasses and down from the nest. She chuckled as she stroked the chick's head, with the chick nibbling her finger. Food?, perhaps it was thinking. She looked up at the sky, the sun just breaking over the mountains that surrounded her, then turned her attention back to the chick, now chattering to itself. "What do you think of the name.. Alba?"

Putting her weight on her staff, she stood up again and patted Yule's neck.

"Fill your belly, Yule. Looks like we'll be heading north."

This guardian arrives during Winter to help guide lost sylesti's through the frozen woods with her glowing companion.

The Queen of Winter is the design! rest is extra to tell the tail^^

The Queen of Winter, Freya, on her way to the ruines of old to celebrade the last day of winter and the begining of spring. Where she will crown the Princes of Spring to be the next rules over the season.

(extra)
The Princes of Spring, Elena, on her way to be crowned by the Queen of Winter.


And the ruins where the celebrations will be helt.

The making of the ruins.

Solstice: Protector of the Winter Dragons
Solstice is the lost princess of Falaqua named for her parents love of the Solstice. Falaqua was also home to the winter dragons, a powerful type of dragon responsible for bringing about the winter season. There were powerful dragons that bonded with the elves of Falaqua and the royal family always bonded with the royal winter dragons. Together they were extremely powerful and untouchanle by those who wanted to kill the dragons and harvest them for their magical properties or bond with them and abuse the power. Born the only daughter to the Elven King and Queen in the land of Falaqua Solstice should have like all of the family before her been bonded to a dragon, but that did not initally happen. Instead, Solstice's family had to entrust her to their best soldier and smuggle her from the kingdom when she was just an infant. A man named Nyvalkadi, a darm elf that believed in killing dragons and using their soul to give him power laid siege on the kingdom and destroyed the royal family and many of the dragons. The few left had to flee into hiding.

Winter did not come for many years. During that time solstice grew up the adopted daughter of a livery owner never knowing her true heritage. Her adopted father knew she was of elven blood, but not who she truly was. He found her nestled in a manger in his barn. It was during her 15th year that Solstice discovered who she really was. Soldiers of Nyvalkadi descended upon her village having spread his evil into new lands conquering not just falaqua but all of Ellesmira. Solstice's step father gave her his fastest horse and told her to head to the mountains just north of his village. There she would likely be safe and so she fled north as her village burned behind her, her heart broken. No one had seen winter in many years, but it was still cold most nights and so

Solstice hunted for cover some place she could keep out of the wind and nurse her broken heart. She found a cave where she stumbled upon a large dragon. She was afraid at first and the dragon herself had no love of people. Like Solstice the dragon had lost everyone she'd known to Nyvalkadi and his army and she trusted no one, but she could sense the girl's own loss and so she lay quietly, watching and waiting. Eventually she spoke to the girl who sat crying in the corner of the cave introducing herself as Icelyn. The two decided they were tired of Nyvalkadi and something had to be done, but they were simply one girl and one dragon and had no idea how to change things.

They decided to see if they could gather some friends, secretly build their own army and with time that is exactly what they did. As they were making their plans and traveling together they started bond as they should have as babies, for Icelyn had her family not been destroyed would have been queen of the winter dragons and Solstice the Queen of her people as well. With time the two discovered that together they had great power and as they searched for any elves and winter dragons left alive. There were many losses and they both had moments they longed to give up, but eventually they defeated Nyvalkadi and Solstice and her people were again named protectos of the Winter dragons and Solstice and Icelyn went down in history as the most powerful dragon and rider pair that ever lived!

I think you posted your gingerbread house in the wrong place. nevermind just realized its part of your heo

no it's in the the right place XD it's more that i put it in there as well to help tell the tail ^^

She watches over the natural world, and ensures that winter transitions seamlessly into spring. She melts the snow, encourages plants to bloom and wakes the animals from hibernation. She was once a mortal, but is now so old she can no longer remember what she was once called.

(I apologize for the length of this. I tried to plan a shorter story but it just ended up longer than I could figure out how to cut.)

Alicia was a fairy who was born in the great Fungus Grove. When she was a child a great plague happened in her village. Anyone who became ill suffered from terrible lesions and the illness swept with many fairies sickened Without any idea of the cause they felt doomed to fate. Then a strange wanderer appeared one day and assured the fairies that they would be saved. He disappeared after heading north into the Umbra Forest following the river. None of the fairies took what the man said seriously but then after a couple days the sickened fairies began to recover. Another day passed and he had returned.

Alicia sat next to many other fairy children to hear of the story of the man who had saved their lives. The man was not only an explorer but also a doctor named Narthian. He had recognized the symptoms that the fairies were suffering and had traveled north along the river to find shadow tears growing along the bank. This mysterious plant was poisoning their water supply. The plant however wasn't native to this region but instead far in the northern lands blooming even when it snowed. How the plant managed to be found on that bank was something of an unsettling mystery. Narthian himself was from the far north and had only rarely encountered the plants where great crevices of shadow energies were found cutting into the earth.

Enthralled by the heroics of the human who saved them, Alicia thought that she too would become a doctor. At the time though she was still considered too young and she had to wait to be old enough to leave the Fungus Grove. Still Alicia studied all she could in the meantime. Any time passing travelers came through she had to find out if there were any books she could barter for. At last though she became old enough to leave the village. She could have gone to Ethernia but instead she decided to travel north to find Narthian hoping that he would become her teacher.

She found her travels to be worthwhile even as she was eager to meet Narthian once again. She stayed for some time in Saerielle learning from the elves and bartering for books and scrolls. Some of the elves riding morkkos and faeloras took her along showing her the herbs they used as medicine. A doctor in Saerielle would discuss when she had free time until late hours how she would set bones and make tonics. Alicia would help whenever she could in return for the lessons. However, the northern lands beckoned to Alicia and she eventually moved on.

One day she came to a town by a frozen lake. It should have been busy while the sun still lit the sky but the streets were strangely empty. Houses were boarded up and she could hear the faint cries of children. Alicia went to the inn to see if what information could be found there. A bell rang as she came through the door advertising her entry. A man stumbled down the steps. Lesions that were all too familiar to her were there on his pale face.

"You should leave", the man weakly said to her. "You should leave before it's too late!"

"I recognize this illness. This is from being poisoned by a plant called the shadow tears. Have you seen a purple glowing plant?" Alicia flew up to the old innkeeper taking a closer look at the lesions on his face and hands.

"Plant?" The old man gazed at her. This is winter and there's barely any food to eat. There's no plant growing anywhere around here right now. What crops we can harvest here was ruined by early freezes and the fish have been disappearing, too. There were those who left while they could but everyone remaining is too weak and hungry to leave."

The fish? Alicia became suspicious of that being mentioned. "Do you know if there's any fissure or crevice emitting any sort of purple light?"

"No, nothing of the sort. Wait.... The old man seemed lost in thought for a while. One of the kids some weeks back mentioned seeing a purple light under the ice of the lake. There was a man, too, that heard about it and left to find it himself. Never heard of him again though. Who knows what befell him."

Alicia was determined then that the man must be Narthian.

"I have to leave now but thank you. I'll try to be back soon." Alicia practically almost flew out of the building until she thought for a moment and turned back. "Do you happen to maybe know which direction since this lake is huge?"

The innkeeper managed a weak laugh. "Go west along the edge of the lake but be careful. It's hard surviving out here in this remote place."

Alicia then departed west along the lake. Two days later she came across a place to set up camp. Worried about rations she decided to look in a nearby forest just to see if she could find anything to forage. Then there was a strange light. Not the purple of the shadow tears but a pink light much like the glow her wings have when she used magic. She flew up to carefully navigate tree branches to investigate. Then in the middle of a clearing was a spirit taking on the appearance of a very small griffi. The spirit seemed to be fluttering about in circles until it noticed her. Alicia expected it to flee but the spirit flew up to her on a nearby branch making a soft cooing sound that almost sounded like crying.

"What's wrong little one?"

The spirit flew from the branch alighting to the ground. It walked a few paces and then looked back as if beckoning her to follow. There behind some bushes was a burrow's opening that was barely big enough for Alicia to crawl inside. In the back of the burrow was a sickened pollen dragon. This was such a rare being. They were said to have great powers for growing plants. Alicia felt unsure of how such a being ended up here in the frozen north but she then noticed that he too had lesions. The spirit cooed next to the dragon. She wasn't sure how the two had become friends but it seemed like a great friendship they had and now the little spirit was deeply troubled.

Unsure if the spirit could understand, Alicia tried to comfort him regardless. "I don't know if you understand me but have you seen a purple glow under ice anywhere?"

The spirit stared but then maybe, just maybe it seemed to understand as it dove out of the burrow's entrance and looking back to see if Alicia would follow. The sky was dark but the light from the spirit illuminated the snow. Finally Alicia saw a purple light. And then voices. She hid herself and the spirit under a cloak lest the spirit's glow gave them away. So long as she didn't use magic her wings own wouldn't emit light. The people looked like bandits of some sort. Alicia tucked in between some nearby branches trying to listen in. They were talking about how much longer the town would last. Then they would loot the place. Someone complained that the cultists hadn't payed them enough to sit here and wait in the snow and they should hurry things. Why wait anyway? Someone else replied that at least that man who interfered with their plans last time wouldn't be able to stop them again being tied up. They then laughed while poking a man with long gray hair. "You messed up old man".

"Narthian?" It had been some years and his hair must have turned gray. Save Narthian now and go explore the purple light together or go there first without Narthian? It was hard to decide. She had some offense magic but she was unsure if she could take all the armed men. It would be hard to not be noticed when her wings glowed from her magic. No one seemed to be guarding the area with purple light though. So with a horrible twist in her stomach she left to find the source of the purple light instead. Perhaps if she stopped it then in the confusion Narthian could be freed after.

There under the ice was the purple glow. The spirit hovered over the spot and Alicia hurried him out of the way. She released the largest fire ball she could muster. It wasn't much but it was still enough to melt a small circle of ice. The spirit dove then under the water. She followed after muttering a spell to try to keep herself dry. It would still be horribly cold but it would be better than having her clothing soaked with ice water. She flew as much as swam using her wings to propel herself under the water. The shadows tears were there with a great crack in the earth expelling a purplish light. Unsure if it would work, Alicia used fireball. The plants boiled from the heat but the crack still remained. Alicia didn't know what to do then. Would that be enough? Is it still not safe? The spirit then began to glow and increase in size. Light blinded her and when she opened her eyes the crevice was closed and the spirit was once again tiny. She was confused by what happened but then realized before anything else she needed air. She should have been shaking from the cold but found herself warm with the spirit next to her.

"What happened?" She heard the voice ask in the distance. "Hey, something happened at the lake" replied another voice. "Did that old man do something?" asked another.

Alicia and the spirit flew as quickly as they could for cover. Most of the bandits left their camp except for a couple guards. Now was their chance.

"Spirit, can you make that blinding light again?" Alicia looked at the spirit hopeful.

The spirit however shook it's head.

"What should I do then?" Alicia thought then about some of the herbs she had with her. She had powdered sleeptight with her but it was a risk whether she could blow it close enough to the guards. She felt too magically weakened herself to use fireball. She would have to try the sleeptight powder.

The spirit first leapt into the camp to cause a distraction. The men were puzzling over what they saw and if it could be caught and sold while Alicia flying from behind and blew the powder over their heads. They stumbled to the ground with faces full of confusion that then turned to slumber. Narthian stared at the sight unsure of what all just happened.

A few days later they had returned to the village. The pollen dragon and spirit came along with them. Narthian had carried the dragon that had been too big for the fairy to do so. He didn't want to leave it in that cold cave unable to even find food and the dragon when healthy could help the town grow food. Alicia meanwhile had the fun of being the storyteller. He hadn't recognized her since the last time he'd seen her she was just an even smaller fairy child.

"Honestly I don't even know if you need me as a teacher. I've been looking over your notes and you're already very capable but at the same time maybe it's not bad to have someone I can count on to have my back."

Alicia laughed. "You shouldn't be traveling so much alone to begin with. What would you have done if I hadn't come along?"

Narthian smiled. "Probably have become an ice pop at some point. Still I'm worried about those cultists that the bandits mentioned. I don't think things are over yet."

"Next time though we can try to face things together." Alicia smiled. She knew there would be dangers ahead but she would face them knowing that many lives could depend on them.

Fear not all ye drinkers of hot cocoa! For there is a hero who wanders the winter night in search of chilly mugs of chocolate! That's right, Mala the fairy and her spritely little dragon, Mallow, roam the woods, homes, and winterscapes where ever there may be a mug in need. Hot cocoa can safely be consumed in all its cozy goodness at the exact perfect temperature. Goldilocks, infact, approves of this "just right" and in the nick of time hero. Now, you may ask yourself is such a hero truly heroic? I assure you my fellow sylestians this crime is dire, for you see cold hot cocoa is nothing more than chocolate milk. Hot cocoa can be topped with marshmallows, candy canes, and whipped cream. Mallow of the Icy Marshes formed a pact with Mala to ensure everyone could enjoy delicious hot cocoa. Mala and Mallow are very busy and dash across the tundra to keep all of sylestia warm!