When everyone settled down and the conversation started to flow once more, Diamond kept quiet. If she wasn't able to read and they wanted her to join in the conversation, then she would just keep quiet. There's nothing she had to say and if she did, it was often about her books that she immersed herself into. And none of them were interested in tales of a wild woman who was stolen by a hunk and rode off into the sunset. Her books were full of nonsense but they were also full of love, compassion, and heat.
Her whole life had become so consumed with books that she neglected to go outside causing her blue skin to become dull. Her father thought she possibly was melting and said that her books would be the death of her.
Diamond just laughed and kept reading. No one's ever died of over-reading. Diamond was sure of that. Even times like these, where her parents and her sibling demanded her attention, she was conscious of the urge to read more. To escape her reality that she seemed to be uncomfortable in.
No one wanted a winter fairie that dreamed about heat. Dreamed about Arizona on horseback or the sensation of hot sand between her fingers and the sizzling of the sun above her head.
It was true. You often wanted what you shouldn't have. One might say she was obsessed. She had sunsets posters in her room, unlike like the bright silver moon that shone every day and the twinkling stars that filled the night.
No, Diamond dreamed about what she shouldn't have. What she could never visit. She dreamed about a romance so hot and blazing that the summers of Arizona would sweat with envy.
“...mond? Have you been listening to a word I’ve said?”
Diamond glanced up to see her father's brows casted downward as well as his lips. Her lips tilted up in a forgiving smile. “I'm sorry Father, what was it that you were saying?”
He glared at his youngest. “You need to visit Glacier Temple tomorrow. I want you to do so without your tablet.”
“Without my tablet?” She asked horrified at the thought. “Why? I can navigate those tunnels and passages just as easily with a book as without.”
“Because it’s not about navigating your way,” her mother answered. “it's about seeing what your books can’t show you. The burn within the ice. And you should take a zen class.”
Diamond scoffed, “A zen class? Mother, please. And ice doesn't burn, not really.”
Everyone fell silent until her father spoke, his face had turned pale with a tinge of pink.
“You will go to Glacier Temple tomorrow and by blizzard, you will not be taking your tablet! Is that clear?” Shocked at the display her father expressed, all Diamond did was nod. Her father relaxed, his face spread back to the same deep blue it had been before. “Good. Let's eat.”
***
After dinner and not sure what to think about what her father said, Diamond continued to her bedroom. Why couldn't they understand? Books were her life. When the dark thoughts of herself arose, the sensation of being unpretty, unworthy, she immersed herself in a book to find that heat, the spark everyone talks about when they meet their snowflake.
Plain was how she’d describe herself, not pretty like her sister. Where Penitent was curvy in all the right places, Diamond was skinny and awkward. Tumbling silver curls ran down her sisters back whereas her own was hung straight without an ounce of zest. Followed by eyes that were a deep unnatural green to match her pale blue features with the slight brush of frostbite along her cheekbones. She lacked luster.
Wings too short, only peeking up slightly over her shoulder blades whereas her sisters were long and stopped short just past her head.
Even though her wings were small, Diamond’s were unique. Each wing had an intricate design that flowed into loose swirls, giving them a whimsical look with the tinted color of raspberries.
Her father also thought the color in her wings had changed due to the lack of cold that her body desperately needed. She did have to admit that she seemed tired often but chalked it up to the lack of sleep from staying up to read.
She threw herself on the bed, tablet in hand, and looked up at the crystallized ceiling. It would be hard to leave her tablet behind. The one true thing that understood her-and her it-was the tablet.
What did her father want her to do in Glacier Temple? Walk through the many paths she already knew? Zen class. Find her inner-self which he has been asking her to do ever since she admitted not getting the winter shifts? She craved that sensation, but craved the latter too. It was a necessary evil that cold couldn't be connected with-heat. Not like she connected within books.
She sighed and dropped her tablet beside her on the bed and reached for her most favorite book. It was the one about a misunderstood fairie. How she tried to be different and in the end realized that being different wasn't all that bad. That her individuality and talents were misguided. It was similar to studying a piece of art one way then studying it at another only to see a totally different image.
Diamond was sure she was misunderstood by her father. He just needed to see the other picture, and if going to Glacier Temple and trying to connect to Winter was what he wanted her to do, then she would connect with Winter. But she would connect with Winter in a way that only she would connect. She’d make him happy and herself as well. After it was all said and done, her father would have to be content that she tried and she would come home, do her work, read, and read some more.
She curled herself into a ball on the bed and thought about all the heroines and the heroes in her books; the lovers and the breakers. It wasn't that she didn't want to go out and socialize and have conversations. She was quiet. But there were times where she had a dream about a certain someone instead of who was in those books. Who was tall, with short cropped hair and those muscles on his tinged blue skin that made a heart race for days. His brown eyes held a hint of darkness and mystery and that smile... His smile melted her into a puddle, and that's saying something.
Crumbling inside, she drew circles on the top glass screen of her tablet; if only he would notice her.
Rich, plain, pale, troublesome Diamond.
Chapter Three
The next day Diamond dressed in her traditional blue gown. Her blue, beaded, satchel made of the finest silk held snacks if she found herself lingering longer than necessary in Glacier Temple. She also wanted to be able to tell her father that she spent all day there, searching and pondering. Then not even he would deny that she hadn't done her best to understand. In spite of her father's demands, she carried soft parchment books in her satchel as well.
Diamond smiled. Her father said that she couldn't take her tablet-he never said anything about parchment books. As well as those two items in her satchel, she also carried her lucky throw blanket that she often used to sit on when she read and her trinkets from the human world that she was fond of.
A knock sounded at the door and Diamond raised her head as her mother walked in just in time for Diamond to close the satchel with her mother none the wiser.
With a soft smile, Diamond shifted towards her mother. “Hello Mother,” she greeted and brushed her hands down the blue gown in a nervous gesture. "What do you think? Good enough for Glacier Temple?"
Her mother nodded and glided over to her and delicately slid her hands into Diamonds giving them a tender squeeze. "You're absolutely stunning. I'm sure the winter spirits will think so as well."
Diamond glowed under her mother's praise. “Thank you Mother.”
Her mother stepped back, letting go of her hands and giving her arms a slight squeeze. “Well my dear, do you have everything you need?” Diamond nodded yes. Her mother gave a soft smile. “Then listen, be attentive, and take a chance.”
Her mother's eyes sparkled with excitement that made Diamond slightly uneasy. “I will try mother, I will try.”
“Well, I better let you go. Your father would like to speak to you when you return.”
“Of course,” Diamond leaned in and gave her mother a slight hug, avoiding her wings at her back and pulled away. She then picked up her dress and let the wings at her back flutter.