Yesterday's Story: The First Snow

For those who has missed it yesterday:

 The First Snow
      
       It was customary in Frewyn for the first snowfall to occur the second week of the first month in winter. This was only an approximation but the citizens of Diras capital understood it as a certainty. The first snow had always come when the skies were clouded an impenetrable white and the atmosphere was damp and glacial. Many prepared with leather boots and woolen coats, and when the second week of the winter months came, they looked up at the skies and waited. Though the skies gave all the telling signs of a snowfall, the heavy clouds did not give way to expectation. Another week passed of bundled children, woolen leggings and reinforced feet but nothing came. The young of Diras were distraught but the Den Asaan was immensely pleased.
      
       Rautu had endured one of Frewyn's abominable winters and he believed that the forbearance of one was quite enough. His fur trappings at his back and Sindhaara on his feet had done for him during the frigid campaign of the Galleisian War but he neither liked wearing the discomforting Sanhedhran sandals on his feet nor enjoyed shivering from the humid frost beneath his furs. He had been taught the Amghari method for heat regulation but claimed it could not be properly applied when the climate in the south was so unpredictable.
      
       "The climate of your kingdom is senseless," he often mused to his mate while on patrol. "Your winters are cold one day and warm the next."
      
       The commander could not deny that the giant was correct in his assumption for snow that often fell early melted within a week's time, but snow of any form or tenor had disturbed the Den Asaan as it would not allow him to walk barefoot through the capital as he should have preferred.
      
       The giant looked up at the snow-laden skies and glared at them the entire space of the morning while in the training yard. "You will not snow," he growled at the thick clouds. When the Den Asaan believed he felt the slightest flake upon his shoulders, he would point at the sky and give the heavens a threatening glower, silently promising numerous punishments should they disobey his word.  
      
       The commander who stood on the opposing side of the field fell down in laughter at the giant's ritual of shouting at the billowing snows but her mirth was hindered when, to the surprise of the capital in general, it did not snow.
      
       A few days had passed of the blanched horizons and nothing had fallen. The sky remained heavy with the portentous event but Diras again was disappointed. Children moaned for the snows to descend, denizens professed it would not be a Frewyn holiday season without the pretty snowdrifts to bless their kingdom and even prayers were held in the Church to goad the normalcy of the weather to proceed, but there little to suggest the bareness of the ground would soon be
      amended. 
      
       The Den Asaan was satisfied with his governance of the Frewyn climate and suggested that he and his mate take a stroll through the capital as their evening patrol to see the disenchanted faces of the numerous Diras children. Such a fortuitous invitation was not to be missed and the Den Asaan took his mate through the markets, stepping with joviality in each stride and greeting everyone with a gratified grin. To see the giant in a serene state beside the commander was not a rare event but to witness the giant smiling freely at while trundling about in his padded feet was another. Several grew frightened of the mauve-grey beast's civility and wondered what he had done to secure the position of the impending snows. His hatred for magic was understood, his detestation for the cold was well catalogued and it was perceived that perhaps the giant had made an exception in one revulsion to rid of the other.
      
       Rautu scuffed his feet along the stone streets of the capital, enjoying the feeling of his hardened soles against the grating stone. He dragged his mate toward Diras Bay to gain the scent of the sea but when they reached the port, the giant's expression of ease suddenly grew ominous. He noted the presence of one snowflake floating down from the skies. The giant grumbled to himself and trapped the flake within his palm, waiting for it to melt to release his fist. He saw another, and then another. His shoulders tensed and his fists shook in fury to hear the happy cries of the children claiming it was beginning to snow.
      
       The Den Asaan roared and cast his hand up to the swelling, grey clouds. "No!" he shouted, demanding the weather yield to him. "You will not snow. You will heed my command. I have endured much of your punishment and you will punish me no further for remaining with my mate in this kingdom."
      
       The giant's voice echoed along the expanse of the dense atmosphere and the clouds answered with silence. The snow fell no more and the white clouds quickly passed, giving way to the rays of the warming sun. The giant huffed at the azure heavens and looked up with a tapered glare. "You will not disobey me again," he said in a rumbling tone.
      
       The Den Asaan turned his back to the clear skies and basked in the rays of the sun while listening to the pleasing sounds of children crying that the snows had teased them with a partial appearance when their prospects were so high.