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A breeze stirred the trees and bushes of the Mhyr Forest as a graceful snow fell, blanketing the world in a serene white. Koli sighed as she viewed the beautiful world around her. Deciding it was time to have a peek in the kitchen; she stood up stiffly from her sitting position and stretched her legs gingerly. With a grin on her face, Koli made her way through the winding hallways and passages that made up the Mhyr Fortress.

Moving as quickly and as silently as an eight year old could, Koli glided along through the shadows towards the kitchen’s giant oak door. Once it was in her sight, she made a run for it, only to find herself barred by the old cook. “What are you doing, young missy? You know that you are not allowed in the kitchen unless you are going to help cook.” The cook was an old, pale, wrinkled woman. She was thin and frail, and seemed almost breakable, but Koli knew she had a mind as strong as steel. Her hair was a wispy white and pulled back in a bun. Koli smiled up at this woman with all the love she could muster. This woman was like a mother to her, since she didn’t have a real one. Shay was her name. Shay had taken care of her when her foster-father couldn’t.

“Hello, dear Shay!” cried Koli gleefully, attempting – and failing – to slip around her into the kitchen. She laughed with joy and started twirling around in circles, never taking her eyes off of the huge candelabra which seemed miles high in the vast corridor.

“Stop that, child. You make me dizzy just watching you,” was Shay’s reply as she walked back into the kitchen with a buzzing Koli at her heels. Shay pointed to a chair in the corner and Koli ran over eagerly to sit and watch the old woman do what she did best: cook.

“What’s for dinner tonight? Fish, maybe? Or maybe a fruit dinner! We could have all kinds of fruit and nothing else! We could even have fruit drinks! Oh what fun!” rambled on Koli in a melodically soprano voice. She got up from the chair when Shay wasn’t watching and started dancing around the massive room. It had five hearths from which to cook from, and one gigantic one which heated the room. Cabinets lined the walls all they way around the wide space and to Koli’s young eye seemed to reach the clouds. Shay climbed down from a stool with a bottle of spice in her hand and glided – there was no other way to describe her graceful movements – back to the pot of porridge she was making.

“Come now, in that chair or you’re out of my kitchen!” cried Shay and threw a piece of a carrot at Koli who dodged it with a gleeful laugh.

Koli rushed to the back door and out into the flurry of snow. Still excited, she stood there, looking at the white forest; her white forest. With a laugh, she ran out into the darkness of the trees. There, she lost all sense of reality. She imagined she was an eagle, flying over the fast sea of trees, watching with all-knowing eyes. She was the forest. Finding a perfect tree, Koli scampered up eagerly and, finding a sturdy branch at the top, slowly walked out to the tip and spread her arms wide, imagining herself a bird, with the wind flowing under her body as she policed the skies.

“Koli, what are you doing? Get down here! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” the voice startled her and she lost her balance, her feet slipping under her as the ground rushed up to meet her. Koli suddenly felt like she could just angle her wings and take off with her imagination. She came to a jerking stop in someone’s arms which interrupted her daydream. Her eyes were wild as she looked up into the furious face of her foster-father.

“Lord Rangoul,” she addressed him as formally as a young girl could, “I’m sorry about this. I was enjoying the weather and got carried away.”

“Save it,” he snarled in disgust, letting her drop to the ground. Koli fell into the snow and got up gingerly, dusting herself off. She looked up at Rangoul and raised her head in pride, showing she wasn’t scared.

That made him snap.

“You do not do anything like that again, understand? You are a girl! Not even a woman and you will do as I say! You could have been killed with your stupid stunt!” although he sounded like it, Koli knew better then to think he cared about her. He only tolerated her because he needed her later to marry her off for some strategic purpose or another.

He raised his hand and hit Koli’s cheek hard with the back of it, knocking her down into the snow and causing a giant purple welt to spread across her face. Tears started to escape her eyes as he glared at her, positively livid, before storming off back to the palace. Koli let herself be engulfed by the pain and regret for one blissful moment before picking herself up and beginning the slow trek back to the Mhyr Fortress.

It was dark when she finally pulled herself through the kitchen’s backdoor where she had so recently escaped with glee. Never had he hit her, no matter how mad he got at her, he had never touched her. Her cheek was swollen to the size of a fist and it stung. The tears flowed freely as she dragged her feet past the snoozing cook. A wooden mixing spoon lay in Koli’s path and she tripped on it, falling face down on the hard ground where she lay there and started sobbing. That woke Shay, who gasped and moved as fast as her old bones would allow.

“Oh, Koli, what happened to you? Oh you poor dear! Just look at your cheek!” Shay picked up the sobbing girl with great difficulty and waddled her over to the mat Shay used as a bed. “Now, you just lay here while I get something for that nasty swelling,” crooned the old cook as she rushed back to the kitchen. Koli lay still, the pain in her cheek making it impossible for her to talk. She felt like she had been more then slapped. He might as well have told her that he hated her.

Shay came back into the side room that was her bed chambers and placed a damp rag on Koli's cheek, making her squeal in pain. "Huhs, shhh," cooed Shay gently as she mixed something in a wooden bowl. After a few minutes of stirring, Shay peeled the rag off of Koli's cheek and dipped her fingers into the solution. She gently started to massage it into the swolen bump as Koli yelped in pain, tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Now now, I'm done. That wasn't so bad. Off you go now, dearie," was all Shay said as she scooted the little girl off of the bed, "go get some sleep. Your cheek will feel better in the morning."

Koli shuffled off to her room, no where near as gleeful as she was the last time she left it.