The next evening, shortly after everybody else finished up their dinner, I left my chambers to go out for a nightly stroll with Fluminix.

  The air was just above freezing, but I never really noticed such things. Not even dressed in my usual simple black dress and sandals. Though I did notice Fluminix’ claws digging into my skin to help her stay on my shoulder. It hurt, but nothing I couldn’t deal with.

  “So, little one, what story shall I regale you with tonight?” I asked her, as we made our way through the main courtyard, with its statue of a help-offering knight, and towards the walls surrounding the main complex of the school.

  I chuckled softly as I heard, and felt, her anticipated excited chirp. “That’s not really an answer, so maybe I should just… not tell you a story?”

  Fluminix growled and dug her claws deeper into my skin, though I didn’t feel any more or less inclined to hurry up with telling her a story. Patience was a virtue. One that couldn’t be instilled young enough in a dragon. Especially, before they became teenagers, or worse young adults.

  We headed our way up to the top of the wall through the gatehouse. Or rather, I did, as I was the one carrying the lazy lizard. She was perfectly capable of walking up these stairs by herself, but for some reason she just kept refusing to.

  I hummed thoughtfully, as I reached the top of the wall, and started to examine the myriads of enchantments that were laid into the wall’s stone.

  I had two things to mull over, or rather quickly make a decision on. Those were: what story to tell Fluminix this night, and what theme I wished the upcoming Winter Ball to have.

  The simple solution was to just have the story for Fluminix to be the basis for the Winter Ball’s theme. So, I would.

  “How about the Tale of The Frozen Tribes?” It had been a while since I used that as a theme, if I recalled correctly.

  Why did I need to decide on a theme for the Winter Ball, and why did I need to be on top of the wall for it?

  Well, for one, the Winter Ball was held on New Year’s Eve and was widely celebrated as a religious event. And I definitely didn’t like celebrating that one as a “religious” event, so each year, when I was around, I made sure it wasn’t a religious celebration. I had my reasons.

  The second part was that one of the enchantments, one of them being the main part of the cleaning enchantment, on the walls was a schoolwide winter effect. Paideia laying where it did, south of the Mediarene Sea, meant that temperatures almost never reached freezing levels, and thus it very rarely snowed here. And snow was a wonderful, magical experience that was essential for winter, wasn’t it?

  “In a land far, far away,” unless you were a dragon, “there once was a land covered in snow and ice aaallllll throughout the year. A blizzard that had been raging for years. The Emperor of Vespera at the time, Valerius, had heard about this mystical land all the way from the capital.”

  The winter enchantment started off with a timer, which would start to count down as soon as I activated the enchantment. Meaning, I got to decide how long the snowy winter would last each year. Four days after the Winter Ball seemed like an appropriate time to end it this year around. So, it would last for thirty-one days.

  I moved on after adjusting the numerical runes, before I traced the line beyond to the next part of the enchantment. This was just the easy bit.

  “So,” I continued the story, “Valerius set out to these northern lands of mystery. Once he reached them, he was met by a wall of swirling snow that locals claimed was impenetrable. Unconcerned by the rumours and claims of the locals, as he, an enlightened and educated man, thought he knew better than them. So, he stepped into the raging storm, feeling like his skin was being flayed off.”

  The next part of the enchantment was a series of logic gates. Or, and, neither or, neither and, etc. The first of which was about how much snow was allowed to remain lying on the ground at all times. This differed between footpaths and grass in the courtyards.

  On the footpaths it wasn’t allowed to build up more than two finger-widths, and on the grass no more than two hand-widths. Any more would automatically be transmuted back into air, and the transition between the two needed to be a natural one.

  Many logical gate statements in relation to volumes, in essence.

  “After walking blindly through the snowstorm, he was surprised to find that the locals had been right, there was something hidden by the storm. What laid beyond was a forked valley through which a forked river flowed, bordered in the south by the same tall mountains he had crossed to reach these lands. In the north the mountains tapered down to tall hills all the way to the sea.

  “From where he stood, on one of the tallest mountains, he could see the distant shape of a village in both the western and the eastern fork. On a whim, he decided to descend the mountains into the eastern fork.”

  Next up was another timer, this one to countdown to New Year’s Eve. Attached to it was a change in the volumetric calculations that were specific for that day and night.

  The night before the ball, it would start snowing more heavily. This would, in turn, allow for a buildup to occur in some specified areas. These would form snow statues and other types of decorations for the ball in the grand courtyard, on the opposite side the campus from the main courtyard by the main entrance of the school.

  This was, without a doubt, the most challenging part of the enchantment and took me most of the night to complete.

  “When Valerius made his way down the mountains and approached the eastern village, he could see a procession of humans, with a few bearkin leading them. Curious, he followed after them from a discreet distance. He watched as they came to a halt farther south, close to where the river flowed down from the mountains, near the wall of raging snow.

  “There, with great fanfare, the bearkin ushered a young, human boy, dressed in his finest clothes, towards the blizzard wall.”

  Following all of the volumetric calculations, I moved on the part that handled the temperature output of the falling and fallen snow. Snow, rather obviously, radiated coldness causing slight drops in temperature. As the snow was meant to be something fun and decorative, I didn’t want it to cause any discomfort from having it be colder within the confines of the wall than outside of it.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  This meant that the enchantment needed to bleed off the cold radiation, and I needed to ensure that the logic gates could properly handle the natural fluctuations in temperature, so it always matched the surrounding temperature. Whilst at the same time ensuring that the fallen snow didn’t melt away. In essence, keeping the fallen snow at freezing temperature, whilst preventing it from feeling like it was below melting point.

  “Valerius followed the young boy, curious as to what was going on. The boy in question looked around in an anxious manner and his small steps were taking with great apprehension.

  “When the boy drew close to the wall of raging snow and ice, and well out of sight of the gathered crowd, he let his curiosity get the best of him and he approached the boy with warm and welcoming words.

  “Naturally, Valerius, as an emperor and well-travelled man, spoke no other language than his own. Why should he, when all spoke Vesperan.

  “Which was why… he was flummoxed to find out the boy didn’t speak a word of it.”

  Now it was time for the ‘main’ part of the enchantment, the actual snowfall. To start off, it needed a few randomizers, for determining when and how much it would snow. Though, it would never snow more than what would be comfortable to walk through. With the exception of the night before the Winter Ball, lest there wouldn’t be enough build up for its decorations.

  Included in this part was what kind of snow it was that fell. Powder snow would make everything look soft and fluffy, whereas wet snow would be better suited to build things with. Everybody had their own preference, but I’d come to notice over the centuries that most students loved a good snowball fight, and those were impossible with powder snow. Though, too warm wet snow would make for something more akin to ice balls, so a delicate balance was required.

  As usual, I opted for a wet snow that was right at the cusp of being powder snow. That way it could be packed into a snowball, whilst harmlessly break apart when it hit something or someone.

  “Valerius didn’t let a language barrier deter him, so he tried, and managed, to communicate with the boy through drawings. This let him understand that they were trapped by the storm. And trying to cross into the storm himself, he discovered that he too was trapped and unable to enter, less he was willing to risk his life. Which he was.

  “Seeing no other option, and feeling pity for the boy, he drew some schematics and instructions that would help the boy and his village to improve upon their situation. He sent him back to his village, hoping his intervention wouldn’t punish the boy.

  “To be sure, he followed after the boy and watched as the villagers first admonished him, before understanding dawned on them and they started making gestures of prayer. Satisfied, Valerius set off to explore the western fork.”

  By the time I was done with the main part of the enchantment, and, in this case, I meant the volumetric, temperature and snowfall parts, the sun was already starting to peek over the horizon. I wasn’t quite done yet, though. There were still exceptions and external effects that I needed to go over. But none of those were very time consuming.

  “Having taken his time, Valerius eventually arrived at the village in the western fork, where, oddly enough, a similar procession was going on. The human villagers were ushering a young boy – similarly dressed to the one from the eastern village – and were surrounded by wolfkin warriors that stood guard.

  “He followed after them but couldn’t help but frown, as he discovered more and more similarities to the eastern one. He reasoned that they had heard of his intervention with the eastern village’s sacrifice – news appeared to travel fast – and hoped for a similar boon. So, he left them to it and the boy to his fate.

  “Instead, he left the western fork for where the two forks became one valley to the north, curious to see what he’d find there.”

  The first exception was a rather important one, and, admittedly, a complex one, as it was important that anything that the students made in the snow wouldn’t be wiped away almost instantly. Therefore, this exception made changes to the earlier established baseline volumetric calculations.

  Snowharpies wouldn’t be a problem, as they would normally fade with new fallen snow. It was the snowpeople and other creative constructions that needed to be taken into consideration. Every bit of snow above the baseline needed to be evaluated to see if it was just too much buildup or a deliberate increase.

  As such, this was a highly adaptive piece of enchantment, though not nearly as adaptive as the shield one, that would take into account where each and every person in the school is. After that, it would make a temporary zone of exception around them that, once the person moved on, would evaluate and adjust the baseline based on the outcome.

  “To the north, Valerius didn’t find another village, at least not at first, but a herd of roaming reindeer, which were being herded by several reindeerkin. As he approached them, whilst they were drinking at the river, the reindeerkin spotted him and eyed him warily and with clear distrust.

  “Having the sense to foresee that even these people didn’t speak the, what he considered to be, common tongue, he started off gesturing and drawing in the ground. One of the reindeerkin approached him, but shook her head whilst saying something in their tongue.

  “He hung his head with great shame, for he felt he needed to do something that he considered to be beneath him.

  “He had to learn another language.”

  Another thing that needed to be taken into consideration with the enchantment was its boundary. Naturally, the volumetric calculations, the temperature regulation and the snowfall were all contained by the enchantment’s spell boundary. However, the enchantment didn’t stop the wind from blowing, or the snowflakes from drifting due to air resistance, so it needed an external effect to handle that.

  Some snow falling outside of the wall wouldn’t be a problem, however strong winds and such could lead to too much falling outside of the wall. Therefore, I needed to add a limit to how much snow was allowed to pass the enchantment’s boundary. It was also imperative that the snow more or less fell evenly, thus the wind needed to be dampened unless the baseline was mostly fulfilled.

  Another part in this was the cloud cover. Naturally, snow couldn’t just fall out of thin air, during clear skies, so in the snowfall part there would first be a formation of cloud cover before it would start to snow. This cloud cover would also be cut off by the enchantment’s boundary, and therefore it needed an external effect to make the clouds flow over naturally in the air around it.

  “Though, the reindeerkin appeared to refuse him, they still led him to their nomadic village. There he spent a long time learning their language and their ways.

  “From the humans in the tribes, who didn’t roam as much as their reindeerkin kin, he learned that the storm was a punishment from the gods, for the western and eastern villages’ exploitation of the land. Unfortunately, both of the villages still hadn’t learned their lesson, even after several decades. Or so they claimed.

  “While Valerius didn’t dispute the involvement of the gods, he strongly doubted it was a form of punishment from their end. Still, it left him pondering as to how to escape this trap. He wasn’t looking forward to dying out here, after all.”

  Around midday, I reached the main gate again, having finished the enchantment, and sat down on the edge of the wall. I placed Fluminix on my lap and gently stroked her scales, whilst I activated the enchantment. The clouds darkened and after a little while, the first snowflakes started to drift down from the sky.

  “For years he planned and plotted to find a way for all of the tribes to leave the trap. Not purely out of the kindness of his heart, but because he needed them all to get out.

  “He taught them how to wield more powerful magic, how to make more powerful enchantments, before he could finally lead them towards the persistent snowstorm.

  “In a grand procession, consisting of the entirety of all three tribes, they pierced the wall that had killed so many of them before. As soon as the last ones had entered the blizzard, the storm suddenly let up, and the world around was laid bare.

  “Thus, the tribes were freed, and Valerius could safely return home.”

  Or at least, that’s how the abridged version of my written version of the tale went.

  Fluminix climbed back up to my shoulder – as she noticed that I was about to get up again – before I made my way back down and got on with what else I had planned for today.