The young woman reached down, grasping at a small bit of cord attached to the end of the comfortable leather moccasins and pulled them snuggly onto her feet. Rocking forward, stray filament of silken white hair sprayed forward as she pulled herself fully to her feet. A beautiful woman greeted the small mirror she kept in her closet, a freckled face with perfect angular lines and a short angled nose just below her gleaming icy blue eyes. Like all of her kind, her forehead was marred with a birthmark resembling the shape of a star, though most of it was hidden neatly behind the bangs of her hair. This was a special occasion, it was the girl's birthday, and so she had chosen to wear an elegant tea dress of violet fabric. A soft knock symbolized that she was about to be late, and so responded in a soft dulcet tone. "I'm coming, Auntie Gadessa."
"Just don't be late to your own party, Snow." she heard the much older woman reply, affirming that she was Snow - it was her first name after all. With a hurried pace, Snow whirled about on a heel and pushed forth the small door in front of her room. Gadessa was a woman seeming in her early or mid thirties with an hourglass figure and a beautiful look to her much like Snow herself. The only real differences were the age gap and the streaks of violet in her aunt's hair. Gadessa was dressed within a form-fitting deep green dress that would be worn to a ball or something of the sort. It's low cut accented her natural assets.
"Good, you're here. Don't you forget that you have medium training after the party. Don't be late again like last time." The older woman said with a half-smile as she gave her little niece the one-over and was appeased by what she saw. Snow wrinkled her nose a bit as if to say that she didn't wish to tonight, however there was one reason to visit the medium hall - to see her friend. Snow finally gave a slight nod affirming that she wouldn't miss it, and with the grace of a dainty dancer, marched off towards the mess hall where the party would be occurring. The building was a simple wooden roundhouse with a chimney that seemed to constantly pour smoke from the furnace into the sky.
Snow marched on towards the large double doors that lead within the mess hall, both standing open to allow guests easy access inside it seemed. There was even a pavilion set up outside where a small number of gifts sat on a simple wooden table. Snow counted six such gifts awaiting her perusal as she finally entered the hall to take a seat at the largest of the three banquet tables. A warm smile creased at the edges of her lips as her father entered the hall - a large but slender man standing at six feet in height, with midnight black hair cropped short to the base of the back of his neck and sparkling amber eyes, with a scar running just below his left eye. He wore a finely-made set of tunic and trousers of navy silk, with a black vest worn over the button-down tunic, and a pair of leather jackboots.
"Father!" yelled Snow, elated to see her father Hayai. She didn't see him normally as he was commander of the Fuyu Clan's militia guard and was often busy with work. Even her busy father wouldn't miss her sixteenth birthday. Fuyu Hayai beamed broadly with a large smile, speaking gruffly with a note of elation. "You know that I wouldn't miss your birthday, my little Snow. Not so little anymore though, it seems. Why, you are already sixteen! Where has the time gone since you were my little girl."
"Come on, Dad. You know it's been a while since I've been a little girl. I'm all grown up now, and soon I will even embark on my Harrowing." Snow responded, embracing Hayai into a bear hug, though she ended up being the one being consumed by the hug in the end, wrapped in the warm arms of her father. Lamenting, Snow simply wished that things could stay like this forever. Unfortunately, she knew that it could not as her responsibilities to the clan and to the world at large simply outweighed her wishes. Snow's hair gently slid to the left side of her face, covering her left eye as she scanned the entrance for new arrivals.
"Looking for your mother? Sorry to say that she won't be coming." Hayai said gently, sucking in a sharp breath as a pang of regret filled him. Hayai partly blamed himself for the events surrounding the disappearance of Snow's mother since five years prior. The woman had left the Clan and became a wandering Kannagi, leaving her daughter who dearly adored her. Even then, Yuki had still written and sent letters to her daughter occasionally, even promising to come to her birthday party. Unfortunately, a mission had come between mother and daughter this time. Snow shifted her sight, seeing a familiar face in the corner of the mess hall's entrance. She was about to greet her friend when the sound of silverware on glass broke the dissonance.
"May I have everyone's attention, please? First, I would just like to say how proud I am of our Snow, she had grown into a fine lady. I would like everyone to give Snow their support in these coming days as she prepares for her Harrowing." Gadessa said with a warm and overbearing smile, waiting for several waiters dressed in black with white apron to bring out several dishes of fresh food. "And without any further ado, tonight's dinner will be roasted snow hen, stuffed with a mixture of onion, celery, broth, and bread. On the side, we have fire-roasted sweet-potatoes, a cranberry reduction, and a fresh vegetable slaw."
Chatter filled the mess hall, guests speaking to each other with hushed tones. Snow paid no mind to the noise, reaching over the table to her midriff and began assembling a plate of dinner. Even her fork's movements were quick and steady, revealing the girl's martial skill as she finished with gathering her plate. Tonight's dinner was no more than a veritable feast, most likely because of her birthday, Snow remarked internally. She was happy to have Aunt Gadessa, who had overtaken motherly duties since Snow's mother left the Clan. Snow's father Hakai chimed, "Thank you for the beautiful toast, Gadessa."
Looking back to the pair of double gates, Snow noticed that her friend was no longer there, and turned back to her plate of heaping food with the luster of hunger burning in her icy blue depths and consumed the food on her plate albeit at a womanly pace and using her well-taught table manners to cut her food gingerly with knife before picking it up with her fork and scarfing it down. Snow gathered looks of disappointment from her father with how quickly she consumed the plate of food before her, but this was one day in which she cared little about her father's ire after all it was her birthday today.
Snow gingerly stood to her full height of five feet and five inches, taking the dirty plate into her grasp as she shifted and began to step away from the great banquet table. Her movement brought her into the kitchen where she carefully set down a batch of dirty plates which were quickly taken by one of the servants and fetched a series of clean plates that would soon be deposited in the midst of the table upon returning. Snow watched as her kin enjoyed the banquet and it's food, happy to have so many family and friends around her. Snow's thoughts drifted to the Harrowing, and event all Kannagis of the Fuyu clan undertook as a right-of-passage. Snow would journey the face of Mt. Fubuki where many monsters such as Dire Wolves, Yeti, and Drakes lived. At the summit, Snow would bond with her first common spirit and through the spirit a connection to her ancestor Tochi. The rarer the elemental spirit the better their connection.
Moving from behind the kitchen with graceful steps, Snow carried herself out into the hall, past long banquet tables adorned by rows of her kin illuminated by the wall-clad sconces wrought of elk horn and to the large double-doors of plain decoration, a single step bringing her to the edge of the lit hall and plunging beyond to the depths of the snowy sky. Icy blue eyes focused intently upon the open hem of an old metal farm gate where the familiar figure of an adolescent male wrapped in a velvet cloak of forest green hues, fair countenance with short spiked brunette hair and sparkling azure eyes. Witnessing her friend Hanwe, Snow quickly acquiesced to her own heart and fled to the village limits. She spoke in hushed tones, "Why were you not at my Birthday Party Hanwe? I wanted you there more than anything else clanskin be damned."
"You know well that your 'Pa wouldn't 'Ave allowed that an'he's the mos' skilled sorcerer of 'ye Fuyus - well, aside from you of'n course Snow. It don' matter much now, I got yer birthday gift." Spoke the boy in a course but stern tone, eventually smiling and reaching down to the torn denim trousers back pocket and retrieving a small elmwood box. The box was adorned with icy white lace. The boy then reached out, trembling hands offering the box into the lithe, gentle fingers of Snow. Snow's own delicate fingers worked to undo the lace from around the box erstwhile plumes of white mist began accompanying every bated breath. With the lace unwrapped, she set to opening the box only to reveal the contents inside. Sitting upon velvet the color of night was an opal and pearl brooch sparkling in the night, Snow's countenance held agape.
"Oh, Hanwe, it's beautiful!" Exclaimed the girl proudly to the boy's delight. While the outer jewel was oval, the inner rings of silver wrought the brooch into the shape of the mighty snow fox, the symbol of the Fuyu clan. Quick and apt, fingers placed the brooch upon the lapel of her Tea Dress. Once the deed done, Hanwe's feet carried him a pace backwards and upon viewing the snow-haired Beaty, a flush of crimson rushed across his countenance. Both turned inwards when Snow's name reached them, spoken from the voice of her father Hayai and broke silence. Snow quickly pulled away from Hanwe, this time her countenance marred by a flush of crimson. Snow began to pull from the edge of the broken fence. "I'll be at the usual hunting spot tomorrow, goodbye!"
"Happy Birthday." Was all that the boy managed to eke out in response, azure eyes watching as the very girl which he loved walked first and then ran away from his embrace. As much as he may wish it, Hanwe knew he could never truly join her side, after all he was an outsider from the forest. And so, heartbroken, the boy carried himself into and within the wood where he would settle for the night, within a hunter's tent.