Our story begins in a cold autumn morning. As a matter of fact it begins so early in the morning that most of the Lilyaneeks were not even awake. But you see, our story does not concern most of the fairies; it only concerns one. And on that morning, at that early hour, so early that not even the sun had completely woken up, Evelyn was looking out the window of her chamber.
She often did such a thing during the winter season. Only that, as I already told you, that morning was not a winter one. That is why, as she was looking at the sleepy Valley of Linah, she wondered if there was something not right with her. Not that during the other seasons she would have stayed in bed until noon, but she had made a custom of waking up unbelievably early only during the winters.
The strangest thing was that no matter how hard she wanted to go back in bed, she could not. That was something that had never happened before. Whenever she woke up so early and watched silently outside her window, she did it because she wanted to. She stayed there out of her own wish. Now, she was somehow glued to the sight she had before her eyes. And the sight was not even interesting; it was just the view of a normal autumn day. Of course, the Valley of Linah always looked beautiful, but in that very moment it did not have anything special in it. So Evelyn kept on looking at the landscape, wondering what was happening to her. Once, right before seeing the first ray of sun, the thought that something different and magical was going to happen that winter, flashed her mind. But the idea only passed by, for as soon as the eyes of the little fairy saw the light of the sun, she quickly stepped away from the window. As if with the appearance of the sun, all the silence that reigned over the valley would have been drunk in.
Evelyn ran quickly into her parents’ atelier. She knew that day was the last day of autumn and that the next day her parents would fly over the Land of the Crystal, in order to bring winter upon it. Therefore they would spend all day long in the workshop, getting ready.
Usually, on the morning before winter she always ran there as soon as she woke up and found her parents taking out the gifts of winter. But since that morning she woke up earlier than she should have, when she joyously entered the manufactory, there was nobody there. Not realizing at first why her parents were not present, Evelyn looked amazed at the silent room.
It was a big round room with winter scenes painted on the walls. There, Evelyn saw once more the frozen Twilight Sea, the Emerald Forest with its half-frozen trees, the little door that led to the world of the humans, enclosed by winter flowers, and finally, the Valley of Linah. As she was looking at the paintings, she imagined how beautiful would have all those places looked if they had been covered in snow.
-Even if I have never seen snow, I am sure it would look so magical! – whispered she.
She closed her eyes and, imagining herself skating on the Ghodi River while sparkling snowflakes fell on her, she started dancing. That is how her parents found her. She did not notice them until she accidentally stepped on her mother’s soft white dress.
-Oh! I am sorry! – apologized she blushing.
Then, with a rush of enthusiasm, she grabbed both her parents by their hands and pulled them towards the middle of the room, where was placed a round table made of glass.
-Why are you so late? You have to begin your work! – told them Evelyn.
Her parents looked at each other perplexed. They had seen Evelyn anxious before, but never quite like this.
-Darling, the day has only just begun! We have plenty of time to prepare ourselves for bringing winter. – said her mother.
But Evelyn was not listening anymore. She was skipping in front of all the big wooden chests that were strung near the walls, opening them as she skipped along.
After she finished opening almost every chest from the circle that surrounded the room, she looked proudly at her parents. Truth to be told, they did not know what to say. In the past she had always arrived in the atelier after they had, and she just stood on one of the chests, watching them as they worked.
-Well, it looks like this year you are more enthusiastic than before! – said her father in the end.
Then both her parents went at the first chest, got out three small white velvet sacks, and put them on the table. When they opened them, their contents started sparkling.
Inside those bags there were thousands of little small drops of hoarfrost.
Evelyn looked at them almost breathless. If there was one thing that looked like snow the most, then hoarfrost must have been it. She smiled enchanted; she loved to watch her parents unravel the gifts of winter which had waited an entire year closed in those chests for their time to come. And have no doubt that she would have spent the entire day looking at them, if it had not been for the anxiety she felt in announcing all the Ghodianeeks, that winter had come. So she opened the only window which the room had, said good-bye to her parents, and flew outside.
The Valley of Linah had barely awoken when Evelyn rushed outside. Most of the castles of the fairies had their curtains pulled off the windows. Especially those of the Summer and Spring Guardians, because there was not very much to do for them during that time of the year. And that was truly a problem because Evelyn’s best friend was the daughter of the Spring Guardians. If there was someone whom she had to announce of the arrival of winter first, that someone was her.
Evelyn approached her friend’s window and tried to look inside. Unfortunately the curtains were indeed pulled off and she could not see a thing. So she sat down on the windowsill thinking about what she should do. It did not even cross her mind to return later. The arrival of winter could not have been postponed, and Evelyn felt that by not telling her friend of it, that would have been exactly what it would have happened.
After some time she sat up and started whispering at the window:
-Fae! Fae! Fae, wake up!
But she did not receive an answer. Then she started knocking really slowly, as if though she was trying to wake her up, she was at the same time afraid that she might succeed in it.
She put her ear on the window to hear if Fae had woken up, but again there was no sound!
-Fae! – whispered she again. Then, clearing her voice, she shouted as loud as she could – Fae!!!!
While she was shouting her friend’s name, she propped herself on the window and started knocking on it with all her strength.
When she least expected it the window opened and she fell rolling in her friend’s room. She quickly got up and arranged the green dress she was wearing.
Fae was standing in front of her, with her pink hair all ravished. She was looking at Evelyn confused and, perhaps, even a little annoyed.

-Evelyn?! – said she surprised. Then she crossed her arms and stared at her.
-What? What is it? – asked Evelyn when she saw her friend’s inquiring face.
Fae sighed and said:
-It is morning. It is very, very morning. I was sleeping!
Evelyn looked at her and chuckled. She had not realized it at first, but some hairs of her friend were standing up, making her look ridiculous. Then she grabbed her friend’s hand, pulling her in front of the opened window.
-It is winter, Fae! It is winter again! – said Evelyn excited, expecting her friend to be as joyous as she was.
But you see, it is not in the nature of Spring fairies to be happy when winter arrives, and Fae was not the exception. She had never really liked winter, but she would have never told that to her friend. That time though, she could not avoid having absolutely no reaction to Evelyn’s enthusiasm.
-Evelyn, it is not winter yet! It is still Autumn! – said she, pointing towards the Valley of Linah right before going back to bed.
Our little fairy looked closely on the window, as her smile faded. Fae was right; winter had not arrived yet.
-I knew that… - said she sadly.
Her friend’s disappointed face stopped Fae from deepening inside the soft, pink sheets. It is true that she did not like winter, but she loved the way Evelyn’s eyes shined whenever the cold season was near. She would not have traded that for anything, not even for an entire year of spring. So she resigned the grouchy attitude and figured out that it did not matter if her friend had rushed with the news that year.
-Alright! –said she, getting out of bed again – So you have mistaken the dates… I suppose we can tell everybody that tomorrow winter will arrive!
Evelyn’s face lightened up, and the little fairy ran to her friend and hugged her.
-I knew you will not be mad! And we can have a festival! A festival to welcome winter into our land! It will be so beautiful! – said she.
Fae dilated her eyes in terror, but eventually managed to fake a smile.
Soon enough, the two fairies were flying over the Valley of Linah to spread the news of the festival made in the honor of winter.
-But we have never had such a festival! – said most of the fairies!
Then Evelyn explained to them that there was a beginning for everything. And she looked so anxious to start the preparations, that she convinced all the Ghodianeeks to participate at the festival; even those who had little love for the cold season.
Behind her, Fae tried to look as happy as she could, though the simple thought of cold made her want to burst into tears. But it was not her fault for feeling that way, so please do not blame her; like I said before, it was in her nature. As a matter of fact, I believe she ought to be admired for the effort she put into convincing everybody that the winter festival was a marvelous idea, even if she doubted it was.
By the end of the day, all Ghodianeeks were gathered on the banks of the Ghodi River. They were expecting Evelyn’s parents to give them instructions about what they had to do for the winter festival. Instead, the one who raised herself above them and took the word was our little heroine.
At first nobody realized she wanted to speak because the only thing she did was staying there and looking at them. She simply could not find the courage to say something. But then she remembered winter was only a few hours away, and she believed it deserved a proper welcoming.
-Will you please listen to me for a moment? –finally she dared to say.
At hearing her, Fae covered her eyes with her hands, whispering slowly to herself:
-This is not good.
When Evelyn saw everybody staring at her, she felt scared again, but with trembling voice she continued:
-As you all know tomorrow my parents will bring winter into our land. And they have decided to organize a beautiful celebration in honor of it. But because they are so occupied, they told me to announce you of their plans.
You probably noticed that what Evelyn was telling the Ghodianeeks was nothing else but a big white lie; her parents had never thought of such a celebration. That was not because they would have not liked the idea, but because the Lilyaneeks rarely made new plans, probably because their traditions and customs were so perfect that they never thought they ever had to make new ones. Still, they did not refuse to try new things; that is why every single fairy which was listening to Evelyn that evening was absolutely sure that the festival was an exceptional idea.
Proving more leadership than she thought she had, the little winter fairy charged almost every Ghodianeek with something. The Guardians and the fairies of Summer were to provide the food, because they were exceptional bakers; the Spring ones had to find white flowers to decorate the trees with, and she named Fae the leader of the quest; the Autumn fairies had to gather all the Ghodianeeks which had beautiful voices and compose a winter ode, and finally, the winter fairies had to supervise that the work was well done!
-Please be sure everything is ready until tomorrow evening, when my parents will bring winter into the Valley. – finished she her speech.
Then all the fairies went to their castles, some making plans for the day that was to follow. Evelyn flew to her home too. There she found her parents unraveling the last gift of winter, which was, believe it or not, the cold wind.
It was kept in the last wooden chest, the biggest one, and as soon as they set it free, the room got so cold that Evelyn started shivering.
-Well, we are done here! – said her father, looking around the room.
The manufactory was completely changed. I mean, the paintings on the walls, the chests and the table were still there, but now there were frozen stalactites hanging from the ceiling, the large window had a beautiful tapestry with winter flowers on it, and, all around the room there were bags containing all sorts of sparkling objects.
Evelyn smiled while catching a last glimpse of them as they were all gathered in one place. It was really something unique to see winter crammed up in one room; it was magical. Then she kissed her parents goodnight and went to bed, without revealing them what she had done.