The day had finally arrived.  The day when she would stand before her people.  When she would be crowned Hiems Illa-the Queen of Winter.  When she would finally prove to her family that she was just as powerful as the rest of them.  Seri tilted her head slightly up and stared into the pale blue eyes of her reflection.  She saw a girl, barely more than a child, staring back.  The reflection of a queen, she reminded herself.  I have worked hard for this.  I am ready.

            A snow sprite tugged at Seri’s hair.  Seri flinched.  “Apologies heres,” the sprite squeaked.  Seri ignored her.  Heres-heir.  Because that’s what Seri was, what she would be until the Ascension that night.  Her family had just received word one turn of the moon ago that the current Hiems Illa was on her death bed.  The Illa would transfer the rest of her power to Seri at the ceremony, bolstering Seri’s winter magic.  At least, that was what was supposed to happen.

            That is what will happen.  Once she dies, my powers will be just as strong as my sisters’.  Stronger even. Seri had spent her entire life in the shadow of her sister’s summer and autumn magic.  Where they could summon bright flames or tides of water at will, Seri struggled to conjure even the smallest of cool breezes.  Snow was still a distant dream.  No matter how much Seri put into her training, her powers as the Heres Hiems refused to strengthen.

            Seri watched herself in her mirror as the snow sprites continued preparing her.  They braided her long brown hair down her back and hooked a necklace around her neck.  Seri reached up to adjust it.  It was her favorite necklace, the one she wore constantly.  The pale blue and gray beads shimmered against her skin, with the golden leaf centerpiece bringing out the color of her hair.  A gift, from her mother.  The mother who had left her father when Seri was seven and never looked back.  Still, Seri couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it.  It was all she had left of her mother.

            The sprites finished Seri’s hair and placed her crown atop it.  It was a magnificent creation of silver stag’s antlers and golden leaves.  She stood up from her chair and was greeted by her guards.  They would escort her to the outdoor auditorium where the ceremony was to take place.  My future awaits, Seri thought and walked purposefully onwards.

            What she didn’t see, were the concerned glances of the sprites she left behind.  She didn’t hear the way people whispered once she passed them.  Rumors of Seri’s weakness.  Rumors that the true heir hadn’t died when she was a child.  Rumors of a Hiems Villa, a True Queen of Winter, that refused to be silenced.  They whispered that she had been stolen from the woods night of her ceremony.  Stolen by a dragon, no less.  They whispered her name: Srivani.