The sun behind Shizuha made its few final struggling efforts to pierce the gloom as she waded further into the forest, the chilly air making her shiver even with the scarf tightly wrapped around her. Even so, she kept going.
It hadn't been that long since the forest floor had been a sea of fire. Now, however, the leaves underfoot were mostly brown and on their way into becoming mulch. She paused, then rose off the ground. If others wished to trample the fruits of their past labour once they had served their purpose, that was their business. She didn't usually think about it too deeply either, but right then, stepping on the leaves felt like an ill omen.
Colder, colder still, which paradoxically meant she was getting warmer. Shizuha realised presently that she wasn't following the lack of warmth as much as she was going where she felt her powers wane. Finally, in a spot between two vast, barren trees, where she felt utterly drained, she stilled. How long would she have to wait? Should she go and sit on one of the branches?
No need. A glimmer of ice crystals pierced the previously still air, sending a wave of burning frost through her. The very next moment Letty Whiterock stood in front of her, looking directly at Shizuha as her billowing clothes settled down as if only just relinquished by an otherworldly wind.
Shizuha hastened to put her hands behind her back and met Letty's gaze. Fittingly enough for a yukionna, Letty's eyes had never been warm. Now, however, they spoke of nothing but barren fields of snow and air so cold it was practically solid.
As the silence became a tangible thing, with Letty seemingly too busy studying Shizuha's face to put an end to it, Shizuha decided it was up to her speak up. "Welcome back."
"Thank you." Another long pause followed before Letty's eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch. "Do you need another letter delivered?"
"No, thanks. I gave it to Cirno when she happened to come by. Do you know her?"
"...Yes."
"I'll keep writing to Lily until the rumour's forgotten," Shizuha continued as the silence threatened to re-assert itself yet again. "After that, it should be easier for us to visit each other's seasons when we feel like it."
Letty said nothing. The winter in her eyes had grown positively arctic.
"Anyway, I can't stay here for much longer. But I came to thank you."
"...Why?"
"For everything you've done for me. I know this is nothing, but..." Shizuha took her hands from behind her back and held up the wreath of autumn leaves she had made. "I hope you can accept this."
Jerkily, Letty's hands reached out. She took the wreath with surprising gentleness and turned it around in her hands. Since Shizuha had no idea if Letty cared for colours at all, she had chosen the leaves according to her own preferences: the most luminous reds she could paint, interspersed with orange and yellow to really make the colour pop.
"I don't know where you stay while you're here," Shizuha continued, feeling herself shrinking from the sheer silence of Letty's response, "but you could use it to decorate your wall, or a tree, or whatever you h— oh."
A thin layer of frost spread from Letty's fingers onto the wreath. Within moments, each leaf glittered with frost, their colours muted but still radiant. Shizuha studied Letty's face to see if she had done it on purpose.
The tilt of Shizuha's head jerked Letty back to the present moment. She stared at Shizuha for a moment longer before she suddenly smiled, a sudden peek of sunlight during midwinter. "Thank you. I'll hold onto it."
"Good." Although she was shivering more violently by the moment, Shizuha felt oddly warm. "Maybe we can talk for longer next year. The rumour is probably mostly gone by then."
"I wouldn't mind. Assuming you can withstand the cold." Letty's smile was already gone. Still, something akin to embers remained in her gaze as she nodded at Shizuha. "Sleep well, Shizuha Aki."
Shizuha curtsied and left. She looked over her shoulder once to find Letty following her with her gaze, glittering like silver in the final rays of sunlight, then ran off with the keen sense that in the future, the end of autumn would perhaps not be quite so sorrowful to her.