The swan floating on Misty Lake was big. Bigger than Cirno, in fact, especially when it craned its long white neck upwards in an effort to tower over her.
Cirno was far too used to dealing with oversized creatures to let that bother her. She had run into the water from where she had been hunting for frogs in the reeds the moment the she had spotted the bird and now pointed at it. "This is my bay! Get lost!"
In response, the swan lunged at Cirno and attempted to peck her finger off.
"Hey!" Cirno leapt back and put her fists up, stretching her wings out to the sides. "I was here first!"
The swan honked and unfurled its left wing. Cirno was left with a vivid impression of age-dimmed but still gleaming feathers as it struck her and toppled her into the shin-deep water.
Cirno sputtered in indignation and sprang back up as quickly as she could, spraying water everywhere. She slammed both of her hands in front of her. "That does it! Perfect-"
With another ferocious honk, the bird was on her. Cirno could do little more than yelp as the swan buffeted her with a storm of strikes and wing swipes.
"Cut it out, you stupid—" She made a grab for the bird and managed to get a hold of a few slippery feathers. In retaliation, the swan immediately unleashed a flurry of pecks at the back of her hand. She refused to let go, but after several moments of onslaught, her fingers betrayed her and sprang loose at their own accord. She retreated to dry land just as another strike attempted to swipe her back off her feet.
Cirno took to the air on instinct and shot above the lake. Although she felt pecked full of holes, her pride was unpunctured. She raised her chin and shook her fist at the swan. "I'll show you!"
With a final, mocking honk, the swan swam into the mists as if nothing had happened.
Cirno pushed the withering lake plants out of her way and pointed. "See! There it is!"
Wakasagihime sighed with a sense of long forbearance. "I know, Cirno. I already told you I have encountered it as well."
Cirno nodded without actually listening. Since the day before, all her thoughts had kept drifting towards the stupid bird swanning about on the lake. She had once heard that revenge was best served cold, and she was going to serve it super cold.
The bird craned its neck downwards and trailed the surface of the lake with its beak. It suddenly jerked its head back up and aimed its beady stare directly at Cirno. Cirno poked out her tongue and pulled her head back through the plants.
"It's so annoying!" She waded out of the lake and sat down on the shore. She kicked at the water, savouring the cold droplets that sprayed onto her skin. They didn't help to cool off her temper, however. "It's loud and mean and it smells bad. How did it even get here?"
"I assume it flew here for winter. How it found Gensokyo, I can only guess." Wakasagihime leaned her elbow onto the shore and sighed. "I do agree that it's a menace. And surprisingly dangerous, as well."
"Yeah." Cirno blinked. "Wait. How do you know that?"
"I had a run-in with it earlier." Perhaps Cirno only imagined the amusement in Wakasagihime's voice. "I was floating by the surface, quite happily minding my own business, when suddenly I heard a loud honk. And then..." Wakasagihime raised her tail from the waves. Several of the iridescent scales close to her tail fins had turned a dull mossy colour. A couple of them hanged on only by a thread.
Cirno just barely resisted the urge to dash over to prod the wound. "Wow."
Wakasagihime turned until only her upper body remained above water once again. "It will heal, naturally. But it's strange that a mere bird should be able to cause any damage to a youkai in the first place."
"It must be the strongest swan," Cirno said approvingly. She looked at where the great bird was still hissing and glaring snakes in their direction. She frowned. "What's that by its wing?"
She stepped back into the water and crossed the barrier of plants. Before she could go any further, Wakasagihime snagged her by the collar and dragged her back. Cirno had just enough time to see the swan making a hissing beeline towards her before taking a languid turn as if nothing had happened as soon as she vanished from sight.
Cirno squinted. It was hard to see with all the reeds in the way, but she was sure she knew what the problem was. Near the base of the swan's left wing was a long gash of blackish red, as if someone had used the spot to test out a new sword.
"Ah," Wakasagihime said, still holding onto Cirno. "I see what you mean. Looking at how little it moves that wing, it's quite likely it's broken as well. If that's the case, I'm amazed it even managed to make it here"
Cirno wriggled herself free and hurried back to the barricade. Now that the mermaid had mentioned it, she thought the swan's wing rested in a weird angle against its side.
"In other words..." Wakasagihime continued. Already she was looking in the other direction, as if trying to decide what to do with the rest of the evening now that the swan matter was settled. "It may harass us for some time still, but not for much longer. I doubt it will make it through the winter."
Cirno watched the swan glide across the lake, looking for any signs of weakness in it. It looked as bold and hostile as ever, but following Wakasagihime's words, she half expected the bird to immediately keel over.
It wasn't fair.
She balled her hands into fists. "I'm gonna help it."
"I beg your pardon?"
"It's not right for a bird that strong to die like that." Cirno jutted her chin out in case Wakasagihime meant to protest. "I'm gonna help it heal so that it can fly and fight properly again. And then when it's at its strongest again, I'm gonna beat it in a fair fight and make sure it never comes back here for winter. This is my turf!"
"That is... rather oni of you."
"It's the only way to make sure who's really the strongest." Cirno shot Wakasagihime a challenging look. "Will you help too?"
Wakasagihime blinked at Cirno. Finally, however, she gave a weak smile. "It's not as though I need all of my scales, after all."
The next morning, Cirno woke up bright and early and pilfered food from the Human Village. Usually, a successful theft called for laughter, but she didn't let loose even a single giggle as she flew back to Misty Lake. Today, she was on a mission.
She looked around as soon as she reached the bay. No sign of angry white birds amidst the white mists. "Hey, Li'l Swan!"
Something stirred among the reeds. Wakasagihime raised her head from where she had been dozing off and tried not to yawn. "Calling it little isn't going to make it any smaller, Cirno."
"Li'l Swan!"
A blaring honk rang through the fog. The swan swam into view, hissing and flapping its one good wing at Cirno. It finally slowed down a few feet away from her, glaring up at her with its beady eyes.
Cirno swooped down and held out her hand. The rice ball had seen better days, and somehow it had ended up with bits of grass sticking out of it. But birds ate grass, right? "Want a rice ball, Li'l Swan?"
The water rippled with a splash as the swan lunged forward, coming to a sudden halt right before Cirno. It rose upwards, craning its neck to once again loom its head directly above Cirno.
As if Cirno was going to back down. She raised her hand. "Quit hissing! It's not like you're a cat and I just pulled your tail. I'm giving you food!"
The swan eyed said food as though it had never seen anything less edible. Then, quite abruptly, it plunged its head down and skewered the rice ball with its beak.
"Ow!" Cirno's hand automatically dipped as the beak struck against her palm. The swan didn't seem to notice: it continued demolishing the rice ball in increasing frenzy. When there were only a few kernels left, it gave Cirno one last imperious honk and floated off as if nothing had happened.
"Are you all right?" Wakasagihime had skirted around the bulrushes and was now by Cirno's side.
Cirno frowned at the angry red marks dotting her palms. "It hurt me!"
"I don't believe it did it on purpose. How else would it have taken the food?"
"It should've been more careful." But already the pain was receding from Cirno's memory. She looked at where the swan floated on the wider bay, acting peaceful and dignified and like it wasn't a fan of assaulting fairies for no good reason. "Do you think it liked it?"
"Perhaps." Wakasagihime hesitated before she continued. "I'm not sure it needs help with food, however. It seems quite content with the plants it finds in the water. What it really needs to survive is someone to look after its wing."
"I know."
"If we mean to do something about it, we should act quickly. It will be too late if the bones begin to mend without being set correctly."
Cirno took a moment to think. "If that happens, can't we just break it again and then put it right?"
"That's assuming the swam will ever let us. I already have some reservations whether it will allow you to touch it as it—"
"Then we'll just do it right now!" Cirno swivelled her head fiercely in Wakasagihime's direction. "What do we need?"
The air was still delightfully cool when Cirno fluttered back to the lake with her arms full of gauze. She took the briefest of breaks to breathe in the chill through her nose, enjoying the sensation of approaching frost tingling her nostrils. It was going to be a really good winter. It would be even better if a certain unnamed jerk bird had left Misty Lake by then.
Wakasagihime was dozing off again, her head resting against her hands on the shore as the waves around her glistened gold in the late morning sun. She looked up as Cirno landed in the water and squinted at her. "That was fast. Where did you get all that?"
"I stole it!"
"Ah."
"Where's the swan?"
"When I last saw it, it was swimming along the southern shore."
"Let's go!"
It didn't take Cirno long to spot the silhouette of the bird through the slightly thinner daytime mist. She scanned the lake for a suitable rock jutting out of the water and alighted upon the first one she saw. "Li'l Swan! Look!" She held the bundle of bandages forward.
The swan didn't even look. It kept yanking plants from the muck at the bottom of the lake.
"Perhaps you should attempt to built some more rapport with it?" Wakasagihime asked as she swam to Cirno's side.
"You just said we don't have much time." Cirno turned around and began dispensing bandages to Wakasagihime. "Here, hold some of these. Don't let them get wet."
"You do realise to whom you are saying that, don't you?" Even so, Wakasagihime took the gauze and even rolled back her sleeves so they could rest on her marginally drier bare arms.
Cirno abandoned the rock and flew low towards the swan, her calves gliding through the cooling waters. The swan spotted her in no time, but for once, it seemed content to simply observe.
"Okay, Li'l Swan." Cirno settled to hover just beyond pecking distance. "I'm gonna explain what I'm gonna do, okay? I wanna help you with your wing, so Wakasagihime and me got these bandages that we can use to tie your wing in place so it heals right. Then you can fly properly again!" She held out a strip of gauze for the swan to see. "Can I put this on you?"
The swan craned its neck backwards.
"It's not anything bad! I want you to be able to fly away from here as much as you do."
The swan kept its cold stare fixed on Cirno, clearly suspecting treachery.
Cirno turned to Wakasagihime. "Do you think it speaks a different language from us?"
"...Perhaps." Wakasagihime tilted her head. "But I believe it understands your words. Usually, it would have attacked by now."
"You're right!" Cirno smiled at the swan. "So how about it, Li'l Swan?"
The swan turned and swam away. Before Cirno could blow a raspberry after it, however, it turned again and glided towards solid ground. It shook its tail, waddled a few steps inland, then settled down, watching Cirno.
"What does it mean by that?"
"I assume it believes we can help it more easily on the ground than in the water. Or else it feels like taking the battle to land this time."
Cirno met the swan's eyes. The swan glared back as always, but there was something restful about its demeanour. "It's gotta be the first. Let's go!"
Within moments, she was next to the swan. The bird made no attempt to strike at her even when she got close enough to pluck its feathers. It simply watched as she sought out the edge of the gauze and knelt down next to the broken wing.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Wakasagihime leaned ashore. At some point, she had found the time to drape the gauze into neat strips against her arm.
"Yeah! I know some birds!" Very gingerly, Cirno touched the base of the wing. The bird shuddered and closed its eyes, but didn't otherwise move. The black gash was indeed an old wound, but it was so firmly knitted over Cirno didn't think she needed to do anything about it. "It's harder for birds when they break their wings. They can't heal like us."
Next came finding where the wing was broken. Cirno felt for the reed-like bones beneath the feathers, complicated and easy to snap, and then found a spot where they really had snapped. The swan hissed when she touched it, but at least it didn't drill its beak through her skull.
"Okay..." Cirno folded the wing by the swan's side, her tongue between her teeth as she focused on trying to remember what Mystia had once told her. She placed the end of the gauze just beneath where the wing began and wrapped it across the swan's back.
"It should most likely go underneath the other wing," Wakasagihime suggested from the water.
"I know!" Cirno flew to the other side, then frowned. "Can you help me?"
Water splashed everywhere as Wakasagihime dragged herself onto land. The fins of her tail remained in the lake as she faced the swan. "Er... good day."
The swan tilted its head and hissed. Still, it allowed Wakasagihime to raise its healthy wing so that Cirno could wrap the gauze beneath it.
"Now I'm gonna pull it in front of the feet, and then around a few more times so that it stays out, and..." Cirno landed back where she had started, frowning at the two ends of gauze in her hands. "And then I need to tie these."
"Do you know which types of knots are suitable for the task?"
Cirno blinked at Wakasagihime. "There are types?"
Wakasagihime sighed. "Allow me." She turned over to her side and took the ends from Cirno. With careful fingers used to untangling wet hair, she tied a flat knot and tucked it securely in place against the swan's side.
Cirno beamed. "There! What do you think, Li'l Swan? Does it feel okay?"
The swan stretched out its healthy wing. It turned its head to try the base of the other wing with its beak, then straightened its neck and hissed at Cirno.
"Hey! Don't be like that."
"Cirno, I believe we should back away."
But there was no need. The swan was already on its feet, and, following another hiss, waddled back into the lake. It swam past Wakasagihime as though the mermaid was invisible and was soon lost in the mists.
Cirno pouted. "That was rude!"
"Well, it's to be expected." Wakasagihime gave what remained of the gauze to Cirno and flopped back into the lake. She gave a sigh of relief. "Animals aren't known for their courtesy."
"Do you think it's gonna be okay?"
"We have done what we can." Wakasagihime glanced at Cirno. "You should probably go play with your friends. Staying here and worrying will do no-one any good."
"I'm not gonna worry." But Cirno couldn't bring herself to move. She kept staring at the spot where she had last seen the swan.
Wakasagihime leaned forward and patted Cirno's foot. "It will be fine."
Cirno nodded. The rest of her body remained frozen.
"...Do you think there will be leaves left in the trees near the Hakurei Shrine for you to freeze? You were just speaking of them the other day."
Cirno brightened. "Oh yeah! Catch up with you later!"
And for the next few hours, she didn't think about the swan at all.
The reflection of the sickle moon rippled on the lake's surface. Cirno barely glanced at it and instead trailed her hands in the half-solid mud, carving her newest masterpiece into it. Already, pictures of trees and animals glittered all around her like they were shining petals and she was the heart of a sunflower.
"Cirno? Are you still awake?"
She turned. Wakasagihime had swum stealthily into the bay. The moonlight made her ear-fins and the tips of her hair glow faintly green.
Cirno shrugged and turned back towards her work. "I guess."
"Is our guest nearby?"
Cirno pointed towards an outcropping of reeds. The swan floated next to it with its beak tucked underneath its healthy wing, its visible eye narrowed into a sleepy slit. The gauze had gone grey and looked like a stain against the swan's pure white feathers, but it had held.
"We should change the bandages soon," Wakasagihime mused. "At least it looks peaceful now."
"Yeah." Cirno kept doodling. Once she finished her illustration of a giant frog inside a ball of ice, she turned around to look at all of her handiwork. Satisfied, she sat down to create shards of ice on her palm.
"Is there something on your mind?"
Cirno blinked. She hadn't realised Wakasagihime was still there. "I was just thinking why the swan is so angry all the time."
"Some creatures are like that by nature. Others become so due to outside influence." Wakasagihime's soft smile drifted into sombreness. "Injuries help no-one's temperament, of course. And perhaps the swan is lonely, as well."
Cirno frowned. "Why do you think that?"
"I'm not an expert in all things fowl, but I do think it's a very old swan. If it's here alone, it has probably lost its partner. Swans mate for life, you know."
Cirno re-arranged the ice shards into a circle on her palm. "Do you think it hurt its wing at the same time its friend was killed?"
"Why would you assume that?"
"Dunno." Cirno focused on the shards. They began to merge and flourish, and the next moment, she was holding a water lily made out of fine ice. "It just makes sense to me, I guess. I'd be angry too if my heart was hurting like that."
She set the flower on the water. It sank almost at once.
She stood up, ignoring the strange look Wakasagihime was giving her. "But the swan's gonna be fine! The wing's gonna heal, and then it can leave and find other swans."
"What happened to your plans to battle it?"
"It's gonna leave after I've beaten it, of course!"
Perhaps it had heard Cirno shout, but in any case the swan woke up. It spotted her and hissed, then drifted away as if she were nothing more than oddly shaped plant life. It settled back to sleep right at the edge of the mist.
Cirno yawned. "What kinda spell cards would swans use if they could?"
"Ferocious ones, no doubt." Wakasagihime tilted her head. "If you are worried about leaving it unattended, I wouldn't mind watching it while you rest."
Cirno began crafting another ice flower. If she could make the petals even lighter, then maybe... "I'll sleep in a moment."
Wakasagihime smiled and watched her work without another comment.
The second flower also sunk, as did the third. But the fourth one stayed afloat and glided gracefully into the moonlit waters.
One glorious morning not long after, Cirno woke up to wintry air. She breathed it in and blew it out to watch the exhale fog up, her wings fluttering with excitement. The best time of the year was finally here.
She made a triumphant flight across Gensokyo underneath the cool grey clouds, enjoying the chill tickling her skin. Summer fairies shuddered in the cold and complained about needing warmer underskirts, and she couldn't resist pulling faces at them. They'd be fine, and in any case they had had their fun. It wasn't Cirno's fault if they couldn't appreciate ice and snow. She didn't see Letty anywhere yet, but that was normal — the yukionna usually waited for night-time before she showed up.
With a final wide swoop high above the trees, she headed towards Misty Lake. She hadn't seen either Wakasagihime or the swan for the past few days. The bird still hissed at her whenever it spotted her, but usually only once, and it hadn't tried to hit her in a week. It was probably saving its strength for the big fight.
Thin ice crystals formed nets in the still parts of the lake. Cirno admired them, already anticipating their growth, then looked around. The swan wasn't in its usual bay. "Li'l Swan?"
The only response came from the wind whistling through the withering reeds. Cirno flew back up and still saw no-one. She was just about to shrug and go frolic elsewhere when she noticed a strange white lump against a pile of rocks on the shore.
There was just enough room left on the biggest rock for Cirno to land on it. "Li'l Swan?"
The swan's tail was still in the water, but its upper body rested on its side, its long neck lying flat against the rocks. It didn't move even when Cirno poked it.
Cirno wrinkled her nose. There was a weird sweet smell coming from the swan, and it made her stomach feel funny.
She took to the air. "Wakasagihime!"
She found Wakasagihime braiding a string bracelet on the other side of the lake. The mermaid stashed the bracelet beneath the folds of her belt as soon as she saw Cirno.
"What's the matter, Cirno? Your face is-" Her eyes narrowed. "The swan."
"I think it's really hurt! Come quick!" Not waiting for Wakasagihime's response, Cirno made a wide turn and hurried back.
Wakasagihime was a fast swimmer and arrived at where the swan lay soon after Cirno did. A shadow fell upon her face as soon as she saw the bird. Still, she came closer and placed a gentle palm on the bird's neck.
Cirno hovered around them. "What's wrong with it?"
Wakasagihime withdrew her hand. "I'm sorry, Cirno. I think it's dead."
A lump the size of a snowball stuck in Cirno's throat. "It's not!"
Wakasagihime said nothing. With the same kinds of polished movements she used to do just about everything, she moved her hand to the swan's side and unravelled the knot in the gauze. As she pulled the bandages aside, Cirno saw a black, glistening patch of flesh at the base of the wing, much bigger than the cut she had seen earlier had been. Wakasagihime quickly covered it again, but not fast enough to block the waft of sweet, rotting smell that came from the wound.
"We did what we could." Wakasagihime concluded so quietly the wind nearly swept away her words. "Its injuries simply went too deep to heal without further help."
"But it's not fair!" Cirno only realised that her voice was trembling when she saw that her hands were, too.
"The lives of animals are rarely fair. I hope it felt comforted knowing that others cared for it in its last moments." Wakasagihime hesitated. "Perhaps we could pull some strings and have it properly—"
"No! It's not dead!"
"Cirno?"
Cirno swooped down. She landed right next to the swan and crouched down to shove at its side. "Wake up, you stupid swan! You can't die like this! What about our rematch?"
"Cirno..." Wakasagihime's touch was light on Cirno's wrist.
Cirno swatted herself free. "After all that show you made about being strong, you're just gonna die without even saying goodbye? You're a coward!"
It was so cold her tears should have frozen in the corners of her eyes. Instead they rolled down her cheeks and fell onto the bird's limp wing.
Wakasagihime's hand was on Cirno's wrist again. Cirno let it be. The trickle of tears turned into a waterfall, washing down her cheeks and falling onto the rock and swan alike.
"You're not dead! You're just pretending to be dead! Y-you're..." She hiccuped. She couldn't barely see anything from the fog of tears. She was going to freeze them all and after that all water that had ever existed.
"Cirno."
Cirno didn't resist as Wakasagihime guided her to sit down on the rock and reached out to brush aside her tears. It didn't work. Each tear that fell aside was immediately replaced by another.
"I'm sorry, Cirno. You must be in so much pain."
"I'm not," Cirno said sullenly.
Wakasagihime didn't insist. She kept wiping away the tears until they finally slowed down. There wasn't really a need to shed more. Cirno already felt like her heart had slipped out along with the salty water.
"I know it must be difficult," Wakasagihime continued slowly, her voice as soft as down. "It hurts me as well, but it must be so much harder for someone to whom death usually means nothing."
Cirno turned her head away and wiped her nose against the back of her hand. "It doesn't mean anything now either. Because it's not dead!"
"Cirno..."
Cirno sniffled back the final tears and opened her mouth to shout when a sudden pulse of light shot through her, rattling the rocks and whipping furious waves across the bay.
She whirled away from the startled Wakasagihime. For a moment, nothing seemed changed: all was cold and still and unmoving. Then, she spotted a small blue light within the swan's feathers. It flitted about like a firefly, then turned into two, then split again and again with each light travelling further and further. The swan's entire body began to tremble.
She was on her feet before she even thought about it. "See? I was right!"
"This is..." Wakasagihime's frown smoothed out. "I suppose it was a very old swan."
"What do you mean?"
But Cirno didn't need to hear the answer. The lights had expanded and swallowed up the swan. A dazzling chime rang through the air, the sound Cirno had always imagined shooting stars made.
The light faded. There was no sign of the swan. Instead, lying on top of a pile of stained gauze was a long-limbed woman with small feathery wings and long pale hair.
Cirno's mouth fell open. "Li'l Swan's a youkai!"
Wakasagihime nodded. She was blinking slowly, like she was seeing two different worlds at once. "I did entertain the possibility she might become one, but I never thought..."
"Ugh..." The newborn youkai crawled up to her knees and swiped the hair from her eyes. A flurry of down scattered all around her. "Is this supposed to feel like someone buried my head beneath a pile of rocks?"
Cirno leapt forward and threw her arms around the youkai's neck. "Li'l Swan!"
The youkai sighed. "Finally I can tell you to quit calling me that." But even as she said so, her dark eyes grew warm and she put her own arm around Cirno.
Some time later, on a less rocky part of the lake's shore, Cirno and Wakasagihime watched the swan youkai put the finishing touches to her outfit, fluffing up the hem of her white dress and ensuring the long straps of her yellow shoes stayed properly cross-gartered around her shins.
"There's one thing I don't understand." The swan youkai stopped tinkering with her hat and began instead grooming her wings. "How am I supposed to fly with these nubs? Especially with the right one all twisted like this?"
"The wings are merely for show," Wakasagihime explained from the water. "In Gensokyo, you can fly with merely a thought."
"Yeah! It's easy!" Cirno, who was sitting cross-legged by the reeds, slapped her palms against the mud. "But what's your name? If you don't tell us, you'll be Li'l Swan for good!"
Wakasagihime cleared her throat. "What Cirno means is, we would like to know what we should call you."
The swan youkai stared into the distance for a moment. She then knelt down, plucked a stick from the ground, and began writing in the mud, frowning as it didn't yield as readily as she had hoped.
Cirno swooped to her side to read. "That's 'water'!" She exclaimed, pleased to get to showcase her knowledge. "And..." She frowned at the rest of the kanji were slowly carved into existence.
The swan youkai tossed the stick aside and stared down at the name. "Kureha Suisou," she said quietly, tasting each syllable.
"That's a weird name."
Kureha preened. "I don't think someone called Cirno should be throwing stones."
Cirno put her dukes up, but Kureha didn't seem to notice. She was still staring at the kanji. "How did I know how to write that? I know I couldn't even read yesterday."
"Your name is a part of your spirit." Wakasagihime rested her chin against her arms and gave Kureha an indulgent smile. "Similarly, your powers should have come to you as if they had always been there. It's simply a matter of learning to use them."
"Powers?" Kureha held out her hand. At once, a flurry of down and white feathers began swirling around her like an extremely localised hurricane. Once the storm abated, she stared at the white mess surrounding her. "...I really hope that's not all I can do."
"I know how we can find out!" Cirno bounced to her feet. "Let's fight! Right now!"
Kureha arched an eyebrow, then slowly straightened up. Although she tried to look cross, her lips quirked upwards. "Yes, I do believe we have a score to settle."
"You've been born fifty years too late to challenge me! You haven't even got any moves! And you're gonna need spell cards and a title and—"
"Slow down! I'm getting a headache just trying to keep up!"
"Then you're definitely gonna lose!" Cirno laughed. She caught sight of Wakasagihime shaking her head and it only made her laugh harder. "Tell you what. I'll show you what spell cards are like so you can make your own. And then we can fight!"
Kureha glanced at Wakasagihime, then looked back at Cirno. "Can you show me one right now?"
"Of course!" Cirno didn't need to be asked twice. She sprang towards the snow-laden clouds and hovered in the air, prepared to cast the most perfect freeze of her lifetime. "Eat ice!"