"We really should get going now, Sister."
"Mm."
"I know you wanted to see her, but it's been below freezing for three nights in a row now."
"Mm."
"And what if she doesn't show up tonight either?"
"Mm."
"...You haven't listened to a word I've said, have you?"
Shizuha raised her chin from where it rested against her hand. "Was it about us going to sleep?"
"I know this can still be considered autumn... sort of." Minoriko frowned at the barren trees and the tangible greyness of the cold air around them. "But our time is over. If I stay out here shivering for a moment longer, I'm going to lose all hope."
"You can go if you want." Shizuha settled her chin back down. "I'll wait for just a little longer.."
"Promise me you'll come in before you turn into an icicle."
"Goodnight, Minoriko."
Minoriko muttered something about stubborn older sisters as she turned away the fallen tree Shizuha was using as a seat.
Once she was well and truly alone, Shizuha began to lean against a branch jutting out of the trunk and tried to keep herself from sighing. It was no longer possible to ignore the chill seeping into her marrow or just how smothering the darkness of the approaching night was.
Even so, she couldn't bring herself to leave.
She eyed the sodden bleakness of the Forest of Magic around her without much interest. It bore no resemblance to the colourful and bountiful woods of early autumn, but it wasn't exactly like winter either. If anyone required proof of that, the most obvious evidence was that no-one had seen so much as Letty Whiterock's shadow yet.
Most years, autumn and winter overlapped for a few days — not many, but just many enough. And most years, Letty showed up a bit early, knowing Shizuha would be waiting for her even before the final leaves had fallen.
Shizuha closed her eyes with the hope that if she couldn't see her bleak surroundings, she could more easily pretend they weren't there. Maybe Letty had finally gotten tired of their arrangement. Maybe she was already up and about Gensokyo and just wouldn't show herself in the forest until Shizuha gave up and left. Maybe Shizuha had said something stupid last year that had festered in Letty's mind all winter until it had turned into something untreatable.
The thoughts made the wind even more bitter. Shizuha hugged herself and kept waiting, thinking back on the final words Letty had said to her.
"I'll be back."
The beginning of winter always felt to Letty like exhaling after months of holding her breath.
She blinked slowly as the water in the air around her crystallised. As always, it took her eyes some time to adjust to the dark, especially before the first snowfall, but it had been decades since she had last found it this difficult to wake up. Had someone been manipulating the seasons again for whatever reason? She would have to look into it later and put a stop to it.
With time, the Forest of Magic began to look like itself again. She glanced over her shoulder as she took her first steps of the season, gratified to see the familiar train of frost following her.
She paused as soon as she reached the meeting place and watched her breath rise up towards the cold stars. She wasn't sure why she had bothered to come here at all. Shizuha would be long gone by now, fast asleep in some cosy nook dreaming of the following autumn. Letty only had herself to blame for not showing up on time. She should write a letter to apologise. Maybe a gift of some kind would—
As dark as that stark, empty night was, she suddenly caught a glimpse of something almost violently red in the shadows.
Letty's heart beat infrequently at the best of times. It came to an utter standstill as she walked over to the fallen tree at the edge of the clearing and peered over it.
Shizuha lay curled up on a bed of dead leaves half hidden in the shadow of the trunk, her red dress standing out like a flame in the night. Her skin was covered in a lacework of frost, and her lips were starting to turn blue. Her eyes were closed.
"Shizuha Aki!" Letty lunged forward to lift Shizuha before she thought better of it. Her touch wasn't known to dispel frost. Quite the opposite.
After several uncomfortably long moments of considering her options and growing increasingly alarmed by Shizuha's utter stillness, Letty ultimately picked her up regardless. Even then she couldn't tell if Shizuha was breathing or not. Small crystals of ice clung to her eyelashes like frozen tears.
Quietly convinced it wouldn't make things worse, Letty cradled Shizuha close, then looked around into the silent night, her heartbeat as violent as it had ever been.
Shizuha burned. She tried turning away to escape from the flames, but they followed her as if her skin was already on fire. As if...
This isn't fire. It's...
She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. She was lying on a couch with a pastel-coloured blanket drawn over her. The heat was now recognisable as the burn of thawing out.
"What..." She blinked before looking around and immediately locking eyes with Letty, who was standing right next to her.
"Shizuha Aki." Letty's tone was as flat as ever, but her eyes were almost liquid as if the ice in them had melted. "How do you feel?"
"Fine." She was in some pain — one of those funny consequences of having a physical form resembling that of humans — but it would fade soon enough. She sat up to take in the quaintly furnished Western-style sitting room they were in. "Where are we?"
"Oh, you're already awake." As if on cue, Alice Margatroid hovered into view flanked by two dolls. Her smile was surprisingly amiable for someone who had presumably had her home invaded by two near strangers in the middle of the night. "I'll be in the next room if you need me."
As soon as she had left, Letty leaned closer to Shizuha. "Do you need anything? Water? Tea?"
"I'm fine." She could almost ignore the sting already. In fact, she thought she might drift back into a dream soon enough, a pleasant one this time. "Funny. I don't even remember falling asleep."
Letty was silent for a while, then looked away. "I'm sorry."
"For what? It's not like I was in any real danger."
"I should've woken up earlier." Letty reached out to brush Shizuha's bangs from her face. Her touch felt like a cool breeze. "I didn't mean to cause you pain."
Shizuha caught Letty's hand before she could pull it away. Its touch burned more than ever, but she held on and smiled. "I knew you'd be back."
Later, when she thought back upon the night, it was unclear to her just how long they had truly spent together in the soft silence of that cosy room. It had felt at once like hours and no time at all.
Regardless, from autumn to autumn, she cherished the memory of the bitter burn of frost melting into sheer kindness.