'The Girl with the Frosty Eyes'
Aaron leans his head against the steering wheel with a groan, his dark hair drooping over his eyes. Today had been… long, to put it lightly. So many difficult customers, so many almost-mistakes made – and for a young mechanic just on their second day at a new garage, almost-mistakes can weight heavily on the mind. All he wanted was to get his groceries, get home, and get comfortable.
Mustering up the willpower once again, he got out the car and wandered into the shop. People hurry past, dodging past each other with unconscious ease, and there are so many different faces moving around. Some smile and nod, others put their heads down and plow forward, blocking out the world around them. Aaron himself is a people’s person – and even though the day has been long and taxing, he soon finds himself feeling a little better. There’s something about seeing people go about their lives that fascinates him – every person has a story, and he can’t help wondering what that person’s story is, and that one, and that one.
By the time he reaches the freezer section, his mind is happily occupied with thoughts of the faces and the glimpses of other folks’ stories that even a simple shopping trip can bring. Absent mindedly, he nearly bumps into a slender frame.
“Oh, I beg your pardon.”
The girl smiles and gracefully inclines her head, her platinum bangs sliding away from her ice-blue eyes.
“Please, don’t worry about it.”
Aaron smiles back, nodding, and turns back to the freezer. Although she smiles, and the expression is warm… this girl has the iciest eyes he’s ever seen, he muses to himself. Not emotionally cold, but her clear blue eyes are just… icy, somehow, or perhaps frosty would be a better word. The frosty blue of her eyes just seems to say “ice”. He brushes the thought off and reaches into the freezers to grab a bag of peas.
“Ow!”
Aaron snatches his hand back quickly – that was colder than expected! He rubs his semi-numbed fingertips on his shirt, regaining some warmth from the coarse fabric, and then reaches his hand in again. This time, the frozen peas seem reasonably cold as they usually are.
For a moment, something flickers in his mind and he glances after the girl with the frosty eyes – she was just by this freezer, could it possibly be? Aaron shakes his head at himself, and brushes away the idle thought. There couldn’t possibly be any connection between someone with icy-clear blue eyes and a super-cold bag of frozen peas. That’s just… ridiculous.
Aaron grabs a bag of frozen onions as well, and drops them in his basket next to the frozen peas. By the time he’s completed his shopping trip, his miserable second day of work seems much easier to think of... even if he’s still ready to go home and crash with a coffee. The girl at the freezer aisle has faded into a distant memory.
As Aaron’s car drives out of the parking lot, a young man with green-tipped hazelnut brown hair walks over to the frosty-eyed girl and slings an arm around her shoulders, berating her with the good-natured tone of an older brother.
“You need to be careful, Frosty Twin, your elemental power leaked out there – I saw those peas practically flash-freeze. The human world is no place to get careless.”
The frosty-eyed young woman in question smiles faintly and shrugs, looking unconcerned as she watches cars driving in and out of the shop parking lot. She raises an eyebrow and delivers an even-toned retaliation:
“I’m trying, Nutty Twin. And you’re one to talk, Mr. 'Yes-I’m-a-Tree-Elemental, but-the-shower-of-hazlenuts-two-minutes-after-I-walked-past-the-trees-has-absolutely-nothing-to-do-with-me.”
The girl’s brother rolls his eyes, smiling sheepishly, taking his arm from around his sister’s shoulders and walking beside her. He shakes his green-tipped hair from his eyes and looks at his sister.
“That is how the Elementals’ secret has been kept since the dawn of the human world, after all – humans don’t remember. Our slippery aura means very few remember the little oddnesses about us, and even those that do remember… well, that’s how the humans’ legends began…”
The girl with the frosty eyes smiles at her brother as they wander down the tree-lined road.
“Let’s go home, nutty twin… The Elementals' secret will indeed be kept for another day.”
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