Dark Crystal: VotSatE: Snow

Dark Crystal: Visions of the Start and the End

Snow

“What is that stuff? I’ve never seen it before!”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it before either.”

“Will you both hush up? I’m writing!” skekOk barked, glaring bitterly at the babbling duo.

skekEkt and skekAyuk, having rushed to the windows only minutes earlier, turned to the smaller Skeksis in surprise. The Scroll-Keeper glared bitterly down his needle-like beak at them before returning to his writings. skekOk disliked being disturbed when he was trying to work.

skekTah, standing across the library from the trio, also found his interest drawn to the windows. Or what was falling outside of them. It was very strange.

White stuff was falling slowly from the sky in tiny clumps. Not like rain or even hail. This was different. The Note-Taker had never seen such a thing before.

“Perhaps skekTek knows what it is,” skekAyuk suggested.

“Yes, yes! The Scientist will know what it is! He must!” skekEkt agreed.

“Then let’s go ask!” the Gourmand said, turning and waddling toward the library exit.

“Come with, come with! Let us see what this strange stuff is!” skekEkt urged, waving to skekTah and skekOk.

“Pah! I don’t care!” skekOk huffed, quill scribbling away at a scroll.

The Ornamentalist pouted before turning his eyes on the Note-Taker. With a lavish wave of his sleeve, the taller urged skekTah to join them.

Usually, tailing any of skekSil’s allies meant trouble…but curiosity was a hungry thing.

skekTah looked out the window and decided. He rose and followed, much to skekEkt’s delight.

“Oh, brilliant! skekTek will know! He’ll tell us what this strange white stuff is!” the Ornamentalist declared.

So he followed skekEkt and the Gourmand as they paraded down the bleak halls toward the Chamber of Life. A few other Skeksis noted the strange stuff falling from the sky, pausing at windows to look at it. Nobody else seemed to be going to the Scientist for an explanation, though.

“And what are you lot up to?”

skekUng lurched from the shadows of a corridor, lumbering into the window-laden outer hall. skekEkt and skekAyuk came to an abrupt stop, the Note-Taker nearly crashing into the Gourmand’s broad back. The duo gesticulated to the window, babbling at once.

“Shut up! We can’t understand you if you both chatter at the same time!” skekNa hissed, slinking behind his larger companion. His lone eye caught sight of the Note-Taker. “You! What are they screeching about?”

“The stuff falling outside,” skekTah replied, indicating the window.

The two title-less Skeksis approached the windows, beaks nearly touching the glass. They saw the strange stuff. With a rough shove, skekUng flung a window open and hissed. Everyone recoiled. The air that rushed inside was frigid, terribly cold. The Note-Taker immediately began to shiver, all of the warmth sucked out of his slim frame.

“Why is it so cold outside?” skekEkt whined, curling in on himself. “It was warm yesterday!”

skekTah shuffled forward and lashed out with a hand to catch one of the floating bits of white. He shivered. It was cold and wet. Pulling his hand close, he opened his fingers and blinked.

There was only water dotting his palm. No sign of the white thing he had caught.

He tried again and again. Each time he caught a white clump, he came back with his palm wet. A flick of his tongue told him that it was water. He didn’t understand. Was this like tiny hail?

“I don’t get it,” he muttered.

“Shut that window already! It’s freezing in here!” skekUng barked, annoyed as he rubbed his arms.

skekEkt moved to help skekTah reach the window, using his longer arms to catch the edge of it. The wind whipped, threatening to rip the pane from their grasp. The temperature was dropping rapidly. skekTah could see the ground below was covered in this white stuff.

The window clanked before being pulled closer. skekTah squeaked when a third Skeksis joined them in their efforts—skekNa. He used his hook to catch the edge of the window, pulling it in close enough for all three of them to shut it firmly, killing the flow of cold air.

skekTah barely suppressed the urge to thank the other.

skekNa hadn’t done it to be nice. He’d done it to please skekUng, his ally. Nothing more, nothing less. There was no need for thanks.

skekUng was already marching away, complaining about the cold. With a brief nod, skekNa tailed the larger. They vanished around the next bend, heading deeper into the castle to escape the chill of the outer hall.

“It’s frozen water? Like hail?” skekAyuk asked, looking at the Note-Taker.

“Seems like it,” skekTah muttered, wiping his wet hand on his outer robe. “skekTek probably knows more. It wasn’t hard, like hail is. If there was substance, I didn’t feel it. It was like there was nothing there at all. Just cold and wet.”

“Weird,” the Gourmand muttered, looking out the window.

skekEkt insisted that they still go see the Scientist. skekTah remained with them, equally curious. They headed down the floors of the castle until reaching the Chamber of Life, which echoed with the noises of the animals that skekTek was studying. The Scientist was shuffling about, muttering.

“skekTek! Have you looked outside?” skekEkt asked. “Stuff is falling and we don—”

“I’m aware!” skekTek barked, clearly annoyed. “You’re, what, the seventh Skeksis to tell me already? I know!”

“…Sorry,” the Ornamentalist muttered, hunching up.

“Forget it. It’s understandable,” skekTek huffed, jotting something down on a stray sheet of parchment. “It’s something new and you want to know what it is. Well, I know what it is.”

“What is it, then?” skekAyuk asked.

“Snow.”

“S…now?” skekAyuk repeated. “It’s not hail?”

“Think of it as a thin, tiny version of hail with no solid substance. Or you can’t detect the solidity of it with touch. It melts too quickly to an aqueous form. It manifests at low temperatures.”

“It is rather cold outside,” skekEkt admitted.

“Exactly,” skekTek confirmed. “Probably stray winds from the east mountains. Snow accumulates up there at higher elevations. The Grottan have seen snow frequently in their homes.”

“Will it go away? It’s cold,” skekTah asked, shivering.

“It should, Note-Taker. Just an anomaly, that’s all this is. Should be gone in a day or two, if not by morning,” the Scientist stated, collecting a few small containers. “I’m off to see this stuff up close…for study. Come if you want.”

The Note-Taker followed the Scientist’s lagging walk. After a bit of chatter, skekEkt and skekAyuk followed.

skekTek had recently taken an interest in his own blood work, amputating his own leg to study it further. The limb was replaced by an artificial one crafted by the Machinist and, though he could still walk, it was with a heavy limp and dragging steps. His speed and movement was greatly reduced. Lately, skekTek had sought further help with the usage of a cane.

skekTah didn’t see the purpose in it. Why amputate your own leg? Couldn’t skekTek study the legs of other beings and compare it to his own? Did that level of study warrant amputation? With the amount of pain and trouble skekTek went through afterward, the Note-Taker didn’t think the price was worth the results the Scientist had gained for his scientific curiosity.

The limb was gone now. One couldn’t just regrow it. Why remove it at all?

Reaching the ground floor, they found that they were not alone. The front gates of the castle were open. The Gelfling guards had withdrawn, most unused to the snow as the Skeksis were. The ground outside was coated in the chilly, white stuff. Most of the other Skeksis were there, staring at the strange stuff.

skekTek busied himself with collecting samples, mumbling to himself. skekEkt and skekAyuk shuffled to the Chamberlain’s side, babbling out what the Scientist had told them. skekTah searched for skekVar and moved to join him.

And then he saw skekLi and paused.

The Satirist, dressed in his shining trinkets and colorful garb, was dancing in the snow. Grabbing handfuls of it and tossing it in the sky. Laughing and dancing. Acting like it was just another warm day.

“Wh… What?” skekTah choked, confused.

“Been doing that since it started falling,” skekShod hissed, popping up to the Note-Taker’s left.  “Won’t come in, no matter how much skekZok yells. Gone crazy.”

The usually quiet Treasurer shifted, clutching the casket close to his side. The taller rarely spoke, content to stay back and count his gold. skekTah could count a total of four times that he’d spoken with skekShod and only once where he’d spoken with ShodYod. Sometimes the Note-Taker forgot about the other. He wondered if others did too.

“Don’t see why he does that. Too cold,” skekShod huffed, breath coming out in a cloud of white. “Much too cold…”

“skekLi, get back in here! You’ll freeze!” skekZok shouted, marching onto the snow before retreating with a hiss. “skekLi! Satirist, listen to me!”

“Oh, stop yelling. Come and play, skekZok! It’s refreshingly cool!” skekLi cried, twirling amongst the snowfall. “It’s been much too hot lately. Isn’t this so pretty?”

“You ninny! Die if you wish!” the Ritual-Master snarled, turning away.

“I will not die, skekZok, you old bore!” skekLi teased, gathering up a mass of the snow and crushing it between his hands. “Ooh! Chilly!”

“He really should come in, sire. He’ll get sick. We’re not used to these temperatures,” skekTek muttered, looking at the Emperor.

“Agreed,” skekSo nodded. “skekLi, come in! You’ve played enough in that stuff for one evening!”

“But sire, it may be gone tomorrow! Let me play more! Please?” skekLi begged, rising from where he’d flopped back-first into the snow.

“…A little longer, but then come in! The evening meal will be soon and I will not tolerate you coming in wet and cold!” the Emperor ordered, leaving the doorway.

Most of the group left, eager to escape the cold. skekZok remained a while longer, watching the Satirist dance and leave Skeksis-shaped impressions in the snow. skekVar and skekGra also remained, ordering the shivering Gelfling away and manning the gates themselves. skekTah too stayed, if only out of curiosity.

The Satirist was always such a strange Skeksis. Too colorful, too loud, too cheery. The Ritual-Master once called him “a ray of sunshine in a dark room”, which skekLi had giggled at. When new things came, the Satirist would jump in without fear and explore it. Somehow, he always came out safe and sound.

skekTah wished he could be that brave. But he was not. He was small and weak and cowardly. Oh, to be skekLi for a day…

On second thought, perhaps that wouldn’t be all good. skekLi got into plenty of trouble. Colorful and pretty things tended to vanish around him. skekEkt had lodged more than one complaint about theft against the Satirist, who enjoyed tormenting the Ornamentalist. Yes, perhaps it was best to remain the Note-Taker and let skekLi do as he pleased with his silly antic-filled life.

The sky darkened as night fell. The snow began to lessen. skekLi was still playing in the snow when the temperature dropped further, forcing skekTah to withdraw to the inner hall for warmth.

skekZok finally had enough. “skekLi, enough. Dinner will be starting soon. It is time to cease this nonsense and come in.”

“It’s not nonsense, skekZok. Look!” skekLi pointed at one of the strange impressions he’d made in the snow. “It’s a snow angel!”

“…Come in, skekLi. You’re shivering,” the Ritual-Master insisted, beckoning with a hand.

Though a drifter between alliances, skekLi seemed to show favor toward skekZok. It was funny because skekZok had shown nothing but distaste for the Satirist shortly after the division. They were two opposing forces—one a staunch worker and the other a happy-go-lucky entertainer. Yet somewhere along the way, skekLi had begun hanging around skekZok more…and skekZok became less harsh and critical of skekLi. It was all very strange, in the Note-Taker’s opinion.

“Hmph! Fine!” skekLi sniffed, rising from the snow and shaking off, arms twining around his chest with a shiver. “But only because you asked so nicely.”

The Satirist left the cold snow behind, following the Ritual-Master back inside. skekVar and skekGra pulled the heavy gate doors shut, locking out the chill. For this, skekTah was grateful.

Nobody else went outside that evening. The windows stayed firmly closed. The stone of the castle seemed to have gained a sudden bite to it. It was rather uncomfortable. The evening meal was completed and many of the court retired to their chambers early in search of the comfort and warmth of their beds.

skekTah was no exception to this. He returned to his chambers and burrowed into a rough tangle of blankets atop his bed. If one looked at him, they may have mistaken him for a nesting animal of some kind, not a grand Lord of the Crystal Castle.

But nobody was looking at him. Everyone was in their own chambers. skekTah was alone.

The Note-Taker poked his beak out to peer out the window above his desk. Snow fell but it was not as thick or much as earlier. Just a few clumps here and there. Perhaps by morning, there would be none at all.

He didn’t know what to think of the snow. It sure looked pretty, if skekLi’s extravagant display of rebellion was anything to go by. It was certainly cold and wet, things Skeksis generally disliked. skekTah hadn’t enjoyed all the shivering he did today.

Maybe seeing it every few trine would be okay. It broke up the monotony of seeing the dead, rocky landscape of Skarith. Most plant life had begun to die out in recent trine and most animals had withdrawn from the castle grounds. At least the snow made things look interesting again, if only for a bit.

But it was so cold! Oh, why must it be cold? He couldn’t stand the cold!

skekTah shivered, withdrawing beneath his blankets. The snow was pretty to look at, but being out in it would be horrible. How skekLi did it, the Note-Taker did not know. He was sure he couldn’t do it himself.

If the snow wasn’t cold, perhaps he wouldn’t mind if it stayed…

The snow was all gone the next morning. The warm weather returned, much to everyone’s joy. Snow would not fall on Skarith again that trine.