After a few more sips, Dmitri and Vlad decided to explore the small village.

The afternoon was fairly busy. The streets weren't too crowded, but the largest road was blocked by a group of boys, somewhat younger than Dmitri. There were women everywhere, most of them, stood a group of three or a pair of them on the corner-side of their inclined wooden houses. These women were likely gossiping wives, Dmitri could hear the laughs and hisses from afar. The outskirts of the village had what he assumed to be farmers because the men carried their rusted hoes and axes with an unnecessary straw hat that comes from the top. Dmitri understood it would have been a good time to farm if the weather was completely sunny, however, it wasn't. The sky looked foggy and completely blanket by thick, flat clouds. The dirt was combed thoroughly by these farmers, though because of the brisk, icy un-summer weather, he knew well that the crops would hardly grow anytime. Dmitri couldn't help but feel unsatisfied and curious as to why it would be winter in nearing summer solstice. How did the villagers survive without making or storing food for the summer?

Dmitri was on his way to head back to the inn, until he met an old woman, brushing off the snow from her doors and porch. He thought he may be able to ask the woman where all the snow came from.

"Excuse me," Dmitri smiled.

The woman stopped and looked at the young boy, with a welcoming smile on her face. "Hello, dear, you must be the little traveler taken in by the inn! What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering... but where did all this snow come from—"

Dmitri's stomach moaned. The tea didn't stop his hunger and may have made him hungrier and thirstier than before. His face flushed in embarrassment.

"Oh my," the lady chuckled in amusement, "come inside, I'll prepare you good food."

Dmitri stepped inside the little house. The house had the same trace of scent from when he was out of the road. This may have been the house that was cooking the tasteful food. He sat and folded his legs on a straw sacked cushion beside the fire trenched in the middle of the room. The corners of the house were deeply darkened in shadows. The walls were rather insulated and thicker than back in the inn, likely from the lack of openings and windows, but the entrance in and out of the house. Vlad slowly peeked his head out of Dmitri's satchel to see what's happening.

The old woman sat beside Dmitri with bowls, two pairs of sticks, and a food-filled wooden bucket with a divider in the center. The bucket contained saltwater fish, cooked, and freshly steamed rice. She carefully slid a wooden bowl with the fish and rice to Dmitri along with the wooden sticks. He wasn't sure what the sticks were for and looked at the old woman for guidance. The old woman was eating the food with the sticks at ease. Dmitri was amazed how possible it was to eat with the little sticks. If it were proper of him, he would have used them as skewers for the fish. He looked at his fingers nervously, attempting to mimic the position the woman had it with hers. He hadn't eaten this much since he was at Liptinskov, his hand's form may be flawed, but it should be enough he could scoop and slide it into his lips.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Call me Aia."

"Aia," Dmitri nodded, "I wondered about the snow in the village, has it always been like that?"

Aia placed down her bowl on the ground, unwrinkling the creases of her robe's sleeves.

"There's a legend that comes with it, would you like to hear it?"

Dmitri nodded, "there's a legend behind it? Sure!"

The last time people ever saw the crack of spring was twenty years ago. There was a young woman who came into the village. She was fair and beautiful, according to the villagers. Her skin was flawlessly white like glass and her lips were red and glossed. One day, a young farmer fell in love with her. He married her and had two children. A few years later, the villagers found the woman to be practicing magic in the woods at the winter solstice. They tied her to a stake and burned her alive, along with her husband, who wouldn't let her die. She melted into nothing, and he burned to ashes. Their children cried in horror as they watched their own mother and father burned at the stake for being a witch, however, they realized she was actually a snow spirit. Soon, the villagers felt pity and felt the children they caused to leave behind. The snow spirit didn't do any harm, yet they assumed she was hostile. A few months later, thick snow drifted into the village. It was only the beginning of summer. The snow never disappeared thereafter. This was a curse placed upon by the snow spirit after her death. By the years, the village became colder and colder. Her wrath was still alive and well.

Dmitri hung his head low, clutching his tunic by the chest. He wanted to personally acknowledge the dead spirit. Dmitri closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

I'm sorry what happened to you, lady snow spirit. You didn't deserve that at all.

After a moment, Aia lifted Dmitri's bowl towards his chin.

"Would you like more fish?" Aia asked.

"I'm fine," Dmitri replied, lifting a palm towards the bowl, "so... you don't hate magic?"

"No," she shook her head, "none of us do now, at least. We've learned that the spirits are just like us, wanting to live a life. We treated them lower like animals. If someone does magic in our village, we would highly respect them for their talent and strength. We knew that was the snow spirit's wish."

Dmitri's shoulders relaxed. He finally understood why Rin, upon first meeting, wasn't alarmed by his use of magic. The villagers were welcoming to sorcerers and spirits, and they've learned their lesson from their dark past. However, the villagers' uninviting impression towards foreigners worried him.

"Here, have some more fish—" she was about to feed him with a small piece of the meat.

"No, thanks! I'm full!" Dmitri cut her off with a gentle push away from her, nervously chuckling.

Dmitri stood up, slinging his satchel around his body. He headed to the door until the woman halted him. He turned around.

"Before you leave, could you take this to Rin?" Aia handed a bundle of folded light blue clothes made of silk. It looked elegantly decorated with patterns and unusually sewn stitches on the shoulders and trims.

"You know Rin?" Dmitri asked.

"Of course child," she chuckled, "everyone knows who he is. He's rather silent, but he's a good man."

After a few more exchanges, Dmitri finally headed back to the inn for the night.