Post by ruby on Jan 23, 2018 3:23:24 GMT
Long ago, before Icecrafters were Icecrafters, there lived the first Queen of the mountain-dwellers - Queen Snow. Queen Snow was young, taking the throne due to her parents' passing far too early, and renowned throughout her kingdom for her beauty and endurance.
Even among the commoners who rarely saw her, they spoke of her beauty, unparalleled even by the freshly fallen snowflakes from which she took her name. She was a legend even in life, all looked up to her and tried to follow her example. Smiling in the face of hardship, surviving despite the odds.
The stories they told of her became more and more unrealistic the further they traveled, eventually reaching towns she had never been to, and one individual in particular - a cat called Ice, who worked to make everyone's lives a little brighter with his sculptures made from ice.
When stories of her beauty reached him, he could not believe there was a cat alive so beautiful as the tales they told made her sound. He took each detail they described and crafted from ice a perfect replica, and with it in tow began making his way to where Queen Snow resided.
He left the sculpture of her face outside the palace with a note, stating that he had made the Queen's likeness based solely on tales others had told of her beauty and excellence.
He hid, then, watching to see if the Queen would come to fetch the sculpture herself.
She did not, and instead it was retrieved by a guard who returned to his post.
Wanting to see the Queen's face and knowing he would never be able to as a mere commoner, he continued to craft beautiful things from the ice. Things he thought were equal to her beauty, each with a note telling how he came to decide upon the subject of this craft.
He became a legend in his own right, known only as the Icecrafter for what he did - nobody knew his name, or where he had come from, only that he was a talented crafter and skilled enough with words that rumors spread of what the Queen thought of his work.
In truth, the Queen came out to the palace steps each day, surrounded by guards that made it so that the Icecrafter could not see her beauty, and spoke of her thoughts, and how she hoped the Icecrafter could hear them. She complimented the work he did, but stated that no cat alive could be as beautiful as the one he had portrayed her as in that first sculpture.
A year and a day passed, each with a new gift to the Queen from the Icecrafter.
On day that marked a year having passed, the Icecrafter wrote a different note than the ones he had before. A note solely for the Queen's eyes to read, confessing that he felt something for the Queen but that it never could be.
The next day, the Queen's response was written on the back of his own, not seen by even her guards, and delivered in a box crafted from ice, asking him why it could not and to meet her in the ice garden - the place where each thing he had crafted her was kept - in the middle of the night if he had an answer.
That night, he made his way to the ice garden, hiding where he knew he would not be seen.
"Tell me, Icecrafter," came the Queen's voice. "Why can this not be?"
"I know nothing about you, beyond your voice and tales of your beauty," said the Icecrafter in return.
"You know more of me than any I consider my friends," the Queen said simply. "That I prefer the moon and stars of night to the blinding sun of day."
"And yet I have never seen your face."
"Step forward, then, Icecrafter. Show me your face and you shall see my own."
They stepped forward at the same time, movements a mirror of one another.
Tired eyes met tired eyes, and curious gaze met curious gaze.
The Queen was beautiful, the Icecrafter realized, and he understood the descriptions everyone who met her gave in that moment.
The Icecrafter was beautiful, the Queen realized, and she saw in his face a mirror of her own - survivors of hardship, faces who had endured pain and suffering to reach where they stood.
"I see," said the Queen, for face-to-face with the commoner - Icecrafter though he was - she didn't need to ask his reasons any longer.
"It's as clear as the night sky," the Icecrafter agreed.
"You'll move into the palace immediately."
"I understand, I'll leave the city immedia-" the Icecrafter froze.
He wasn't being banished?
"Clearly, destiny was what led you here. You and I, we are meant to be. In your eyes I see my own past. We aren't meant to suffer alone, Icecrafter."
"I... Ice," was all he could say. "It's just Ice."
"Take whatever name you choose, but I think it suits you."
The wedding took place after another year, and they became known as King Ice Icecrafter and Queen Snow Icecrafter. There, they exchanged crowns they each had crafted for the other to wear.
And that is how the Icecrafters received their name.
Even among the commoners who rarely saw her, they spoke of her beauty, unparalleled even by the freshly fallen snowflakes from which she took her name. She was a legend even in life, all looked up to her and tried to follow her example. Smiling in the face of hardship, surviving despite the odds.
The stories they told of her became more and more unrealistic the further they traveled, eventually reaching towns she had never been to, and one individual in particular - a cat called Ice, who worked to make everyone's lives a little brighter with his sculptures made from ice.
When stories of her beauty reached him, he could not believe there was a cat alive so beautiful as the tales they told made her sound. He took each detail they described and crafted from ice a perfect replica, and with it in tow began making his way to where Queen Snow resided.
He left the sculpture of her face outside the palace with a note, stating that he had made the Queen's likeness based solely on tales others had told of her beauty and excellence.
He hid, then, watching to see if the Queen would come to fetch the sculpture herself.
She did not, and instead it was retrieved by a guard who returned to his post.
Wanting to see the Queen's face and knowing he would never be able to as a mere commoner, he continued to craft beautiful things from the ice. Things he thought were equal to her beauty, each with a note telling how he came to decide upon the subject of this craft.
He became a legend in his own right, known only as the Icecrafter for what he did - nobody knew his name, or where he had come from, only that he was a talented crafter and skilled enough with words that rumors spread of what the Queen thought of his work.
In truth, the Queen came out to the palace steps each day, surrounded by guards that made it so that the Icecrafter could not see her beauty, and spoke of her thoughts, and how she hoped the Icecrafter could hear them. She complimented the work he did, but stated that no cat alive could be as beautiful as the one he had portrayed her as in that first sculpture.
A year and a day passed, each with a new gift to the Queen from the Icecrafter.
On day that marked a year having passed, the Icecrafter wrote a different note than the ones he had before. A note solely for the Queen's eyes to read, confessing that he felt something for the Queen but that it never could be.
The next day, the Queen's response was written on the back of his own, not seen by even her guards, and delivered in a box crafted from ice, asking him why it could not and to meet her in the ice garden - the place where each thing he had crafted her was kept - in the middle of the night if he had an answer.
That night, he made his way to the ice garden, hiding where he knew he would not be seen.
"Tell me, Icecrafter," came the Queen's voice. "Why can this not be?"
"I know nothing about you, beyond your voice and tales of your beauty," said the Icecrafter in return.
"You know more of me than any I consider my friends," the Queen said simply. "That I prefer the moon and stars of night to the blinding sun of day."
"And yet I have never seen your face."
"Step forward, then, Icecrafter. Show me your face and you shall see my own."
They stepped forward at the same time, movements a mirror of one another.
Tired eyes met tired eyes, and curious gaze met curious gaze.
The Queen was beautiful, the Icecrafter realized, and he understood the descriptions everyone who met her gave in that moment.
The Icecrafter was beautiful, the Queen realized, and she saw in his face a mirror of her own - survivors of hardship, faces who had endured pain and suffering to reach where they stood.
"I see," said the Queen, for face-to-face with the commoner - Icecrafter though he was - she didn't need to ask his reasons any longer.
"It's as clear as the night sky," the Icecrafter agreed.
"You'll move into the palace immediately."
"I understand, I'll leave the city immedia-" the Icecrafter froze.
He wasn't being banished?
"Clearly, destiny was what led you here. You and I, we are meant to be. In your eyes I see my own past. We aren't meant to suffer alone, Icecrafter."
"I... Ice," was all he could say. "It's just Ice."
"Take whatever name you choose, but I think it suits you."
The wedding took place after another year, and they became known as King Ice Icecrafter and Queen Snow Icecrafter. There, they exchanged crowns they each had crafted for the other to wear.
And that is how the Icecrafters received their name.
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