The Name of Winter

Ansel Carpenter |

12/22/2007 - 12/23/07

Second Place (tie), teen stories
Ansel Carpenter blends fiction, fantasy and history to create a distinct moment in a universe far from — but not entirely unlike — our own. His hero, Soyal (who bears the name of the winter solstice ceremony of the Hopi) must search within himself to find reason to believe he and his people will survive the frigid weather that engulfs them.

'You, who dwell in the halls of the ancestors, come to us in our hour of need and grant sustenance through the longest night." The chanting voices grew stronger as more joined in on the chant.

"Let famine and death fall back in the light of the flame." The chant had reached a low monotone. Each threw his or her offerings into the fire as the night grew colder and colder. "And guide us through the winter," it finished.

Smoke suddenly curled up into the starlit sky, blending with the blackness of winter's first night. A collective sigh came from the ragged group. It was done; they were safe from the terrors of this winter.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind sailed out of the night, blowing lit coals over the surrounding grasslands. The dry winter grass immediately caught fire. The wind continued, sending tents flying, furs sailing into the mountains and flames into the surrounding fields. Yet the wind was not completely malevolent — it lifted the sand into the air, sending it into the midst of the flames.

By now a few people had dumped small buckets of water over the fire, but most had just stayed sitting on the benches. They knew what was happening and that they should not stop it. In almost all years past, this had happened. One year it had not and that had been the most terrible of all winters. By letting the elements ravage the surrounding land, they were protected against winter's cold onslaught.

The ancestors had given them this gift so that their society could live on. The gift was also a curse; though it shielded them from the season's weather, it destroyed their precious fields and sometimes even got to their dwellings or livestock.

A boy thought about this as he gazed at the now-marred night sky. This day marking the season of ice was also marking the day of his birth; that is why he had been named after it. Whether this was a good omen or a foreboding one he was not sure, but it was his name and he could do nothing to change it.

One of the elders hobbled over to him. "How goes your birthday, child of the longest night?" Ugh. He hated it when they called him that, which was all the time.

"Fine," he said forcing a smile onto his darkened face. He let his long, dirt-brown hair hang over his eyes so the elder could not see the hate in their agate surfaces. "It has been most eventful, like always." He willed his voice to not sound strained.

"Good, good," the elder said absent-mindedly. He slowly got off the old wooden bench. "I'm going to complete the health ritual." And with that brief statement, the elder waddled away, leaving the smell of old cloth in his wake.

"How ya holding up?" asked a new voice. He turned around. There walking toward him, a pleased look in her forest-green eyes, was his long-time best friend, Kaia. She let out a tinkling laugh as she saw the sur-
prise in his eyes. "Hey, So," she said, her eyes still laughing, "didn't expect to see me back so soon, eh?"

"No," he replied honestly "I didn't know you were coming back for another few months. I thought you guys were going to stay in wet ridge until spring."

"Yep," she said merrily. "I convinced my parents to come back for your birthday." Just after she finished that last word a freezing gust of wind shot down from the heavens, bombarding them all with frigid power.

Kaia dove under the bench while he huddled further into his blankets. Another gust ripped across the ground; this time it had an edge of snow. Again and again the winds whipped across the ground, more and more snow followed in their wake. Soon the ground was covered in a light dusting of snow.

Soyal poked his head out from the thick wool blanket. Kaia crawled out from under the bench, shaking the already-melting snow from her clothes and hair. Villagers were all getting up from their hiding places. The freak snowstorm had taken everyone by surprise.

A village elder ran over to them and ushered them inside, saying, "Hurry, before storm another hits." The elders quickly prayed to the gods, then they set their eyes to the mortal. "Now," said the elder who had taken them in, "is everyone here?" After a few seconds there was a nodding of heads as everyone looked for everyone else. "Good. Then we shall find out who is responsible for this."

A murmur went up from the crowd. Responsible? This was just a freak accident; no human being could have done this. As if reading their thoughts, the elder said impatiently, "Someone must have done something to displease the gods." As if to affirm what he had just said, an awesome blast of wind smashed into the structure. The elders deliberated for a few minutes and then came back to the raised platform. The head man raised his hand dramatically. In a voice too deep for one his age, he pointed at Soyal and Kaia and said, "They did it."

"What?" Soyal said indignantly. "How is this our doing? Kaia just got back so she couldn't have, and it's my birth ceremony today. Why would I want to sabotage that?" His breathing had become hard and labored. His chest rose up and down while his heart beat against his breast as if to get free. "How can you accuse us of causing the weather to drastically change?"

"Quiet, boy." The elder spat out the last word with contempt. "You have no right to speak at this time. As a punishment we have decided that you and the girl must repair the damage you have wrought. And you, child, must renounce your name."

"What?" Soyal asked, stunned. Give up his name? How could he do that? The elders themselves had said that names are hallowed gifts. "Renounce my name? Why. What purpose would that serve?"

"It would mean that you would no longer be named after this day, so you could not be sacredly joined to it — which we believe is the reason you had the ability inflict this on us."

Soyal was then roughly pushed out of the tent into the winds. A few moments later, he saw Kaia shoved out in much the same manner. He stomped furiously over to a snow pile and kicked it as hard as he could. The white powder was flung into the air and then harshly flung back into his face by the gusts.

As the snow landed on his clothes, face and hair, he noticed something previously buried in the snow — the remnants of the fire. As he looked into its sooty remains, he remembered that long ago, before his parents had died, his mother had told him why the winter solstice — and thus his name, the one he defiantly would not give up — was good, not evil. It was, she had said, the turning of all life...