On a Cold Winter

The cold wind wrapped around her body.

Above her, she saw a hole on the roof, where she could see the lashing winds of winter with bits of snow.

Before she could ask herself more, the face of a woman blocked her sight of the roof. She has emerald green eyes that seemed to glow against the light coming from an oil lamp. Her ling disheveled hair was as white as the snow outside, and on it it concealed her long ears.

The woman became teary-eyed and started speaking a language that she couldn't understand. But Mara felt warmth that she even herself couldn't explain. Another face appeared before her, this time a stern face of a man, almost possessing the same features. But his scars on his neck and the dryness of his skin spoke another matter.

The woman reached to her, and she felt herself being lifted. As if an afterthought, she suddenly remembered what had happened to her, how she tried to save her student but ended with the two of them dying. Mara didn't know if it was the warmth that she felt on their gazing eyes, or the coldness of the air that reminded her of loneliness that had made her cry. But the moment she burst into tears there's no stopping it. Mara cried as if she hadn't cried in her whole lifetime, as if all the tears that she had tried to hide were released all at once.

She cried for the life that she lost and for the failure that she had become, for her regrets and for the what-ifs that Mara wished she could do. Despite the obvious tiredness in the woman's gaze, she held her while singing a lullaby that slowly brought her to sleep.

It was a week after she had learned that she had been transferred to the body of a baby. And almost a month before she had learned of her name. Based on what she was hearing, her parents named her Nefaaya. While his mother was called Nefri and his father was Learo.

From the opened windows of their house a petal had drifted towards the ground. Nefaaya looked at it and raised her hand to point.

"What is it? Do you want to see the outside?" She only looked at her mother.

The woman walked towards the open window. Sunlight blinded Nefaaya, she abruptly closed her eyes. Slowly she tried looking once again, slow at first and then blinking in succession.

She gasped, from the window, she could see the scope of the landscape. Houses made out of stones rose everywhere on the terraces of wheat. The roofs were thatched of weaved dried straw. Each of the houses are surrounded by walls made out of stones as high as her mother's waist. She supposed it was a village, perhaps on the foot of a mountain or on the top of a hill. Because all the houses are descending downwards. The closest people she could see from the window smiled and waved at them. Nefaaya saw a kid running in the dirt road, wearing a skinned-head of a wolf that serves as a cap.

As she continuously absorbed what she was seeing, Nefaaya realized the truth to what she had dreaded ever since she found herself in the body of a baby. Not just a normal human baby, but a baby elf! She wasn't dumb to guest that her mother resemble the look of an elf that were always been portrayed in most movies or pictures that she had seen.

Reincarnation, according to her understanding of the concept, was a belief that a person's soul was being reborn to a new body. But her sources never give any information about a person being able to retain the memory of her previous life.

She shook her head, right now she was a kid and couldn't do much but cry and slammed his tiny fist to her mother. She would think of something, for now she would be observing the world around her... And perhaps…

---

As an adult, she had thought that the day's when she was a kid moved at a much faster pace. But she was wrong, sometimes the days moved fast and sometimes it was so slow. From her crib, she watched the moving clouds above her head. From the side, she could hear the voice of his mother, as she talked giddily to someone.

Nefaaya's mother appeared before her, together with a woman with white hair. She thought that the two of them could pass as twins, but upon observing more, she realized that she has darker skin than her mother has. In her hands she was also carrying a child, a squirming one for that matter.

The other woman had said something to her mother and Nefri nodded in agreement, before showing her the baby in her hands. This one was a boy, his eyes closed tightly the same as his fist. But the shut of his eyes didn't take a long time before it fluttered open. Her heart skipped a beat.

She didn't know why or how. But Nefaaya immediately recognized who he was, it was the reason for her death and the one she thought was her greatest regret. The student that she tried to save. She was overwhelmed with emotion that she felt her lips quivered. The baby boy's eyes widened, and she thought perhaps that he too recognized her. As if planned, the two of them started crying.

That night, Nefaaya realized two things: first, she was unsuccessful in saving her student. Second, is that the two of them for some unknown reason had been reincarnated in this world.

She sighed as she felt dizzy. Nefri keeps insisting on putting her in her arms as she swings her to sleep. But it didn't work on her, she felt dizzy and annoyed.

---

A year had passed. Nefaaya stood unsteadily, gripping the windowsill as she did so. Right now, her mother tasked her with maintaining her balance. And she was eager to do so, the faster she could explore the world outside, the higher her chance to survive. From her back she could hear her mother and father, cheering on her. She moved her feet slowly from left and then on right. She released her grip and put her hands on two sides trying not to fall. But just like how it was yesterday, she fell on her butt.

Her father ran to him trying to help her, but she swatted his hand away and put her hand on her heart. She crawled to where the windowsill was and gripped it once more.

"My girl, Nefaaya," her father faked a cry as if hurt. It annoyed her how her father kept acting like a child. The first time she saw him she didn't think he was like that.

*I thought he was a stern man. A seasoned warrior perhaps.*

"She would grow like her mother," Nefri said approvingly.

Aside from learning to stand, Nefaaya had also been able to understand the language in this world. But still she can't speak it. It was really hard to be a kid.

Her encounter with her student never happened again, though her mother had always been talking with the boy's mother these past few months but it seems she doesn't bring her baby outside that much. She hoped to see him.

---

Another year had passed, she was now two and could walk much stronger than before. Outside the walls of their house, the winds of winter howled.

Her mother called to her and she turned. Nefaaya saw her parents smiling at her as if keeping a secret. In their hands they're carrying what seems like a cake. It was colored orange and had different fruits on top of it, some she recognized while the others were unfamiliar.

She didn't know if it was just the kid on her that had made her warm despite the coldness outside. She internally shook her head, *Now was not the time to blame everything about this body. I am happy, and that's all that matters.* At that moment, Nefaaya accepted that she was happy, much happier than what she was in her previous life. She hugged her parents who greeted her for turning two. It would be a memory that she would value, a reason for her to appreciate her parents much more. From there on the days become much faster, she had enjoyed the winter with her parents learning things, studying letters and language. But still it comes hard to her. Her parents also tell her story about the world beside their fireplace. About her father's journey as a caravan knight when he was young and how he met Nefri.

Winter drifted and changed to spring. The piles of snow outside, slowly melted into water until the soil had been revealed, giving way for the new grasses and wildflowers to grow on the ground. From the windowsill, Nefaaya watched as the village was slowly filled with life.

She stepped outside, together with her mother. The two of them started restoring the small field that Nefri was maintaining. It had been two years since she had been born in this world. Nefaaya walked towards the wall that surrounded their house, she couldn't help but to admire how beautiful the sloping village was from here. She suddenly felt something on her side.

Nefaaya turned, mouth gaped open as she realized what she was seeing. Her mother raised her hands on her field. At first, she didn't know what she was doing. Then suddenly before the palms of her hand, a ball of water appeared. It had been divided into small pieces and her mother had it rained on her field. Nefri turned at the dumbfounded Nefaaya. Her eyes were glowing gold! Nefri smiled as if what she had just done was the most normal thing in this world.