I doodled curled fractals with my staff as I paced down the northern edge of the pond. Winter was just arriving here. I tested the water but my toe did not break the mirrored surface, the water froze beneath it. I rested the rest on my foot down and the ice crawled along the shore not quite reaching the middle. It was too warm for that. I'd had my powers a long time now, at least it felt that way, but I couldn't help the sparks of joy that flickered inside me when I used them. I wasn't sure why I'd decided to come here, it was like I was forgetting something but my body had a memory of it. Then I felt it, the wind wanted to take me somewhere. At least, I thought it was the wind.

I travelled north for a time until I found myself in the shadow of a resplendent castle. The gates were wide open and people were celebrating in the streets. I flew through the courtyard lightly frosting the windows of the castle before the afternoon sun of early spring touched them. I stopped to play with some children, creating thin ice for them to snap beneath their feet but my eyes were drawn back to the castle. Normally I stayed away from big buildings, I preferred the outdoors.

Finally, I allowed the wind, and my own curiosity, to take me upwards, to the windows high above me. In each window I was afforded a brief glance before they clouded with frost. It became a game, a sort of hide and seek, until I reached the west tower. I didn't realize what I had been looking for until I saw her. I stopped the creeping frost in its tracks and peered into the room. A soft light came from the candle beside the crib, it was the only light in the room aside from the light of the setting sun.

In front of me sat a man in a rocking chair, fast asleep, snoring lightly. In his arms rested a baby no more than a couple hours old. Her eyes were wide open and I got the sense that she could see me. I felt warm inside, I hadn't felt warm in a long time. Her father stirred and I flew away, far away.

Who was that?

I mentally shook myself. I wanted to go back but I didn't. I paced back and forth on a black tree branch, considering the girl. Her eyes were familiar, yet strange. Just as I'd resolved to go back and see her once more the man in the moon spoke to me.

He didn't really speak, I simply understood with absolute certainty: I may go to her once a year, on her birthday. I have one hour. If she stops believing in me, I cannot go to her again.

It repeated inside my head as I paced away the rest of the year. I laughed, and played but she lingered in the back of my mind. Frustratingly unattainable.