A/N: Dear friends, here is a new story for a new year. Many thanks to ChelsieSouloftheAbbey, who read early drafts of this and encouraged me to continue.

The main theme of this story is inspired by a tale from Greek mythology, supplemented with details from another. I found as I was outlining that the ancient stories would provide merely the frame for this fic; after all, the major inspiration behind everything I've posted here is from Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey and my own wild imagination. Suffice it to say this story is very, very AU.

I intend to provide a listing of everyone involved in this story and their mythological counterpart (if they have one) at the end of the story. I didn't want to clutter up the beginning. Also, I think it's more fun to let the readers guess who people are.

On a personal note, the style of writing in this story is much closer to what I have written in the past, before the discovery of DA fanfiction. If I were either of the Carsons, it would be either a set of keys or a decanter. Please give reviews and feedback, but be gentle; this is dear to my heart.

You can now find me on Tumblr, as BelovedRival. I appreciate any and all reblogs and reviews.

This first chapter is a prologue. The musical inspiration is "Before Time", from Thomas Bergersen's album Sun.

Happy 2016! Chelsie on!

-meetmeinstlouie

In a village in the north, there grows a flower. The rarest of plants, it blooms after the first snow. It brings color throughout the cold days when everything else is white. When the first sign of green appears in spring, it fades.

Not even the wise can say why.

No one seems to know when it first appeared in the village. But if you ask the people there, they will tell you a very old story.

They say it is true.

They say when the world was young, there was no winter. In the spring, the earth burst forth with life; in summer, all things grew; and then in autumn, the leaves fell and all living things rested before they woke again in spring.

The first year that winter appeared, it was unforeseen. The cold and snow were harsh. Nothing grew.

The people were relieved when spring came again. From then on, the four seasons passed in a regular cycle.

It was some years after winter first arrived that the flower began to bud. It appeared after the first snowfall, dazzling the village with its beauty during the bleakness of the season.

And so it has ever been, down to this day.

Scholars and skeptics say the winter and summer, the flowers that bloom in spring and those in the autumn, can all be explained by natural causes. They say the winter flower is no different.

But when the thunder shakes the ground in summer, and when the first frost appears, people remember. When the earth sprouts a panoply of color in springtime or there is a bountiful harvest, storytellers sit under the stars or by their fires and relive the tale again.

As the world gets older, fewer and fewer people believe it. But even if no one alive will listen, still the winter will come, and the flower will bloom.

I will tell you, and you may decide if you believe it or not.

This is the story of the flower, and of the love that brought it to life.

This is how winter came to be.