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Snow had come to the Naakiwan Downs. The moors outside were covered in a thick sheet of sparkly white that went as far as the eye could see. While they would soon have to go and help Olruggio with his work, for now they had time to play in it. Or at least, they had hoped they could play in it. It quickly became apparent that the snow was too soft to do much with. It was much too powdery to roll up in a ball, or make a fort out of. You could make proper packing snow with magic, of course, but that felt like it would be cheating with the natural stuff on the ground.
The weather wasn't too cold though, considering, and the snow made for a nice change of scenery. They still stood outside, basking in its beauty.
"Even if it's not very good for playing in, it's still nice to look at," said Coco.
"Snow's so glittery.” Richeh sighed wistfully. “It should be on the ground all the time.”
It was all right for a couple months, but Agott would never want it to be on the ground all the time. It was deep enough that it was hard to walk through. The prettiness of it quickly went away as time went along and more and more footprints began to mess it up. And when it started to melt, it would quickly become ugly gray slush that turned everything muddy.
Agott wasn't the biggest fan of snow.
"It's all right," said Tetia. "We can't play with it, but we can still enjoy it in other ways. For example, it's always fun to eat snow, isn't it?" Hands covered with gloves, Tetia reached down and picked up a chunk of snow. Right in her mouth it went.
"You're right!" said Coco. "There's something about snow that makes it taste good, isn't there? It's just crushed up ice when you think about it, but there's something special to it!"
Was there really? She had never thought to try snow before. Was it okay to eat? As long as you didn't take from a bit that was directly touching dirt, she supposed. It was just frozen rain, after all. Agott took a bit off the top to try herself. A burst of cold crystals quickly melted in her mouth. The texture was softer than ice, she supposed. You didn't have to chew it. She was starting to get a bit cold standing out here though, and eating something that was cold was not helping.
"I don't think it tastes like anything special," was Agott's review. "I mean, it's just frozen water. And water doesn't taste like anything."
"Water does have a flavor," said Richeh. "It like. It tastes like... Not snow."
"I agree," said Coco. She looked at the clumps of it in her hands, which were melting slightly. "It tastes different than water. It has a sharper taste... Maybe it's just because of the texture. Even with magic, it's hard to get ice to be this fine, isn't it?"
Agott wished that she could understand.
"Maybe the sky flavors it…" said Richeh, looking up.
"The sky wouldn't flavor it, though. No more than it flavors rain," Agott pointed out.
"But rain tastes different than groundwater, doesn't it?" said Tetia.
What?
"Yes!" Coco nodded. "I know what you mean. It's like… You know, it tastes like rain! Snow is just frozen rain, right? Maybe that's why it tastes different."
What were they talking about? Rainwater was just groundwater, though, just before it hit the ground. If anything, it would have less taste, being flavored just by clouds instead of dirt and fish. Before she could say this though, a professor came to interrupt them.
"This is a way you can make snow even more flavorful, if you want to," said Professor Olruggio. He had finished clearing a pathway in front of the atelier with magic so it would be easier to get around.
"You can cook with it?" asked Richeh.
"Something like that... It's not very complicated to do, so I don't know if I would call it cooking... I grew up in a town up north, called Ghodrey.” Agott already knew this, and she thought Richeh and Tetia did too. He was probably talking to Coco. “Sometimes it felt like it was always snowing there, in winter… This is a treat we often had there."
"Why would you ever want to eat something cold when it's cold outside?" asked Agott. "Cold weather should be for warm food."
“Snow only shows up when it's cold though,” said Olruggio. “At least in its natural form.”
Together, they scooped some of the snow into a bucket, which was then taken inside the atelier and scooped into smaller bowls., where it turned out the way to make snow more flavorful was just to put something more flavorful on it. Agott could see why Olruggio was hesitant to call this 'cooking'.
His first example was honeytree nectar, which was drizzled onto it. The snow didn't sparkle as much inside as it did outside, but the nectar still gave it a nice, golden color, and the cold of snow made it freeze up a bit, making it even stickier than usual.
"It's good! You wouldn't expect a bit of honeytree nectar to make snow so good, but it really changes it up!" said Tetia.
The problem with this dish, Agott found, was that the nectar really only flavored the top of the snow. The inside was still plain. She scooped some honeytree nectar off of the side and shoved it in the inside to spread the flavor around a bit more.
"Does it have to be honeytree nectar?" asked Coco.
"You can pour whatever you want on it. Honeytree nectar is just traditional, and it's a personal favorite of mine," said Olruggio. "We could make some fruit juice too, that you girls can try, if you want to. Sweetened milk is another popular one."
"Richeh wants to try something that's a pretty colors!" said Richeh. "Like thorne tea, or fairy tea.”
“Let's go for fairy tea,” said Olruggio. “The blue will look better than the red.”
And so, some bookmark tea was quickly brewed up, and then cooled down with magic so it wouldn't immediately melt the snow.
The tea poured over the snow did make it a pretty, light blue. Unlike the honeytree nectar, it settled deeper into the snow. Even a few scoops in, it was still a brilliant red. When eaten, it still tasted just like tea and snow, and the tea still didn't permeate the center of the snow. Agott preferred the honeytree nectar snow. At least it was sweet. Richeh still ate it anyway.
"Ice cream and custard have more flavor," said Tetia, "but this looks prettier I think."
"It's easier to make than those, too,” said Coco,
"If it's a snowy day," said Agott.
"That's part of what makes it special, though!" Coco said with a smile. "I want to try more things. You said sweetened milk would work, Professor Olruggio? "
"Do you think it would taste good savory? Like with broth?" Richeh said.
Olruggio blinked. “Uh.”
"Soup's supposed to be warm," said Agott.
"Professor Qifrey made us that cold soup once,” Tetia pointed out. “With the shorecumbers."
"That was milky though. It didn't have broth. It wouldn't look pretty, either."
“It might taste good though!” said Richeh. “Like meat snow!”
"There's no harm in trying it!” said Coco.
“Yeah! I'll cool down some soup.” Richeh headed towards the
"All right, calm down," said Olruggio, who even if he didn't outright say it, seemed to agree that putting broth over the ice was a ridiculous idea. “You can try it, but don't put too much on it at first, in case you don't like it.
Agott's ateliermates were insane. It would just taste like cold broth. What was the point? Would the texture really make that much of a difference? She doubted it.
"Would you rather have some tea instead, Agott? Warm, of course. "
Professor Qifrey appeared. He had abstained from the flavored snow until now, busy working on lesson plans instead.
"Do you want to try some now, Professor Qifrey?” asked Tetia. “It's really good!" Qif
"I don't like eating snow myself. It's pretty to look at, but the coldness of it hurts my mouth. Besides, if you must eat something cold, it's best to do it when it's warm out."
Finally, someone who understood! Agott nodded. “I'll have some warm tea, please.”