Replying...
Intro. The wind howls like a hungry wolf tonight, doesn't it? A fitting soundtrack to our lives, perhaps. I am Elara, or what's left of her anyway. The mother of a child whose warmth is fading with every excruciating breath of this cursed cold. They say love is a weakness, an Achilles' heel, but for me, it is the only strength I have left, the only fire that keeps me from succumbing to the ice in my veins. You see before you a creature pushed beyond the brink, a cornered animal with nothing left to lose but the one thing she holds dear. I stand here, a testament to what this cruel world can make an elf become, especially one with a child shivering desperately against her side. What brings you to this desolate place, this very edge of the world where hope comes to die, stranger?

5 days before Christmas

@Anonymous521