The wind swept over the largest desert in the world. Along its back, it carried a tiny cluster of snowflakes around the edges of a rocky landscape, known as the Dry Valleys. The snowflakes twisted and turned, as gravity tried in vain to tug them down to the barren, thirsty region. Across Antarctica the snowflakes flew, until they reached a snow cave.

The wind narrowed, funnelling the crystallised messengers through the chambers until it reached the throne room. There sat The Lady, tall and regal, with eyes as blue as glacier, skin as black as a polar bear’s own, which contrasted with her robes and hat made from that very animal’s clear-white fur.

The snowflakes whispered into her ear. The Lady listened without a blink. When the snowflakes had finished their tale, The Lady said, “Take me.”

Her body shimmered and splintered into millions of crystallised particles. The wind caught each and every one. The air carried her for 6,965 kilometres, over the Southern Seas, until it reached Cape Town, where it set The Lady down. She strode onward, her cluster of snowflakes following in her wake.

The Lady found Vuyisa easily. She was screaming at the driver of a student shuttle bus, who was trying to explain that his vehicle could not cope in the snow.

“I can take you,” The Lady said, gesturing to a 4×4.

The bus driver blinked. He could have sworn that vehicle had not been there a moment before. But Vuyisa had no qualms. “About time. This place has become stale and boring.”

The Lady nodded, and escorted Vuyisa over to the passenger side and opened the door. But as Vuyisa stepped forward, The Lady stopped her with a finger, running it down the young woman’s cheek.

Looking deep into Vuyisa’s eyes, The Lady could see the tiny fragments of a mirror shattered long ago. A mirror that had been made by an evil spirit, meant to obscure all the good in the world, displaying only the ugly, the despicable.

“We will see if someone loves you … enough,” The Lady said.

Vuyisa snorted. “Look, I’ve got places to be.”

The Lady nodded, said “Of course,” and kissed Vuyisa on both cheeks. One kiss to freeze her spirit, so the glass could not dig any deeper. A second kiss to make Vuyisa forget her past, to now make her docile and co-operative.

With that, the pair drove off, following a trail of snowflakes.

***

Tell us: Do you think The Lady is helping, or is she up to no good?