AUTHOR NOTE: I do not own The 10th Kingdom. Copywrite is owned by NBC/Hallmark and Simon Moore. The name Kaguya is from Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon S: The Movie and is copywrite and owned by Toei Company, Ltd.

NOTE ON LEAVING REVIEWS: (Positive) Reviews are always welcome. I also welcome critiques so long as they're constructive. It's preferred that anyone leaving critiques have at least one story published here on the site. Anonymous reviews are not allowed.

Winds of the North
1st Place in the 10K Reflections' FanFiction Contest

Virginia let out a contented sigh and smiled as she watched her son play tag with Wolf on the front lawns of the royal castle. It had been almost three years since she and her husband had last been to New York after saving the fairy tale world from The Evil Queen, but she hardly cared. The Nine Kingdoms felt more like home to her now, and it was definitely a much nicer, and safer, environment to raise the little wolf cub in.

"Afternoon, Virginia." Wendell smiled, taking up a seat next to her on the veranda.

"Hello, Wendell."

"How's the family today?"

"Frisky like always." Virginia responded. "You know how those two can get when the full moon comes around."

"Very true." Wendell shuddered slightly at the memory of last month's moon.

He had been entertaining an A-List of important Nine Kingdom citizens when Wolf and the cub, confined to the castle due to a heavy storm, suddenly tore through the hallways with a blood-curling chorus of howls which was then followed by an unexpected 'attack' on the meeting in the study. The two had burst in with a round of deafening howls, nearly giving everyone a heart-attack, then proceeded to bolt a few laps around the room before dashing back out into the hallways and off to another part of the castle. Wendell had a lot of explaining to do to the guests after the incident.

The young King shook the memory from his mind and handed his step-sister a china tea cup. "Tea?"

"Yes, thank you." She smiled. "Is Dad still holed up in the workshop?"

"When is he not?" Wendell asked.

"Very true..."

"He's still trying to figure out why the water heater isn't working right."

Virginia turned to Wendell in a panic. "We lost heat in the castle?"

"No, only with the water. The rest of the system seems to be working fine."

She heaved a sigh of relief.

Wendell stared off towards the north as the sky began to cover with grey clouds. "...It is getting colder,...isn't it?..."

The next few days saw a steady decrease in the temperature, and the inhabitants of the castle took to spending most of their time indoors.

"I know I haven't spent a lot of time in The 4th Kingdom, Wendy," Wolf said, "Being from Riding Hood Forest and spending most of my life in prison and all, but I'm right in saying that this isn't normal for this time of year?..."

Wendell nodded, pouring over the equivalent of old farmer's almanacs. "Quite. I don't remember a spring that was this chilly."

"Is it possible that we've just hit a cold front?" Virginia asked.

Wolf stared at her quizzically, his brow knitted in confusion. "What's a cold front?"

"A block of cold weather that's just passing through...to put it simply."

"Oh."

"Could be..." Wendell said, distracted by the documents on his desk.

"Should I go tell Dad to set the heaters at full blast?"

He nodded.

"Your Majesty," Lord Rupert interrupted, bursting into the room in his routine over-dramatic fashion, "I hate to bother you, but there's a troll and three dwarves here to see you."

Everyone stared at him.

"…A troll?" Wendell blinked.

Wolf was just as surprised. "Here with dwarves?"

"What could they possibly want with me?"

"I don't know, Your Majesty," Rupert shrugged, "But they're waiting for you down in the foyer. I was afraid that if they stayed outside, they surely would have turned blue!"

Wolf lit a fire in the foyer fireplace as Virginia served hot tea to the unexpected guests.

"I'm surprised that you came all this way to see me." Wendell said, handing thick wool blankets to the misfit travelers. "What can I do for you?"

"We're freezing!" The troll shivered.

"Yes, I can see that."

"What he means," One of the dwarves said, "Is that The 3rd Kingdom is under a cold spell, as is the 9th."

Wendell shrugged, quickly making an excuse for the bizarre weather in an attempt to comfort his guests. "More than likely, it's just the remains of a passing storm from The Great Northern Sea. Hardly out of the ordinary. We're going through it ourselves."

"Our mirrors have reported that the other kingdoms are affected, too. The 1st Kingdom, warm and sunny year 'round from being so far south, is currently under three feet of snow."

Wendell blinked with a start.

"Still think it's coming from the sea?" Wolf asked him in the sarcastic tone he had perfected so well.

"We think it's the work of Kaguya, The Snow Queen." The second dwarf said.

Wendell pressed his lips together. The 8th Kingdom... The land of ice and snow... "But why have you come to me?"

"You're King Wendell." The troll shrugged. "You beat The Evil Queen."

"So you expect that I can stop The Snow Queen." Wendell stated rather than asked.

The troll thought hard on that a moment, not quite sure what he was supposed to say. "...Um...yeah?..."

Wendell sighed. I guess we're going to The 8th Kingdom.

Tony burrowed deeper into his heavy wool coat and four layers of thick clothes. He watched as the royal carriage drew closer to the ice palace of The 8th Kingdom. "It's freezing here."

Wolf rolled his eyes. "That's why this is called the land of ice and snow, Tone."

Tony muttered a smart-ass comment under his breath.

"What's this Snow Queen Kaguya like?" Virginia asked. "She isn't the same bitter Snow Queen from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, is she?"

Wendell shook his head. "No. That would have been her mother."

Virginia's eyes went wide with surprise.

"What is it with you guys and evil mothers?" Tony asked, irritated.

Wendell ignored him. "Kaguya is much nicer than her mother was, but she can have the same temper at times. She's a very private person and keeps to herself most of the time. I've never known her to cause any trouble..."

"Well, anyone who intends on burying the rest of the kingdoms in an early snow storm obviously has some problems." Tony blew into his gloved hands in an attempt to warm them.

The carriage crossed a stone bridge suspended over the castle's frozen moat.

"I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to say..." Wendell stared at the approaching gates.

"How about telling Frosty to turn off her snow machine for starters?"

"Antony, just be quiet and let me think..."

Wolf drew Virginia into his side and lovingly rubbed her arms. "(You ok?)"

"She nodded with a reassuring smile. "(Just cold.)"

The small troupe of 4th Kingdom travelers was shown through the palace to an elegant room made of crystal-like ice. The floors and pillars sparkled in the moonlight that trickled in through the high windows and danced over the gently falling snow that lightly dusted the room.

Seated at an intricately carved block of ice was the most striking woman Virginia had ever seen. She was beautiful with her white skin and her light ice-blue hair pulled back, topped by a diamond-studded crown of ice and crystal. Her silver, strapless, satin gown sparkled in sync with the falling snow. She appeared to be sleeping.

Wendell took a step towards her. "Your Highness Kaguya?..."

The Queen opened her light charcoal-grey eyes.

"Forgive me, Kaguya, but - "

"I was meditating." She said.

Her voice sounded like a flawless crystal bell, but it carried no emotion, just like her eyes.

"I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Of course not, Wendell. Who are your companions?"

"This is my step-father, Lord Antony Lewis; my step-sister, Princess Virginia Lewis; and her husband, Wolf."

"A pleasure, truly." The Snow Queen nodded. "What brings you to my palace?"

"Well,...um,...we wanted to ask you about the recent change in the weather, actually..." Wendell stuttered.

"The weather?"

"You see, it's gotten really cold around the rest of The Nine Kingdoms." Virginia suddenly explained, sweetly. "It's even snowing in some places. We were just wondering if you knew anything about it."

"Of course. I sent it."

"You sent it?" Tony gawked. "Why?"

Snow Queen Kaguya shrugged. "Why not?"

"The rest of the country is freezing, and you act like you don't care!"

"I don't."

"What do you mean?" Virginia asked, both appalled and mystified.

Kaguya's frozen composure began to crack. "You have no idea how I feel, waking up every morning to be greeted by a barren wasteland of snow and ice! The days are grey, the nights are black, and the frozen winds of the north cut into our lives relentlessly! The 8th Kingdom is trapped in an endless arctic winter! There's no warmth for us as our fires can't even cut into the cold enough to bring relief! The rest of The Nine Kingdoms bask in the heat and changing seasons while my people and I become as frozen as the land we inhabit! It's not fair!"

Wendell suddenly broke into a fit of laughter.

"This isn't funny, Wendell!" Kaguya pouted, stomping her bare foot like a child throwing a temper-tantrum.

"That's all this is about?" Wendell laughed. "Your being cold?"

Wolf lit up, suddenly realizing what Wendell was thinking. "Tony can help you with that, Queenie!"

Panic flashed in Tony's eyes. "I can?..."

A few days later, the group was back at Snow Queen Kaguya's palace with carts of supplies.

"I don't see how this will help." Kaguya pouted, still bitter.

"Don't worry." Wolf beamed. "This has done wonders for the other kingdoms."

"Wendell?"

"You have my word." He promised.

Tony examined the parts and gears scattered around him before he grabbed his tools and started into the freshly cut hole in the wall, loudly singing to himself for his own amusement. "Oooohhhhhh thuuuuuuuuhhhh weather outside is frightful, but the... ... ...cold?... is so delightful... ...la-da-duh... ... ...Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!..."

Wolf winced. "Tone, your spur-of-the-moment song choice hasn't improved any..."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Kaguya stomped her foot, glaring at him.

"Dad," Virginia said, "Do we need to remind you of the Cher cover that you did at the gypsy camp?..."

"...oh..." And Tony disappeared back into the wall.

"So this device of Lord Lewis's works?" The Snow Queen asked.

Wendell nodded, taking a sip of ice cold tea. "It's made the winter months much more tolerable. And if it's worked for us, then it'll surely work for The 8th Kingdom."

"Can Lord Lewis be trusted with a project like this? I mean...he seems to be a...how can I put this delicately?..."

"A buffoon?" Wolf offered.

"Don't worry:" Virginia smiled reassuringly, "Dad's the best man for the job; very professional."

Just then, from the hole a few rooms down, Tony let out a cry of surprise which was followed by a thud.

"I think he just slipped..." Wolf said, trying his best not to break into hysterics at his father-in-law's impeccable timing.

Konk! "OW!"

Virginia closed her eyes and grimaced in embarrassment. "And hit his head..."

Clang! -long string of obscenities-

"And dropped his tools..." Wendell choked out.

There was another loud, hilarious round of phrases from down the hall, and Wolf, Virginia, and Wendell sank in their chairs, wishing the floor would swallow them. "On his foot..."

"There." Tony said, brushing off his hands. "That should do it. Oh! Wait!"

He delivered a hard, swift kick to the machine in the wall and glared at it. "Now it's ready."

He then registered the sharp throbbing pain in his now twice-injured foot and began hopping around in pain. "(Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!...)"

Virginia and Wolf loaded the last of a giant pile of wood into the heater, lit it, then closed the door.

"You should be able to hear the heat traveling through the pipes in a few minutes." Virginia said.

Everyone was silent, listening. After a moment, a hiss crept across the walls, following the pipes.

"(It's working...)" Snow Queen Kaguya smiled in awe. She placed her hand against the wall. "...It's warm!"

"Neat, isn't it?" Wolf grinned.

Kaguya turned to Wendell. "My people won't freeze anymore. How can I ever repay you?"

"You could lift the snow curse." Wendell suggested with a smile.

"Of course."

Snow Queen Kaguya remained true to her word and lifted the winter spell from The Nine Kingdoms, restoring spring and happy spirits. She then had wood heaters installed in every home and business throughout her kingdom, and had her palace rebuilt with crystal as the walls of ice melted away. Everyone was warm and happy, and they all lived happily ever after.