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Melody huffed at the sight outside. The little Freshling curled herself into the reading nook which was indented into the wall where her window was fixed in her room. Normally pillows, stuffies, and a few select books lined the windowsill, but for winter they were placed away so they would not get ruined by condensation. This was just another good thing winter had taken away. The sight outside really was a sorry one indeed. Freezing rain plonked on the window pane and if one were to look beyond into the yard they would see a slop of slush and snow far too wet and cold to play in. Not that Melody wanted to play in the snow, but the fact that it wasn't an option bothered her. It couldn't be spring soon enough thought the Dryaid pulling her blanket further over her shoulders and shuttering into it.

This winter wasn't especially cold or dark, but it didn't need to be an especially dreadful one to make Melody feel as if it would never end. She had been cooped up inside all season and was itching to go outside and play, but she dare not even do so even in these transitional weeks between winter and spring despite what the calender might have said a few days a go. "First day of spring my butt." She mumbled into her blanket. When she had first heard it was going to be spring a week ago she had imagined the sun on the morning of the first day rising into the sky over the tree lining. That it would shine so brightly and with such warmth that all the snow and wetness would be evaporated away and with it the plants would suddenly bloom in their place. Butterflies and bees would line each flower and flutter about about signify the final changing of the seasons with their sudden new appearance. To put it plainly the day was a complete disappointment. Her expectations were crush when it had been just as cold and wet as any other day before it. That day she had learned the bitter truth about nature with a some explanation from her teacher. "Nature doesn't work that fast, it takes time for plants to grow, and for snow to melt, but with a little more paitents soon enough you'll get that spring you had been thinking of." Paitence was a hard lesson to learn.

Tired of the dank gloomy scene outside her bedroom window, and possibly getting too child from the draft wafting from the window, Melody kicked of the ledge and tottled towards her arts and crafts table. She pulled out a carefully selected piece of white paper as straight and flawless as she could find making sure the corners were not bent, and that the page had not been wrinkled. Satisfied Melody began working feverently on something she would far rather see when looking out her window pane. It had taken hours maybe eve afternoon, it was hard to tell when the light from outside was a constant dull gray, but the project had kept her intensely busy at her table. By the time she was finished Melody must have rubbed down at least three different crayons to their nubs, but the price was worth the cost and she was satisfied with her work.

Like assembling pieces of a puzzle Melody placed her drawings on the floor making sure each one of them were in their right place before taping the whole thing together into one large collage. She had seen her teachers at the academy do this once before, taping a whole bunch of pictures into one for a joint class assignment. Each student in her class was responsible for one piece of a larger picture and when everyone was done we put them together and made a huge mural that was hung outside the classroom for the whole school to see. What she was doing now wasn't quite as large, but big enough for her purposes. Carefully as to not rip her newly made poster from mishandling the Dryad with a bit of effort on her part and some tape climbed up onto the reading nooks ledge and taped the large drawing to the window frame's sides. Once the corners of the poster was secure to the window frame, and that no spot in-between threaten the integrity of the tapes hold onto the wood Melody slide down and took a step back to witness her handiwork.

Although the light peering through the window and the paper from outside was a greyish blue tint from the sky Melody was marveled at her own work. Looking from the bottom up the flowers gave way to bushes, then trees, to an open field of baby blue sky where bees and butterflies flew in harmony. As proud as she was with the details of the white and fluffy bunny like clouds she was prouder yet of the most prominent and eye-catching part of the picture. Taking up several pages was a large beating yellow sun that radiated over the entire scene and was she missed most about spring and she couldn't wait to feel that warm sunlight on her skin when it was finally like what was in her picture outside. Content with her work the Dryad smiled to herself before running downstairs to find her bumbling Fay friend to show them her artwork.

Spring was finally, FINALLY, FINALLY here! Somehow, Maedra couldn't quite shout it out loud enough to be satisfied, though her teachers told her she needed to take the screaming outside, instead of doing it in the classroom, her face planted firmly against the window as she tried to phase through it to get outside instead of using the door like a normal person would. Or a dryad who couldn't phase through walls could. Either way, she practically had to be dragged out of the classroom since she had apparently forgotten that doors existed, and when she was finally outside she had run around screaming like crazy.

Sure, it was still early spring, which meant some more cold weather, but at this point it was more cold rain than snow. Something she much more preferred compared to the harsh and unrelenting cold that practically made her shut down in winter.

In winter it had been harder for her teachers to keep her in the classroom, as she either tried to escape to the on-campus greenhouse or threw a tantrum when she couldn't take over the heater. She even tried to argue with her teachers that they should turn the heat up! They had to stop her when they told her it wasn't up to them it was up to the headmaster and she had turned her feet and started stomping toward it.

So, the fact that it was now spring was a huge relief to any of the teachers that had her as a student. But the one who was the happiest was of course, Maedra. And she used her lungs and all of her little freshling energy to make the most out of it! And luckily today, it was not cloudy and warm! Or at least it was nice as it could be out when there was only Twilight. It was something that was hard to find since wind chill still existed for now.

She had immediately run a few circles around the playground, before taking a nice tumble in the grass. Her next goal was to have her friends enjoy the nice weather as much as possible, and she managed to round up half the freshlings for a round of freeze tag. Freeze tag usually involving a lot of physical activity however, managed to use up half of the time they had for recess, and most of the other freshling that had joined were now quite tuckered out. Maedra wasn't though. This was just the beginning!

She then managed to wrangle up some others to play a game on the jungle gym, and then take turns sliding. When she was waiting for her turn at one point, some of her other friends had managed to find a patch of dandelions in the clearly-not-weeded-yet grass of the academy, and for a while they had fun making some flower crowns/tiaras and bracelets. Dandelions were such a nice yellow color!

Unfortunately, the time to be outside was soon up, and they were all forced to go inside, though the teacher had to literally drag Maedra back in, as she got more energy from outside rather than losing any it seemed! She looked sadly at the playground and grass and trees and weeds that she had to take a break from playing on, with, and in as she was carried through the door. I'll be outside soon again, I promise. She thought to herself as the door closed behind, blocking her from the outside once again, and leaving her to only look out through the classroom window, which the teacher had to tell her to stop doing several times.