Author: Addison Hoffstrom – First Place Senior Division 2025
Grade 10 (Gwinn High School) Sponsor: Heather Hollands
THE SONG
Years ago, a phenomenon occurred during the longest night in the City of Asteria. When the village’s candle lamps lit up the night, the people fighting to be brighter than the stars themselves, there was a small house sitting near the edge of the town closest to the forest. Separated by the river, the glass of their lamp was left unlit with the golden glow of a flame. Aera sat on her windowsill, watching the stars trip the light fantastic. She was a wonderfully beautiful girl with long white hair that curled around her in soft coils, dressed in soft silks that hugged her figure but did nothing against the cold that enveloped her.
She sat on her windowsill, forced by her father after her outburst at their nightly feast, watching the luminous moon illuminate the still fields separating her from the looming trees. Crystal-like tears beaded in her eyes, sinking into her iris coequal to the ocean’s dark waters.
“Oh, how I wished I could leave and see the other worlds,” she whispered to the sky. “But my father has forbade it. He would rather watch me get married to a man in the city than see me enjoying the magic of the creation I was born into.” A thought that sent a shudder through her spine, a coldness that had nothing to do with the frigid night. A husband meant imprisonment in a life not fit for her, a life that would send her spiraling into madness just at the mere thought. But of her father’s words, ‘A woman is nothing without a husband.’
What a horrid thing to say.
Aera wept, letting the sky around her listen to her mourning. The moon, as old and wise as the Goddesses themselves, dimmed slightly at the sound of the poor girl’s cry. ‘Why should one of the Goddesses’ creations be so melancholy?” it wondered. As Aera’s tears soaked the sleeves of her nightgown, the moon let off a wondrous glow. A sound pierced through the girl’s sorrowfulness. A song so sweet and lovely that Aera was abruptly filled with warmness as thick and smooth as fresh honey. She listened, letting the notes of the song fill her ears until the symphony of crickets and flickering lamps no longer existed. It was pulchritudinous, a hymn so gorgeous that she felt the sudden need to find the creature responsible for such a beautiful melody.
Lifting herself through her windowsill, and slinking through the long grasses, she followed the song into the endless expanse of forest.
SOFOS
Aera trekked through the underbrush and past the trees that touched the sky. She climbed over logs and waded through small creeks, determined to find the origin of the melody. She continued her step until she came across the face of a rock, jutting out from the land. Its jagged surface covered with moss and mushrooms and upon the top of it sat a spirit. The wolf spirit, Sofos, gazed at her with all-knowing eyes.
“Why do you walk alone at night, dear child?” Sofos asked.
“I’m following the song,” she replied, her fingers wrapped around her thick locks of hair as she pulled them over her shoulder. The spirit was truly a sight to behold, something so old to the world yet so new to her.
The Sofos curled their tail gray around their paws and cocked their narrow head to the side.
“What song?” Sofos asked.
“Why, the song that sounds as beautiful as the stars themselves,” she replied, a soft smile gracing her lips, feeling the hum of the song murmur in her ear.
Sofos shook their head and stood up, leaping from the top of the rock onto the soft dirt before her. “Well, I don’t hear it,” they said, turning to enter the obscured forest.
But before their paws touched the dried leaves, they stopped and turned their old eyes to Aera. “Young girls shouldn’t wander the forest at night.”
“I know,” she returned, “but I’m not afraid of the dark.”
Because she was more afraid of the life planned out for her when her feet touched the standing fields of her home once more, forever shackling her to a cage built as a home.
“No, you are not.” The spirit nodded, a single tip of his long snout.
Then Sofos turned and disappeared into the sea of trees.
MELLONTIKOS
Aera continued, following the song, feeling the warmth inside her grow the closer she got. She soon came across a lovely creek, its waters glowing a pearly hue with the moon’s light. Aera went to its shore, making her way across the creek using the mossy stepping stones peeking above the soft waves. She came across an old tree, its limbs glittering with the silk of a spiderweb, beaded with sparkling dew. In the center of the large web rested Mellontikos, the spider spirit. Their many eyes fixed upon the young girl as they twirled their body in the silks.
“What are you doing wandering the woods at night, young child?” Mellontikos asked.
“Why, I’m following the song as wonderful as the first month of spring,” Aera replied, the song flittering through her fingers like an excited hummingbird.
Mellontikos twirled in its web, polished onyx orb mirroring the moon, a stark contrast to the red hourglass that painted their back. “I don’t hear it.”
Aera felt confusion brimming in her head. She stepped closer to the web, her voice soft, “You are the second spirit I’ve met who has told me they cannot hear the melody.”
Mellontikos climbed up the web connecting the loose strands that hung freely, reaching for the grass.
“Young girls should never wander the darkest nights; it’s bad luck,” Mellontikos told her, lounging in the center of the bejeweled web, brushing off the muddled comment from the girl.
“I know,” she replied, “but I’m not afraid of bad luck. Even though it seems to be waiting for me.”
Mellontikos started making its way up into the dark hollow of the tree, blending into inky shadows before it stopped.
“You should be afraid,” they whispered, climbing into the infinite darkness. Leaving Aera alone with only her thoughts and the song that moved through the trees.
OMORFIA
Aera kept walking through the endless woods, following the pearly creek to the root of the song. Climbing down the large hills, she made her way into the sweeping forest before she stopped at a lovely large pond. Its waters were filled with wondrous lilies and long cattails that brushed the edge of the sloping shore. Its waters mirrored the stars, giving the illusion of a shard of the sky nestled between the evergreens. Floating gracefully on top of the pond, their feathers as white as freshly fallen snow, was Omorfia—the swan spirit.
“What are you doing wandering the woods at night, beautiful child?” Omorfia asked.
“Why, I’m following the song as gorgeous as the sunsets and rises,” Aera replied.
Omorfia turned their graceful neck to peer into the forest. “I don’t hear it.”
Aera felt a strike of déjà vu at the spirit’s words. How come none of them seem to hear the song yet is nothing close to a whisper? Aera felt her sense of adventure slowly start to ebb away into doubt, fearing that the song was leading her astray.
Omorfia spread their elegant wings, sending ripples through the waters as the feathers caught the light like slivers of ice.
“Young girls shouldn’t wander the woods alone,” Omorfia told Aera as they lifted themselves into the sky.
“I know,” she replied. “I’m not afraid.”
Aera pushed down the uncertainty blooming in her chest. She wasn’t going back until she found the source of the song, and even then she might lose herself to the world.
Omorfia chuckled, “You wouldn’t have come this far if you were.” Then they turned and faded away into the darkest of skies.
ETOIMOS
Aera resumed her journey listening to the sweet hymn as it got louder and louder until she found herself in a circle of dark branches. They covered the sky, blocking the moon from sight, leaving Aera utterly alone. Aera felt a twinge of fear streak through the warmth of the song. She searched around desperately for the light until her eyes landed on Etoimos, the squirrel spirit, perching himself at the end of a branch to peer down at her.
“What are you doing wandering the woods in the dark, large child?” Etoimos asked.
“Why, I was following a song as beautiful as the snow-covered pines with swooping branches. But I’m afraid that I may have lost it in the night, along with myself in the trees,” she replied, her hands worrying the silk skirt of her nightgown.
Etoimos chuckled, “You’re not lost, just follow me.” Then they bounded into the trees.
Aera raced after Etoimos, careful of the limbs of the trees reaching their clawed fingers out to snag at her curls until they reached a clearing. The moon shone down at them with the light of the many stars, a kind welcome away from the darkness.
“Thank you,” Aera said, but Etoimos was already gone.
Pushing forward, Aera felt a glow fill her and a smile part her lips as the melodic sound of the song enveloped her in its warmth. She ran, following the song farther in the grove imposing trunks of eternal trees. She moved through the smokey fog and over the dying trees, stepped through the wetness of a swamp under her feet, and toward the song. But to her dismay, the land fell from underneath her, and she tumbled down the muddied hill to the bottom, rolling into the watered-down dirt.
As she stood, the cold wrapped around her like an icy blanket, as if the warmth of her heart had vanished. Her once-white hair and creamy silks were now caked with mud and leaves, and grass stains smeared across her bodice. But as she felt the silence fill her ears, an eerie buzz in the back of her head, she realized her tepidness never vanished; it was the song. She could no longer hear its soft melody that had led her for most of her journey through the forests. The world was quiet. Aera pressed her face into her hands and wailed, her song was gone, and she was lost deep in the woods far from her home. Her wish for freedom felt fleeting as she sat in the unwelcoming mud, her hopes of escape shattered with the disappearance of her song. She couldn’t go back, not even if she sincerely wanted to return home. Home to her overbearing father and the future mapped out for her. To the open fields and the expectations of her family and friends, their ever-judgmental eyes watching her every downhearted move.
“Why are you crying child?”
Aera lifted her tear-streaked face to meet gazes with the strong bear spirit, Dynami.
“Why, it’s because I followed a song into the woods, and I can no longer hear it. I’m lost.” She replied, hopelessness burning her throat with every hurtful truth.
Dynami shook their large head. “You’re not lost. Climb upon my back, and I shall take you back to your village on the other side of this endless forest.”
A part of her wished to say no, to stay in the trees and live out the rest of her life as a wild woman. Free from the burdens and expectations forced upon her. Free from the weight of her unavoidable marriage, her independence was stripped from her like the skin of a snake. Free.
Yet she couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth, to stay seated in the mud and let the Bear spirit tread off without her.
Following the Dynami’s instructions, Aera climbed upon their broad back, and together they trekked through the woods. They passed the circle of dark evergreen, the cattails of the large pond, the tree of webs, and the face of the rock in the land. Soon, they stopped at the edge of the forest, and, ahead, in all its starlight glory, lay the City of Asteria, her home. The familiar fields of grass surrounding the town lay unmoving, their golden and green stalks reaching up to touch the sky or drooping down to caress the earth they rose from. Aera leaped off Dynami’s back and into the grass, brushing her fingertips along the soft blades.
“Good luck, child.” And with that, Dynami sauntered back into the woods.
She wished they would take her with them.
ONEIRO
Aera stood there for a moment, replaying her journey through her head. She had seen so much, yet so little, during this night. Turning her eyes back to the forest, she felt a twinge of sorrow. She didn’t want to go back to her life in the city. She didn’t want to live in a cramped house with a husband she would never truly love. She wanted to leave and wander the world for eternity.
Though, it was truly impossible. She couldn’t escape her father forever; he would surely catch her and bring her back home. Tears rolled down her cheeks as the war between head and heart nailed her feet to the ground, and she was unable to take a step back home. Oh, how she wished she had found the one who had sung her medley. The sky lit up as the sun slowly started to peek up from the trees proudly, and the gentle glow of the moon began to descend, steadily submerging itself into the ocean’s cold waters.
“Why do you just stand there?”
Aera whipped her head around to face the spirit that spoke to her. A small sparrow perched on a branch, watching her with curious eyes: Oneiro, the sparrow spirit.
“Because I’m not ready to go home, not after I’ve seen so little,” Aera replied, her voice quiet as she stared at the small bird with watery eyes, fear and worry freezing her to the spot.
Oneiro bounced on the branch, fluffing their mahogany feathers as they asked, “What is your desire, dear girl?”
Aera replied instantly, “To see the world. But my covetous father would never let me. He’d rather make me the most obedient daughter, the most obedient wife.”
“No,” Oneiro chided. “Your true desire.”
Aera pondered this for a moment, thinking of all the events of her life, all the things that brought her here to this moment, that gave her a chance for what she truly wished for in life. Wondering what could truly happen if she just…. let go.
Then, with a whisper, she responded, “To be free.”
“Then you shall,” Oneiro told her. With a small skip on the branch, Oneiro lifted into the air and glided around Aera, singing a song as sweet and fresh as honey that filled the air around them with warmth. The song that led her through the woods, through the homes of the spirits, that warmed her heart and strengthened her bones. That lifted her soul from her body and set her free.
FREED
Aera took a deep breath and freed it as she fell into the tallest of grass, allowing the earth to swallow her whole. Her breath of fresh air blew the grass around her, swirling around the village. It blew out their flames and lifted the scent of fresh flowers into the sky. And as the sun rose over Asteria, Aera’s spirit, filled with wanderlust and hope, soared through the skies. And with that, the wind was born.
