The Winter was long and cold. Oh, Vis could have done something about it quickly enough, after all, it was a simple matter to reignite the Phoenix for the goddess of fire and lust. But Vis was unworried. Because one race was unaffected by the winter. The Akanren had little to fear from the cold, at least the non-Twisted. The fires of magic within them meant that no matter the conditions in which they found themselves, tree hut or skin yurt, the cold never cut through them, never bothered them. So as the other mortal races bundled up, the Akanren walked around in the slant clothing they always wore, with the mist of evaporating water rising up off them.

If the bondmate of the Akanren had been generous with fire stones and with sex, perhaps she would melt the snow around the village for a day or two, or keep their hut warm as the summer, no matter the storm outside. But as always, the Akanren cared truly for the,selves most of all, and the Winter gave them another bargaining tool to solidify their power. After all, who dared to talk down to the daughters of Vis when at any moment, the fire that kept them from expiring might mysteriously go out, unable to be relit. After all, the Akanren knew, accidents happened all the time.

It would also be during this Winter that Vis would visit her daughters. She would appear in the fires, unseen by whatever race the Akanren would be living among, and speak to them, of the passion in their blood, of the fire within them, and they in turn would speak to her of the places and people and gods that they had seen. And so Vis learned much of the world, and much of its gods. And she promised the Akanren that soon enough, they would receive more gifts from her, that theirs was a beautiful existence, and that they were blessed.