Magdala Ostrovek, known as Mima to her childhood friends, had always felt a certain affinity for the chill climes of her homeland. Visitors would come and go, complaining of the bitter cold and the winds that howled like wolves throughout the night. But to Mima, these were comforting things.[1a]
It was on a particularly cold night, the air thick with hoarfrost and breath of man and animal alike freezing as they breathed, that Magdala left her village of Vostoya and ventured deep into the woods. To this day, she cannot fully explain why she chose this night. Or why she felt compelled to wander into the woods with naught but a cotton shift to keep her safe.[1a]
It was as if Magdala and the bitter chill had reached some sort of pact. A mutual respect for each other; she a respect for the fearsome cold and the power it held over life and death, the cold a respect for Magdala's purpose and destiny. For it was on this night that Magdala Ostrovek found the carved ice hut of Babya Yigg, the Witch of the Woods that struck fear into the hearts of the townfolk.[1a]
But no such fear touched Magdala's heart. As she approached, Babya Yigg greeted her at the door and draped a thick ice bear’s fur across the young girl’s shoulders.[1a]
"I have been waiting for you," the old witch said, a smile cracking her withered face. Magdala remembers that Babya had the most amazing, most intense eyes. As if hewn from a piece of the purest, coldest ice.[1a]
The eyes, that smile, the comforting embrace and warm furs. All these things told Magdala that she had truly found her home. Vostoya was already a fading memory, a place she once knew. This place is where she would learn, grow and truly live, for the first time in her life.[1a]