Winter changed and stayed the same...

There were no elves that winter. The cold and darkness usually brought the, but this year...nothing. The lake stood frozen and still, white with snow that ever seemed to melt, the banks caked a virgin white. And it remained that way. No midwinter warming, no thaw/freeze cycle to trouble winter's progressive consuming of the world about them. Just wind and cold and snow. More snow. And finally, spring came. Or it should have, but the village never thawed. It remained in perpetual winter for all years to come. Sadly...coldly...the little winter elves were never seen again.