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Disagreements.

The four were sat around a great stone table with a neat circle cut from the middle. None of them spoke but all of them looked toward the centre, at the orb that hung there. To the untrained eye it would look like nothing but a glass sphere suspended using fishing wire or something likened to it - but the trained eye, the eye that was well-versed in the ways of the four, would know that when they looked upon their floating orb they could see all manner of beautiful things. Perhaps, things more beautiful than the imagination could even think of – for them, at least, the beauty was eternal. Others may think differently but they were no more concerned with the thoughts of others than they were with the state of life on mars, it simply did not interest them. Even if it did, they had no time for it.

"I don't like it; I don't like it at all." The voice of Winter broke through the silence, he was sat hunched staring at the images afore him. His brittle white hair hung in front of his pale, oddly-pointed face and his white eyes scanned the faces of his companions.

"Of course you don't. It's a heat wave; someone got a little over excited with his duties." Spring looked pointedly towards the heavily tanned Summer with her grass-green eyes alight with laughter. The blonde was the youngest of the four and she took advantage of it, she could get away with all manner of cheekiness and more besides.

"I might've gotten a little bit carried away… but they like it! It'll be gone in a few days, what's the harm in letting them be happy, eh?" Summer retorted playfully, he knew he was in no real trouble; Winter had always been a grumpy git. Ever since they were children Summer had had a nickname for him, Whining Winter or Winter the Whiner. Winter, of course, did not appreciate it but as time went by he had learned to ignore it – much to the distaste of Summer.

"Oh! That's right! Let's make even more people love you, shall we? As if you need anymore adoring fans, your head is the size of the sun and beyond already!"

"Big-headed am I, Whiner? Better than you, unloved… unwanted… cold!"
Winter was about to stand and then proceed to lunge towards Summer but a sigh from the only being that hadn't spoken stopped him.

"Enough! This happens every time, every time. I'm sick of it." She took a deep breath before continuing, "You, hot-head, stop provoking him. And you, brain-freeze, stop rising to the occasion. Mercy, it's like working with children."

Autumn had her arms folded over her chest and was glaring at them with her golden eyes, her auburn curls fell about her shoulders like a protective cloak. She wasn't a temperamental being but the one thing that got her nerves was senseless bickering, a talent that Summer and Winter had a particularly good knack for.

Spring seemed blissfully unaware, she probably was – inside her head she was probably dancing with fairies or running about in lush woodland, spring woodland, of course. She had a carefree spirit and always seemed to zone out when the conversation turned negative. If they each had different roles, she would definitely be the dreamer. Summer, the arrogant youngster that, in his mind, could never be wrong. Winter, the miserable older male (but not by too much) who was as stubborn as a mule. Finally, Autumn, the mediator, the peacemaker and the one that would kick each of them in turn if they were not doing as they were supposed to.

They had been that way for an eternity and would surely stay like it for the rest of time. It was all part of the routine. One would think life would get boring for them after so long, but it never did, every day was different and they knew that better than any for they had met them all. Normally, all three hundred and sixty five days – sixty six if there was a leap year afoot – would join them in their quad-annual meets but today was not one of those. It was an emergency meet to address the issue of Summer, his recklessness had caused him to overrun into Autumn's territory and upset the steady balance that had been formed when they were created – Autumn was not happy about it.

"Now… back to the matter at hand. You, Summer, have unlawfully taken territory that is, by all rights, mine. To make my season its full length I would have to encroach on the time of Winter… and he Spring… and Spring you, which would, undoubtedly, change the cycle forever."

"And, your point is?"

"My point, Summer, is that you may have brought our ruin upon us!" The season stood, turned and stormed from the chamber into the long corridor outside. She stared down at the world though the crystal flooring, it was so far away, so distant, so unreachable.

She sighed, their end was soon and she knew it.




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