The Old Wood

At the edge of the Old Wood, where the wall between two worlds is thinnest, live a people called the Duskins.

They are small. They are made of pods, and lace, and bells that were given to them by someone who has since gone home. They live in a wood old enough to have forgotten its own name — which is why the record keepers here write everything down.

The Pale Frost

Every year, something arrives at the edge of the wood. Not a monster; the Pale Frost has never meant anyone harm. It is only very lonely, and where it walks the colour goes out of things, and sound freezes, and a small folk who forgets its own name simply stops being.

There is no sword in the Old Wood. There never was. What the Duskins have instead is warmth, memory, music, and each other.

The longest night

On the last evening before midwinter, everyone gathers at the moss square under the mother tree. Cedric brings in the final harvest. Greta puts the pot on. Elowen hangs her lantern on a low branch. Erasmus writes the year down. Tristan sings about endings. And when the dark gets too heavy, Yves walks over to whoever is quietest with something cold and sweet.

Then they sleep. Klaus comes down out of the solstice light, sets a wooden star in the mother tree, and the Frost retreats a little. The bells on the small ones' collars move in the wind, and that sound is the most restful lullaby the Old Wood knows.

The thirteen

Elowen the Lamp Keeper · Erasmus the Keeper of Scrolls · Freya the Weaver of Fate Lines · Greta the Kiln Baker · Tristan the Twilight Bard · Klaus the Yule Emissary · Alys the Herb Witch · Tobin the Feast Drummer · Fionn the Dream Fisher · Ewan the Tailor and Gatekeeper · Rory the Pinecone Courier · Yves, Keeper of the Sweet Station · Cedric the Pumpkin Farmer

Each of them is a real character with a name, a reason to be here, and one small thing they carry. Every doll is cut, stuffed, stitched and finished by hand, in small batches, one at a time.

Take one home and they will keep an eye on your winter.