Karrin Blue

A fortuneteller reads the future in a petri dish (Game Theory Al-Hazardian ancient science-magic style - goddess who weaves the genetic codes of mother and father to make children [She of the Helix {thank you Vivax}], etc.)
A druid of cities, a cyborg with parts made of symbiotic earth-spirit, and their unlikely friendship
An old woman keeps ideas and memories in boxes and jars so they won’t be forgotten. If they aren’t kept safe then they escape and attach to passers-by parasitically.
Personification of death as a kindly old grandmother, who knits blankets out of the thread of one’s life. Old woman with white hair and a black dress, cooks meals out of the circumstances that shaped one’s life to give to the deceased - essentially, last gift of important memories.
Possibly related to above: Idea of surviving after death in the form of what was influenced - an artisan puts a piece of himself into every work, and after death that piece continues to live inside.

http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/a-cold-cold-heart

'The story goes that Winter walks in the world for one month. Winter watches the snow and the humans. Winter arrives once Winter meets with Summer as equals, and leaves when the two do so again. Winter joins with the snow, and the snow melts under Summer's power and joins the flowing water, and Winter swims through the rivers and seas to the North, to a palace of eternal winter. And thus the water of the ocean remains cold even in the heat of summer. Winter remains in the Northern Palace, until once again the equinox brings Winter and Summer together, until Summer retreats underneath the Earth to the heart of the desert, where the heat never retreats. And thus the water of the springs born underground remains hot even in the cold of winter. Winter and Summer travel for half the year, paths never crossing but twice, resting only when the other walks. Aside from those who fall to Summer's heat or Winter's chill, they live alone, and so the story has been since Winter and Summer were born.'

Tracing frost across the window, Winter-as-wind hissed around the small house, listening intently to the story of the elder. It was nothing that Winter had not heard previously, but Winter certainly didn't mind rehearing the tale. At its conclusion, Winter-as-wind slowed twisted and rejoined the lesser winds of the snowstorm. Winter-as-storm caught the plumes of smoke rising from the houses, and Winter-as-snow drifted downwards, piling in heaps throughout the town, a thousand thousand shards of Self scattered separately and as one. Underneath the piles Winter felt the hard earth, the tiny burrows of animals huddled or sleeping underneath.

Winter's attention was drawn to a spark of power, alien power, as a window marked with spiraling frost cracked open, and Winter-as-snow looked upwards at a human, a young male, holding a piece of glass, minutely curved, over the flakes. Winter-as-snowflake looked up through the glass in return, and saw a shard of something reflective and dark glitter in the human's grey left eye. Intrigued, Winter-as-wind slipped into the house, examining the room.

A second human, a female this time, spoke to the young male, annoyance twinging her words. Winter did not understand the languages of humans, but the meanings remained clear no matter what. The female was cold, and worried for the male. With a snort of derision, the male shut the window, glaring at the female, the shard of dark glowing with power in his eye. At the same time, a second glowing darkness , buried on the left side of his chest, began to shine.

Winter-as-chill would have frowned. A vague memory, of a shimmering oval of darkness shattering in the skies above the northern lands, surfaced. An oval that had previously been proudly marched around the lands by an ogre in the guise of a human, and when it came near flowers withered, paint cracked, the flaws of objects growing. Remembering Summer's ire at the oval, Winter's displeasure deepened. Making a decision, Winter began to plan.

When the dawn came, Winter had ended the storm and the winds, and set the power previously growing the storm to creating a form. As the humans of the village emerged outside, gathering up snow to pelt others with, the male with the shard in his eye walked off into the forest, the grey woods of the trees cracking and twisting as he watched.

With more haste, Winter began to create a form. The female human that had been with the male became the base, asymmetries and slight imperfections removed. To be less than perfect would be to offer up an opening to the shard, and Winter-as-form had no desire to experience the altering of any part of itself by that magic. When the form had been carefully examined and found worthy, Winter-as-humanoid walked towards the male.

The male turned at the sound of footsteps on snow, looking in awe at Winter-as-humanoid, who with slight relief noted that the shard had not acted upon the form. The male spoke, admiration in his voice.

The form’s head tilted slightly as Winter-as-humanoid communicated to the human. The language of personifications was not nearly as complex as that of corporeals, but infinitely more straightforward. The youth stepped back in surprise as the concept ‘follow’ appeared in his mind. Without a hint of trepidation, the male walked forward and took the hand of Winter-as-humanoid.

Winter-as-humanoid spread power around, wrapping the male in a cocoon of cold air. Winter-as-snow dove, consciousness leaping through the snow, the youth wrapped tightly within. The two entered the river, Winter-as-water moving through the currents as quickly as possible, faster than thought, until the duo reached the deep ocean. Winter-as-seawater swam farther downward, into the pitch-blackness, hoping as much as was possible that lack of light would keep the shard of glass from altering anything within the sea.

Winter-as-seawarer noticed that the cold of the protection woven around the child had pervaded his limbs, granting Winter-as-frostbite a deeper look at the shard embedded in his body. With a twitch of annoyance, Winter-as-frostbite could tell that the twin pieces had been deeply buried in the male’s flesh. The shard’s power had even begun to transform imperfections in the boy’s flesh, forcing his body to reshape around the pieces. Winter-as-cold’s irritation shook the sea around them, storms growing over the sea as the two arrowed through the dark waters.

The sentience of Winter reached the frozen ice of the North, and Winter-as-ice searched over the massive ice sheet. When the area had been sufficiently searched and found bereft of bystanding life, Winter-as-ice excavated a chamber underneath the surface, perfectly rounded with a tunnel winding upwards for fresh air. The child was deposited on the floor of the chamber, Winter-as-ice returning to the humanoid form of before.

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