Plot
A letter created from ice was delivered to Niran, requesting his presence and that of two unusual creatures he'd required. When the scroll melted it transported Vlad and Niran to a wintry land, referred to in the note as the Court of Frost. Within the ice castle, after passing by numerous exquisite ice sculptures they came across the ruled of the land, who they dubbed The Snow Queen.
Vlad worked out that all of the sculptures were too realistic to be carvings and must have been once living animals. On their meeting with the ruler of the land, the Snow Queen demanded that they hand over Oboe and Clarinet. When they refused it insisted that if they didn't then Vlad must remain until Niran fetched them. Vlad summoned the powers of banality in order to get it to release them and they returned home.
The Snow Queen didn't forget. It bided its time, waiting until winter, gathering its powers until it could come to them. One December morning it surrounded the menagerie in a snow globe, fierce blizzard raging around them and demanding that Vlad return what he took from its realm. Vlad refused.
The situation was eventually diffused when TJ paid some tass. The Snow Queen left after saying it never wished to see any of them again.
Details
The Snow Queen has never actually referred to itself by that moniker. This was the name that Vlad and Niran dubbed it upon their first meeting. It is white-clad figure, which at first appears to be a sculpture. Exquisitely beautiful in that heart stopping way a way that few other than sidhe can be with so pale skin and a cascade of snow-white hair, sexless features and robes befitting a queen, or a king. Even its voice is touched by ice.
The Snow Queen inhabits a realm made purely of snow and ice the center of which has a grand palace carved of these materials.
The Snow Queen's purpose is to gather creatures that are rare and wonderful and to preserve them within its realm, protected and encased in ice, for when the long winter comes. It is the hope that they will be shielded from the worst ravages of banality, held safe in their frozen forms and when Spring finally comes, they will be thawed and released so their magic returns to the world.
Powers
The Snow Queen has the ability to summon blizzards, to chill the air and freeze things. Anything that physically touches the Snow Queen (such as Vlad's boot when he kicked it) turns to ice.