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Benden LC> Tinya walks in from the bowl. 
Benden LC> Kenai waves to Tinya. 
Benden LC> Tinya waves as she comes in, going to the hearth to warm cold 
  fingers. 
Benden LC> Yrdani grins and walks over to the hearth to pour herself a 
  mug, she nods to the person coming in and over to the hearth where she 
  is, "Klah?" 
Benden LC> Tinya points. "That pot there. Or you can have hot cider, 
  which is what _I'm_ having." She suits actions to words, pouring a 
  mug. 
Benden LC> Yrdani looks at the cider then back at the klah and picks up 
  the pot of klah pouring it into the mug she found that was both clean 
  and empty, "Cider sounds nice, but it doesn't have the kick I need 
  right now..." She grins then takes her mug full of klah back over to a 
  table to sit down. 

You walk past the lintel and into the wide living cavern. 

Tinya nods, following in sort of a general way but not sitting down. 
  "You're new here?" she asks. 
Tinya waves. "Heyla, Ursa." 

Ursa scampers in, pulling her gloves off and rubbing her hands together. 
  "Brrr," is her expansive comment as she scitters over to the hearth, 
  grabbing some tea on her way. When she reaches the hearth, she turns 
  her back to it and faces the cavern, drawing, "hallo." 

Yrdani nods, "Yep, just arrived the other day, I'm a bit of a trader..." 
  She frowns a bit, "Or at least I was, but I'm looking for some more 
  permanent work." She shrugs and takes a sip of her klah, "Here's as 
  good a place as any, and it's far enough away..." She trails off 
  taking another sip out of her mug. 

Tinya obliges with the predictable question. "Far enough away from 
  what?" 

Yrdani shrugs, "The trade route where I used to trade with the rest of 
  the traders of my clan." Simply said but there is a tone of maybe 
  bitterness maybe regret, "But I'm done with the trading life for now. 
  I'm Yrdani by the way." She introduces herself belatedly. 

Tinya shrugs, responding only to the last sentence, letting the rest go: 
  "Tinya, blue Liath's rider." 

Ursa shivers by the fire, but eventually ventures over to join the 
  conversation. "Lots of traders come here looking for work," she 
  comments casually as she takes a seat, jumping a bit as she sits on 
  her hearth-warmthed leather trousers. 

Yrdani nods to the rider, "Well met" She glances over at Ursa and 
  blinks, "Really?" She looks a bit unhappy but then shrugs, "I suppose 
  it is quite far away from most of the more "populated" traderoutes, at 
  least in the winter since it's so cold." 

Ursa shrugs ambivalently, "Could be." She still shivers a little in her 
  seat. 

Tinya nods, then shrugs. "Actually, I don't think it's so much the cold, 
  since other places are chillier. I think it's the snow that closes the 
  passes. Speaking of, Ursa, do you know if the Lemos train got through 
  yet?" 

Ursa chuckles dryly, shaking her head, "Nope, I don't get the daily 
  updates on tithe trains anymore." 

Kenai looks up. "It did." 
Kenai adds, "I was checking stores all day." 

Yrdani looks at Ursa closely, looking as if she's about to ask a 
  question then stops, instead taking another sip of her quickly cooling 
  klah. 

Tinya blinks at Ursa, looking faintly confused, but then glances at 
  Yrdani and apparently decides not to inquire in front of her. Or it 
  could be something completely different. At any rate, she nods to 
  Kenai, and says, "Good. I was a little worried, with the snowfall. 
  Someone the other night said something about making the wings do 
  air-lift duties." She wrinkles her nose. 

Kenai blinks, looking up. "You didn't hear? It wasn't the snow..." 

Tinya shakes her head. "No, I heard why they were delayed, just whoever 
  it was..." she pauses a minute as if to think, then shrugs, 
  "...thought if the snow closed the passes we might have to go help." 

Ursa looks from Kenai to Tinya, getting a bit confused herself. 

Kenai nods. "Ah- no, they got in just yesterday, I think it was." 

S'riv stands suddenly, finishing his klah and muttering as he leaves. 
S'riv walks down the short tunnel and out into the bowl. 

Tinya nods. "Good. I'm willing to do my share of tote-and-carry if it's 
  needed, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." She drinks the rest 
  of her cider, then adds, "And I think I'll go take a look. I need a 
  new belt, and it's just possible things aren't so disarranged I won't
  be able to find one." 

Yrdani blinks at the riders looking terribly confused then shrugs again, 
  she's not a Bendenite yet, it's probably not her business. 

Kenai groans a little. "Don't count too heavily on it... I was in there 
  all /day/... It's not too bad, but it could be better. I guess it was 
  rather rushed, trying to get everything inside and out of the snow." 

Tinya nods. "It won't break my heart if I can't, but I might as well go 
  try. See you later." She ambles off, disposing of her mug on the way. 

Kenai waves. 

Yrdani waves to the rider, "Twas nice meetin you." 

Kenai looks over, and blinks in mild surprise at the 

Kenaiat the person she doesn't know. "Oh.. the Lemos tithe had some 
  problems getting in. Very delayed." 

Tinya walks off towards the kitchen. 

From the kitchen, Tinya enters the kitchen from the living cavern. 
From the kitchen, Tinya pushes her way past scurrying kitchen girls and 
  into the storeroom passageway. 

Yrdani nods slowly at the person speaking to her, "Oh, yes well I 
  suppose it is hard going during the winter. I'm lucky I could catch a 
  ride going here from Fort." 

ride = rider 

Kenai nods. "They were stopped by a rockslide, then attacked..." 

Yrdani blinks, "Attacked? But..." She hakes her head, "Renegades in this 
  cold?" She can't seem to understand their reasoning. But then who can 
  understand a renegade? 

Kenai shrugs helplessly. "I guess they thought they really needed 
  furniture or something... how they were expecting to carry off things 
  like that, I have no idea!" 

Ursa frowns slightly, looking at the stranger suspiciously while she 
  discusses renegads 

Yrdani blinks again, then glances over at Ursa a bit nervously perhaps 
  as she could almost feel the 'rider's eyes boring into her. She drains 
  the rest of her klah and gets up suddenly. "Perhaps I should go see 
  about some rooms, I...Heard there's a dorm available for those wishing 
  to stay for awhile?" She walks quickly out of the room. 
Yrdani walks towards the inner cavern. 

Kenai looks surprised, and turns to peer at Ursa, then shrugs. "Hunh." 

Ursa nods knowingly as the woman flees. "Sure, you bring up renegades 
  and she's outta here." 

Kenai shakes her head. "I don't think..." she pauses. "No, I don't think 
  she could possibly be... do you?" she looks confused. 

From the kitchen, Tinya walks out of the passageway that leads down to 
  the storerooms. 
From the kitchen, Tinya walks into the Living Cavern. 

Tinya walks in from the kitchen. 

Kenai waves. "Find what you were looking for?" 

Ursa shrugs. "Hey Tinya," she calls, beckoning to her. "You think our 
  guest here was a renegade?" 

Tinya walks back in. In her right hand, she's got the belt she went for, 
  black wherhide with a silver buckle, loosely curled. In the left, she 
  holds up a strange-looking pair of boots, by their strings. They're 
  stiff, tightly-laced above the ankle, but the odd part is that they
  have metal blades attached to the bottom. "Hey, 
  do you know what these are f-- a renegade, Ursa?" She frowns, 
  thoughtful, then shakes her head. "I couldn't say. But she _did_ act a 
  little odd, a little evasive when I asked where she was from." 

Kenai frowns and shakes her head, then looks at what Tinya's carrying. 
  "Wha- oh!" 

Tinya looks over at Kenai, holding up the boots. "Do you know what these 
  are for?" 

Kenai chuckles. "We used them on the river..." 

Ursa frowns. "Yeah. Those're the boots they use out on the lake." 

Tinya frowns first at Kenai, then at Ursa. "On the river and on the 
  lake?" She looks perplexed. "What for, to break through to the water?" 
  She inspects the blades. "I guess it'd work, but an axe or something 
  would be simpler, wouldn't it?" 

Kenai grins. "No- you use it to move around on the ice." 

Tinya blinks. "You do? How?" 

Ursa rolls her eyes, "Shells if I'd know." 

Kenai grins. "Well, you strap them on, and you..." she stands and tries 
  to demonstrate the appropriate motions. "Push with one foot like this, 
  and you glide on the metal runner." 

Ursa wrinkles her nose. "A good way to break a leg or two, if you ask 
  me." 

Tinya just _stares_ at Kenai in disbelief, then asks, "On purpose?" 
  Evidently she agrees with Ursa. 

Kenai chuckles. "Well, we practiced balancing on the ground, first, 
  before we tried the ice." 
Kenai grins. "I've never broken anything at it... bruised maybe, but not 
  broken." 

Ursa shakes her head, eying the blades suspiciously, "Didn't you see 
  folks trying that last year? They go really... fast." 

Kenai shakes her head. "There's different ways to move- you don't /have/ 
  to go fast." 

Tinya shakes her head. "I stayed inside as much as I could last winter. 
  Or scurried off to Boll if I got the chance." She eyes the skates 
  again, this time with maybe a hint of curiosity. "Hmmmm. How do you do 
  it, again?" 

Kenai chuckles. "I could show you more easily on the lake." 

Tinya's expression is a blend of curiosity and wariness. She hesitates a 
  little, then slowly nods. "Hmm, yeah, I guess that's true. You've 
  never gotten really hurt, you said?" 

Kenai shakes her head. "Just bruised. You can be hurt, if you're not 
  careful, though." 

Jalimax walks here from the Inner Cavern. 

Kenai waves. 

Ursa now turns her suspicious look at Tinya. "You're not going to 
  actually try it, are you?" 

Jalimax waves and smiles, "Heya" 

Kenai grins at Tinya. "Any more of those back in there?" 

Tinya shrugs at Ursa. "Sure, why not? It might be fun, and it can't 
  hu...well. She said I _probably_ won't get hurt, and if I do at least 
  there's no Falls now, with the cold." To Kenai she nods. "A whole 
  bunch, in the corner of the textile room." 

Ursa gives Tinya a look akin to betrayal, and grumps, "Shells, if you're 
  gonna try it..." 

Kenai grins. "Great! I wonder... if you could find something to use to 
  pad your knees, or wrap your wrists, you're less likely to get hurt." 

Tinya hmms, nods, and looks at her wrists. "I've got wrapping from when 
  I pulled my wrist catching firestone. I can stop at my weyr and get 
  them." 

Kenai nods. "That's a good idea. You're not supposed to use your hands 
  to catch yourself when you fall, but it's a hard habit to unlearn." 

Ursa's eyes shift uneasily from one person to another. "Uhm," her voice 
  even squeeks a little, "Grab some extra wrapping for me?" She falls 
  silent, astonished that she even said that. 

Kenai smiles at Ursa, then looks over at Jalimax. "have you ever 
  skated?" she asks. 

Tinya nods to Ursa, and slings the skates over her shoulder as she 
  prepares to head out. "Meet you at the lake?" 

Jalimax looks up, "Uhm, long long time ago." 

Kenai nods. "I'll go and fetch a pair of those- hey Ursa, can I see your 
  feet?" 
Kenai grins. "Want to go again?" 

Jalimax grins, "Why not, nothing else to do." 

Ursa holds up both feet for display. "Spose I should go put on my old 
  leathers?" she muses. "I'd hate to wreck these already." 

Kenai chuckles. "Want to come with me to get a pair of skates, or should 
  I just guestimate?" 
Kenai peesr at Ursa's feet, and stands on one foot, comparing sizes with 
  hers. "OK." 

Jalimax hmms,. "Fraid I don't have any skates myself." 

Tinya says "Oh, there's a whole pile of them back in storage, Jalimax." 
  She heads for the bowl, adding, "See you by the lake in a few 
  minutes!" 
Tinya walks down the short tunnel and out into the bowl. 

Kenai nods. "That's alright, Tinya found a bunch in the storerooms. I'm 
  going to go fetch a pair, and can grab you both some, unless you want 
  to actually try them on first." 
Kenai waves as Tinya heads out. 

Jalimax grins, "Guess I'll try em on first, just as easy." 

Ursa makes a face. "Just grab me a pair, will ya?" she says uneasily. 

Kenai grins at Ursa, and makes one last foot comparison. "Pretty close 
  to mine... Alright then." she grins. 
Kenai heads in the direction of the storerooms. 
Kenai walks off towards the kitchen. 

Ursa makes a brave attempt at a smile. "Thanks," and she scurries out. 

**Benden Weyr Lake**

--> Liath lumbers in from the South Bowl. 

--> Tinya swings her leg over Liath's back and drops to the ground, 
  landing lightly. 

Ursa waves from Spineth's back. She's changed into her older clothes, 
  but she's still looking undecided, not committed enough to actually 
  dismount. 

--> Kenai heads over from the South Bowl. 
--> Jalimax heads over from the South Bowl. 
--> Tinya looks up and grins. "Gonna come down, or is Spineth gonna try 
  it instead?" She sets her skates down on the ground, and leans against 
  Liath as she pulls wrapping out of her pocket and begins binding her 
  wrists. 
--> Kenai grins, looking up. "I've got skates for you, Ursa." she calls. 
--> Jalimax Waves and finds someplace to sit near the edge of the lake. 

Ursa gulps, but does laugh at Tinya's comment, and with a sheepish grin, 
  takes the effort to slide down. 

Kenai cleans snow off a convenient rock and sits down, tugging off her 
  boots and pulling on the skates. "You know, you can get runners made 
  to strap on over boots, too," she comments. 
Kenai grins at Ursa, and indicates a pair sitting on the rock next to 
  her. 

Ursa wanders over to Kenai, grumbling quietly to herself, words like 
  "winter nonsense" and "gonna get myself killed" float past on the 
  breeze, but she does sit down and unlace her boots, watching Kenai to 
  see how she puts the things on. 

Tinya watches Kenai getting into her skates, and after a moment yanks 
  off one of her boots and follows the example, glancing back to make 
  sure she's doing the lacing right. 

Kenai wraps the long ends of the laces around her ankles, knotting htem 
  off and slipping two fingers inside the tops to make sure they're not 
  too tight. 

Jalimax pulls off his boots and takes the skates on, lazing them 
  securely in place. 

Kenai looks over at Tinya and Ursa. 

Ursa loops the laces up tightly, watching Kenai as if even this skill is 
  new to her. 

Kindre heads over from the South Bowl. 

Kenai waves to Kindre. 

Herath lumbers in from the South Bowl. 

Tinya laces her one skate, and holds it out for Kenai's inspection. "Is 
  this right?" 

Jalimax pulls on the other skate and ties the lace firmly. 

Kenai peers at the lacing and nods. "Stick a couple of fingers inside 
  the top and make sure they're not too tight- they shouldn't be loose, 
  but if they're too tight, that's a problem too." 

Kindre runs up with a bounding Herath behind her. The dragon looks 
  simply miffed to being forced out into the cold and having to chase 
  her mate. "Hi all," Kindre says as she grins, "Salless said you were 
  all out here, and showed me where to get skates..." 

Ursa tries the finger trick too. "How's that?" she asks. 

Jalimax waves at Kindre. 

Kenai nods. "Looks good- Don't hesitate to re-lace though, if your 
  ankles start hurting, or your toes feel numb." 

Tinya hrms, and sticks a finger inside the top to check the skates. She 
  frowns, then shrugs, supposing she can fix it later if she needs to, 
  and starts on the other skate. She grins at Kindre. "You're gonna come 
  join us crazies? Ursa thinks we're all going to kill ourselves." 

Kenai grins at Kindre. "Ever done this before?" 

Ursa rolls her eyes, pointing at her shoes. "Shells, yeah. You think I'm 
  gonna survive this?" She gestures invitingly. "So come die with us!" 

Kindre laughs a bit as she bobs her head, "That's the impression I got 
  from Salless when I asked for the skates." Cheeks flushed from running 
  and the cold, she peers our across the lake, "Is it hard enough? Me? 
  Crackdust, never Kenai..." 

Jalimax hmmms and looks at the ice. 

Kenai looks at the ice. "It looks like someone else has been here- try 
  not to head out to the middle though." 

Kindre nods quickly while trying to lace up the skates. Shaking out her 
  fingers a little, she blows on them before finally finishing up the 
  tying and then looks up, "Well, there're no holes in it, so I suppose 
  no one's fallen in..." 

Jalimax carefully tries the ice, putting a foot at a time on it. "I'm 
  too old for this." 

Kenai grins at Jalimax. "We could fetch you some pillows to tie around 
  you.." 

Kindre chuckles, "Has anyone done this before?" 

Ursa frowns. "How do you stand on these?" she asks, not even trying to 
  pull herself to her feet. 

Kenai nods. "Did it a lot when I was little." 

Jalimax grins at Kenai. 

Tinya finishes the lacing, checks the second skate carefully with a 
  critical expression, then straightens onto her feet, trying not to 
  wobble as she stands on the ground on the thin blades. She pulls her 
  gloves out of her pocket and puts them on. "Kenai has, and Jalimax 
  said long ago he did." She wobbles, then, and tips over, half-falling 
  against Liath's side. "Uh oh." 

Kenai stands carefully, and looks down at Ursa. "One thing to remember- 
  the runners are a bit curved. At any point in time, there's probably 
  only /this/ much" she holds out two fingers "of the metal on the ice. 
  Don't worry though- that's the way they're designed." she grins. 

Jalimax wrinkles his nose and takes a couple more trying steps. 

Kenai angles her feet a little. "Don't stand with your toes pointed 
  perfectly forward, or you'll start sliding before you're ready to..." 

Tinya gets herself righted and moves to the edge of the ice, looking 
  uncertainly at it, not _quite_ ready to take that first step out. 

Kenai grins at Tinya, Kindre, and Ursa. "Practice just lifting your feet 
  up and down, here in the snow, before you try the ice. It will help." 

Ursa puts a hand down, supporting herself while she tries to stand, 
  looking like an old lady. One foot buckles under her and she lands 
  with a thump. 

Kindre continues to sit and listen, s small frown forming on her lips, 
  "Jays, I'm going to break my bottom I think..." Attempting to stand, 
  she wobbles awkwardly, chuckling. "Like this?" she asks lifting a 
  skated foot. 

Kenai reaches down. "Here, need a hand up? It's kind of hard on the 
  ankles at first..." 
Kenai grins and nods. "Just walk in place a little, or in small circles. 
  Find your balance." 

Ursa reaches a hand up gratefully, letting Kenai pull her to her feet, 
  and nearly over compensating and falling forwards. She wavers there on 
  her feet, her free hand clasping Kenai's shoulder desperately. 

Kenai grabs Ursa's elbows. "Hold your arms out... it will help you 
  balance," she advises. 
Kenai frowns a little. "And keep your knees slightly flexed," she adds, 
  remembering. 

Ursa obediently holds her arms out, teetering there awkwardly. "Flexed?" 
  she asks, bending her knees a little, and looking for all the world 
  like she's getting ready to fly. 

Kindre's ankles bobble a bit as she tries this walking in little circles 
  thing. "This is harder than I thought," she says, though an excited 
  smile lights her face. Looking around at everyone, she laughs out 
  loud, "We've got to look ridiculous..." 

Kenai grins. "Yes, like that... don't worry, it makes more sense when 
  you're out there gliding... try lifting one foot and then setting it 
  down. You don't have to keep it in the air long." 

Tinya giggles at Ursa, and manages to knock herself off balance doing 
  it. She teeters, catching herself with a hand on her dragon again, and 
  pushes back upright. Following Kenai's instructions, she tries bending 
  her knees and putting out her arms, then giggles again. 

Kenai chuckles. 

Ursa takes a tiny little step, arms still outstretched, knees still 
  bent. That completed succesfully, she takes another mincing lil one, 
  and then another... *Thump!* right on her bum. 

Kenai peers down. "You ok?" 

Kindre blinks, "Ursa...?" she nods rather than repeat what Kenai said. 

Tinya tries lifting first one foot and then the other, not really going 
  anywhere but just rocking back and forth. She winces at Ursa falls, 
  involuntarily reaching a hand toward the brownrider, then quickly 
  pulling back as she threatens to knock herself over again. 

Ursa looks up pathetically, complaining, "No, I'm all broken!" But she 
  then scrambles to her feet. Or rather attempts to. Finally she finds 
  herself on her knees and getting to her feet that way. 

Kenai steps back a little. "Just try lifting your feet one at a time, 
  before your try moving foprward," she suggests. 

Kindre waves her arms in little circles now and again to keep herself 
  from teetering over. Nodding again as she listens to Kenai, she lifts 
  each leg in turn, her arms flailing more wildly between "steps." 

Jalimax grins and watches them all, and promptly falls on his rear as he 
  tries to skate. 

Ursa teeters along, with lil mincing steps. As she makes the slightest 
  bit of progress, she calls, "Hey, look at me!?" On cue, one ankle 
  buckles again and she lands on the ground again. 

Kindre's eyes widen as she watches Ursa eat snow again. One step taken a 
  little too far, she nearly topples herself. "You...o...kay," she 
  manages to get out as she rights herself. 

Jalimax chuckles and carefully gets up again, dusting the snow off 
  himself. 

Ursa sits there grumbling, muttering, "Shells and shards, I'm not even 
  on the ice yet." Louder, she growls, "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine," and 
  scrambles up onto her knees again to get herself back on her feet. 

Kenai shakes her head, and chuckles a little. 

Tinya teeters around, trying taking little steps forward now. She leans 
  too far forward, and ends up windmilling her arms, but keeps 
  approximately upright. 

Kindre taakes a few more wobbling baby steps and then smirks, "Well," 
  she starts, "I think I may be as ready as I'm going to get...can we 
  try on the ice now?" 

Kenai steps carefully in the direction of the ice, planting each foot 
  firmly before lifting the other one. 
Kenai grins at Kindre. "Whenever you feel ready." 

Ursa throws Kindre an alarmed look, as if she'd made a most ridiculous 
  suggestion. She continues her mincing steps with her arms 
  outstretched. 

Tinya looks a little envious at Kindre, but not quite ready to follow 
  her example. She keeps moving in little circles, slowly looking less 
  panicked. 

A corner of Kindre's mouth quirks up as her eye crinkle with wry 
  laughter, "If I waited 'til then, the lake would melt," she winks. 
  Shrugging a bit, she carefully makes small steps towards the edge of 
  the frozen lake. 

Kenai steps onto the ice, pushing off as her skate lands, gliding 
  forward and bringing her other foot down to join the first. She makes 
  a small circle and turns to watch Kindre, slowly easing backwards to a 
  stop. 

Kindre half-turns to wave everyone out, "Come oooooooon..." The last 
  word is drawn out as, with her turn of head she loses balance and goes 
  down despite flapping arms. "Ack!" is the first surprised sound she 
  makes, before mumbling something aout not having wings. 

Kenai shakes her head and grins. 

Tinya giggles, a bit of restraint in it as she tries not to let it wreck 
  her precariously held balance. 

Kindre, more embarrassed than hurt, frowns a little as she gets herself 
  up with shaky arms. Brushing the clingy snow off of her, she smiles 
  crookedly, "Well, suppose I was due for that..." and then steps onto 
  the edge of the ice finally. 

Caitria heads over from the South Bowl. 

Kenai waves to Caitria from the ice. "Heya!" 

Caitria waves Cail at the skaters, with a grin. "Wot's this? Having a 
  bit of fun?" 

Tinya waves at Caitria, cautiously so as not to upset herself, and 
  teeters down to the edge of the ice, preparing to follow Kindre on. 

Lysseth flies in from above and lands in the waters of the lake. 

Kenai peers out at the green. "If the ice will hold her, there's no way 
  we'll fall through." 

Kindre hears Caitria's voisce and calls a hello, fearing that turning 
  her heead will drop her body down again. "Heyla Caitria..." 

Caitria wanders to the edge of the ice. "Shards...haven't done this in a 
  while. Anybody fall yet?" 

Lysseth banks to a landing on the Lake Shore, near the glassy surface of 
  the waters. She warbles a cordial greeting, as her rider waves 
  cheerfully. "Heyla, all!" Unfastening her straps, she prepares to 
  slide down. 

Kassima slides down from Lysseth's neckridges to land beside her with 
  ease. Lysseth cocks her head at her rider, and Kassima gives her 
  lifemate's eyeridges a grateful scratching. 

Ursa sighs heavily, and turns her mincing steps towards the lake. "May 
  as well just get it over with..." She smirks at Caitria. "Fall? who 
  me?" 

Kenai nods. "Yup." 

Kindre chuckles, then has to wave her arms a bit to keep standing, "I've 
  gone down once, and that wsn't even -on- the ice...yet..." 

Tinya grins. "Not yet, but I haven't actually stepped onto the ice." 
Tinya omits mention of the times she didn't fall only 'cause Liath was 
  there for her to lean on. 

Spineth lumbers across the snow to the lake's edge, resting his head on 
  the cold lake shore to watch his lifemate with wide open curious eyes. 

Kassima then proceeds to fall unceremoniously on her rump, having made 
  the mistake of landing on the iced-over side of her dragon without 
  remembering to allow for the slick surface. "Glack! You could've given 
  me some warning, Lyss!" Getting to her feet *very carefully*, Kassi 
  rubs her bruised, uh, dignity, and looks sheepish. 

Tinya giggles a little too hard at Kassi, and topples over backwards, 
  falling into the snow with a >WHUMP<. She looks more surprised than 
  hurt, and then giggles some more, calling, "Shells, Kass, and you 
  don't even have skates on yet." 

Kindre smirks a bit as she baby-steps it away from the frozen ground. 

Tinya gets to her feet, following the example Ursa set earlier by 
  getting on her knees first, then on up. Successful, she minces toward 
  the lake's edge, getting ready to try that first step out. 

Kassima snorts. "Well, I wasn't *expecting* that!" she says defensively. 
  "If I'd known the ice was going to be there... oh, stop snickering, 
  Lyss. I remember *you* trying to do this and tumbling head-over-tail a 
  score of times, so you're hardly one to laugh." 

Caitria blinks, and shakes her head. She hrms at Cail as the infant 
  tries to squirm out of her arms, then shrugs. "Okay, love. If you want 
  to fall, be my guest." 
Caitria carefully puts down Cail. 

Kenai advises, "That first step's a doozy. With one foot on the ice, you 
  might start gliding away from your other foot..." 

Cailivan promptly sits down in the snow by the edge of the lake. 

Kindre chuckles softly, "Cail will most likely do better than any of us, 
  I suspect." Arms wave as she step-slides out farther, surrounded now 
  completely by ice. Frowning, she says, "You know, this seemed like it 
  might be a lot more fun from the safety of soft snow..." 

Kenai grins at Kindre. "It is fun... It's just more fun after you've had 
  some practice..." 

Cailivan squishes a bit of snow between his fingers, then tastes it. 

Tinya hmms skeptically, then decides to try Kenai's advise. "Like this?" 
  she asks, as she sets one foot firmly and pushes onto it, skidding a 
  couple of feet. "Whoa!" She flails, and while she manages to get the 
  other foot to catch up and get back down, it's not enough. She tilts 
  too far, catches a toepick, and goes down, slamming onto hands and 
  knees. "Owwww...." 

Kassima knows her limits well enough to know better than to try; she 
  simply leans against Lyss, and seems to be having enough trouble just 
  *standing* on the ice without attempting to skate it. "Kind of fun 
  when you mess up, too," she observes. "I remember once I was trying to 
  follow Lyss, and she slipped and sent me flying across the ice into a 
  snowbank... certainly *exciting*, though it seemed more frightening at 
  the time...." 

Caitria watches Cail for a moment, then chuckles and sits next to him. 
  "Mm. Careful, Tinya." Yup, that was a little late. 

Tinya winces, and rolls over onto her bottom, rubbing at one knee. 
  "Okay," she comments wryly, "_Not_ like that." 

Kenai winces. "Good thing you wrapped your wrists." 

Ursa hesitates at the lake's edge, watching the folks already out there, 
  "I dunno about this..." 

Kindre wobbles back and forth after craning her head around to be sure 
  Tinya is alright and nodding slowly at Kenai's words. Finally getting 
  balanced, she stands looking back at the shore. "Aw, come on, 
  Ursa...no blood yet..." she grins. 

Tinya just stays sitting for a moment, nodding, then sighs and looks 
  around her, several feet out onto the ice now. "Okay. _How_ do I get 
  up now?" 

Caitria gets to her feet and stands at the edge of the ice, holding out 
  a hand to Tinya. "Can you reach?" 

Ursa loks helplessly at Kindre, echoing, "Yet..." With a deep breath, 
  she says, "Okay, here goes!" but does nothing. Just stands there. 

Kenai shakes her head. "Try getting one foot under you with one knee 
  still on the ice, then getting the other foot under you... your hands 
  either out, or on the ice, lever up ?" 

Kassima chuckles and carefully pushes away from Lysseth's shoulder, 
  walking over to Tinya one small step at a time and still managing to 
  slide around a lot in the process. "Need a hand?" she asks with a 
  grin, offering one. 

Tinya can't, but she solves the problem by pushing with her feet, 
  skidding backwards on her seat over to the edge. There, she takes 
  Tria's and Kassi's hands with a murmured, "Thanks," and hauls herself 
  to her knees, then to her feet. Balancing carefully, she lets go. 

Jalimax skates carefully over the ice, finally gotten his feet back 
  together. 

Caitria watches Tinya with a grin, then hrms as she sees Cail crawling 
  over towards the ice. "What do you think?" she asks Kenai, who seems 
  to be the expert on such matters. "Would he be able to hurt himself 
  too badly out there?" 

Kindre loses a bit of footing and jerkily step-slips around before 
  getting balanced again. "See?" she starts to say even as her arms 
  waver a bit, "nothing to it...come on..." Smirking a bit, she adds, 
  "S'long as he stays away from most of us he should be fine, I think." 

Ursa turns awkwardly to see the lil boy crawling. "I'd be more worried 
  about people skating into him..." 

Kassima steps away from Tinya, almost losing her balance again as the 
  heel of her boot slips on the ice. Glancing over her shoulder at the 
  distance from here to her dragon, she says, "I think I'm very glad 
  that I'm trying this with shoes instead of skates," and starts 
  navigating the path. Just in case it actually helps, she holds her 
  arms out to the sides for balance. 

Tinya just sort of stands there, balanced on both feet, hands out as if 
  to catch herself. There. At this point, this is an accomplishment. She 
  grins at Tria. "Not unless one of us falls on him; _he_ can't fall 
  very far." 

Kenai looks over and hmmms. "Well, if he doesn't get run over, or go out 
  towards the middle, where the ice might be thinner. I don't think he's 
  in any danger from himself, really." 

Cailivan seems to be bent on going onto the ice, whether his mother 
  wants him to or not, so Tria sighs and follows--on foot, not on 
  skates, and muttering all the while about headstrong men. 

Kassima giggles at Tria. "This just proves they're that way practically 
  from birth, Tria!" 

Cailivan tries to stand up, then wobbles, making a quick grab for his 
  mother's booted leg. Yup...just managed not to fall. 

Tinya takes eensy little steps, one foot and then the other, working her 
  way around in a half circle, till she's facing the middle of the lake 
  again. Deep breath. "Okay," she calls to Kenai, "tell me what to do 
  now." 

Kindre stands...just stands. Knees bent, arms half out with the palms 
  facing the air in front of her...prepared and silly looking, she 
  smirks, "I think I've got this now..." She bobs her head hearing 
  Tinya, "I've got the on-the-ice part, Kenai..." 

Caitria holds on to Cail's hands to balance him, and grins. "This is 
  much easier without those pesky skates." 

Kenai chuckles. "Remember to keep your knees a little flexed, " she 
  calls. "When you push off with one foot, you kind of turn the toe out 
  just a little. Don't push too hard, and don't leave your foot hanging 
  behind you too long... Bring it back forward to glide on when you push 
  off on your other foot." 

Ursa is still hovering at the edge of the lake. "maybe I'll just watch 
  you guys a while." 

Kassima grins at Tria. "I'd have to agree, seeing how much trouble the 
  skates seem to be!" Never mind that she's only standing *by* the ice, 
  and that might explain why she's not having any trouble. 

Jalimax grins at Kassi, "Cmon, try it." 

Kindre blinks a few times, Kenai's instructions seeming trun across her 
  face as she soundlessly repeates them to herself. "Um, okay..." Hands 
  go up and down in a I-can-do-this-just-be-careful kind of gesture 
  before she pushes off of her left foot and she glides a little. "Hey, 
  I di..." *kerblam* and she's down on her knees. 

Kenai eeeps. "You ok?" 

Kassima makes a face and shakes her head. "One fall a day is enough for 
  me, I think!" 

Caitria turns to Kindre with a bit of concern, too. 

Jalimax grins at Kassi, "Chicken." He winks. 

Tinya looks down at her feet, doubtfully, and slowly tries just a 
  _little_ push. Not only does she not leave her foot trailing too long, 
  she brings it back down almost immediately. She does, however, manage 
  to glide, oh, a foot or two. She grins, but then turns her head to 
  look at Kindre, and goes off-balance again. Flailing her arms suffices 
  to let her recover this time, though. 

Kindre's eyes are squinched, "Oh, sure, sure...my knees, on the other 
  hand, I'm not so sure about." Wincing a little, she twists until she 
  is sitting on the ice and peering at them. "Crackdust, that 
  smarted..." she says before sighing, "I'm fine, though, really." 

Cailivan tries to walk over to see if the owie is okay, but ends up 
  slipping on the ice, instead. Tria's still got him, though...he 
  doesn't fall _just_ yet. 

Kassima laughs and makes buck-buck-buckaw sounds. "Chicken indeed, and I 
  don't deny the charge. But I'd rather nay ride sweeps in the morn with 
  a bruised... erm, dignity, thankee." 

Jalimax grins and chuckles. 

Kindre chuckles a little as her tailend begins to freeze enough that she 
  attempts getting up. "Now how to I do this again?" 

Tinya, encouraged by her previous success, tries again. One 
  push....glide....again. Hey, not bad. She glances over her shoulder, 
  and....too far back. Down she goes, on her backside this time. 

Jalimax skates carefully over to Kindre, and offers her a hand up. "Just 
  take it slowly, and it comes to you, after not too many falls." 

Kenai pushes off and plows to a stop near Kindre and Jalimax, sending up 
  tiny shavings of ice. "Want to try skating together?" 

Kindre quirks a brow, "I've already had too many falls," she grins and 
  then pulls on Jalimax's offered hand, getting to her knees. 

Jalimax steadies himself and helps Kindre up. "There ya go" 

Tinya sighs, sitting on the ice, and repeats the 
  rollover-hands-knees-feet-up maneuver, getting nearly routine now. 
  With a look of determination, she pushes off again, this time keeping 
  her eyes and her head firmly fixed forward. 

Kenai watches Tinya, smiling, but forgoes comment, for fear of 
  distracting her. 

Kindre smiles, her flush being that of embarrassment...again...rather 
  than from the cold. "Thanks," she smiles and watches Tinya silently. 

Caitria manages to get Cail over to the snow again, without mishap. She 
  looks rather smug as she lifts the kiddo over to the shore...until, of 
  course, she loses her balance and falls face-first into the snow. 
  "Mmph." 

P'tran heads over from the South Bowl. 

Kenai grins at Kindre. "Do want to try it together, until you get the 
  hang of it?" 

P'tran wanders over from the south bowl with a quizzical expression on 
  his face, peering out over the lake. "Evening," he says a bit 
  hesitantly. 

Kindre's eyes widen, "Caitria?" she asks with concern, "you alright?" 

Jalimax smiles at Kindre, "Want to keep trying on your own ?" 

Tinya manages three little glides in a row this time, then starts 
  tilting and hastily puts her trailing foot back down, windmilling her 
  arms wildly as she recovers. Staying on her feet this time, she grins 
  with triumph, looking like she's starting to enjoy this. Then, of 
  course, Kindre calls and she turns to see why, and knocks herself down 
  again. WHUMP. 

Caitria emerges from the snowbank, looking like something out of one of 
  Kassi's stories with snow all over her face and clothing. "Aye. Just 
  fine." She pfffts some snow from her mouth, and one can still see her 
  rolling her eyes. 

Kenai looks over at Caitria as well, waving towards the Weyrleader. 

P'tran blinks and winces slightly as Tinya falls. "Um, I assume there's 
  a purpose for all this?" he asks warily, looking at the others 
  curiously with a slight smirk. 

Caitria nods to P'tran as she briskly brushes snow from...well, 
  everywhere. "Masochism," she says succinctly. "Notice, you don't see 
  _me_ wearing those things on my feet." 

Kindre's hand, and only her hand because moving much else and she ends 
  up kissing ice, waves to P'tran, "Evening Weyrleader," before she 
  turns to face Kenai slowly, "Please? I think I'll let her drag me 
  around a little, Jalimax." She smiles until she watches Tinya go down. 

Kenai grins over toward the shore. "We're skating. The purpose is to 
  have fun." 

Tinya laughs merrily at Tria, holding her stomach as she sits on the 
  ice. As P'tran speaks, she looks over her shoulder, salutes and calls, 
  "You'll forgive me not getting to my feet!" With a grin, she adds, 
  "Kenai said it would be fun, when I found the skates in the storage 
  room and asked what they were for." 

Jalimax grins and nods, gently guiding Kindre over to where Tinya is 
  sitting on the ice." 

P'tran nods in response to Kindre and tries to understand what is going 
  on over the frozen lake. He looks over to Kenai and raises an eyebrow. 
  "Skating? And that is ...?" 

Kenai chuckles, gesturing at her be-skated feet. "This!" 

P'tran ahs and nods. "I see ... except that I don't, really." 

Caitria grins as she settles Cail into her lap. "You could always 
  try...that's the easiest way to find out." 

P'tran glances out over the ice again. "I assume the falling-down part 
  is unintended?" he asks with a wry grin. 

Tinya grins up at Kindre, as she rolls over and gets upright again. 
  "Okay, one more time. I think I _might_ be getting the hang of it...." 
  She pushes off again, another little glide. 

P'tran ums as he considers Caitria's suggestion. "Wearing those things 
  does not exactly look, er, very stable ..." 

Kenai grins. "Well, you know, the falling hting gives one such an 
  interesting persepctive on the fragility of..." she trails off and 
  chuckles. 

Caitria nods to P'tran. "They're not, not really." She again gestures 
  towards her skateless feet, then grins as Cail clapclaps for Tinya. 

Kindre laughs a bit as she is glided over to where Tinya was sitting, 
  "Mostly unintended...though Kenai hasn't gotten to the stopping 
  methosd yet..." Her face getting a determined look, she nods, "Okay, 
  push, foot down quick, and glide, right?" 

Jalimax grins and lets Kindre go, "Yepp." 

Kenai blinks at Kindre. "Oh, right, stopping!" she grins. "Well, you've 
  found out one method... which works well in emergencies." 

P'tran hmms and nods again, and folds his arms as he looks out over the 
  ice again. "I have to admit I don't recall seeing anyone doing this 
  before. Where did those, um, what were they again? Skates? Where did 
  they come from?" 

Kenai calls over her shoulder, watching Kindre- "From the textile 
  storerooms." 

P'tran ahs and smirks. "For a moment I thought we had received something 
  unusual in the latest tithes." 

Kindre nods crisply. Bending her knees and putting out her arms...just 
  in case...she gives a small push from her right foot, glides a little, 
  and then grins, "Look look look..." managing to just slow to a stop 
  half a weaverlength or so away from where she started. 

Kassima laughs and applauds Tinya's glide, still staying stubbornly off 
  of the ice herself. "Looks good, Tinya... 'sbetter than I could do, 
  though that's nay saying much." Seeing Kindre's demonstration of 
  gliding skills, she grins. "Impressive!" 

Tinya stops pushing and glides gently to a halt. Working her way slowly 
  around in a circle, to face toward P'tran, she nods. "I found 'em when 
  I went to look for a new belt. There's a whole pile tucked back in a 
  corner." She grins and adds, "I bet there's some in your size." 

Kenai calls over to Kindre, demonstrating, "One way you can stop is by 
  pointing your toes in like this. It's a slow sort of stop, and you're 
  less likely to fall over than with others." 

Kindre nods slowly, "Mm-hmm...but won't my skates run into eaach other 
  if I do that?" 

P'tran nods at Tinya explains, then chuckles at her last suggestion. 
  "Well, I appreciate that thought, but somehow trying to balance 
  oneself on those strange shoes on slippery ice is not exactly my idea 
  of fun." He grins. "But the rest of you, please continue, it is rather 
  amusing." 

Caitria grins. "Amusing," 

Ursa let's out a big sigh as she still hovers by the lake's shore, 
  watching. Finally she mutters, "Well here goes nothing..." and 
  ventures bravely on to the ice. 

Caitria grins. "Amusing," she mutters. "Yeah. That's the word." 

Kenai grins at Kindre. "No, because you're not moving in the same 
  direction that your toes are pointed." 

Jalimax grins and watches Ursa. 

Kassima grins and nods agreement. "Almost as funny as when Pref and Lyss 
  and the other dragonets were out here doing it. At least nay anyone's 
  gone face-first into a snowbank yet...." 

P'tran ums and adds, "Just be careful not to hurt yourselves too much, 
  and watch out for thin ice ..." 

Ursa stepsteps onto the ice. Not gliding, just sort of walking in those 
  same mincing steps on the ice. "Uhmmmm..." she hums as she stepsteps. 

Kindre's eyes widen with understanding, "Oh," she says before attempting 
  another mini-glide on the ice. Chuckling, she says, "Yet being the key 
  word, Kassima..." 

Tinya grins. "Unless you count Tria." 

Caitria sticks out her tongue at Tinya, and chuckles...then winces as 
  Cail parrots the behavior. "Oh, lovely." 

Kassima winks at Kindre. "Precisely. Mayhaps I should try and take bets 
  on who the first one to do so will be?" She blinks at Tinya. "Did Tria 
  get a faceful of snow and I missed it? Aigh! 'Tis what I get for nay 
  paying attention as I should." 

P'tran grins at Caitria and glances over to Kassima. "There appears to 
  be a lot of falling down associated with this, um, activity." 

Jalimax chuckles, "Only while you are learning." 

Tinya laughs, then chokes off, flailing her arms again as she nearly 
  upsets herself. She catches her balance, then sticks her tongue out 
  back, and minces back around in a half-circle and heads off again. One 
  push, two, three, four...hey. Not bad. 

Kassima nods, with a rueful smile. "Certainly, sir, from what I've seen. 
  And since I fell down just trying to get off m'dragon, I think I'll 
  *nay* try something that requires any more coordination." 

Kenai watches Ursa curiously. 

Ursa still stepsteps on the ice. "-HOW- do you do that?" She watches the 
  other skaters and tentatively tries a glide, which promptly scares her 
  and she sort of runs a little to recover her balance. Stupid move, 
  pretty soon her feet are moving faster to keep up, her arms are 
  swinging wildly in search for an anchor and *THUMP!* there she goes, 
  she's on her rump again. 

Jalimax smiles at Ursa, "It's easier if you have someone to help you to 
  begin with." 

Tinya starts grinning as she continues successfully propelling herself 
  across the ice, looking down to watch her feet. She glances up, then, 
  and is nearly on top of Jalimax. "Yipe!" She straightens abruptly, 
  windmills her arms, and goes down on her behind, >WHUMP<. 

P'tran smirks at Kassima. "Well, at least this is something that the 
  dragons can't get involved in directly." 

Jalimax eeks and watches Tinya go down, "You allright ?" 

Ursa looks up at Jalimax, eying him suspiciously to see if he's teasing 
  her. Finally she asks, "Is that an offer?" 

Lysseth rumbles with amusement, giving Kassi a light nudge with a wing 
  and coincidentally tipping her off balance. "Lysseth!" Kassi yelps, 
  windmilling wildly until she regains her feet. "Silly dragon... eh, 
  tell that to Lyss, sir. She's determined to see me take a nosedive 
  into the snow *some* way." 

Caitria grins at P'tran's words, then hms. "Just how big did those skate 
  things go?" 

Jalimax smiles at Ursa, "It might be." 

Spineth warbles, an off-key sort of sound, as he eyes his lifemate, but 
  from the sound of it, he's not too concerned for her. 

P'tran chuckles at Kassima. "Well, interference from the shore at least, 
  yes. I'm glad we don't have dragons sliding over the ice themselves. 
  Not that the ice could handle that kind of weight anyway." 

Tinya flushes, nodding. "Yeah, sorry. I wasn't watching where I was 
  going." She gets up _again_, and heads in another direction. Push, 
  glide, push, glide. 

Ursa reaches up a hand towards Jalimax. "Offer accepted," she says 
  firmly. 

Jalimax carefully skates over to Ursa, and takes her hand, showing her 
  slowly how to move, helping her. 

Kassima shakes her head. "Nay, there's nay been that since they were 
  small. That first winter after they'd just hatched, Pref and the 
  others tried their hands--err, claws--on the ice when it was thickest, 
  and 'twas really a hysterical sight... they couldn't do it long, 
  though. 'Tween the ice getting thinner as the weather warmed, and them 
  growing like weeds...." She shrugs. "But shore interference--aye, that 
  they can do. And will, more's the pity for me." 

Ursa gratefully pulls herself up with Jalimax's help and frowns, 
  watching his feet. "So how -do- you do that?" 

P'tran nods to Kassima and raises an eyebrow. "I think if the 
  Weyrlingmaster had caught your dragons on the ice like that you would 
  have all gotten into some trouble," he comments with a wry grin. 

Tinya skates in Kenai's general direction, and stops pushing several 
  feet before she reaches her, but nonetheless glides on past. Sighing, 
  she turns her head, then turns the rest of her, mincing around in 
  little steps. "How did you say to stop again?" 

Caitria calls to Tinya, "Fall down. That works." 

Jalimax shows Ursa how he puts and moves his feet, "It gets easier with 
  a little help and practice." 

Tinya snorts and sticks her tongue out at Tria again. "_That_ I've got 
  figured out, thanks." 

Jalimax grins at Tinya, "Aim for a snowbank ?" 

Cailivan sticks his tongue out at Tinya, then giggles, clapping his 
  hands. 

Kassima grins ruefully. "Oh, probably," she admits. "But we didn't know 
  or think of that at the time... and luckily, naught harm came of it. 
  They were even more adept at falling down than people... hard though 
  that may be to believe." She pitches this loudly enough for the 
  skaters to hear, with a wink in their direction. 

Herath snorts a bit, though whether with humor or boredom is hard to 
  tell. This seems to bring Kindre out of her little 
  concentrate-on-her-feet-and-where-they-go trance. "Hmm? Oh, yes, how 
  do we stop again? That pointy toes part...? I thinks I've got this," 
  she says while sliding right past Kenrai, "glide part down..." 

P'tran smirks at Kassima and glances over to Herath for a few moments 
  before returning his gaze to the others. "Strange that I've never seen 
  this activity before, even at some of the Holds ..." 

Ursa frowns, watching Jalimax's feet. "I dunno...." she says warily, but 
  bravely tries another glide, leaning unashamedly on him for support. 
  "How's that?" 

Caitria comments to P'tran, "I know that they do it at Bitra. That's 
  where I learned." 

Kenai grins at Tinya. "You can point your toes together, that gives a 
  rather slowing down sort of stop." 

Jalimax smiles, "Very good, just keep that up." he encourages Ursa. 

Tinya, safely stopped and facing in the right direction, shrugs 
  cautiously and calls to P'tran, "Ursa said people did it here on the 
  lake last winter, too." 

P'tran says "That would explain it then. I don't often go to Bitra 
  during the winter. It can be colder there sometimes than at the Weyr." 
P'tran ohs? and glances over to Ursa. "I must have missed that," he 
  comments, grinning. 

Caitria nods at P'tran's words. "Too sharding cold even _here_," she 
  says, though good-naturedly. 

Kenai calls over "All the kids did it back home, at Far Cry, on the 
  backwater parts of the river. The adults sat inside and drank hot 
  klah," she grins. 

Kindre twists her head to catch a glance of the shore, "I've never seen 
  this, either, Sir, but I suppose...with practice...it could be 
  fuuuuuu..." Her lack of attention to her feet ends up crossing them, 
  and she goes down once again. This time, luckily, it is on a somewhat 
  softer spot than her knees. "Crackdust, I'm going to be bruised from 
  head to toe." 

Ursa looks up from her hesitant, awkward lil glides. "I certainly wasn't 
  brave enough to try it that time!" she calls shorewards. Muttering, 
  she adds, "dunno why I'm trying it now." 

Tinya hmms and looks down at her feet, then points them together. They 
  sort of slide forward and come close to bumping, and she asks, 
  doubtfully, "Like this?" 

Kassima laughs at Tria. "Aye, but if 'tweren't cold, then the ice would 
  be even thinner, Tria. There was skating last winter's time?" She 
  sighs. "Chalk up another thing I didn't manage to see. A shame, if 
  'twas as amusing as 'tis now." 

P'tran winces as Kindre falls. It's obviously a bit hard for him to 
  watch his riders bruising themselves like this, but some part of him 
  still finds it faintly amusing and he grins a bit. 

Kenai look sover and nods- "Well, when you're moving forward, they'll 
  plow into the ice a little, and it slows you, since the sides of the 
  runners are facing into your glide, rather than the sharp parts." 

Jalimax grins at Ursa, "Cause it's fun when you manage it." 

Kindre sits for a moment simply watching everyone. Soon enough, though, 
  the tempeture of the ice sinks through to her rump and she hesitantly 
  gets to her knees, then each foot. Wobbly, she's on her feet. "I am 
  going to get this, sore rear or no." Her head bobs as she mentally 
  goes through the steps again. Push, glide, point, stop. Smiling wide, 
  she feels accomplished and chuckles. 

Ursa snorts in reply. But she slowly take longer glides, until, of 
  course, her legs suddenly slip out from under her, but since she's 
  already leaning heavily on Jalimax for balance, she just tightens her 
  grip, nearly unbalancing him, and holloring, "Yiiiiiiiikes!" while her 
  legs flail, desperately trying to find a balance again. 

Caitria shakes her head. "Masochists," she repeats softly, hugging Cail 
  close to keep him warm, as he obviously doesn't want to go back inside 
  just yet. 

Kassima hrms at Kenai's explanation, eyeing all the scratches on the 
  ice. "I hate to think what would happen if someone fell wrong and 
  wound up sitting on the skate," she comments ever-so-helpfully. "If 
  they can cut into the ice like that... ach, but I'm sure that never 
  happens." Settling down onto Lysseth's foreleg, she flashes a grin at 
  Tria. "Masochists, aye... but masochists that're fun to watch. How's 
  Cail liking all of this?" 

Jalimax grabs hold of Ursa, trying to keep her up while keeping his own 
  balance, "Just relax your legs, and gently try and get your footing 
  again. Unless you want to fall down with me on top of you." 

Caitria grins at Kassi. "He's having a good old time." And, indeed, the 
  toddler is. He looks rather like he'd like to try this new game, too. 

Tinya hmms, and start off again, just a couple of glides before she 
  tries this new stopping method. She points her toes in, and sure 
  enough, they glide closer together, eventually bumping into each 
  other. This _does_ stop her, since she can't go forward, but she 
  flails wildly before managing to recover her precarious balance. "Is 
  that _right_?" she asks skeptically. 

P'tran hmms at Kassima. "All I can say is that at least the ice is thick 
  enough over this part of the lake, considering how many people keep 
  falling on their behinds," he comments with a chuckle. 

Ursa takes a deep breath while trying to obey the directions. "Shells, 
  no..." she gasps as she finally manages to stand almost upright again, 
  "That's not my plan..." and then announces, "Okay!" cause she's 
  standing on her own legs again. 

Kassima chuckles. "A shame they don't make skates that small, do they? I 
  bet he'll be good at this when he gets older if he's taking a liking 
  to it already." She laughs at the Weyrleader's words, and nods. "'Tis 
  apparently sturdy enough to endure scores of sudden impacts, as it's 
  probably had to by now." 

Cailivan squirms out from under his mother's arm, and tries to make his 
  way to the ice, but ends up miring himself in snow, instead. 

Kenai ohs... "Well, you have to be pushing out with your feet while you 
  keep the toes pointed in, while you're gliding forward." She shakes 
  her head. "Like this..." she demonstrates, pushing off in a glide, 
  then pointing her toes in, her feet turning just a little as she 
  pushes them to the outside. 

P'tran grins. "It generally gets cold enough for the ice to be hard 
  enough. People were doing this last season as well? Hmm. Funny I never 
  noticed ..." 

Jalimax smiles at Ursa, and helps her steady herself again, "Got your 
  balance again ?" 

Caitria chuckles, and unmires Cail, settling his now--snowy form in her 
  lap again. 

Kindre watches Tinya since she seems to have gotten the hang of this 
  whole bit better than she. Wrinkling her lips a bit doubtfully, she 
  pushes again, mananging to glide decently. So decently, in fact, she 
  forgets the whole stopping thing. "Ack..." is all she manages to day 
  before the friction ends up slowing her to a stop almost completely 
  balanced. "We must be a sight, to be true..." she mumbles humorously 
  before turning to watch Kenai. 

P'tran hmms as he watches some of the others moving just a little bit 
  and then stopping over and over, "Any thoughts on how to get back to 
  shore?" he comments, grinning and folding his arms again. 

Kassima shrugs, a bit bemused herself. "Nor did I, sir, though 
  admittedly Lyss and I were mostly at Boll last winter's time when she 
  wasn't of a mind to snow-battle with the other dragons. Nay much 
  skating up at Boll, for true." Watching the others for a moment, she 
  almost looks tempted to actually get up and try for a second, but then 
  regains some semblance of sanity and instead pulls a piece of hide 
  from one jacket pocket to study. 

Tinya peers closely at Kenai's feet, trying to fathom what she's doing. 
  After a moment, she starts off again, glides a couple steps, and then 
  tries again. She pushes out, and actually manages to stop before her 
  feet bump this time, though it takes about ten feet and leaves a long 
  wavery line scraped on the ice behind her. "Huh!" she exclaims, quite 
  surprised. "That actually kind of worked!" 

Caitria stifles a laugh at P'tran's words. 

Ursa nods, once, a brief gesture accompanied by a "Yah, I do." Bravely 
  she takes a larger glide, not holding on as tightly, but certainly not 
  letting go yet. She glances up, "Shore?" is all she says before 
  returning her steady gaze to her feet. 

Kenai grins and gives herself a shove, picking up a fair amount of speed 
  as she hurtles toward the shore, then comes to an abrupt stop by 
  turning one foot in, the toe of the other pointed at it. She swings 
  around in a tight circle, ending up facing hte way she came. She looks 
  over her shoulder and grins at the Weyrleader. "Like that?" 

Tinya looks over her shoulder, carefully this time, and grins at P'tran. 
  "Ah, now _that's_ easy. You just head right over and fall in a 
  snowbank, like Tria did." 

P'tran chuckles at Kenai. "Yes, but now let's see the other ones do it, 
  showoff." 

Jalimax nods to Ursa, and tries for the shore. "If you want to." 

Kenai laughs and heads back out towards the others. 

"It did?" Kindre calls over to Tinya before her eyes widen, catching 
  sight of Kenai. "I don't think I am ready for that quite yet...I can 
  glide over there, though," she says with a bit of pride her her voice. 

...IN her voice... 

Kassima giggles and looks up. "Faranth, I wish I hadn't missed that! 
  Must've been a sight. Hey, y'know what I bet would be fun?" She leans 
  down to scoop a gloved handful of snow from the shore, eyeing it 
  thoughtfully. "If people were practiced enough nay to fall down all 
  the time, I daresay they could have one sharding good snowball fight 
  out there." 

Ursa misses Kenai's display and she looks up and frowns, "How'd she do 
  that?" not entirely sure what she missed. She teeters as Jalimax 
  changes direction and protests, "No, I meant..." She shrugs. "Not the 
  shore yet. I'm still getting the hang of it." 

Jalimax ahs and nods, "Thats good." 

Caitria lifts Cail into her arms. 

Kindre laaughs a bit nervously when she hears Kassima, "Oh, true, that'd 
  be a challenging fight to say the least...we," she grins, "are not 
  practiced, though..." 

Caitria gets to her feet. "Well...as fun as this is, I think I need to 
  get Mister Adventurous here to bed before he decides to break 
  something on the ice." 

Tinya gawks at Kenai, then remembers to shut her mouth. She looks a 
  little envious, and maybe that's why she starts off a little faster 
  than she can handle yet. In any case, she does, and she ends up 
  dragging one toepick behind her a little, tripping, stumbling a few 
  steps and then sprawling on the ice, flat on her stomach. She manages 
  not to hit her chin, but she knocks the air out of herself a little, 
  and lays there gasping. 

P'tran rolls his eyes at Kassima and shakes his head, chuckling. "You'd 
  thing *any* place was a good place for a snowball fight, Kassima." 

Kassima grins impishly. "Nay *yet*," she points out to Kindre with 
  irrefutable Kassi-logic. 

P'tran looks over to Tinya and takes a few steps towards the ice. 
  "Tinya, you all right?" he calls out in concern. 

Caitria heads in the direction of the South bowl, leaving the shimmering 
  lake. 

Kindre's eyes widen, "Tinya..?!" she calls and attempts to skate over to 
  help her. Having not yet mastered the stopping thing yet, though, she 
  slides right past her and stubles a bit as she hits the shore. 
  "Jays..." 

Kenai comes to a stop next to Tinya and kneels down on one knee. "Are 
  you OK?" 

Kassima chuckles and waves to Tria and Mister Adventurous, then grins 
  ruefully at the Weyrleader. "Well... mayhaps nay *any* place, sir. I 
  mean, 'twould melt too quickly at Boll or Shipfish--but y'know, a 
  fight in the air, a-dragonback, might be a sight. Tinya?" Hearing all 
  the concerned calls, she snaps her attention in that direction. 
  "Tinya, you sound like a beached fish--are you all right?" 

P'tran frowns slightly. "I thought someone might hurt themselves. Tinya, 
  do you need someone to fetch one of the healers?" 

Tinya props herself up on her elbows, wincing. "Ow?" she says softly, 
  then nods and takes a bigger breath. "Yeah. I think I'm okay." She 
  rolls over and sits up, feeling gingerly at various parts of her 
  person. "Nothing seems permanently damaged, any rate. Shards, how did 
  I _do_ that?" 

Kenai shakes her head. "I wasn't watching very close. How are your 
  ribs?" 

Ursa winces as she watches Tinya fall, and whispers quietly, "Ouf." She 
  tightens her grip on Jalimax again with a sheepish, apologetic smile. 

"I think you tripped on that little front part thing of the skate 
  there," Kassi says helpfully, pointing to the toepick. "Whatever 'tis 
  called. Then you fell down." She looks increasingly glad that she 
  isn't out there doing this herself, and in fact scoots a few steps 
  backward from the ice, back onto shore. 

Tinya pokes at the aforesaid ribs, then shrugs. "I think they're okay. 
  Lucky I'm wearing this nice thick jacket, though." 

P'tran nods slowly in Tinya's direction. "Well, if you're still feeling 
  sore after that, you might want to pay one of the healers a visit 
  anyway." 

Kindre wobbles completely back onto solid, frozen ground. 
  Unceremoniously she plops down to sit in the snow and starts to unlace 
  the skates, "Much as I'd like to continue, my knees and...um...bottom 
  are protesting too much." Smiling, she wonders, "Can we do this again, 
  Kenai?" before peering at Tinya, "and you7re certain you're okay?" 

Jalimax grins at Ursa, and smiles, "No worries." 

Kenai stands up and looks down at Tinya, then smiles over at Kindre. 
  "Now that I know where to find skates, I might be coming out here more 
  often..." 

Ursa shivers a bit in the cold. "C'mon," she says, suddenly bolder. 
  "Let's -go-." Her legs pick up the speed and she starts to glide 
  faster, still nothing too impressive, but at a speed that she couldn't 
  possibly attain successfully without help. 

Jalimax ohhs and keeps up with Ursa, trying his best to help her. 

Tinya rolls over again, and gets back on her feet. Patting herself down 
  again, she nods. "Everything in working order, seems like." She tries 
  a few glides again, _much_ more tentative, and nods one more time as 
  she practices stopping once more. "Yeah, I'm okay. But I agree with 
  you, it's time to stop. My nose is so frozen I can't tell it's there." 
  She wrinkles said nose comically, as if to demonstrate. 

Kindre grins, chuckling softly as she looks up from the unlacing, 
  "Sounds good to me...if my body can handle the trials, I think I'd 
  really like to learn this skating thing." 

P'tran nods and starts to look a little more relaxed again. "Hmm. 
  Interesting sport, but I think I'll pass on this one." he comments 
  with a chuckle 

Kindre gestures to her scraped up knees, "But Sir," she protests 
  humorously, "it is such fun!" 

Tinya minces around, then glides once toward the shore, slowly sliding 
  to a halt, and takes little steps to the edge and off. She sits down 
  on a rock and unlaces her skates, grinning at the others. "This _was_ 
  fun, and we _should_ do it again. Now that we're starting to get the 
  idea." 

Kassima hmmms thoughtfully. "Mayhaps next time I'll try it m'self... who 
  knows? I just may be in the mood for masochism then." 

Ursa glances over. "They're all stopping!" she protests. "Just as I'm 
  finally getting the hang of it!" She keeps gliding, but tentatively 
  lifts her arm from around Jalimax's shoulders. "I gotta see if I can 
  do this myself..." she says bravely. She lets the momentum carry her 
  along without moving her feet until she slows down to nearly a halt. 
  THEN she attempts one clumsy lil push of the foot, then another. 

Jalimax grins and watches Ursa go, keeping close to her in case she 
  needs help. 

P'tran smirks at Kindre and the others. "I have a different version of 
  fun I suppose," he says. "Anyway, as long as you had fun with it, 
  that's what counts." 

Kenai idly glides toward shore, then stops there and turns to watch 
  Ursa. "Looking good!" 

Ursa beams as she clumsily glides forward in halting little spurts. 
  "Hey!" 

Kindre finishes unlacing the skates and begins to get her boots back on. 
  "Despite how sore I may be tomorrow, I definately want to do this 
  again...maybe I won't fall as much." Clapping, she whistles, "Go 
  Ursa!" 

Tinya stops unlacing to clap. "Alright, Ursa!" 

Kassima calls over to Ursa, "Looks great, Wingsecond!" She chuckles and 
  looks back down at her hide, then suddenly remembers something. "Eh, 
  Tinya, 'twas going to ask you, since you're knowledgable about wines 
  and the like--d'you know perchance where a person might find good 
  blackberry liqueur?" 

Ursa laughs as she skates formlessly along, making very slow progress 
  forward. "This isn't so bad!" 

P'tran looks over to Ursa and smiles. 

Jalimax smiles at Ursa, "Thats the way to go." 

Ursa ventures forth bravely, bound and determined to get some skating in 
  before she has to quit like every one else. She manages to turn around 
  in a wide arc and go back in opposite direction, before she looks 
  around and complains bitterly, "It's getting dark, isn't it?" 

P'tran glances back towards the bowl for a moment. "Well, glad to see 
  everyone managed to get through that in one piece," he says with a 
  grin. "If you'll excuse me all, I have a few duties to attend to." 

Kenai waves to the Weyrleader. 

Kassima smiles and salutes the Weyrleader. "Good night then, sir. Good 
  luck with the duties and all." 

Kindre nods, smiling, "Good evening, Weyrleader..." she says and waves. 

P'tran nods and smiles to the others as he heads out. 
P'tran heads in the direction of the South bowl, leaving the shimmering 
  lake. 

Tinya hrms thoughtfully, as she gets one skate off and that foot into a 
  boot and starts on the other. "Blackberry.... I don't have one myself, 
  just a sort of mediocre one I got from someone at Ruatha. I could let 
  you have some of that if you want it. But a good one.... No. You might 
  pop down to the Hold and asks the winecrafters, or ask around at Boll. 
  That'd be my best guess." 

Kenai smiles at Ursa. "There'll be another day- we've got all winter!" 

Kindre gets up and brushes the snow from her rump, "Oh, should we return 
  the skates? I mean, these," she casts a look down to the ones she 
  managed to find, "were just kind of shoved back in that corner..." 

Kenai hmmms and shrugs. "Well, we could ask, I guess. But it doesn't 
  seem like a popular or high-use item." 

Jalimax looks up and nods, "Guess it is." 

Tinya shrugs, as she gets her other foot booted again. "I don't s'pose 
  it would hurt much if we wanted to hang onto the pairs that fit 
  through the winter, do you? It didn't seem like anyone was using 'em." 

Ursa sighs, setting off towards the shore with resolve. A too sharp push 
  with the foot sends her scooting forwards and off balance and then 
  down.. again.. on her rump. *THUD* 

Kassima nods. "Boll... aye, I'd nay thought to ask Marcus. 'Twasn't 
  among the liquors he gave me for mixing, so I'd thought he didn't have 
  some; mayhaps he has a bottle in his stores that I can convince him to 
  part with. I've nay seen anything like that at Winecraft... but again, 
  I'd nay thought to ask, either." 

Kindre's shoulders shoot up as she winces, "Oh, Ursa...you okay?" 

Tinya nods to Kassi. "Even if they don't have such a thing, they'd 
  likely know who would." Her head snaps around. "Ouch, Ursa. You 
  alright?" 

Jalimax scates over to Ursa and offers to help her up again. 

Ursa groands, hand reaching back to rub her tail bone. She really drags 
  out her long, "Oooouuch." But she does sigh and admit, "I'll be fine." 
  She reaches up gratefully to the offered hand, leaning heavily again 
  on his support. "Thanks!" 

Jalimax grins and gives Ursa a hug, and helps her towars the shore. 

Kindre picks up the skates, "Well," she begins, "if they're missed, I'll 
  promptly return them. For now, though, I think I'll keep them in my 
  weyr...easier to find them that way." 

Kassima hmmmms and nods. "Right. And I bet Marcus would give me advice, 
  if I promised nay to experiment with it at the Lounge again. He just 
  can't forgive me for breaking a few of his glasses when I put The 
  Bottle to the flame test. I'm just glad I was wearing my goggles, 'tis 
  all I can say." She winces as she sees Ursa's fall out of the corner 
  of her eye. 

Tinya rubs at the knees of her trousers which, as she just now notices, 
  are sopping wet. She shivers a little and says, "I guess I'd better go 
  change into something dry," and gets to her feet. 

Kindre bobs her head in agreement, "Forgot theis stuff," she kicks at 
  the snow, "doesn't stay solid long..." 

Ursa grins at Jalimax as they make it to the shore. "Thanks! Shells, I 
  couldn't've done it without you." 

Jalimax grins at Ursa, "Gotten your cute behind even more sore ?" 

Ursa rubs her behind with a pathetic look. "Ouch, yeah, that's sore," 
  she says. 

Tinya swings quickly up to a seat on Liath's back. 

Kindre nods, "Same here...maybe there will be soome decent brandy 
  around, too, to help us warm up." She smiles and waves before striding 
  over to Herath. 
Kindre gives Herath a soft, loving pat on the side. Humbling her oft 
  high-held muzzle, Herath dips close to the ground and Kindre 
  half-steps, half-tugs herself up with courtly ease. An unusally easy 
  and contented glint is in her eyes as her lifemate bestrides her. 

Herath takes flight, using the thermals rising from the bowl to carry 
  her aloft. 

Liath backs up a few steps so he doesn't spray snow, and jumps into the 
  air. 

Jalimax grins and plops down on the shore besides his shoes, and starts 
  to unlace his skates. 

Liath takes flight, using the thermals rising from the bowl to carry him 
  aloft. 

Kenai unstraps her skates and yanks on her boots, stamping them to shove 
  her damp feet in properly. 

Ursa teeters over to her boots, throwing herself down on the ground and 
  then yelping involuntarily, "youch!" as she lands on her sore tush. 

Kassima chuckles. "Think I'll get a headstart to the Living Cavern. I 
  don't know how you people stand it--I was only sitting and watching, 
  and I'm half-froze!" She grins ruefully, and then takes hold of the 
  straps to swing herself up. 
Kassima climbs up to Lysseth's lower neckridges with the aid of the 
  riding straps and her lifemate's thoughtfully offered foreleg. She 
  gives Lysseth a fond pat on the neck once she is aboard. 

Lysseth lumbers in the direction of the South bowl, leaving the 
  shimmering lake. 

Kenai chuckles at Kassima's comment. "Well, that's why... " she muses to 
  herself. 

Jalimax pulls on his shoes and gets up, and walks over to Ursa, "Need 
  help ?" 

Kenai heads in the direction of the South bowl, leaving the shimmering 
  lake. 

Ursa chuckles dryly. "I dunno. I -think- I can still remember to put my 
  boots on," she says, lacing them up as she does, "But I'm not 
  convinced I'll ever stand again." 

Jalimax grins and chuckles, "Was fun tho."