[Event] Steam and Frost (LibertyGear/Lily Ambrosia)

The ice scorpions had been easy to deal with, the ice elementals mostly annoying, and the snow brute had been problematic but mostly because Basin had wanted to minimize damage to the city. But a yeti? A legendary monster wasn't going to be easily taken down. And the guardian would most likely have to resort to lethal damage against a living being, because yetis were intelligent and incredibly ferocious. The odds of persuading the yeti to give up and go away were... low, to say the least. Basin would rather not have to do that but on the other hand living and dying was a part of nature, and fending off predators with deadly force was acceptable if it meant protecting that which was important to you.

Of course in Basin's case it was a bit different since ze wasn't a living creature and before Lily had convinced ze to come with her ze had been guarding an important place, but the basic principles were roughly the same.

The yeti quickly recovered from Basin tackling it, snarling as it pushed itself back upright and swung back at the guardian. The rocky figure tanked the blow, feeling zirs body actually crack in response to the impact. It wasn't deep enough to be a genuine threat, but the fact that the yeti could achieve that much was already cause for concern. Luckily Nero was there to back Basin up and distract the yeti. The guardian was actually impressed that the large cat managed to break off one of the yeti's horns, not only depriving it of one of its weapons but also inflicting quite a lot of pain. Listening to Nero's words over the yeti's scream the guardian nodded. The further away the yeti was from the city the less havoc it could wreak.

Basin's feet merged with the ground as Nero kept the yeti busy. Bringing zirs arm back ze would have flexed zirs muscles if ze had any. Instead ze just gathered as much power as possible before ramming the heavy fist straight into the yeti's exposed chin. Given that the opponent was actually larger than Basin the punch was an uppercut, but that was only to the advantage of both Basin and Nero: the upwards momentum meant that the yeti wasn't just launched backwards but also off of the ground, its immense body flying through the air and flying quite far before crashing back into the ground.

In the time that it took for the yeti to hit the ground the guardian had released zirs grip on the ground and begun charging again, so while the yeti was still trying to get back up the boulder of a guardian smashed into its furry figure once again, the ground splintering and cracking as this time Basin refused to stop and just kept pushing the yeti out ahead of zirself, grabbing zirs opponent with both hands. A cloud of dust rose up behind the guardian's inexorable charge, the yeti trying to grab the ground or the surrounding buildings but failing to get a proper grip.

---

Fortunately Lily was still completely focused on having fun together with Libbier. As the slayer with the multi-coloured hair procured the flyer and looked at where the skating rink was supposed to the located the dryad looked around at some of the other things people had made out of blocks of ice. While nobody had managed to make anything on par with what the two magic users had created (which wasn't very surprising given they'd had an almost perfect combination of magic for this task) there definitely were some sculptures which she enjoyed looking at. Someone had made a pretty decent attempt at making a lifelike polar bear, for one thing. Someone else had managed to make an ice statue of the spirit of christmas, a fat jolly looking man who was supposed to symbolize the warmth of the hearth and the presence of family and friends.

"It is?" She pulled her eyes away from the other sculptures and stepped closer to Libbier, looking over her shoulder so she could see the map. "Maybe they needed a lot of space." She nodded as her friend suggested taking their time walking there. "Sure! They've put a lot of effort into making the city look pretty so it'd be waste to not look at it."

With the both of them in agreement about their next course of action Lily began to lead Libbier away from the ice sculpting area, the dryad humming happily as she held Libbier's warm hand firmly. The streets were decorated with many lights and other decorations, tinsels hanging above doors and bells chiming faintly in the wind as they hung from strings strung up between the houses. Lily's vivid green eyes drank in the sights, then shifted towards Libbier. "Have you often gone to these celebrations? It's really beautiful but I don't really understand a lot of it."

WC: 825
TWC: 9,212/1,500

Seein Basin preparing to attack, Nero continued to hold the yeti's chin up as far as he could, hoping that the attack Basin was about to launch didn't take too long. Fortunately, this is exactly what happened, as Basin launched an uppercut towards the yeti. Seeing this, Nero let go of the horn he was using to force the yeti to look up and took to the sky to avoid the hit. The yeti, on the other hand, feeling its head free immediately pulled it down by reflex has it had been trying to do so with every neck muscle it had. The timing of the neck movement down, and Basin's fist going up increased the impact of the attack exponentially, launching the yeti backward and leaving it completely dazed from the shock to his brain, causing its recovery to be far slower than it should as it tried to get up immediately after landing on its back, only to fall down again, incapable of maintaining balance. This was a chance where Basin took the opportunity to up the momentum, and before the yeti had completely managed to get back onto its feet, the golem was already on it, unleashing a barrage of attacks to push the yeti towards the outer wall of the city.

Nero surveyed the fight from above, unsure of how to proceed next. It was clear that the yeti wouldn't go down easily like this, and the clock was ticking for Nero and Basin, as even if this yeti could be taken out easily by Libbier and possibly even Lily by themselves, it would certainly feel like a loss if they were to find about this incident, at least before its conclusion.

"Think, damn it.", Nero said to himself as he clenched his fists, "How do we finish this quickly?"

Nero was pondering hard, grinding his teeth even, when he felt something on his hand, or more like remembered that he still had something on his hand. The horn that he had ripped off from the yeti's head. Maybe, just maybe, even if it's shape was warped, it could still possibly be used as a spear. No. Like a lance, and pierce deep enough.

Nero did not need to think any farther. Flying down at full speed, Nero circled around the two combatants on the ground and with all the momentum he gained from diving from high altitude, he aimed at the back of the yeti. Slightly off-center as to avoid the tough spine but close enough to hit the heart. If its anatomy was similar to most animals the heart should be close to the center, so if Nero struck from an angle, close to the center, he should be able to take the monster down.

And so Nero did, at full speed, he slammed the horn straight on the yeti's back, using his own body weight to increase the penetration power. Even so, it was like hitting a wall, as the yeti roared in pain and fury. Basin was still not letting up which caused the yeti to be incapable of turning towards the large exceed on its back, which was a blessing for Nero, who after the impact had become completely numb from head to toe, as he barely held on to the yeti's back by grabbing onto the fur on its shoulder.

Recovering the best he could, Nero immediately turned towards the horn that was now sticking out from the yeti's back, and since it was clearly not deep enough as the yeti was still alive and kicking, quite literally, Nero began to hammer the horn like a nail, forcing it deeper with each blow. The yeti became clearly distressed as it thrashed around, even while fighting Basin, but no matter how hard Nero tried the horn did not go any deeper.

Nero was about to start repeating the same words that he had said before when he recalled the horn when he had another idea. He had to act fast before the Yeti was able to stop Basin to push him further back. So Nero jumped down, and immediately did the same as he had done to the previous ice monster. Only this time, after he tackled the main support leg, Nero held it down, preventing the yeti from getting a good foothold. It took a few steps, as Nero was not nearly heavy enough to completely hold the yeti down, but eventually and after getting dragged a few meters, the yeti was unable to keep its balance and fell backward, landing on its back and on the horn that was sticking out of it.

There was a loud gruesome sound as the horn broke the ribs that were holding it and went through the yeti's side. And after a small whimper, the sound of air escaping the yeti's lungs one last time was heard, followed by complete silence.

---

Going towards the ice ring, Libbier was able to enjoy the view of the city as night came and the lights were turned on. Libbier was already aware that the night lights were going to be pretty, but for some reason, they were far beyond what she was expecting.

"This year is definitely beyond what I have seen before.", Libbier said while looking around. She wasn't planning to say her thoughts aloud like that so she was slightly flushed immediately after. A small pink that quickly upgraded when she thought about the possibility that the lights looked better due to Lily being there to watch them together.

Libbier continued with Lily for a while, as the night darkened, discussing the lights as they went, as well as the normal tree decoration that they come across, sometimes finding some decorations that would have looked very good on their ice sculpture.

Eventually, they arrived at the place that was marked on the flyer as the location of the ice skating area, and what Libbier found there was definitely not what she was expecting. First, there were no people around despite being an event that should be still going through the night, and then there was a massive crater in the center, where the ice had cracked from towards the edge of the ring, making skating mostly impossible.

"What the heck happened here?"

This left Libbier dumbfounded, as she first thought that maybe there was something wrong, but after coming this far there was no way she was going to take this lying down. So, as Libbier made up her mind, she reached for the surface of the ring and immediately began to melt the ice. The cracks melted faster and eventually, the entire ring had become covered in a thin layer of water, which Libbier then immediately froze again before the water escaped into the crater, hence creating a smooth skatable surface.

Pausing for a moment to appreciate her work, Libbier moved to her own feet and slowly created ice blades under her shoes that would allow her to skate freely on the newly frozen ice. Finally, Libbier gestured Lily to show her feet.

"This is definitely not what I was expecting but there is no reason we can't still enjoy it.", Libbier said, before pointing out, "After all, we now have this all to ourselves."

1212//9288

There was little Basin could do right now but keep pushing, shoving the yeti's massive body out ahead of zir as ze tried to get the dangerous creature out of the city before it could do any more damage. This was both for the sake of the city and for Basin zirself: as long as the yeti was within the confines of the city it would have plenty of ammunition in the form of stones and nearby houses. It had already shown itself both willing and capable of ripping chunks of stone out of the surroundings to use them as weapons, and while Basin was very though this wasn't an opponent to underestimate.

Fortunately at least ze was having luck with the pushing. The yeti's brain clearly had been rattled about when it was launched through the air and then rudely smacked back against the ground. Its movements were less coordinated than before and it seemed to be fuelled more by raw emotion than the cruel intelligence it would have used to reign terror over the city of Magnolia given the opportunity. It tried to flail at Basin but it couldn't get a good angle on the guardian, and it tried to grab onto the surroundings to slow down the stone figure's advance but couldn't get a good grip.

But that wouldn't be enough to resolve this fight. Basin wasn't entirely sure whether ze would be able to take this beast down without sustaining significant amounts of damage, and the city might also suffer for it. Eventually the yeti would recover and stop Basin's advance, at which point the actual fight would begin. A fight which would most likely be very dangerous and chaotic. Unless of course they figured out a way to take this behemoth down before it came to that.

As Basin was putting everything into continuing to move forward despite the yeti's struggles it looked like Nero, that giant cat who'd been helping out, had an idea of dealing some substantial damage to the beast. Basin's punch had definitely knocked its head back but now that it was recovering it didn't look like ze had managed to break anything. Hopefully Nero's plan would be more successful.

The black cat's charge slowed down Basin's advance a bit as suddenly there was a solid impact on the yeti's back, pushing it forward even as Basin tried to push it backwards. The resulting momentum was still largely backwards, as the guardian's advance wasn't so easily stopped, but ze had to wonder what Nero was doing. From the angle ze had ze couldn't see what Nero had been carrying when he slammed into the beast's back, and ze also couldn't see the horn now buried in the white fur that covered the yeti's back. All ze could do was guess and keep charging.

Whatever it was it was definitely having an effect: Basin could feel the yeti's movements becoming wilder and more panicked as it was now under assault by two opponents. The repeated thumping was a sign that Nero wasn't done yet, so Basin just hoped that whatever the plan turned out to be it'd end up working.

When Nero switched to tackling the yeti's leg so it would fall onto its back the guardian could at least grasp that much and cooperate, zirs hands moving further upwards so zirs momentum would be transferred to the yeti's upper body.

Hearing and feeling the yeti fall down with the sound of something big and heavy smashing into a mostly solid surface the guardian held the behemoth down as its struggles turned into death throes, waiting for it to stop moving before ze finally let go of it, warily watching for signs of life. After Basin was certain that the yeti was in fact dead ze lifted the leg so Nero would have an easier time getting out from underneath it, still wondering what exactly the cat had done to achieve this.

---

"Really? So it isn't always like this?" Lily was somewhat surprised at that. "Is it because of the city or is there something special about this year?" She could imagine that not every settlement was as extravagant in its festivities, but the possibility that they'd happened upon an event even more vibrant than usual was also exciting in its own way. As the two of them made their way towards the skating rink the dryad would ask a lot of questions regarding the culture of the civilized people surrounding Winter Solstice. It was clear that she was looking at it all from an outside view, often lacking knowledge about even the most basic ideas and traditions. Despite her interest in civilization she was still a creature of nature, and had a hard time fully understanding the methods of the civilized folk.

When they arrived at the enclosed ice field which was supposed to be crowded with people wanting to skate freely Lily was as surprised as Libbier. "I don't know." She didn't have to ask whether this was supposed to be what the ice rink was supposed to look like: you didn't need to be familiar with skating to realize that people wouldn't be able to glide over the ice if it was filled with cracks and with shards sticking up everywhere. It was supposed to be a relaxing event after all, and this looked like it was going to cause some serious injuries if people tried to skate on it.

Following the slayer Lily quickly understood what Libbier wanted to do. Just like back with the ice sculpting Lily touched the ice surface and waited for Libbier to turn some of it to water before she began to spread the water out. While the volume she had to control was a lot bigger she was helped by the fact that it was a very simple shape: the only tricky part was filling up enough of the crater that it wouldn't be dangerous to skate over it without letting all the water flow into the hole.

Once the entire ring was covered with a smooth layer of water ad there was a solid covering above the hole Lily nodded, watching as her friend once more turned the water back into ice and restored the ring to a functional state. With the two of them working on it the surface was as smooth as before, so others would also be able to once again glide over the surface if they could muster up the courage after what happened before.

"Much better." The leaf-clad girl nodded in agreement with Libbier. Seeing her friend create ice skates out of ice she stuck out her feet so she could get her own set. Once she was properly equipped she slowly stood up, taking several steps on the solid ground outside of the skating rink to test out the balance. "Uhm... I've never tried this before so you'll have to guide me through it." She admitted. She didn't often hang out in places cold enough for large water bodies such as lakes to freeze over. Waiting for Libbier to take the lead onto the ice Lily would follow after, her grip tightening on the slayer's hand as she was hoping to gain some balance from the woman who she presumed had much more experience or at least talent with skating, being an ice slayer and all.

WC: 1,232
TWC: 10,444/1,500

Nero was squashed. quite literally, as the yeti fell on him. Thankfully, it was mostly only the weight of the yeti's legs so Nero didn't feel any pain from it, although it was still uncomfortable. This made Nero ponder about the choices in his life and whatever had he done wrong to the point that he had to be punished by being pressed down into the floor by a smelly yeti's, even smellier, foot. Nero took a while trying to see if the yeti had indeed died, before thinking about getting out from under it, at which point Basin had already approached and lifted the leg of the corpse, like it was made of paper, allowing Nero to get out and back on his feet.

"Thanks.", Nero said before turning towards the dead yeti, while massaging his sore muscles, "This thing was a pain in the neck to deal with, and not in the metaphorical kind of way."

Nero then proceeded to look around, half expecting something else to pop up out of nowhere, half hoping it didn't... well, mostly hoping, but fortunately, nothing else came, or at least he couldn't feel anything the same way he felt the yeti. So in the end, even if they failed at getting the yeti out of the city, they had managed to finish it before the damage stacked up. The surroundings were pretty heavily damaged from all the grabbing and throwing the yeti had done at the start of the battle. But considering the silence of the area, it was very likely that most people living here were out of their homes enjoying the festival. Nero could only imagine their reaction when they realized their houses had been almost turned into complete ruins while they were out having fun. It would not be fun in the least, but then again, no one appeared to have been hurt so it could be something worth pointing out if someone decided to complain.

"Well, this is finally over and out of our hands.", Nero said, proud of himself, and then added as he turned to Basin, "We should get back before the city officials come here and start asking too many questions."

He then noticed, or more like realized, the size of Basin and the chances he could evade the officials and get back to the two girls. This made Nero sigh, as he could already see what he needed to do.

"You know what? You go back to the girls, and let me deal with the officials.", Nero said as he patted the closest part of Basin, "Considering the way you would need to do to communicate it would take far too long for the officials to let you go, and that would cause the girls to suspect your long absence. Go, and leave the talking to me, after all, considering the previous fights, I need to do at least this much to be even.", Nero ended with a smirk.

And so Nero stood there, waiting for the officials to come, with what Nero would imagine being an army or something close to it, in order to deal with the situation that had already been resolved. This also made Nero think about what Libbier would say if she had been here. Well, she would most likely complain and leave everything to Nero anyway, or at least most of it. And if it was the girl's other side then... it's better not to think about it too much.

"This was a long day.", Nero sighed as he took out his pipe once again and loaded it with tobacco, and as he saw the commotion at the distance moving towards him he added, "And I have a feeling it's about to get longer."

---

Libbier smiled when Lily told her about this being the first time skating. Libbier was used to it, so it wasn't that much of a problem, but the idea of helping Lily simply placed an unremovable smile on her face.

"Don't worry.", Libbier said as she finished making the bladed skate on Lily's shoe, "I got you.", she added before getting into the ring in front of Lily and doing a small spin on the fresh ice ending up facing towards Lily, after which Libbier reached out for both of Lily's hands, slowly guiding her towards the ice, "Just focus maintaining your balance and don't be afraid to fall down, I will hold onto you to help so you don't need to worry.", Libbier said with a reassuring smile before she began to slowly skate backward, bringing Lily together with her into the ring.

Libbier went slow while she watched Lily getting used to balancing herself in a moving position, "That's it, keep your body slightly forward and your legs slightly apart.", Libbier instructed with a gentle voice, before adding with a smile, "You are doing great. I slipped and fell within five seconds on my first time."

After a slow lap, and when Lily began to need less support, Libbier decided to move forward with the instruction, "Ok. Now try to move and gain momentum by yourself.", she looked down as if to emphasize that Lily needed to focus on her feet, "Just place your feet facing slightly towards the outside of your body and slowly force your legs open. Then turn them back inwards and close your legs.", Libbier demonstrated by example, going forward while pushing Lily back, "And by doing the reverse.", Libbier did what she had been doing so far and pushed Lily forwards with her. "You can go backward. It might look confusing since I'm facing the opposite direction to you but try to do any of the movements I just did by yourself."

This day had had a lot of fun activities in it, but helping out a friend learning something new, or maybe it was because it was Lily, made this be the thing that Libbier was enjoying the most out of everything she had done.

1000//10288

Basin only nodded when Nero thanked zir for lifting the leg. Ze waited for zirs partner to escape from underneath the limb before letting it drop back to the ground, the fur muffling the thump it made as it hit the stone pavement. The cracks which had spread across the guardian's surface as ze was assaulted by the yeti were beginning to seal up, and chips of stone which had broken off were being regenerated. Of course healing wasn't a passive trait most rocks possessed but then again most rocks didn't stand up and clobber people.

Now that there was no direct threat the guardian tried to find traces of that ancient winter magic which had been the cause of all this. Ze'd felt it all gathering in the yeti's body, powering it and directing it. Were yetis spellcasters? Basin didn't know much about the creatures, given that they were of the element of winter and ze had spent most of zirs life in a jungle. Regardless the essence of winter had faded away together with the beast's life, and it didn't look like there was any new essence popping up anywhere else. Whether that meant that the yeti had been the cause of it all or if this was simply the final pawn Basin didn't know, but it looked like the two of them had successfully protected Magnolia.

Although Basin had to agree with Nero that the yeti had managed to inflict a lot of damage to the buildings in the area before being taken out. Ze may never have had anything like a house but ze understood the importance of a lair for the creatures of flesh and blood. Even Lily seemed to have been happy back when she could call the ancient ruins inside the jungle her home, although she also seemed to be just fine with wandering around now that that was no longer an option.

Ze looked at Nero as the exceed mentioned how it might be better if the two of them made themselves scarce before the humans arrived. The guardian was troubled by this even if ze didn't show it outwardly. That would mean leaving it to the smaller people to repair the damage, which ze could imagine might take a while. Ze wanted to repair the damage so far as possible...

But Nero also had a good point that the girls might realize that something was up if the guardian remained absent for much longer. Basin had hoped to have them remain completely unaware of this incident, but for that to mean that ze would have to leave the repairs to the smaller folk... That stung a bit.

Feeling through the earth Basin sensed that Lily and Libbier were on the far side of town by this point, far enough away that they could have remained completely oblivious of the fight with the yeti. Given how noisy the yeti had been that took some doing. Basin was glad that ze didn't have to worry about getting tired, so that ze could run around town fighting all these intruders without slowing down in between locations. But if they were so far away...

Shaking zirs head Basin placed zirs hands on the ground. Moss formed on zirs arm to form letters.

'You talk. I restore.'

The little people made their houses and cities from stone and rock. Other materials were also present but in much smaller amounts. Most of the damage had been done to stone walls and pavements, with some wood and tiles were the roofs had been hit. Basin's own nature was stone but being bonded with a dryad did have some advantages.

While Nero waited for the officials to arrive Basin's earthen energies began to flow through zirs surroundings, a light rumble rolling through the area before the repairs began. Rubble made of stone and wood was separated and the pieces all returned to where they belonged, where they seamlessly bonded with the damaged structures. Basin didn't know exactly what the place had looked like before but ze could tell which stone belonged where, and ze could do a fair job figuring out the same for the wood and the tiles as well.

If the girls found out because of this that would be unfortunate but the guardian wasn't about to just let smaller folk handle an issue ze could resolve a lot faster and with less difficulty. Lily would at least understand. Besides, it didn't seem like the dryad was going to come looking for zir anytime soon. It was good to see that she was enjoying her time with Libbier so much.

If the officials didn't get in the way Basin would keep at this until all the structural damage the invaders had caused was gone, after which ze'd rejoin the two girls and watch them skate the rest of the night away.

---

Lily slowly stepped onto the ice, relying on Libbier to help her stay upright. It felt strange to be balanced on two thin blades of ice: maybe she would have been better off forming blades out of wood for herself? Well, by this point it was a bit late to wonder that. She'd just have to do her best to get used to it. At least it felt comfortable to have Libbier there to keep an eye out and catch her if she threatened to fall. "Thank you." She smiled back at the slayer. When the multi-haired girl began to pull her further onto the ring she followed obediently, leaving the safety of the ground behind.

At first balancing was difficult. It wasn't so bad when she was moving in a straight line and Libbier was taking care of the actual moving, but when they had to make a turn she almost immediately fell over, stiffening as she could feel her feet threatening to cross and send her falling down. She hastily managed to correct herself but she had to use Libbier's support to remain standing.

After a while that also became easier, the green girl figuring out how to smoothly turn her feet to adapt to the change in direction. At the compliment the dryad smiled gratefully, her cheeks becoming a slightly darker brown. "Thanks! But I'm thinking I would have fallen immediately if you weren't here to catch me." She laughed faintly.

Once it looked like the dryad could at least glide on her own and make careful turns without risking a fall she lessened her grip on Libbier's hands, although she definitely wasn't letting go. She listened attentively as Libbier explained how you made momentum for yourself, looking down at their feet. She'd noticed that the slayer was moving her feet in an odd way to move, but it helped to have it explained to her. "Open my legs and then close them again. Right." She swallowed as Libbier moved forward and pushed the dryad back as a result, her green eyes looking behind her nervously before turning back towards Libbier. Being pulled forward wasn't quite as disconcerting, since now at least she could see where she was going.

When it was her turn to try Lily did so slowly, carefully moving her feet as Libbier had instructed and demonstrated. While progress was slow the nature spirit definitely was putting a lot of effort into getting it right, and with Libbier's support she'd probably be a pretty decent ice skater within an hour or two. Once she was capable of safely moving about on her own she'd start spending less time on learning how to skate and more on moving around the rink with Libbier. It was quite an enjoyable way to spend time with someone once you got used to it.

WC: 1,290
TWC: 11,734/1,500

Nero was surprised, as Basin seemed to prefer to stay and actually begin to repair the damage the yeti caused. A welcome surprise as it would most definitely look good at the eyes of the city officials and hopefully, they wouldn't take too much of his time. Still, better to resolve this amicably than simply running away from the trouble and be unjustly branded suspected.

It didn't take long for the officials to arrive and of course, their guards immediately surrounded Nero while staying farther away from the more menacing golem that was actually doing some repair work. It was absurdly obvious that Nero was already being suspected, but even so, there was not much he could do about it, as he began to answer the questions thrown at him while trying to explain the situation as best as he could. Fortunately, the corpse of the yeti did not disappear the same way the previous ice monsters had done so Nero actually had physical proof that there was an actual monster attacking and he had not been mindlessly destroying the area for kicks.

Even so, Nero could see that this is going to take a very long time to resolve, as he looked at the night sky, sighing at his awful luck.

---

Supporting Lily as she began to try out what had been explained, Libbier was beginning to become conscious of her words. Normally it was not something that she would take much into consideration, but for some reason, she could feel her other-self laughing in the back of her mind. It was only then that she realized she had actually told a girl, out loud, to 'open her legs'. Even if she was aware of the context she couldn't but feel like she should have worded it in a better way, and she was basically facepalming herself inside her mind.

With time, however, Libbier began to recover from her situation as Lily slowly but surely began to improve. So Libbier turned her attention fully back to Lily once again, and continued with the training, by slowly increasing the difficulty of the exercises, either by increasing the speed or adding more fluid motions that would allow Lily a more precise control when skating on her own. Of course, Libbier was always there to support Lily and even when Lily became proficient enough to skate at a decent degree, Libbier was always there at her side holding her hand through the entire process.

They had the entire ring for themselves, no noise other than the regular night and the sound of people having fun at a far distance. Libbier and Lily would skate off the rest of the night while talking and having fun under the clear night sky.

---

"Oh, now that I think about it, I can smell Nero's scent in this area.", Libbier thought to herself during her time with Lily, "Maybe I should go ask him what happened here later.", she added, annoyed that Nero could have had something to do with the state in which the ice ring was.

In the meantime, Nero had a sudden cold feeling going up his spine.

525//10813