[Event] Winter Fun in Crocus

Cold wind whipped him in his face, as he glided over the roads. The sun had already set, for it wasn't out for too long during the days. The spontaneous act of getting a driving license and a motorcycle that caught his eyes was already well worth it. Thane had Sauveteur's goggles on, as well as a blanket-esque scarf wrapped around his neck and head. It was truly cold and while Thane didn't mind the low temperatures, he wasn't trying to catch a cold or worse.

Soon enough, he came upon the capital city of Crocus once again. He left most of his possessions in a room that he had rented for little bit, while he explored the capital. Except that he quickly got tired of it and decided to venture further. The only remaining issue was that he had already paid for the room in advance and he didn't want to let it go to waste, so he left Gae Bolg and some other things in there, until he got back.

The capital was covered in snow, much like everything had been on his road from Motor City, including it. Thane slowed down once he entered Crocus, making sure to keep on the road. Thankfully he had a motorcycle and not a car, so it wasn't quite as tough, but the amount of people milling around was a bit challenging to weave around. Thane was planning on only going to his room to rest after his first full ride on Sauveteur, but something intrigued him along the way.

He was driving by a large, light up park that had giant banners that said 'Winter Solstice Festival Here' in giant red, green and white lettering. There were garlands hanging on the tree branches and around the banners, as well as various festive looking ornaments. A festival celebrating the winter solstice sounded like a great way to spend the evening.

It was rough, trying to find a place to park Sauveteur, but Thane found a little nook that could house her and he parked her there. The goggles dissipated as he dismounted the motorcycle and pulled down the scarf from his head and wrapped it around his neck. He didn't even have circlet that he usually wore as part of his gear, leaving his head bare, letting wind fully fluffy up his already slightly messy hair. With a little smile on his lips the Au Ra would join the crowd that was entering the festival area.

It had been a short while, but the little witch was jumping around the little apothecary shop. She had heard earlier that the city was going to hold a winter solstice festival today, so she was hoping to get done with her work quickly, and that Nelson would come back quickly too. She wanted a bit of free time. She ran around the Rune Knight Head Quarter often when she was there, training her magic and patrolling with Nanny. And when she was off the clock there, she was at the Apothecary. Nelson had convinced her to go to the festival since she had been working so hard for him lately and he knew she was into stuff like that. She celebrated her holidays with festivals and enjoying her time.

Nelson had gone to get more herbs, needing to find a new supplier as his old one went bankrupt. He hated having to go find new places. He felt he'd eventually would have to hire other mages who knew the lands to get the herbs he needed for his shop, or he'd have to quit. Wren wouldn't let that happen though. Nanny stood on the counter, mewing quietly while Wren went around fidgeting with the jars, boxes, and bundles of herbs. She was trying to busy herself more than normal due to Nelson's absence.

The bell would chime as the door opened, and chime again when it closed, and Wren's head whipped around to see the familiar face of Nelson Haggary with a box of herbs. Wren giggled as she quickly picked up a stick off of the counter and helped him out by using a little bit of magic to levitate the boxes with no issues and getting the herbs on the counters gingerly. "Alright you, go to that festival. I'll take my time to organize the herbs. And I'll try to keep it as organized as you do. Or, you can fix it when you come back." The older gentleman chuckles to her. A grin was on Wren's face as she nods and quickly grabs her broom. Nanny quickly jumped off of the counter, and the two girls ran out of the store and making the bells chime again. The store would be closing soon anyways, so she could help him out later regardless.

As soon as her little knee high fuzzy boots hit the street, her broom quickly flipped in front of her and the little black cat jumped up front while she jumped behind her and was flying on the broom much like a hoverboard. She let out a happy shriek as she was zipping through the sky above everyone's heads. She was wearing a pink scarf red, off the shoulder sweater with white reindeer and a fuzzy white collar, trim, and sleeves, and a pair of green leggings. Nanny simply had a red bow on her collar to show her festive self.

As soon as the two made it to the festival, Wren crouched down and instantly sat on the broom while flying around. She was enjoying the sights and observing all the games about the place. She slowed down once to see what was around her and notices a drink stand. Hot chocolate. "Come taste some hot chocolates! Various tastes! Lots of flavors for your tongue!" A vendor calls out to the crowd. Wren looks over, and Nanny just seemed to lick her paw before wiping it on her ear. She didn't care. A grin was on the redhead as she adjusted her glasses and slipped closer. "I'd like to try some hot chocolate!" She giggles. The table was filled with various pots of chocolate liquid delicacies. Some had a peppermint sticking out, some had marshmallows, a few had some cinnamon sticks sticking out or an apple it seemed. Wren looked on in awe and felt herself begin to salivate.

The man, who had called for the attention to get people to come to the table, clapped his hands to everyone. "We have hot cocoa from a few people and all you have to do is taste your favorite." He says as he holds up a basket. "We have some tokens if and when you find your favorite hot cocoa!" He shakes the basket and let the ice tokens jingle about a bit. She smiles and looks to the various cups. They had sample cups at the front of the table near the passer-byers, and bigger travel mugs at the back near the vendor and the other cocoa makers.

Picking up a sample cup Wren sipped it slowly it was a peppermint cocoa. She pursed her lips before she picked up another and sipped it. "These are strange tastes…" The little witch mutters to herself before she sipped a vanilla cinnamon hot cocoa. She gasped and looked to the cup. There was a red and green dot at the bottom of the cup. "I'd like this one!" She calls to the vendor, who smiles to her and grabs a travel mug and a token before handing them to the redhead. "Careful now, kid, it's hot." He tells her with a smile before he turned his attention away. Wren takes a deep breath as she closed her eyes. She wasn't a kid… she wasn't one. She didn't know how to make herself look older. No! She had to just feel confident in herself! Others assumed when they shouldn't! With the mug in her hand, Wren was gripping both the mug of vanilla cinnamon hot chocolate, and the broomstick, tight as she flew around. She had her eyes partially closed and wasn't focused on what was ahead of her.

She was enjoying her mug of hot chocolate happily, and tipped it back to drink some while she lowered herself closer to the height of the crowd. But unfortunately, she found herself tipping over someone else yet again. She pointed her finger at the mug as she tumbled to the ground, and instantly the cup was hovering upright and all the chocolate was in it quickly. She wasn't letting a drop of that deliciousness go to waste! Now she was hurt though, and had crashed into someone again on her broom. "I'm sorry!" She quickly cries out as she was actually hanging with one arm by her broom. She held onto it tight enough. Nanny had her claws gripped in the wood, and was glaring down at her witch.

There were a lot of festival-goers squeezed in the park and Thane was slowly making his way through the crowd. His height gave him an advantage of having an idea as to where he was going, instead of just blindly shoving himself forward. He made a short stop at one of the stalls, where was a paper stapled to its side. The paper disclosed information about the festival, more notably the games and contests that were available for the festival-goers to participate in and collect tokens. The ice sculpting and ice skating caught his eyes, before something else did.

The stall next to the one at which he was standing at, seemed to be selling warmed up mead with many different flavours. Thane's nose and cheeks were becoming a bit too cold for his personal liking, which made the idea of warm mead quite attractive. The Au Ra made his way through the people and stood in the line. As he waited for his turn, he looked over the flavours that were available. From a regular, through orange and cherry to walnut. The man hummed to himself, deciding on the walnut one. It sounded the most interesting. Once it was his turn, he took out some Jewels. "A cup of walnut mead, please." He ordered his beverage and the lady who ran the stall happily gave him his order. "Here you go." She said cheerily, as Thane handed her the Jewels and took the cup. "Thank you." Thane thanked her and went on his merry way.

At first he took a sip, both for a taste test, as well as because of the temperature. The mead tasted strange, but he didn't hate it. Thane just shrugged to himself and continued to sip. Even though he was occupied with a cup of mead, he was looking for the area where the sculpting and skating were. While he wasn't familiar with either, Thane was hoping to try something new. He was sipping on the mead, but he already drank most of it, as he kept an eye out for the attractions he wanted to visit. He thought that his height would give him an advantage, but the trees and stalls obscured his vision.

Thane's height, however, would prove to be an another problem. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice a blur approaching him through the air, until it was just a little bit too late. He felt the impact and his balance was off because of the surprise element. Thane grunted and took a step backwards, trying to prevent himself from falling over. The cup of leftover mead sadly didn't make it and tumbled to the ground. Surrounding people jumped in surprise at the scene, some quickly walking away, some looking what happened. The Au Ra shook his head to regain his composure, when he noticed the cause of his sudden pain in his shoulder. It was Wren, who helped in him out in the Apothecary, barely hanging onto her broom, her cat's claws gripping onto the wooden shaft. "Wren!" He would call out, his cup and spilled mead already forgotten. "Are you okay? Need a hand?" Thane would ask with concern written in his voice, as he offered his arms to let Wren have a platform to get to the ground. He would lower the girl onto the ground if she wanted to, but would provide support and then step back, if she wanted to get back on her broom.

Wren nervously starts to giggle at Thane when she caught a glimpse at who she had crashed into. "I am really sorry." She repeats to the tall guy again. "I really need to start watching where I'm going when I’m flying… I do get too excited." She mumbled to herself, knowing full well that was what the cat was glaring at her for. She looked up to her arm, and winced a little. She actually twisted her arm in her fall to hold onto her broom, and nods to Thane for his 'need a hand' question. She let herself be lowered to the ground as he gave her his arm, and lightly shook her own arm that was holding onto the broom. "Other than my arm slightly being pulled, I think I'm fine! Thanks!" She beamed a smile up to him. She made a lowering motion with her other hand and both her chocolate and broom started to lower slowly. Nanny seemed to calm down and let a mew out towards Thane, wanting attention.

The redhead looked to her broom and made a thinking face as she grabbed her cocoa and sipped it again. A smile spread on her lips from the taste as she continued to look like she was thinking. "Do I just walk… or continue to use my broom?" She questions aloud. Her brown eyes trailed to the ground, and she gasped a little. "Thane! Did I knock your drink out of your hand?!" She asks as she turned back to the tall guy. She felt really bad and touched his arm slightly if it was in reach. "I'll buy you another mug! Okay? To say sorry for crashing into you!" She wasn't going to take no for an answer, actually.

After she got Thane another drink, the little witch noticed a sign for a few of the games around the area. “Sled Racing, Ice Sculpting… and Open Skating…” She read off of it. An idea came to her and she looked over to Thane. “Are you here with anyone? Care to join Nanny and me traveling around the festival? I’d much rather someone I can actually talk to, over a cat that’ll just judge me every step of the way.” She pouts a bit as she held her mug, Nanny just glowered at her, and Wren stuck her tongue out to the cat. “I haven’t done any of these winter festivities before, but I’d really like to learn ice skating! Wanna come join me?” She asked him as she looked up with her bright* brown eyes excitedly. She also wanted a buddy to hold onto if she were serious. She then lightly wiggled her fingers at Thane’s drink, and smiled. “There, it won’t tip over and spill unless you make it.” She nods her head. She had casted a little spell on it to keep it from tipping over and spilling.**

The girl giggled nervously and accepted Thane's help to get down from the broom. He made sure to be as gingerly with her as he could. When she noted that her arm might be pulled a bit made him worry, but if anyone could take care of it, it would be Wren. He would just keep an eye out on her, should anything happen. The girl motioned with her uninjured hand and the broom and her mug lowered themselves. Wren's cat, Nanny, was still perched on the broom and meowed at the Au Ra, making him smile. Thane would reach out and scratch the feline on her head. It made him want a companion of his own, but when he thought about the amount of time he spent on the road... It was probably a bad idea.

Wren took a sip of her beverage, which reminded Thane of the mead he had just before the girl made her entrance. She mused to herself, as the man looked around them while he stood next to her, in case she needed anything. The little crowd of people who stopped by to see what was happening were dispersing, seeing as the two involved in the situation knew each other and nothing of note happened. Truly a sad day for gossiping housewives. Thane didn't notice Wren taking a peek at the ground, until she asked if she spilled a drink of his with a fleeting touch he felt on his arm. "Kind of. There was almost nothing left, so don't worry about it." Thane wanted to wave it off. However, Wren seemed to be of a different mind, insisting that she buys him a replacement for the cup she spilled as an apology. "It's fine, really." He tried to protest, but Wren really insisted on having her way. It was probably for the best if Thane let go of his own stubbornness for a moment.

The Au Ra picked up the cup that laid on the ground and threw it into a bin as the little witch got him a hot chocolate. He made sure that he asked for the cheapest one. Thane was holding onto his new cup of hot beverage, as Wren read names of some of the attractions the festival had off of a paper. A very similar thing he did himself not too long ago. The girl then looked up at him, asking if he was there with anyone. "I'm by myself. I was out of the city and when I came back, I came upon this lit up park. I thought it would be a nice way to spend my evening." The man would reply, though he would be lying if he said that he wasn't a little tired. That was probably why he was heading back to his room in the first place.

Thane would smile and nod. "I'd be glad to join you." He agreed to the idea of tackling the festival with somebody, rather than alone. Wren also said that she wanted to try out the ice skating, towards which he was looking forward to. He took a sip of his hot chocolate, just before the little witch enchanted it against unintentional spilling. "Thank you, Wren." Thane would thank for the spell. "I was thinking of trying out ice skating myself." The Au Ra would say, not at all opposed to the idea of having a skating partner. "Let's get going then, shall we?"

The man would make his way through the crowd, paving a way for Wren behind him, if she chose to go on foot. The park was becoming more and more packed as time passed by. Thane's height proved beneficial for the moment, as it let him spot the ice skating area. It wasn't far off and soon enough the group would make their way to the attraction. There were already a lot of people skating around, but a good number of people chose to simply just observe them from afar. There was an area to the side, where one could store their boots and other footwear and be loaned ice skates. Thane was a little bit nervous, as his feet were more on the larger size. He had to have a lot of his clothing custom made, after he left the comfort of his tribe. "Loan your skates over here!" One of the ladies who were in charge of the ice skating called out. "Let's hope they have my size." The Au Ra mused to himself as he walked up to the lady.

Soon enough, he had a pair of ice skates in his hand, ready to board the ice. Thankfully the stall had more than plentiful amount of sizes to choose from. They were prepared for everything. "Are you ready? I haven't done any ice skating in my life before, so this should be interesting." The Au Ra would chuckle nervously, after Wren got her ice skates.

Nanny moved her head to be scratched just right by the tall guy while Wren used a potion. From her little alchemy belt she had hidden under her sweater just right to hide it from noticeable view. She splashed a little of the potion on her arm and shook her shoulder a bit to get it going again. Soon enough it was working wonders again. She hadn't noticed the crowd at all, though she honestly should have, but living on Sailkia had gotten her used to crowds forming when she had gotten into some fights and she learned to block them out from around her. Wren had puffed her cheeks at Thane and glared at him when he started to reject her, but she had already marched off towards the hot chocolates and told him to pick one he liked. Of course she didn't care what he got really, but just that he got another warm beverage that she got to pay for.

When they were settled on drinks, Wren was pleased to hear that Thane was alone here and he agreed to join her. Her brown eyes sparkled a bit as she clapped her hand to her wrist a little. After he had mentioned trying out ice skating as well, she grinned even more. "Great! We can have more fun together!" She pumped her free fist up in the air and slightly skipped ahead for a little bit before she actually got fed up with the crowd a bit. Thane ended up in front of her, and she skipped behind him happily. She stored her own little boots in one of the cubbies, and ended up getting a pair of kids skates to wear, frowning at the thought of them being kids sized. Sometimes being small sucked…

“Yeah! I haven’t either, but it seems we may fall some!” Wren giggled as she pointed to a group of people who also seemed like they were learning too when Thane asked if she was ready. She put her blades on the ice after lacing them up, and nervously stood up. She was wobbly herself, and looked over to some other skaters to see how they were doing it. Some were taking small steps like they were walking, and she slightly copied them. She then looked back to Thane and turned to skate to him. She was slow in doing it though. “You need help?” She held her hand out to him as a smile was practically plastered on her face. Regardless if he accepted her help or not, Wren slowly started walking backwards in the skates to start skating backwards. Was that a good idea? More than likely not, but she didn’t entirely care either!

A laugh escaped the witch’s lips as she grabbed hold of the side of the rink and nearly fell down again, but she looked over to where Nanny was. The cat was safe of her broom, just watching her, judging her, bored. Nanny licked her paw and ran it over her ear for a moment before lying down on the broom. A giggle came from Wren before she turned her attention back to Thane once again. She was curious about how well he was faring now. As she passed by someone, she was handed another little token, and she held it up high above her head to Thane for him to see. “Look! I think we can cash these in for a prize ev-” “Yup! Turn in five Ice Tokens and you can get a special one!” A passing skater tells the little witch before she gasps and looks to her companion, quickly trying to redirect herself towards him. “Did you hear that?! Want to try getting it?” Her eyes sparkled. Honestly! These Earthland festivals were fun!

Wren took care of her slight injury, but Thane was determined to keep an eye out for her. The Au Ra was a bit surprised to see the little witch so overjoyed at the prospect of spending time with him. Though if he had to be honest, he was glad that he got to share the festival with somebody else.

Once both of them got their skates, Wren said that she hadn't ice skated herself, prophesying that they will most likely fall a few times. Thane could only agree, but hoping it wouldn't come to pass and downed the rest of the hot chocolate Wren had bought for him. The little witch pointed at a group on ice, who seemed to be new to the activity aswell, making Thane feel a little bit better about himself. Wren went to put on her ice skates and Thane did the same. The girl wobbly stood up and Thane's attempt was no different. He somehow felt that his height was making it tougher for him, but it was most likely just his personal feeling. The man stayed close to the wall that surrounded the skating area, using it as support. Thane didn't notice what Wren was doing, until she reached out her hand towards him, asking if he needed help. "I could use some." He took her up on the offer and placed his hand into hers. Though it was most likely the other way around.

Thane smiled, Wren's enthusiasm rubbing off on him. The girl started skating backwards, surprising the Au Ra. "Are you absolutely sure this is your first time?" He chuckled, as he did his best to stay on his feet. It seemed that he spoke too soon, however, as the girl almost fell, but she laughed it off. Thane was worried for a second, but it didn't seem like anything happened to her. The girl looked back at him and he smiled in return. He was still quite far from being able to properly ice skate, but with enough practice he would get there. Wren passed by one of the skaters and they handed her something. It seemed to be a token of sorts and she held it up for him to see. The person confirmed that it could be used to exchange for a prize if they got five of them. Once the prize was set, Wren seemed to be really determined to get it. Thane didn't particularly care about the prize they could get, but he wasn't going to say no. "Sure. Sounds fun." He would agree to the plan. "Though we will need more tokens to get the prize." The man mused, thinking of the activities that he read about on the paper, earlier. As he thought about it, out of the corner of his eye he noticed a stack of ice blocks, to the side of the ice skating area. It reminded him of the ice sculpting that should be available to be taken part of. "There seems to be ice sculpting just over yonder. Want to try it?" The man would point to the direction in which he saw the blocks.

If the little witch wanted to go through with Thane's idea, the Au Ra would very gingerly turn around to exit the ice skating area and return his loaned skates. He would put on his boots, secretly glad that he was back on firm ground. "The ice sculpting should be over there, somewhere.." He would muse to himself, as he made sure that Wren was close by. Just as he had seen, the ice sculpting was truly close to the skating rink area. There weren't that many people around, possibly because sculpting out of ice may have seemed like a daunting task. Thane himself wasn't sure how he and Wren would fare, but they would have to see. As soon as one of the festival staff noticed them approaching, he would present the ice sculpting activity. "Hello! This area is for ice sculpting! There is no time limit to make your creation, but you only get one ice block. You may take some of the sculpting tools to help you out. You will also receive three tokens for participating!" Thane would be quite intrigued. "Three tokens sounds good, doesn't it?" The man would chuckle at the little witch. She was really looking forward to getting the prize and the amount of tokens received for the activity seemed like a lot.

The little witch grabbed hold of Thane’s hand and was giggling up to him. As he questioned if it was her first time skating, she tilted her head to the side while she grinned. “Observing others helps a lot!” She couldn’t help but respond with. She pointed with one of her hands, still holding onto his hand with one, towards a group learning and how they were taking little steps. “See? I watched others and how they were doing it, and gave it a try.” She tells him after she had her wobble spell. After showing off the token and getting excited for it, Wren stuck her tongue out and let up a happy cheer that Thane was cool with getting the prize too. “Ice sculpting? Yeah! Lets go and see if we can get something for it!” A smile formed on her lips and she nodded eagerly to her tall companion.

She slowly skated towards the exit and slipped off the skates before returning them. She danced around lightly in her boots and waved her hand for her broom to come closer. “Nanny! I gotta say, this is the best Yule I’ve celebrated ever!” She giggles as she hugged the cat to her, in which she just mewed in annoyance at her witch. She then let her broom fly behind her as she skipped after Thane. After they got to the ice sculpting area, Wren listened to the guy and started to smile rather wide. “Three Tokens? That’s the last of the tokens we need to turn them in!” She swayed from side to side as she leaned forward “Lets go!” She laughed and went over to the ice block that they got. Wren looked at it, then the tools, and frowns. How was she to do this…?

Nanny let up a huff on the broom and jumped off of it to pad over towards her witch before jumping on the table with the tools. She pushed a couple to the side and sat down next to the tools as she looked to the two, as if she were judging them for not knowing how to ice sculpt. Wren tapped her chin as she thought of what to make. Other people were making ice people, plants, and creatures, Wren decided she wanted to make something that wasn’t ‘organic’. She tapped her chin as she continued to think. A gasp escaped her lips and she quickly picked up the tools and was getting to work. She started shaving off a chunk of the top of the ice block.

The cat seemed bored as she sat on the table, slightly pushing the tools to her witch every now and then, and watching her little creation come to life. She was going simple with her design. A square witches bottle with a long neck. She was familiar with the type of bottle. The neck was a bit too wobbly and Wren had to even out the top to make the spherical stopper, but as she was working on it, she chiseled a bit too much and the neck of the bottle cracked! Wren looked at the bottle, then the broken pieces of ice that was on the ground. “Okay… I can… fix this… I think?” She wasn’t too sure, but she’d give it a go. First she started buffing out the side of the neck to make that more even, then started making the top of the neck even as possible too.

It didn’t take long, but she had a large, slightly rounded, rectangular bottle made of ice. She used the broken pieces of ice to make a new stopper, using water and some snow as some glue for it to hold it together. One side of the jar she chiseled out ‘Frogs Legs’ and made a blocky picture that was supposed to be frogs legs. It didn’t look too much like frogs legs. She laughs at how it looked. At least it looked like a bottle and said frogs legs on it. She set down the tools and stretched. “Tada!” Of course the little witch felt proud of her work, even though she wasn’t an artist. The host of the Ice Sculpting came over and saw Wrens sculpture. “That looks rather nice!” He had commented as Wren put her hands on her hips with a grin on her face. He reached into a waist pouch and pulled out some tokens. He counted them before handing them to Wren, who grinned as she pulled out the other two she had. “Look! We got five of them!” She was excited now.

There were a few stalls scattered about the festival where people could turn in their tokens. “I’ll be right back.” She tells Thane as she jumped up on her broom like it was a skateboard, and zips off to one of the stalls. After turning in her five tokens, Wren came back with one a little bigger than the others, and was grinning rather widely. “Thank you again for accompanying me!” She honestly couldn’t help but thank the tall guy. She wanted to do something to thank him, but she couldn’t think of anything… She then let up a gasp. “Hey! You should come back to the Apothecary another time! I’m gonna be doing some alchemy lessons come next month!” She excitedly claps, but then pauses. “That is, if you want to come and learn some, you’re welcome to join.” She had a grin on her face as she held her hands behind her back while she stood on her broom. Nanny was at the front of the broom, just sitting there.

The power of observation was something that Thane hadn't thought about, in the heat of the moment. In retrospect, it sounded like a very good idea. Shame he didn't thought of it when it mattered. However, he was glad to hear that Wren was up for the ice sculpting. After they got there and staff gave them a rundown of what the ice sculpting entailed and what rules were in place, Wren said that they only needed those three Tokens to get the prize. It was all the more reason to try out the activity.

Nanny jumped up on the table with tools and pushed some of them to the edge. Thane looked over them, unsure of what the tools were for exactly, in the realm of sculpting. As he eyed the various tools, Wren gathered up some inspiration on what they should be sculpting. It didn't take long, until Thane heard a gasp from Wren, who then promptly took the tools and went to the nearest unoccupied ice block. The Au Ra smiled a little and followed the girl. Wren seemed to know what she was going for and Thane didn't dare influence her decision. For that reason he decided to just make sure the ice block was kept stable, as the little witch went on with her work. Right after he gave Nanny a little scratch on her head.

As pieces of ice were hammered off, chiselled off and dusted off, a creation started to form. A simple bottle or a flask. Thane's eyes darted among the creations of other participants and it soon became clear as to why Wren had chosen that route. Most, if not all, of the others were working on fauna and flora or sometimes even people. The man smiled to himself as he cleared off the ice debris on the ground, so that Wren would have clean space for work. He was setting the latest bunch of ice to the side, as he heard a dangerous crack. Thane quickly turned to the ice block on which Wren was working. The witch was working on the neck of the bottle, seemingly having cracked that part of the sculpture by mistake. She wasn't sure if she could fix it, but Thane had faith in her. "I'm sure you'll be able to fix it, Wren." He would attempt to encourage her, but sad that he was unable to help himself. Thane did not have an ice type magic, with which he could mend the sculpture.

The girl took care of the mistake she had made and also repaired the bottle stopped that had fallen apart with the ice that had shattered and was scattered around the sculpture, as well using some snow and water. Thane was glad that he did not clean up those chunks of ice. The statue continued to gain more definition and small details, such as a Frogs legs etched into the side, as well a picture that Thane imagined were supposed to be the aforementioned frog legs. The Au Ra smiled, well aware that what Wren had created was much better than what he could create himself. Once Wren finished working on the details, she set down her tools and presented her ice sculpture. "I like it." Thane would say, as the host of the activity came over.

The host praised Wren's work and handed her the Tokens. The girl grinned, as she pulled out the other two Tokens she had on her and joined them to make a group of five Tokens. She was really excited and jumped on her broom, before Thane could congratulate her. Wren was back momentarily, with the prize in her hands. The witch thanked him for his company. "Thanks for having me." Thane would reply with a smile, glad that he didn't wander through the festival on his lonesome. Wren seemed like she wanted to say something, until she let out an another gasp. The witch gave him an offer of alchemy lessons, provided he wanted to learn something about that particular subject. "I don't know where I will be next month quite yet, but I would very much like to learn a bit about alchemy." Thane would say with a grin on his face, strongly considering the option. If he learned about the art of alchemy, he could very well make his own tinctures and potions, even on the road. He wouldn't have to rely on restocking that kind of supplies in towns or villages.

All in all, Thane was quite happy to have ran into a duo of familiar faces.