11. Chapter 11

Crys had no idea why Tygra had asked her for her shoe size

as they had prepared to leave the lodge. At his insistence the tiger had

convinced her to leave the lodge again for the outdoors. Reluctantly she agreed this time changing

into warmer clothes than the sweater and leggings she had been wearing before.

She had doubled her socks, wore boots and had donned a heavy fur coat when

unexpectedly a beautiful sleigh pulled up to the front.

“What is this?” Crys exclaimed eyeballing the horse and

driver; the driver bowed regally to her.

“My queen…” The she-cat inclined

her head.

“Call it a holiday

gift, from me to you,” Tygra replied, climbing in and held his hand out for her

which she accepted allowing him to pull into the seat.

“A holiday

gift?” Crys echoed with obvious surprise

in her voice. “What have I done to

deserve such an elaborate gift? Did Argo

put you up to this?”

“Of course

not but you’ll see…” The tiger mysteriously

replied. “Sit back and enjoy. Driver, let’s be off please.”

To her

delight, a woven blanket was produced and Tygra draped it over both of their

laps. It was warm and made the journey comfortable with the coachman encouraging

the horse forward. She smiled and realized that this tiger just might be okay…maybe…

It was late

in the day but there was still plenty of light out. The coachman guided the

horse through the forest and Crystalandra was feeling quite ecstatic since

arriving at this lodge. She glanced over at Tygra who had one arm around her

shoulders; he smiled back. “Feeling warm?’

“Yes, very

much so, thank you.” She answered, daring to rest her head upon his

shoulder. He was pleased by her trusting gesture, and tightened his hold around

her. They relaxed, breathing in the pure crisp mountain air and listened to the

sleigh coasted through the snow. After about ten more minutes, they arrived at

their destination, a frozen lake.

Cautiously, Crys surveyed the area concerned no house staff

members were present from the lodge.

“We’re alone?”

“Of course.”

The lake was

of a moderate size, and she could see it was solidly frozen from end to end.

The pine trees were dusted with snow and the white birch trees had a frozen

layer of ice covering their branches, so that in the late day’s light, they glistened

like they were interwoven crystal. Crys

gasped taken with the beauty of it all, her eyes sparkled at the sight under

the lavender sky.

Tygra moved the blanket to the side and stood up in the

sleigh, reaching beneath the front seat and producing two pairs of boots that

had blades attached under them. Crystalandra eyed the boots with some

confusion. “What on Tymperia are those? Are they for battle? Are we to have a duel?”

He burst out with an amused laugh. “No! These are called ice

skates. We’re going to have some winter fun on a solid ground, as requested.”

She turned her gaze out to the frozen smooth surface. “Are you serious? We’ll fall through the

ice and freeze underneath in the cold water!”

“We would, if

we didn’t have these.” Tygra clinked the

blades in illustration. “In your boots

you would have no traction, with these, you use your own momentum to glide, not

slide over the ice.” He grinned. “And we will not fall through; this pond has

been frozen solid for over two months. The temperature had never come higher

than a few degrees above freezing, and it is checked daily before anyone comes

here to skate. So no need for you to worry since it’s very safe.”

Crystalandra eyeballed

the skates with skepticism and shook her head slightly. The last thing in the

world she wanted was to fall again and appear foolish, especially in front of

this tiger! Taking a breath, she chastised herself and remembered how kind he

was being. She had to at least give this skating thing a try. His logical

analysis and information about the lake’s condition actually made her feel less

nervous, as opposed to thinking that he was being a know-it all scientist

again.

She selected the medium-sized white pair from him and pulled

off her boots, careful to lace the skates up as tightly as possible over her

feet and ankles. Tygra strapped his on as well and stepped carefully out of the

sleigh and held out his hand for her assisting her out. Crys stepped into the snow and after

teetering only for a moment, realized her balance wasn’t so bad, at least in

the snow. She continued holding onto him as he led her to the edge of the pond

and gave her a few instructions.

“So Crys, like I said, there is no traction on the lake. You

have to make it yourself by turning your skates to the side or by using this

part at the front, which is rough and will help you slow down or stop if you

have to. I’ll step out first and demonstrate.”

The Sh’iar queen nodded and watched him as he stepped onto

the lake and began to glide over it gracefully. Her mouth fell open slightly

surprised by how much fun it looked. He turned and skated backwards, then in a

circle, back around and turned his skates, causing ice to scrape out from under

them finally skidding to a stop.

“Wow!” Crys

clapped. “That was amazing!”

Tygra laughed. “Yes, it’s a lot of fun. I can’t promise that

you won’t fall a few times at first, but we all do. Are you ready?”

Nodding in an absent manner, Crys walked to the edge of the

ice where he skated over and held both hands out for her. “Hold onto me until

you feel steady and then I’ll release you so you can maneuver under your own

steam.”

She glared ready to announce that she didn’t need any

childish hand-holding and stepped out onto the ice, immediately regretting her

decision. Feeling her legs start to go out from under her, the leopardess

flailed her arms and started going

down when Tygra rescued her grabbing Crys around the waist and pulled her up

against him, preventing her fall. “Try to get your skates beneath you back on

the ice Crys.” He told her, feet sliding around beneath her.

Bending her knees, Crys was able, after a few moments, to straighten and stand.

Tygra let her go but took her in his. “Maybe just this once you’ll trust me for

a little while, Crys? I have done this before; I merely want to teach you. Believe me, I’m not implying you cannot do it

without me, but it will be easier if you let me show you the proper technique

of how it’s done.”

“Yes, you’re

right.” She sighed. “Sorry, I’m still trying to get used to us actually getting

along—it’s...strange.”

“I agree.” Tygra

grinned and gripped her gloved hands. “Okay, relax, I’m going to pull you along

so you can grow accustom to being on the ice. Try to keep upright.” He turned

his hips slightly; distributing the weight on his right, then his left and

began to skate backwards again,

pulling her forward. Crys yelped caught by surprise as they began to move, and quickly

this was truly a game of balance and momentum. They made it across the lake and

Tygra began to turn them to the left so they were skating around the perimeter

of the frozen palate.

“Take a look

at how I am crossing my ankles slightly as we turn, Crys, you do this for both

forwards and backwards when you want to turn. Are you ready to learn some

additional steps?”

“Yeah, why

not?” And she began to push off the skates, imitating the way the architect had

done it. Feeling more in control now that she was moving and guiding herself, Crys

brightly announced, “I’m skating!”

“Yes, you are!” He grinned, and released one of her hands,

turning so they were both skating forward now. They went around in wide circles a few times,

and Tygra gave them a few opportunities to practice stopping. Crys let him go after the last stop and went

off on her own, smiling confidently and having the first real fun that she’d

experienced all day. The tiger cheered

for her as she whizzed past, and he started off after her in chase. They wove

in and out of each other’s paths on their skates, crazily laughing.

A few times, Tygra

took both of her hands and they turned their skates outward, twirling in

stationary circles. Unable to resist, he showed off a little, showing her a few

single and double jumps and twirls in the air, landing on one skate and gliding

gracefully backwards. She applauded when he would land successfully and

laughed, skating over to help him up when he fell. Crys did slip a couple of times, but it was

all well and good because she was having the time of her life.

As it was starting to get dark, she went for one more circle around the ice, wanting to try

one of the jumps Tygra had performed which he had called a triple sow cow,

despite his caution to her it took time

and practice to learn. Reaching the far

end of the ice, Crys turned and began picking up speed, determined to get it

right on her very first attempt. Tygra

skated over to the snow stepping off the ice, and waved to the driving

indicating they were ready to leave. Their escort nodded and slapped the reins

to engage the horse and began to approach the lake.

Crys figured

she had enough speed now and leapt upward twisted in her jump. Surprising

herself, she completed the turn and landed without hurting herself. Shouting

out in delight, the she-cat looked to see if Tygra had noticed, and realized

all too late how close to the side of the lake she was, and still moving

incredibly fast. Tygra appeared dead centre in front of her with a startled

look on his face and held both of his hands out forward. “Crys slow down—look out!”

Before the Sh’iar warrior could turn her skates or use the toe pick, she

crashed into him and they fell down, tumbling together in the powdery snow.

They rolled several times eventually coming to a stop. Crys opened her eyes and

realized that she was lying directly on top of the poor tiger probably

crushing him with her weight for she was quite a muscular female.

“I’m sorry--I’m sorry! Are you all right?”

“Oww…” Tygra moaned, catching his breath and opening his

eyes.

She carefully scrutinized the tiger, grateful his eyes were

open and touched his face, getting him to look her in the eyes searching for

signs of concussion. “Are you hurt?”

Tygra shook his head in negation, and then gave her a

reassuring wink. “That was a great jump.” She smiled and laughed in relief.

“Might want to work on that last landing, though.”

She climbed off and helped pulling him to his feet. “I’ll

remember that—I really thought I had the distance covered.”

“No worries, I was in the right place at the wrong time.” He

joked, dusting the snow from his clothes and striped mane, but stopped when he

felt her hand on his shoulder. Tygra

gave her a questioning look pausing when he caught something in her eyes he had

never seen before. Her magnificent purple eyes sparkled, even in

the twilight slightly unnerving him unsure if she was about to come back with

one of her usual sarcastic retorts.

Instead the tiger heard from her lips,

“I will remember this… this day for the rest of my life—this

gift you have given me, Tygra, I thank you.”

Whew that was

close. The tiger returned her smile,

relaxing and glad she’d had fun. “You’re more than welcome. I imagine then you like this better than

skiing?”

“It was wonderful. We should bring the others back here

before the weekend is over so they can try it as well.”

“We’ll try and do that then.” Tygra climbed into the sleigh

and assisted her in as well.

The driver started off back to the lodge as they unlaced their skates and

pulled their boots back on. Crystalandra reached over him to retrieve the wool

blanket and draped it back over their laps, causing Tygra to grin at his

cousin-in-law. He sat back on the bench seat and unwound, enjoying the frozen

forest scenery as they traveled back to the mountain lodge to meet up with

their friends.