7. Chapter 7

Galina raised

her arms heavenwards and inhaled. “Ah, just smell

that wonderful fresh cool air!” And

turning towards the tiglon who was surveying the area, “Argo, you are going to

have an amazing time snowboarding. You made the right decision choosing it over

skis.”

He canted his

head grinning. “You think so? I hope I don’t regret my decision.”

“Nah, you

won’t! Come on, let’s get you

started!” Placing her board on the snow,

she stepped into the bindings and quickly laced up. “Do what I do…”

Argo watched

Galina and then Bengali as he slipped his boots into the straps.

“Hmmm I think

I can manage that.” In no time the tiglon

was buckled up and ready to go.

“You’re a fast learner!”

The white tigress chuckled.

He winked at

her. “I’ve got a good instructor…So what

do we do next to get this thing moving?

Do we stand around waiting for the wind to pick up?”

Her heart

fluttered in her chest. Ooh now that is the third time he’s winked

at me! Rangerkitty eat your heart out! Pulling her goggles down over her eyes she

grinned. “We push off and go down like this!”

The white

tigress leapt up, landed, and took off like a bullet careening down the hill.

She swerved around several times, enjoying the fresh snowfall and tried to find

jumps that she could fly off of.

Bengali

smiled, admiring his mate. She is a wonder! “Well Argo it’s you next…I’ll take off after

you go, just to make certain you’re all right and don’t fall.”

The Tiglon

pulled down his own goggles and smirked. “That won’t be necessary. I think I’ve

got the idea of this snowboard and how it works.” He launched himself and went zooming down the

slope like a pro!

“Are you sure

you haven’t done this before?” Bengali

muttered under his breath and followed after him.

Rangerkitty leaned

on her poles watching the big Tiglon whoosh down the slopes with his multi-coloured

mane blowing wildly in the breeze. He was

spectacular! After losing sight of him,

she turned to watch Tygra help Crystalandra snap her boots into the ski

bindings; her expression was far from enthusiastic but she was giving her all

to appear eager to learn the sport.

“So what

exactly is my objective while balancing on these thin strips of wood and

sticking these oversized toothpicks into the ice??” Crys inquired.

Tygra rolled

his eyes. “The objective is for you to

have fun skiing, Crys--it’s really quite simple.”

“What no

battle? Where’s the sense in that? These poles would make fantastic weapons.”

The architect

almost did a face palm. This was not

going to be an easy task teaching Crystalandra the art of skiing. He breathed a sigh of relief when Rangerkitty

came to the rescue.

The tigress

gracefully glided over to the Sh’iar queen on her skis, coming to a gentle

stop. Crystalandra wrinkled up her nose.

“You make it look so easy Ranger.”

“Oh it is…

Let me teach you the basics…Watch me…I am going to teach you a maneuver called

the snow plow.”

“Huh? Snow what?”

“Snow plow,”

RK patiently replied.

“Listen, I’ll

leave you ladies and see you at the bottom.”

The tiger waved and took off.

“You see how

Tygra is doing that? It’s really quite

simple if you don’t over-complicate things, and after a couple of tries you’ll

be an expert.”

Crys

snorted. “I doubt I’ll be out in the

snow that long—my toes are getting cold in these boots! And you say this skiing is supposed to be

fun? I’m not having any fun at all.”

“Oh Crystalandra,

please don’t be like that…Didn’t you see Argo go whizzing past on his

snowboard? He picked up on it so quickly

and so will you! You just have to want to enjoy yourself!” Ranger said grinning. “Now come on watch me…” She inclined her ski tips into an inverted

V. “Depending on how closely you angle

the tips together, it will be the factor that will control your speed and you

use the poles to push off.”

With an

exasperated sigh, Crystalandra imitated the tigress’ actions and pushed off

with her poles, slowly gliding down the slopes.

“That’s it

Crys, excellent!” Ranger

encouraged. “You’re skiing! Now try going a little faster!”

Crys did and

found herself picking up speed—perhaps a little too much speed! With a surprised yelp she took off with

blinding speed racing down the slopes out of control!

“Crys--slow

down!” The tigress yelled giving

chase. “Use your skis! Move the tips inward to slow your speed!”

“WHAT DO YOU

THINK I’M TRYING TO DO?” She shouted;

Crys disappeared over the ridge which was followed thereafter by a loud crash!

Argo pulled

up to where Galina had stopped; turning and spraying her with snow from his

snowboard. She giggled and dusted off as he looked back up the mountain.

“That was awesome!” He gushed removing his goggles and ruffling

his mane. “We’ve got to do this

again! Is there a higher mountain slope

we can snowboard down?”

Bengali

joined them at the base, laughing. “Look

at Argo, his first time on a snowboard and already he thinks he’s an expert!”

Galina chuckled, “You could have fooled me! He certainly

snowboards like one!”

Very shortly

they were joined by Tygra who skied up to the group. It was definitely the more

elegant sport, and Tygra had handled his run well. He smiled at his

cousin. “I’m at least glad to see you’re

having a much better time than your mate.”

“She’s trying

her best but I know she’ll enjoy it as much as I am.” The tiglon climbed out of his bindings. “Where is Crystalandra? Is she coming

down? I can’t wait to see how she

handles the skis.”

“When last I

saw her, Rangerkitty was giving her some basic lessons on how to maneuver.”

“Really?” Argo grinned but this quickly faded when he

picked up a mental distress from Crys. “Hold

on, Crys—I’m coming!” He raced over to

one of the snowmobiles, jumped on, started it up, and drove up the incline.

“What’s going

on?” Galina asked watching the tiglon’s

crazed departure. “Was it something I

said?”

Tygra’s brow

furrowed. “I think perhaps Crys must be

in some kind of trouble for Argo to take off like that. I hope she’s all right

and didn’t crash into a tree.”

“Well let’s

go see if we can be of some assistance.” Bengali shouted!

Bengali, Galina, and Tygra ran over to the

remaining snowmobile and gave chase to Argo’s snowmobile which had just rounded

the first batch of evergreens.

Rangerkitty

peered into the ravine, “Crystalandra, Crys--are you all right?”

“DO I LOOK AS

THOUGH I AM ALL RIGHT?!” The she-cat

roared. “My skis are tangled in the tree

branches! I’m stuck—I can’t move—damn

it!”

“You’re not

seriously hurt, are you?”

“OF COURSE

NOT!” Crys yelled, “Just my pride is

hurt for goddess’ sake and I am a Sh’iar warrior! I have fought many impossible

battles and have won! I have stood up to

enemies larger than myself and yet today, I have been defeated by snow and a

stupid tree--of all things! This just

isn’t my day.”

“Don’t be so

hard on yourself.” Ranger sympathized as

she watched her friend precariously dangling upside down in the tree. She

glanced up at the sound of an approaching motor. “Crys don’t worry--Argo is here!”

The Tiglon came

to a skidding stop, leapt off the snowmobile, and ran over to where the orange

tigress lay on the ground watching the Sh’iar queen.

“Where is

she?” He breathlessly demanded. “What happened?”

“Crys is down there stuck in a tree, Argo. She was going too fast on the skis and

couldn’t slow her progress. She went over the edge but the tree broke her

fall.” Ranger explained.

Argo leaned over, “Marozi, are you hurt? Are you all right?’

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

The she-cat wailed. “I’M COLD,

WET, AND EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE!”

The Tiglon sighed.

“She’s all right for now anyway.”

“Says you, “Crys angrily retorted. “HELP ME!”