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The baby squirms, snowflakes sneaking past the ridge of fur that had been tucked behind her head, over her ears. Little pricks of cold that make her squirm, and fuss. At least, until a fuss that threatens to become a wail is rocked away by a pair of gentle, claw-nailed hands.
“Now now. Good for little brains to see new things, the broadsheets all say. Well, the Lady says they do, Kled not read common so well. But Kled do know, snow will not hurt you, not with wrappings, lady Mayrina, and Kled to keep safe.”
The warmth of a protective body blocking the snow, and the threat of a frozen breeze settle the child.
Even if they hadn’t, Mayrina re-tucking the blankets, and re-adjusting the straps the hold the little one to her back would be enough of a distraction from the cold.
Mayrina is not sure what they’re doing in the city center today.
Mayrina has never been ice skating before.
That much is clear immediately, when she rushes to the edge of the rink to watch the the skaters already there. All the more clear when she balks at the bladed shoes that Kled rents for them.
No problem. He’s happy enough to sit down and unlace her stiff, warm boots, and replace them with the less warm, but stiffer, higher ankled skates.
“When Kled was small, every year all brothers and sisters would go skating. Sometimes, the very small ones skate before they walk. Everyone holds hands and holds each other up. Like the Hag Survivors.”
She is nervous, but of all the things he loves (admires, he reminds himself, they are friends. They are comrades. She lost her mate not even a year ago.) about her, it’s that cowed is not a thing Mayrina has ever been.
As they first venture out onto the rink, he keeps a hand on her elbow, another on the small of her back. He shows her the way to balance, and the way that momentum helps to hold onto that balance.
The air is bright and cold.
The city glitters with candles, both natural and mage-made, and the ice on the eaves and the snow on the ground glitters the candles lights right back.
The baby giggles, as they pick up speed, move in cautious figure eight, bump into other skaters as unsure on their own feet.
It’s not more than two circuits around the ring than she’s gained her confidence though. Puts her stride ahead of him. Moves, quickly, and gracefully, and delighted, once she’s found her balance.
And as she does so, she doesn’t ever actually take her hand out of his.
And as she does so, when her balance starts to waver, she grabs onto his arm.
And it’s no hard thing for him, to hold the three of them up.