The crew moved on and continued their tour outside. Presently, they came across a well-built snowman.
"Hey, there's Frosty!" Gretel exclaimed.
"Or, he should be, if we can find the magic hat and get it to work." said Santa. "There are many that look alike, and many have been tried."
The group continued on until they came to a frozen pond with a team sized group of elves skating on it.
"Oh dang. I forgot my skates." said Iris.
I got you covered," said Santa with a chuckle. "Spares in all sizes, so there should be a pair for everyone." In a moment, he had conjured them up in a pile beside the pond.
Cosima whooped.
"It wasn't long before everyone had found a suitable pair, and Iris and Gretel were the first to step out onto the pond.
"Ack!" Iris exclaimed as her lack of caution resulted in her tumbling to the ground.
"Hah! Wipe-out!" Cosima teased.
Gretel aplauded.
"Shut up!" Iris said through embarrassed laughter.
Pippi made her entrance with a hop twirl sequence, landing on the pond with one foot, and began skating around, doing an impromptu figure skating routine.
"Show off!" Cosima called as she stepped on to the ice. She wavered, nearly losing her balance, but managing to stay up, and began venturing out cautiously at first, to get a feel of the surface.
"Me? Never!" Pippi called back, grinning.
Bethan came gliding onto the pond, whizzing past Iris, who was skating more carefully. Bethan made a beeline for Pippi, then changed direction at the last second.
"Wow, it looks like I've got competition!" Pippi said, whizzing past.
Cosima giggled. But trying to hold her laughter in was making her a little unsteady. "Whoa!" She nearly went down again and worked hard to keep herself upright. "Note to self, skating and laughing don't mix!"
NT sat at the side of the pond, watching the others with a relaxed expression, as if she was watching fish in an aquarium.
"Need some help, Miss?" An elf approached NT, startling her.
She shrugged.
"Sorry if I startled you." he said to her.
She nodded and flashed him a small smile.
"You ought to join the party out there, it's a lot of fun." he suggested.
She shrugged again.
"Or have you skated before?" He asked quietly, not wanting to embarrass her.
She shook her head.
"Well, now's as good a time to try," he smiled encouragingly at her.
NT looked at the skates on her feet and shook her head. She took the laces on one of them in her hands and fumbled with them a moment, then let them drop.
"Oh, I see, here, let me help." he said patiently. "You start by taking this lace," he began discreetly showing her how. While he laced up one skate, NT copied him, trying to lace up the other one.
Santa smiled brightly as he observed the others while putting on his own pair of skates. He got as big a chuckle out of Iris, Cosima and Pippi as Bethan and Gretel did. But his expression grew tender as he watched Hermey helping NT on with her skates. "That was so kind of you, Hermey, but I'll take it from here.
Suddenly NT interjected in quiet excitement. "You're Hermey!?"
"Why yes, I am!" the elf smiled back.
"As in the world famous dentist!? The one they did a TV special about!? Like in - you and Rudolph?"
"Well," Hermey laughed, "I don't know about world famous, but - yes."
"Oh my gosh, well, pleased to meet you!" NT squealed.
Pippi, who was close by, stopped suddenly to look around, "Was that NT!?"
"Yes," Santa said, smiling at her.
"Well I'll be..." Pippi trailed off, "What's got into everyone?" She shook her head.
"It's the Christmas spirit!" Gilda smiled as she and Eubie whizzed past Pippi during their tandum effort.
"Of course." Pippi said, smiling in wonderment, trying to take it all in.
"Swoosh-crash!"
"AUGH!"
"Way to go, Cosima, you'll make the Olympics for sure!" Gretel teased.
"Ah shadup!" Cosima called back as she sat up, and then got to her feet.
At the side of the pond, NT couldn't even begin to figure out how to stand up in a pair of skates. Santa had his skates on now, and he began patiently helping her. Even when she was on her feet, NT was very wobbly, and Santa encouraged her to hold her ankles firm and try not to let them roll in or out, because skates were not like normal shoes and would tip.
He took her for a few steps on the normal ground just to give her some idea of what she needed to do to help balance herself.
"Now, are you ready to try the pond?" he asked her.
NT darted nervous glances around and tensed in Santa's arms.
"Oh, I don't expect you to skate on your own, you won't be ready for that for some time. I'll skate you around the pond, how would you like that?"
NT nodded.
"That's the spirit! Now, we're off."
But NT had another problem when she got on the ice. Not only were the skates tippy from side to side, they were slippery going back and forth too. Before Santa and NT had their positions exactly right, NT slipped out of his grip, one foot slipping forward, the other, back, and down she went. No one could've looked more shocked.
But that expression lasted only for a second, and then NT tried unsuccessfully to stand up. Same problem as before, she couldn't get up on those tippy blades. The feeling of suddenly apparently not knowing how to do something as basic as standing up, and slipping every time she was helped up only to tumble again, resulted in NT laughing too hard to do anything but lie there and try to get her breath back.
"Are you going to make it?" Santa asked, laughing.
This made NT laugh even harder.
Santa laughed with her, and then continued patiently working with her, and eventually he got her standing up and as still as a statue. He told her not to move a muscle until he'd got a good firm grip of her so he could hold her up for the skate.
Then, they started off, Santa reminding her to keep her ankles strong, and telling her how to turn her skates whenever they needed to change direction.
At first, NT seemed to be frowning, but it was only because she was concentrating so hard. That expression soon turned to a more relaxed one, and eventually she was smiling again.
Presently, Cosima skidded to stop next to NT and Santa. She reached out and jabbed NT in the side, causing her to squirm and stifle a squeal of laughter.
Santa had to hold NT more securely for a moment or two so she wouldn't fall.
Cosima took off one of her mittens to touch NT's forehead. "Okay, unless you're not all right, just who are you, and what've you done with NT?"
Santa laughed. NT blushed.
"Hey Cosima!" Pippi called from a way off, "Are you up for a race around the pond?"
"Against you? Hah!"
"I take that as a no!"
"Why don't you ask Santa?" Cosima retorted.
"That's okay, he's got a new student and I don't want to interupt the lesson," Pippi called back, and continued skating, chuckling to herself.
"I'll race ya!" Gretel called out, gliding toward Pippi.
"You're on!"
And the two were off, shouting and laughing.
Santa continued Skating with NT. Every now and then, he would stop and talk with an elf or two, or with whoever he happened to meet around the pond.
Eventually, NT thanked him for all the help and said she'd just like to sit and watch for a while.
When he'd got her sitting safely back at the side of the pond, Santa skated out until he found Pippi. "Are you still up for racing?" he asked her.
Pippi looked around, surprised, but smiled. "Let's go for it."
Off they went, chatting and laughing.
No one was really sure how long they'd spent ice skating. Everyone was getting pretty tired from the skating or from the effort to not fall down.
With a jolly "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Santa called the group's attention.
"Perhaps it's time for something more relaxing? There's still plenty to see!" He smiled, eyes twinkling brightly. "There is a fantastic look out point, where you can see the entire village. I suggest we head there next."
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