Abby leaned against the railing of the treetop walkway, raising her gloved hands to her ears as the wind blew her hair around. It was cold! She'd dressed warmly, donning one of her winter cloaks (which had caught a few curious looks from the muggles), yet she still had to flex her toes against the lining of her boots to remind herself they hadn't frozen off.

Up here, she could see the top of the Kew gardens, the city of London in the distance, and the Temperate House, where she and Tyr had just come from. They had spent a few hours exploring the plants in the various conservatories, and before that, she'd taken him on a guided tour of the evergreens. Now, what she really wanted to do was throw snowballs at him. Unfortunately, there was no snow. Just the threat of cold rain.

Abby smiled at the Durmstrang boy next to her. "Brr! It's only us and a few other brave souls up here, and I think I know why," she giggled.

All those stairs and the cold had convinced most to stay in the glasshouses.

She drew back from the railing and pointed at the ice rink by the Temperate House. "We could go ice skating!" She glanced at him. Something she'd never tried before. "Or find a bite to eat. Or go on a carriage ride."

There was tons to do, even in the winter. She hoped he was having as much fun as she was!

"If I haven't worn you out completely," Abby teased.

The gardens she’d brought him to were quite lovely, and Tyr could not help but be a bit enchanted by them. They were carefully grown, but without the rigidity of line and shape that characterized the grand gardens in St. Petersburg and at Tyen; instead the plants had in many places been left almost to grow freely, though his beginning-to-be-expert eye could detect the lines of trimming, how the cut had directed the plant just so. For muggles, it was a lovely piece of work.

Despite his own natural quietness, Abigail certainly talked enough for two. He followed her through the gardens, careful enough in his words but, somewhat despite himself, finding an interest in talking with her. It was a strange sort of feeling for the boy; Tyr simply did not talk to people.

The cold didn’t bother him, much, but it also helped that Durmstrang was often all but sealed in snow for the winters – he’d had plenty of warm cloaks and coats available. No, the issue was not that he didn’t have plenty of warm clothes; he also had plenty of moderately formal ones. What he hadn’t had was any casual clothing that could pass as muggle.

The clothing he now wore didn’t pass that well, but it was the best he’d been able to do.

The treetop walkway was a lovely touch, and a rare genuine smile flickered onto his face for a moment when they stepped up onto it.

He walked over to the side Abby was now on, having to put a hand on his head to keep his hat on. The ice skating rink did sound interesting, he’d admit. But –

“Can you ice skate?” He asked, politely but curiously. It was a sport back in Russia, and he’d been doing it as a child…the Wizarding way, anyway.

“Not at all!” She grinned widely. “Never tried! It doesn’t look too difficult though.”

She peered over the edge of the walkway at the skating clusters of people, watching their feet move in a ‘v’ pattern, and the more advanced folks weaving around the plodders in turns and twirls.

If she could dance, she could ice skate, right?

“Do you want to give it a go?” Abby said hopefully. He hadn’t seemed to mind the crowds when they’d been in the gardens and conservatories, but that was when they’d been doing something he’d liked. She wouldn’t mind terribly if he decided on something else. It was nice to see him smile, and hear him talk about his impressions of the place (when she let him get a word in edgewise). Admittedly, she felt relieved that he didn’t seem to turn up his nose at the muggles, either.

Tyr looked at her in mild surprise – though he supposed ice that was good for skating was a bit rarer in Britain than it was in Russia, so it made sense. Young pureblood girls tended to have slightly less free time to run about outside, as well, though he privately suspected Abigail was the sort to abseil out of her bedroom window on a bed sheet rope rather than be locked inside with her lessons all day.

“It is not too difficult, though learning can be painful,” he cautioned, in his ever-thick Russian accent. “And rather cold.”
 
He looked down at the rink, tilting his head – unsure for a moment. The weather wasn’t terribly cold, but it did seem rather too warm for steady, safe ice. There was also the question of skating with a crowd, which he had never done.

Still, she sounded hopeful, so he nodded. “I can show you how, if you would like. It is fairly simple to learn. Ice skating is more a manner of practice.”

She stifled a giggle at the grave way he spoke. Painful and cold! Sounded like an encounter with a Yeti. Raising her eyebrows and shifting weight from one foot to the other (and back again), Abby waited for him to decide. From this high vantage point, the ice skaters looked like figurines on a stage.

So he knew how, and he agreed! Not too enthusiastically, but he agreed!

“Yay! You can show me, then,” Abby was already making her way down the long staircase. “I’ll try not to fall on you,” she giggled. Right. This was supposed to be a casual outing, not a date. She’d try to remember that too.

It took some time to reach the gardens below, walk to the ice rink, and rent the skates. Abby made a production out of lacing the skates up (lots of ‘oofs’ and erghs’), and then stood. Suddenly tall, she moon-walked to the edge of the rink, the bottom of the skates sticking slightly in the cold ground.

Up close, it looked a tad more daunting, with little tykes falling all over the place and clusters of friends creating a Great Wall that only the most adept zoomed around.

“Ok Tyr, I’m all ears,” she grinned back at him, letting the other people ahead of her as she prepared to step onto the ice.

Tyr followed the girl with an interested but slightly less excited air – his eyes on her briefly before he considered the rink. It seemed decent enough – not as open as the icy rivers at home, but what could one really expect? This was a muggle thing, after all – they couldn’t freeze an entire lake just for skating purposes. (Or could they?)

He followed her on his own skates, having let her handle the rental – he didn’t have any muggle money exchanged, something he felt he should have had done but hadn’t had the chance to. She seemed better at interacting with muggles than he did, anyway. Well, scratch that. She was better at interacting with people than he was, muggle or wizarding.

She was wobbly on her skates, so he put out a hand to stop her from going onto the ice – not grabbing her shoulder, but touching it briefly to get her attention.

“If you are uncertain of walking on solid ground you will not be able to stand on the ice,” he explained. “It is best to walk on the ground until you are confident doing that, and then get on the ice.” There didn’t seem to be a lot of space to walk on; he stepped onto the ice himself, easily enough, and turned to look at her, arms loosely crossed. “Do not look at your feet or think too much about it. If you think about it you will not do it right.”

“Alrighty.” Abby couldn’t help the amused grin that spread across her face at his instruction and stance. He knew what he was doing! He could probably skate circles around her, though knowing him, he wouldn’t show off.

“This is like that time I had to walk with books on my head!” She giggled, stepping away from the rink to the grassy area, where she began to walk around while trying to gaze straight ahead.

It wasn’t too bad, though she stumbled over a few rocks and roots. Once she felt like she had the hang of it, she glanced back at Tyr, giving him the thumbs up sign.

If only Abby could take things seriously, that would have been that.

On her way back to the ice rink, she lifted her knees and pumped her arms, and widened her eyes and raised her eyebrows in a perpetually alert expression. The effect was somewhat diminished by the smile twitching on her face. Abby managed to keep looking at him up until one skate slid further into the ground.

Abby glanced down at her skates. “Uh oh!” She tried lifting her leg up while keeping her arms outstretched.

“I’m stuck! Tyr!” Laughing, she waved her arms. “Wait, no, I’m not. Nevermind.” She pulled her skate out and wiped off the edge with a handkerchief.

“Ok! No more shenanigans,” she smiled at Tyr. “Am I ready now?”

Tyr watched Abigail as she walked – or, more accurately, tottered – off along the sidebar of the rink. He followed her as best he could, skating backwards a bit and dodging other skaters. She was walking against the flow of the rink – which, while not incredibly crowded, was still crowded enough to make him a bit nervous. And also make observation of her technique difficult, as people kept getting into his line of sight.

He’d stepped towards the edge of the rink when she seemingly got stuck – only to blink in surprise when she freed herself, a little thrown off. Was she joking about, perhaps? He couldn’t tell and frankly he wasn’t sure if he could tell either way – the girl seemed to treat both jokes and real life the same way.

He skated over to meet her at the side of the rink, tilting his head as he looked at her form.

“Yes, I believe so,” he said, skating backwards a bit to let her step on. “Keep your feet steady and your weight slightly forward,” he said, scooting backwards. After a moment, he extended his hands for her to hang onto.

Abby stepped onto the ice, bending her knees slightly and keeping her weight to the front, like Tyr had said. With little effort, her feet started to glide forward. Eyes widening a bit, she grasped his hands and kept her gaze ahead.

Aww, he was helping her skate! A wide smile spread across her face. “Thanks, Tyr! Now I don’t have to cling to the railing.”

She could cling to his hands instead. Win-win! Abby kept to the edge where the slower skaters struggled along, glancing down at the pattern of his feet. His feet moved from closed in to farther out, so to move forward hers would have to do the opposite.

Her skates slid out a little too far at times, but it wasn’t that difficult with Tyr guiding her. She could probably let go of his hands soon.

The look she gave him turned mischievous. “Wow, it looks like I need a lot of practice. We should probably stay like this a while.”

Abby pursed her mouth to keep her giggles at bay.