Time went by like the wind, along with her seventeenth birthday, and surprisingly, Neal's Eighteenth. His birthday was on the fourth of November. How she had missed that, she was not sure, but none-the-less made it up to him.

Winter came late that year. Even November was snowless. One day in December, there was snow on the ground, and a few of Neal's year-mates wanted to take her skating. Neal, who did not skate, said that there was no way on earth that he was going, but gave in after Xlelon pestered him for about five minutes. She liked his year mates, but still wanted him along.

Most of them were better than her, turning tight circles or going backwards, but she could hold her own. Of course, there was always the small fact that she couldn't stop.

"Yikes!" Whoomp. She dashed the snow out of her ears, grinning widely. Most were laughing at her spectacular fall, which she took well, bowing like a jester. Finally, she spotted Neal.

"Come on, you have to skate too!"

"Uh uh."

"Come on, please?" She pouted fakely, which sent the rest of the squires into gales of laughter, and wheedled Neal into getting up from his spot. Xlelon grinned as someone came to grab his other side. They then proceeded to skate around the pond slowly, helping Neal keep his balance. He got the hang of it rather quickly.

"I think I've got it…"

Xlelon smiled and winked at the young man that was helping Neal skate.

"All right, on three…"

"What's on three?"

"One…"

"Two…"

"Oh no!!"

"Three!" they both yelled and let go. Neal careened around for a bit, then finally fell face first into a snow bank. The rest of the squire's and their ladies laughed while Xlelon, chuckling, went to help him. When she finally reached him, she held a hand out to help him up. Neal, of course grabbed it and pulled her down beside him.

"Come on Neal, can't you at least wait until you're inside?" someone called.

Xlelon smirked, then rolled a bit of snow in her hands. A moment later, the speaker had a mouthful of snow. The ladies laughed and congratulated her good aim, as did the rest of the squires, well, except for the one who had been hit, he was too busy making one of his own. Xlelon ducked his and it hit Neal, who promptly threw his own at random, hitting someone entirely different. Before long, everyone was involved and covered in snow.

~^~

An hour later, they all stumbled in and convinced a servant to bring them steaming mugs of tea. They sat around talking until the tenth watch, then bid all good night. Xlelon judged that all of Neal's year mates were a good sort, no Jorens or Vinsons. For this, she was eternally grateful.

~^~

All right, All right, I know, it was a time killer, but it was nessacary, otherwise we would have gone from Sept. To December!