Zelda walked out the door with her coat done up tight, the air as brisk as ever. Luckily the sun was out and sky was a nice shade of blue making it a pleasant day. Unlike usual she was wearing a warm, gray Beanie as well. Courtesy of her new girlfriend. 'Man that feels good to say' Zelda thought to herself as she began walking. Leah and Zelda had been dating for a few weeks now and so far everything was going great. Leah was working a lot but always made time for the blonde, the two would usually have a movie night at Zelda's and cuddle up on the couch together. The artist had bought Zelda her new hat after noticing the blonde shivering on one of their walks together, it was an adorably sweet gesture.
Today the two were heading to the Ice Festival, a small event held by the town where people came together and… basically played in the snow together. There were two main events to the day; The Ice fishing contest and the Ice sculpting competition. Zelda was excited because she was lucky enough to have someone to cheer for in both events. Leah was entering the ice sculpting competition and Abigail was entering the Ice fishing contest. Both had been talking to Zelda about their events for a while now, clearly eager to win. Seeing the red haired girl up ahead she waved as she approached.
"Morning." Leah said giving Zelda a quick kiss. "I thought I'd come and collect you. You ready to go?"
"Yea! I'm pretty excited, you'd never get a town outing like this in the city." Zelda said smiling brightly.
"It's apparently a town tradition." Leah explained. "The town founders agreed that in the middle of winter everyone should get out of the house and come together for a day of fun."
"Only in Stardew Valley would an entire town devote one day to playing in the snow!" Zelda laughed.
The two arrived at the event which was located in front of Marnie's house and next to Leah's. Seeing the whole town there was a welcoming site. Zelda could see Willy on the Ice carving holes to fish in, to the left was a large area with huge blocks of Ice ready to be sculpt and to the right was a bunch of people making snowmen. There were also a bunch of well made igloos Scattered around the area. Amongst the many snowmen Zelda could see Abigail and Pierre standing next to a particularly strange one, The snowman's stick arms were positioned into a solute and its face, made of small pebbles, had a stern look to it. The two girls walked over to say hi to the pair.
"Hey guys." Abigail said. "What do you think of our snowgoon?"
"Snowgoon?" Leah said puzzled.
"For when I decide to take over my world with my snow henchmen." Abigail explained causing Zelda to laugh.
"Are you ready for the Ice fishing contest?" The blonde asked her shorter friend.
"Yea, I think it'll be fun. Although there's no way anyone's going to beat Willy. He brings his own professional gear and everything." Abigail said.
"I don't know why they let Willy enter in the first place." Pierre said joining the conversation. "It's not really fair when he fishes for a living. Still it'll be nice seeing Abigail take over this year and represent the family."
"You used to enter, Pierre?" Zelda said a little surprised.
"Dad used to fish every year but last time he slipped on the ice and swore off ice fishing for good." Abigail said with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
"Fishing is a young person's game anyway." Pierre said laughing nervously.
"Willy is older then you dad." Abigail said rolling her eyes.
Zelda helped Leah gather her equipment from inside her cabin and brought them over to the large blocks of ice. The event being a few feet from the artist's door was very convenient, Robin had to carry her equipment practically across the valley. Zelda placed the tool box she was carrying down next to a block of ice that Leah had picked out.
"I never would have guessed you could ice sculpt as well." Zelda said watching the artist as she circled the ice block, trying to visualize what she wanted.
"I can't really." Leah said "The only chance I get to practice is during the festival so it's more of a personal challenge."
"It's still pretty cool! How many people can say they date someone who can ice sculpt?"
"Well don't get too excited, I'll be lucky if I can get the final product looking straight instead of all wonky like." Leah said with a sigh.
The sound of a small whistle caught the attention of the two girls and both turned to see Lewis standing near the holes in the ice.
"The fishing is about to start, you should go watch Abigail." Leah said.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"
"As much as I love your company, sculpting is a long and boring process that I know you won't enjoy. Go and support your friend, I'll be fine."
"Thanks Leah!" Zelda said before running off to join the gathering crowd.
Zelda took a place standing next to Sam and Sebastian, she was surprised as she realised that Sebastian was only wearing his black hoodie.
"Aren't you freezing?" Zelda asked her tall friend.
"Na, I never get cold." Sebastian replied with a shrug.
"No one knows how he does it." Sam said, who was wrapped in a large blue coat.
Lewis walked onto the ice and began the contest.
"Alright everyone you a'll know the rules, the person who catches the most fish in fifteen minutes wins!" Lewis shouted to the crowd. "If everyone's ready then let's start the clock." The mayor said blowing a whistle and starting a stopwatch in his hand.
The crowd watched patiently as the contestants cast their lines into the icy water below them. It didn't take long before the first fish was hooked, Willy had to fight the large fish as it struggled to escape his line. Willy managed to pull the large fish out of the water and the crowd cheered. Soon the other contestants started getting tugs on their lines and their was suddenly a constant stream of fish being caught by contestants. The gang had to laugh as they watched a fish slip out of Abigail's arms and fall back into the water, much to the dismay of the purple haired girl. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it felt like no time at all before Lewis blew his whistle once again.
"Alright let's count the fish everyone!" Lewis said walking back onto the ice. "That's...a powerful smell…" Lewis said looking a bit green as he counted each person's bucket of fish. "In third place… with a total of five fish… Pam!" The mayor paused to let the crowd cheer. "In second place… with a total of seven fish… Abigail!" The shorter girl's friends could be heard cheering louder than the others. "And in first place Willy with ten fish!"
Abigail came running over to her friends as the crowd started to split up.
"Nice job Abby, you did really well for your first time." Zelda congratulated.
"Thanks, but II can't believe I dropped one." Abigail grumbled.
"It was pretty funny though." Sam laughed.
"Hey Zelda, I think Lewis is choosing the winner for the ice sculpting competition. You should go and see." Abigail said leaving the boys a little confused.
"Oh thanks, I'll see you guys later!" Zelda said running of to meet up with Leah.
As she approached she could see Lewis handing a blue ribbon to a smiling Leah. Knowing what this meant, Zelda ran up to the artist wrapping her in a big hug from behind.
"Congratulations!" The blonde giggled squeezing Leah tight.
"Thanks, but it's not that much of a competition." Leah laughed. "The only other person competing was robin."
"You still won though!"
"What do you think?" Leah asked.
Zelda realized she hadn't actually taken a good look at the sculpture. The blonde could tell that it was a mermaid sitting on a rock, it wasn't perfect and it was leaning a bit too much to the left but it was still impressive all the same.
"It's beautiful."
"It's a mess" Leah's laughed.
"Then it's a beautiful mess!" Zelda replied giggling.
"Come on man, you're so wrong." Sam said annoyed.
"If you weren't so blind you'd see it too." Sebastian replied calmly.
"What are you guys talking about?" Abigail asked walking up to the two boys.
"Seb thinks that Zelda and Leah are a couple." Sam laughed.
"What!?" Abigail said a little nervously. "What makes you think that?"
"I don't usually like crowds and prefer to hang back, so I usually see things others don't notice." Sebastian explained. "If you look at all the evidence it's pretty obvious they're a couple or at least have a crush on each other."
"This is as ridiculous as the time you said that Mayor Lewis and Marnie were seeing each other."
"Whatever." Sebastian scoffed. "Someday you're going to look like an idiot… well...a bigger idiot." Sebastian said with a smirk starting to walk away.
"Oh yea…" Sam grumbled. "We'll see who looks like an idiot."
Sam bent over and quickly gathered some snow, packing it into his hand and marking a large snowball. Throwing the snowball as hard as he could, Sam hurled it at his friend's head. Unfortunately for Sam, Sebastian was expecting a move like this and ducked just in time. The snowball flew over his head and sailed through the air. Sebastian would have laughed in triumph but before he had the chance he noticed where the snowball was headed. The snow pact projectile whizzed through the air and collided with the back of Zelda's head knocking her to the ground, face first into the snow.
"Oh crap!" Sam gulped.
Leah immediately rushed over to see if the blonde girl was ok but before she could reach her, Zelda slowly began to get up. Turning around, the look on her face read total shock. Zelda tired to see where the projectile came from but all she saw was Sam and Sebastian pointing at each other.
"He did it!" They both shouted, looking worried.
Zelda was still for a moment before a small smirk appeared on her face, quickly she made her own snowball and hurled it in the boy's direction. Sam ducked out the way just in time to avoid the snowball. A look of relief washed over the blonde boy's face before two snowballs flew through the air, smacking both boys in the face. Zelda looked over to see that Leah was the culprit. Laughing, Zelda through another snowball, this time at Abigail hitting her in the arm. No one knew how it happened but it didn't take long before most of the town was involved, everyone sending snowballs through the air at each other. It was a full on war, people used the igloos around them as makeshift bases. Zelda was glad Leah was on her side, as the artist's showed no mercy with her perfect aim. At the end everyone was laughing and cheering.
"Free hot chocolate back at the saloon!" Gus announced to everyone, causing the crowd to shout a 'hooray!'