Winter Wonderland


During the 17th, 18th & the first part of the 19th centuries, London had played host to what had become known as the ''Frost Fairs'', so named as they were hosted on the ice that blanketed the river Thames, the lifeline of the city at the time.

These festivals, hosted when the Thames had become less a river and more of an iceberg, had been something she had been interested in for a long time. It was fascinating how, despite the freezing cold conditions, caused by a change in the atmospheric conditions, known as the Little Ice Age and the way in which the many bridges that spanned the Thames had caused ice blocks to collide with each other near the bridges, and freeze together, forming a blanket of ice across the river, west of the medieval London Bridge, people had chosen to build an entire fair spanning kilometres on the ice. It said something about the spirit of the people that they chose to make the most of what was no doubt a bad situation, rather than just freeze…

Okay, she had to admit she only knew this because she read history books for fun when she was younger, but it was certainly an interesting bit of history.

And one that her boyfriend was clearly enamoured by too!

''Oh, now this is fantastic!'' Koharu had seen Jet enthusiastic at things before; she'd watched him practicing cooking/dancing, and she may have, possibly… maybe… filmed him, just to watch back at later dates, but there was something completely different to her boyfriend's attitude here. It wasn't like his usual enthusiastic puppy routine, as she'd taken to calling it, but rather someone who'd gotten one of their greatest wishes in life!

The way he was moving across the frozen river, almost running from stall to stall, was certainly a sight to behold, she had to admit. Though, he wasn't wrong, the sights of what the NPCs had called the first ''Solstice Festival in generations'' were certainly something to behold – even players had gotten involved, setting up fete stalls on the ice, party games for the younger players (or the young at heart too, she added in her head), you name it, this festival had it!

Heck, even the guilds had gotten involved; Heathcliff having invited them to take part in the ''showcase duels'' as he'd called them. They'd declined the offer, but she knew a few others had been… tempted by the offer (the 10,000 Col each probably didn't hurt the offer either), and several ''comfort stands'' had also popped up, offering players some respite from the cold, with offers of hot drinks and a full-on hog roast…

Which, she'd realised was necessary; as it turned out, spending hours stood on a frozen block of ice where a river had once been was quite cold, and she was glad she'd bought her cold weather gear rather than her usual equipment for once…

''So, what do you want to do first? Food, games, or…'' She trailed off as she looked around and spotted an ice rink that someone had set up near the spans of the bridge. Her eyes practically lit up spotting that, and she immediately decided that was what she wanted to do first. ''Can I choose first?''

''Erm, yeah, sure?'' Jet looked slightly confused but rolled with it anyway.

''To the ice rink!'' She said enthusiastically, almost pulling him along with her…

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Jet was many things, but a sportsman was not one of them.

In fact, P.E. had been his most hated subject at school, and even when it was "fun" activities like trampolining or dodgeball, they'd ended up with him getting injured somehow, and the less said about the half-term spent roller skating, the better.

The fact that the school nurse hadn't even needed to ask how he'd injured himself this time was nothing short of embarrassing to him…

''Erm, Ko? I have mixed feelings on this.'' He said, looking down at the blades now attached to his feet, whilst he suppressed the flashbacks to the roller blades. His other reservation was to do with his clothes, namely the glittery outfit he was now wearing – an outfit he was told had special buffs to keep the players warm in the cold weather, without needing all manner of coats and layers. He'd admit it most certainly did keep him warm, even if he wasn't a hundred percent sure of just how form fitting it was. He absolutely did not have the form of a figure skater; he now knew that much…

His girlfriend, on the other hand, looked amazing in her outfit – a bright red costume, with a clear red skirt thing that would no doubt flare out during skating, white tights and skates, with only the faintest amount of glitter on it. Not only had she changed her costume, but she'd tied her hair back too, a ponytail now swishing about in the cold winds of Rovia.

He wondered whether he was beginning to stare, or whether she thought he was staring off into space again, rather than just looking at how stunning she was.

''Are you… scared?'' She asked, a curious note to her voice as she tapped her skates against the stairs below.

''I'm not scared, just kind of nervous. I'm not exactly the most, err, coordinated person, am I?'' He admitted.

''You can perform all sorts of sword skills, and acrobatics that even I would struggle to do… and yet, ice skating is where you get concerned by your own balance?'' She looked puzzled and slightly amused at that sentiment.

She was right, or at least, she was when it was put that way, that it did sound slightly ridiculous. Still, his usual feats of daring do were performed with very little hesitation, usually in a life-or-death situation, where pausing to really consider the ramifications of his actions wasn't really advisable, whereas this… just wasn't. He had plenty of time to consider that he might end up with a sharp blade lodged in his forehead, simply by falling over…

''Relax, when we get on the ice, just keep hold of me and don't think about what you're doing.'' That was certainly easier said than done, he thought to himself. He supposed she was right though; it was like telling people not to think about breathing – the more you thought about it, the more likely you were to overthink it, and wind up raising your heart rate to a ridiculous degree.

With their hands held together, both made their way onto the ice, and he felt that nagging fear in the back of his mind start to quieten down – almost as if someone had found the remote for it, and was trying to mute it, without the mute button – as he started to pick up some momentum.

Maybe this was more like riding a bike than he assumed, where you needed to have some speed behind you… else you wind up in a tangled mess of metalwork and human flesh in a ditch somewhere near Iron Acton.

Or so he'd heard. He definitely hadn't found that out for himself, when faced with an X46 bus coming the other way, with a slightly startled driver at the wheel.

Not at all.

''Hey, you're getting the hang of it!'' Koharu turned to face him, with a radiant smile on her face at the fact he wasn't flat on his backside. ''Let's try doing a circle on the ice!''

As it turned out, his earlier analogy to his ill-fated efforts to ride a bike as a child was surprisingly accurate, as whilst Koharu managed to make the most graceful sweeping turn he'd ever seen, he didn't and gave his best impression of Frank Spencer in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em…

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''Heh, sorry. Didn't think we'd picked up that much speed…'' Koharu laughed nervously, as he patched himself up on the benches set outside. No doubt some people were staring, and he couldn't blame them, not really.

How he'd come back wearing a dress, whilst his makeup had been done as if he were a sad clown without access to a mirror, a haircut performed with a battle axe and half a wooden door in splinters, even he wasn't sure of. It had all been a bit of a blur…

As much as having to extricate himself from the human equivalent of the Gordian knot had been embarrassing beyond all known limits, he found it hard to be mad at her for it. It wasn't her fault that he was utterly hopeless on the ice, after all. Nor was her fault that the bench had given him splinters in some very uncomfortable places… ''Nah, I'm just not cut out for skating, I think. Too gangly, I'm like Bambi on ice.'' He laughed along, as he removed a splinter from his shoulder. ''Ow.''

''Now there's an image.'' She giggled. ''Still, you did pretty well till… err, that.'' She pointed at the red gash on his head. He winced, knowing that, had this not been Aincrad, he'd have been rushed to A&E by now.

''You were right about the ''don't think about it'' bit. Right until I didn't think about turning, anyway.'' He joked.

''I suppose there's one thing to be grateful from this though.'' She grinned.

''What's that?''

''At least Sanya or Philia didn't see that! Can you imagine how much they'd be laughing at you now?''

''I mean, it was pretty funny… until I got off the ice and onto the stairs, anyway.'' He admitted. He kind of wished someone had filmed it, to be honest. At least he could've sent the footage to You've Been Framed and come out of it £250 richer. Well, if it still existed when they left Aincrad, anyway. ''Can we go and do something a little less dangerous for a bit though?''

''You want to go and get food then? I hear they do the best cocoa here.''

''Oh? Better than mine, eh?'' He smirked. ''I think we should go test that…''

As they walked out of the rink, the fair was mildly interrupted as vendors worked to patch the human sized holes in their stalls, but that was something he chose not to focus on.

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Now stood on the slightly less slippery ice, that which was covered in snow from the day prior, and with a cup of hot chocolate in hand (which, despite his earlier posturing… was indeed better than his), Jet had chance to actually slow down and take the scenery in. It was nothing short of magnificent!

He'd always wished he could've experienced a real Frost Fair, but with the way the world was, he was almost a hundred percent sure that was never going to happen. The last one had been in 1814, 191 years before he was born, after all. Not to mention that the Thames freezing up nowadays was completely unthinkable anyway – the sheer number of boats on it, the repositioning of the bridges during the Victorian era, and the fact that London was now an urban heat island, had seen to that possibility in the real world.

But here though?

Sure, Rovia was far from the size of London – hell, it was barely the size of Bridgnorth, where his aunt and uncle had lived, and that was a town that you could walk across in just over an hour – but it didn't matter that it wasn't the capital. It was more the spectacle that mattered to him, the fact he was witnessing something that would be a once in a lifetime event for any present…

Which made his current feelings on the matter baffling to him; there was a sadness to all of this. After this was over, it was back to the frontlines and fighting everything Aincrad could throw at them, and for this to fade into nothing more than a tangent in their memories.

For all of Aincrad's realism, it wasn't real.

Which meant that this was the closest he'd ever come to seeing this. To seeing all the people on the ice, enjoying themselves as they played around, to watching the spectacle fights that the HOA had put on, to just experiencing the atmosphere of such a once in a lifetime event…

''Something the matter?'' Koharu asked, interrupting his daydreaming. ''You've gone quiet?''

''Huh? Oh, nah. Just thinking about stuff.''

''Like what?''

''Just, that this is the only time we're ever going to see this. We aren't going to be able to see a Frost Fair in real life, so once this is over… that's it.''

''True, but doesn't that mean we should make the most of it? We aren't going to see it again, so go and do everything we can. No time to be sad, if we keep on moving.'' She thought aloud. ''And we're really good at keeping on the move, right?''

''Koharu…''

With a new sense of purpose on her face, she took him by the hand and pulled him along. ''Nuh uh, no time to mope, mister. We're going to go and enjoy ourselves for as long as we can! Besides, it's not like we get a do over, is it?'' She grinned, and he felt any reservations he might have had fade away in the aether, replaced by only a single thought.

''Hey, Ko? I know I say it all the time, but I really do love you, you know? You're the best thing that ever happened to me, and well… I kinda hope we spend the rest of our lives doing this.'' He flushed, trying to get his words out as she placed a hand on his cheek. "Even if you did just throw me into a sketch comedy."

She flushed slightly at that. "You were doing so well until then…" She smiled, her radiant smile reflecting against the cold ice below. "Umm, Jet, I'd like that too. Together forever, right?"

He answered almost immediately, their foreheads touching. "Always."


(Author's Comments)

It's the Christmas season... and I have been utterly swamped with so much coursework that I've only just finished it all.

So between this and An Englishman in the Glocken, this is basically all I've had chance to do between November and December.

Hopefully, normal service will be resumed in January, as I'm making reasonable pace on the next chapter of An Englishman.