Summary: Naomi joins Mateo and Elena for a post-magical-mishap snowball fight, and a good time is had by all for once.
Naomi stepped out her front door into the bright sun of the Avaloran late-morning and shivered at the abnormal bite in the air. Winters in Avalor didn't even get chilly, at least not by Naomi's standards, so for the late spring air to smell of snow and make the hair on her arms stand on end was a truly freak act of nature. Could the outdoors be drafty?
Rubbing her arms, she scanned the area to see if anyone else was caught in a mysterious cold snap. Thankfully, she didn't seem to be losing her mind—passers-by similarly rubbed their arms or blew into their cupped hands, and following their confused gazes, Naomi spotted a pair of unmistakable silhouettes dressed in red and frolicking in a snowbank several docks down.
Ah, so that was it then: not a freak act of nature, but a pretty regular act of magic.
Shaking her head and chuckling to herself, Naomi made her way across the port. As she got closer she could more clearly make out the shapes of Elena and Mateo crouched in the snow on opposite ends of a menagerie of small snowmen and snowcats, as well as a duo of young kids that romped around them with a bright orange tabby at their heels. Occasionally, someone nearby would dip their toe into the edge of the snow or grab a wad of it to throw at a friend, or a small cluster of bright-eyed children would wander close to see if they could catch some of the still-falling flakes on their tongues. Overall, people were regarding the phenomenon with a blend of caution and curiosity—no one was running around in a panic, as irregular as it was, but by and large they gave it a decent berth, as if it might still kick up into a storm.
Naomi stepped up to the edge of the dock, her shoes crunching in the powder.
"I don't remember seeing snow in the forecast for today," she called.
Elena waved enthusiastically from further down the dock, and Mateo looked up at her from nearby, a surprised smile on his face.
"Oh, hey, Naomi," he greeted, standing up and brushing some snow off his knees. "What are you doing here?"
Naomi gestured behind her at her house. "Uh, I live here? I think the better question is 'what are you doing here?'" She looked around at the snow again, amused. "And what's with the winter wonderland?"
"Oh, you know, just a little magical mishap. Things got a bit out of hand during a lesson with my apprentice."
That was news. Since when did Mateo have an apprentice? Naomi glanced back across the dock, figuring that it had to be one of the kids. Probably the one with the pigtails—save for her glasses, she was dressed like Mateo in miniature, which, okay, that was actually kind of precious.
Her gaze landed on Elena at the far end of the dock, who sprang to her feet with a mischievous grin. She pressed a finger to her lips, pointed emphatically to Mateo's back, and then held up a hefty snowball, her grin broadening.
Naomi snorted, pressing her lips together to conceal a smirk and trying to play the sound off like a cough. "So what all happened?" she asked, a little too loudly.
Mateo had started turning back around, but his attention was successfully caught by Naomi's query. "Well, it's kind of a long story."
"Hey, I've got time." Over Mateo's shoulder, she could see Elena begin her slow creep across the snow, and she bit down hard on her lip, desperately trying to feign innocence.
If Mateo noticed anything amiss, he didn't comment on it. "Well, last night, Olivia came by the palace with her family to talk to me about magic, and I offered to teach her some." He started to turn around, raising an arm to point. "She's the—"
"—The little girl in the robe," Naomi cut in, drawing his attention again. She had to keep his back to Elena. "I figured."
Elena had maneuvered around the field of snowmen, gradually closing the distance.
"Oh, okay. Well, she came by this morning for her first lesson, and I gave her some really unclear instructions, so the experiment kind of exploded—"
The two kids had caught on to Elena's scheme by now, watching her closely and giggling behind their hands.
"—so since it made a mess, I left her alone in the workshop to clean up while I went into town to help Elena—"
Just a few more feet.
"—and she ended up borrowing one of my tamboritas and accidentally summoning a water spirit, which we had to chase down to the port—"
Elena was slowly reaching for his hood, the snowball raised level with his head.
"—where we froze it solid and turned it into snow. So, there you have—"
He cut off with an ear-splitting shriek as Elena tugged on his hood and shoved the glob of snow down the back of his robe. Leaping away, he wiggled around, shaking his clothes to try and jostle the snow loose, but it had settled against where his belt was tied fast around his waist, falling apart in the extra folds of fabric.
The two kids were howling with laughter, and Elena readily joined in.
"It was too good to pass up," she explained as Mateo shot her a betrayed look. "Your back was to me, and you were so focused on your conversation…"
Mateo forced a laugh, breathless from screaming. "Hah, yeah, that—that was a really good one."
His back was to Naomi.
She shared a look with Elena, whose eyes brightened in a silent cry of do it! And before she could second-guess herself, she stooped, grabbed a handful of snow, and smushed it against Mateo's neck.
Mateo yelped again and sprang away from her, frantically trying to brush the snow off.
"Why?" he lamented. "Why would you do that?"
Naomi shrugged. "It was too good to pass up."
He let out a sound that might have been a laugh, somewhere between anxious and amused. He was smiling, even as he shook his head and shuddered at the feeling of ice on his back, but there was a strain to it that kept it from being completely genuine. That had probably been enough teasing for the day, then.
Naomi opened her mouth to apologize, but didn't get a chance to. Something whooshed through the air and before anyone could react, a snowball splatted against Mateo's cheek. Any remaining humor vanished from his face as he slowly turned toward the source, one eyebrow raised.
Mini-Mateo—Olivia—was on the ground, laughing harder than ever and holding her stomach. Beside her, the little boy hastily stuck his hands behind his back, toes pointed together and not quite able to mask his guilty expression.
Mateo said nothing at first, simply closing his eyes and drawing a slow breath through his nose, his hands in fists. Naomi tensed. It would be one thing if he boiled over at her and Elena, but he wasn't about to start yelling at some kids, was he?
But he just raised an arm, wiping the snow off his face with his sleeve. "Alright, if that's how it's going to be. Olivia?"
She perked up in the snow, her laughter ceasing immediately.
He glanced at Naomi and Elena out of the corner of his eye, his mouth curling into a sly smile. "How would you like to learn how a wizard has a snowball fight?"
Olivia gasped. "Really? Can we really?" She scrambled toward him and he gently ushered her around the snowmen, shooting Naomi and Elena a grin over his shoulder that looked downright devious.
Elena let out a low laugh. "Uh oh, we're in for it now!"
Naomi's eyebrows shot up. "Sorry, 'we'?"
"Lucas, come on, you're on our team," Elena went on, waving the boy over. He scampered across the snow, giggling and scooping up the cat as he went.
"'Our'?" Naomi demanded, laughing. "Don't drag me into this!"
Elena gasped. "Abandoning me in my time of need? How could you? You dropped snow down his back, too!" She gestured down the dock, where Mateo was demonstrating a spell to Olivia, showing off a snowball wreathed in orange light as he floated it around in front of them. "See? They've got magic on their side! We need all the help we can get."
Lucas nodded, deathly serious, and started packing snowballs together, piling them beside where his cat had curled up.
Naomi huffed out a laugh. "Alright, alright, you guys got me," she said, and she crouched down to help Lucas.
The teams worked in the intense silence of people on a mission, each making a small stockpile of snowy ammo. Team Whiskers (Lucas had decided the name, after the cat) had the numbers advantage. Three people could churn out a much higher number of snowballs than two, and they didn't have to waste their valuable time practicing spells, but whatever spells Team Magic decided to use could easily end up turning the tides.
And then there was the distinct disadvantage of their titular mascot. Señor Whiskers insisted on winding between their limbs, batting snowballs around, and bumping up against them for attention as they worked. Naomi liked cats most days—they made good ship mousers—but after the second time she had to gently nudge him off her lap, she found herself wondering if it wouldn't be better to keep him away from the battlefield. The last thing she wanted was to trip over him while trying to dodge.
"Alright, you ready, team?" Elena asked, snatching up a snowball with a grin. Naomi and Lucas followed suit, and the three of them all stood, primed to throw. Across the line of snowmen, Mateo and Olivia stood up as well, tamboritas at the ready.
"Okay, the game starts in three!" Elena called.
Naomi gave her snowball a light toss in her hand, eyeing Mateo.
"Two!"
Mateo narrowed his eyes back at her, grip shifting around his wand.
"One!"
"Wait!" Olivia blurted. "We didn't say what the rules are yet!"
Elena blinked and looked over at Naomi. "Do snowball fights usually have rules?"
"There are always rules! And it's important that we follow them," Olivia insisted, looking up at Mateo like he held the secrets of the universe. "Right?"
"Uh…" All eyes were on Mateo, and he flustered under the sudden attention. "...Yes? I mean, yes! Yeah, the first rule is…" He rubbed his chin. "Oh! No headshots! Keep everything shoulders or below."
There was a chorus of nodding and 'sounds reasonable', but Naomi caught the way Mateo's hand moved protectively behind Olivia's head. The look on his face spelled a very clear if you hurt my apprentice I will llévaluq you into the ocean myself. Yeah, she wasn't gonna cross that. She was mostly planning on aiming for Mateo, anyway.
"Second rule!" Elena chimed in. "No freezing spells! Ice is a little more hazardous than snow."
Mateo nodded solemnly, looking down at Olivia. "Got it. Llévaluq and canaza only, okay?"
She nodded back, and then shot her hand up in the air. "Oh! Oh! Third rule! No hitting the snowmen! If you hit the snowmen you lose!"
"We worked really hard on them," Lucas added, looking at Naomi.
"I believe it," she said, smiling. "They look pretty cool."
"Hah! Nice one!" Mateo laughed, and it took a second for her to realize what exactly she'd said.
"No!" she tried, but Elena let out a whoop beside her.
"Nice one?" she prompted, and she and Mateo both burst out cackling, to Naomi's displeasure.
"No!" she groaned again. "That's it, fourth rule! No snow puns! I'm banning them!"
"You started it!" Mateo said. She stuck her tongue out at him.
Elena placed a hand on Lucas' shoulder. "Anything you want to add? You're the only one that hasn't made a rule yet."
He stared thoughtfully at the ground for a moment before perking back up. "The fifth rule is no hitting Señor Whiskers." That had seemed like a given, but he continued to explain anyway, very seriously, "He's just a cat, so he can't throw any snowballs back. He doesn't have any thumbs!"
"Yeah! If you hit Señor Whiskers you double lose!" Olivia added.
"How do you double lose something?" Naomi asked Elena, voice low.
"By hitting the cat, apparently," she replied, and then she straightened up, projecting her voice again. "If no one has anything else to add, then I think we can get started. Everyone ready?"
Everyone got back into position, retrieving the snowballs they'd abandoned when the conversation had started to drag on.
"Three, two, one, go!"
Naomi pitched her snowball hard at Mateo's arm, and he caught it midair with a spell, slinging it back. She lurched away, kicking up snow as she slid to a stop. Snatching up another snowball, she ducked left, right, then hurled it again at his arm. If she could get him to drop his wand, he wouldn't stand a chance. Further down, Elena was playing a much less intense game, lobbing gentler throws toward Olivia and twirling away from the levitated return shots, laughing. Lucas used her as a shield from his sister, popping out whenever she took time to cast to pelt her sides with snowballs.
A snowball whizzed past Naomi's face. "Hey, watch the head—" she started, when the snowball reeled back and smacked between her shoulder blades. She stumbled forward with a gasp. So that was his game. His magic-wrapped snowballs were impossible to predict, swinging around no matter which way she dodged, and with the row of snowmen ahead of her and the cat somewhere behind, she had little room to maneuver. Snowballs burst against her sides, her stomach, her back, leaving no time to retaliate.
"Elena! Lucas! Help!" she cried, shrieking as another snowball exploded on her leg.
The two leaped to their teammate's aid with a snowy onslaught against Mateo. The snowballs hurtled against him, and he curled away from them as Olivia stepped up to fling one at Elena's midsection. Naomi dove for the stockpiles, but Mateo recovered faster. A firm strike of the drum lifted over a dozen snowballs into the air at once, and a flick of his wrist launched them across the dock, raining them down in a volley. Most of them splatted harmlessly against the ground, but Naomi froze as one rushed toward her face, paused, and then yanked itself over her head to drop down her back.
Mateo straightened up, wiggling his eyebrows and giving his tamborita a twirl.
That was it—that was what Naomi wanted. She reared back, throwing with all her might, and the snowball hit the drum like a bullseye, sending it flying from his grip. Mateo blinked. And then he recoiled, gaping at the empty space where the wand had been and twisting his head to look for where it landed. Naomi didn't give him time to search—she flung another snowball at his shoulder.
"Not so tough now, huh?" she shouted.
"We'll see about that!" he countered, retrieving a snowball to throw the hard way.
And then several things happened in rapid succession: A snowball burst on the ground, dangerously close to Señor Whiskers, who leapt up with a yowl and hurtled across the battlefield. He raced between Naomi's legs mid-throw and she flailed, lobbing the snowball higher than she intended. Across the dock, Mateo squinted at the errant snowball, not watching his footing as he stepped forward onto an exposed patch of ice. His foot skidded out in front of him and he careened backwards, arms spinning, and before he could catch himself, the snowball that was supposed to glance harmlessly against his shoulder crashed into his face, tipping the balance in gravity's favor and toppling him with a heavy thud that shook the dock.
Elena winced. "Ooh, I felt that one. Mateo, are you okay?"
"I'm so sorry!" Naomi said. "I swear I wasn't trying to do that!"
Mateo let out a low groan in response, briefly lifting one hand to his head before letting it drop back to his side in the snow.
Olivia tiptoed over to him, having recognized that the game seemed to be over. She peered at his body, eyebrows up, before turning back to Naomi and announcing, "I think you killed him."
It was an obvious exaggeration, but Mateo still hadn't made any moves to get up. The awful thought that she'd actually hurt him bounced in Naomi's skull, and she shared a frantic look with Elena before taking off down the dock.
"I didn't think I hit him that hard!" she said, jumping over the snowmen and dropping to her knees by his side. Elena came up on the other side, eyes blown wide with worry. She gave his shoulder a gentle shake, leaning in and calling his name again. Naomi hovered closer as well, stomach flipping from guilt.
Muscles in Mateo's face shifted and he cracked an eye open, his mouth twitching into a smirk, and that was all the warning they had before fistfuls of snow shoved into their faces. Naomi sputtered, jerking back and wiping her face, and she could hear Elena doing the same across from her. Mateo meanwhile burst into raucous laughter, joined by Olivia, the sound serving as a backdrop to their indignance.
"Okay, okay," Elena said, flicking a stray piece of snow from her cheek. "I suppose we deserved that. Still, you had us worried!"
Still lying down, Mateo shrugged. "I know. I'm sorry. But…" he grinned, giggly again, "as you two would say, it was too good to pass up."
Elena let out a short, amused sigh. "Well, I think it's safe to say the game's over now."
"I think you triple lost," Olivia said, nodding solemnly toward Naomi.
She opened her mouth to protest on principle. She wasn't the one that hit the cat, nor had her headshot been deliberate. But some things just weren't worth arguing with an eight year old, and 'triple losing', whatever it was, was one of them.
"Yeah, I guess I did," she said instead. "Although for the record, I did not hit you on purpose," she added anyway, shooting Mateo a stern look.
He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms with mock severity. "Oh really? So this kind of thing is always an accident with you, huh?"
"Come on, that's just cold. Stop—" she added, eyes closed, realizing too late what she'd said as Mateo snickered. Shaking her head, she dropped a glob of snow directly on his face.
"Naomi!" He sat up sharply, coughing and spluttering. "Ugh, it went up my nose!"
She just barely caught the sound of snow crunching behind them through everyone's laughter.
"Olivia, Lucas," a woman called. "It's time to go home for lunch."
"Aw, already?" Lucas whined, but he scooped up the still-ruffled Señor Whiskers like a baby and shuffled his way over.
Olivia looked more alarmed. "But I was supposed to help Mateo finish cleaning up…"
Somehow, Naomi didn't think they'd ever started cleaning up, unless that was what they were calling 'playing in the snow' now.
Mateo scrambled to his feet, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure it out," he said, and then approached her mother, surreptitiously straightening out his robe. "We got a little distracted…"
Olivia's mom watched him with a patient smile as he explained. Mateo was standing stick straight in a futile bid to look professional despite his soaked clothes and snow-covered hair. Naomi chuckled to herself as she watched, tuning out the actual conversation. He was too funny, trying so hard to look like an adult. Dork. The woman eventually left with her kids in tow, and Mateo returned to Naomi and Elena, rubbing his neck.
"Okay, Olivia and I are going to meet up again after lunch to actually clean up the damage the water spirit caused, so I have to get going if I want to have time to eat before then."
"You guys could just eat at my place," Naomi offered, standing up and brushing herself off. "I mean, it's literally right there."
Elena stood up as well. "That sounds great! Thanks!"
Naomi had to fumble with the doorknob for a moment, as numb as her fingers still were. Finally pushing the door open, she led her friends inside.
"Make yourself at home," she said. "I'm gonna go change real quick. Do you guys want some clothes, too?"
Elena smiled, wringing out her dress. "That would probably be a good idea."
"I think I'll be okay." Mateo's voice was muffled by his robe, half-off and over his head. "My robe got the worst of it."
Naomi snorted as he flailed around inside the fabric and Elena approached him to help. "I'll grab you a shirt, anyway."
By the time she dried off and came back downstairs with spare clothes for them both, he'd managed to free himself. He was tucking his shirt back in with one hand, the damp robe over his other arm and his hair disheveled. He peered around the room, amused.
"Are we sure this is the right house?" he asked. "I can actually see the floor."
"Har, har," Naomi said, tossing the shirt at him.
Elena looked up from the sofa where she was combing out her ponytail with her fingers. "Mateo, have you been here before?"
"Sure, once. I got trapped here by the weather, what?" He looked at Naomi. "About a year ago now, right?"
Naomi jolted. It hadn't even been a year. The day of the storm felt like eons ago, in an era before she'd become entrenched in the world of royals and magic. It felt like part of a completely different life. "I… guess so, yeah. That was a little over a month before Elena came back."
"And we're just under two months out from the anniversary of that," Elena mused, hands pausing over her hair. Naomi set the spare dress down beside her for whenever she was ready.
"It doesn't feel like it's been that long," Mateo said, finally voicing what they were all thinking. "It feels like it should either be way longer or way shorter, but a year just sounds so… normal."
A year ago, she and Mateo could barely look at each other, even when trapped in the same room. Talking to him had been an obstacle course, where every joke felt like an attack and every pleasantry was like pulling teeth. A year ago, he'd still had his magic locked up in a basement and hidden behind excuses and uncomfortable laughter. A year ago, she hadn't even met her other friends; Elena had still been in that amulet and Gabe was who knew where. Her whole perspective of Avalor was the narrow window of her classroom and the walk back to her house. If someone had told her then that she'd spend her days riding jaquins and having magical snowball fights, or hosting lunch simultaneously for the Crown Princess and the quiet kid from her class, both of whom she'd consider two of her best friends, she wouldn't have believed them.
She might have wanted to, though.
The atmosphere had gotten weird and ponderous, far too heavy for what had started as lighthearted goofing around. "What's really crazy though is how long it's been since I've had a snowball fight," Naomi said, pushing the serious mood away. "I don't think I've lived somewhere with regular snowfall since I was ten."
"I've actually never seen snow that isn't magical," Mateo said, and both girls' heads swiveled toward him.
"Wait, really?" Elena asked. "But the mountains get snow almost every winter. I've been to some of the villages there when they were covered in it!"
He simply shrugged. "My house was the furthest I'd been from the city until last year. I've only seen snow when I've conjured it by mistake. Or blown up a water spirit, I guess."
Elena crossed her arms. "Well, we obviously have to fix that."
"And Gabe, too," Naomi added. "I bet he hasn't seen a lot of it, either."
"Oh my gosh, you're right! Okay, that settles it!" She stood up suddenly, dropping her fist into her palm. "This winter, all four of us are going to take time off and go into the mountains to play in the snow."
"That's still a while away," Mateo pointed out, but Elena waved him off, scooping the dress off the sofa and heading for the stairs.
"I know that, but I'm sure it'll come around soon enough." She shot him and Naomi a dazzling smile. "I mean, this last year has just flown by!"
Sometimes you just gotta have some fun in the snow with your besties! I figured we could use something lighthearted here, especially since we're about to start the S2 chapters, and we all know what gets kicked off in that season. The amigos have gotta enjoy themselves while it lasts.
Also I wanna thank everyone for their patience with the slower updates - I know I've been pretty sporadic lately, but things are going to be calming down for me come May, so I'll be back to my regular pacing soon.