From a bunny hop to a chocktow

Ice Skating: Is there a better way to enjoy the sudden winter weather than to indulge in a bit of ice skating, honestly?
Goal: Go ice skating.
Word Count: 800 (Solo) or 1500 (Group)
Location: Anywhere in Boreas with winter weather (nothing in the far west, far south, etc.)
Tasks:
1. Find somewhere that's been iced over.
2. Skate. Easy as that! Maybe your skating is intentional, but it doesn't have to be... maybe you accidentally fell down a mountain. Who knows, you just need to skate!

Reward: 30 Navigation Skill Points

-OOC: Below post counts at 1695 words.-

Finally, Skyfire had some time to herself! With all the training Sirius had her doing, there had to be a day of freedom and not working or training. Sky could not count how many days she had been training for, but it felt like it was at least a month since she had a day of rest. She was always running, sparring, or doing something to increase her strength. Being that she was still young, and she would be turning two by next season, Skyfire wanted to have a break and be herself for once. She was young and energetic, and she wanted to explore the north since she hadn’t had a chance yet. While most others of her age would want to spend one day or two a week training and have fun the rest of the time, Skyfire had a lot more to lose. She was out to make a name for herself, so she resolved to not rest until being labeled a queen. A queen of what? Besides land, titles, and possessions? Skyfire wanted to be a queen of inspiration, beauty, and wisdom that would echo through every valley and mountain pass. There was so much to learn and do, so much to be nearly perfect in, that she just could not stop to play. Except for today of course. Today was an excuse to not do anything and go have some fun.

She was awake before everyone else. Sky felt no reason to explain why she left so early to anyone when she would be back later that afternoon. Sky had spent most of the day, starting before sunrise, traveling north to check out the Boreas. Sirius had told her how the lake would freeze solid in the winter, making it so a wolf could walk on the surface. Skyfire had never seen ice before and wondered what it must have looked like. She had seen snow a long time ago when she was younger, but she could barely remember it. Most of what she could remember was being kept in the warmth of her den and her mothers coat. Maybe there was a time where Skyfire played in snow, but she couldn’t remember. Or perhaps it didn’t snow enough for her to remember playing in it. Once Skyfire made her way north through the Gale Gorge, she found herself touching snow for the first time in a long time. Even as the weather turned cold and the sky gray, the princess didn’t realize that it had begun to snow until after she reached the snowline of Kennocha Lake. It was weird to look at two completely different environments side by side together, with the only thing separating the two being snow. A wide smile appeared on her face as Skyfire moved forward to investigate further.

The snow was too tempting to not avoid. This was only her second time in the stuff, the first being that she was too young to remember it, and Skyfire just couldn’t wrap her mind around how it worked! The flakes fell from the sky as slowly as feathers did, which was curious because rain would come down so much faster. With every step, it crunched under her feet but turned to water when it touched her paw pads. The snow flew around her when she dug it out behind her with her paws, but thankfully it didn’t get into her eyes like sand did. What would happen if she ate it? With a couple of mouthfuls, the warrior princess chewed it and felt her tongue get cold and ache the back of her throat, but she wouldn’t let that stop her from swallowing it. At least until she got a brain freeze! Her jaw froze in place as she felt the pain stab her head for a moment or two before it went away. Eating snow was not going to be something she would do often. Though it was an interesting way to eat her water. Was this a better way to stay hydrated? Maybe, or maybe not. Too bad there wasn’t elk blood to make a snow cone.

As Skyfire climbed the icy slopes of the Frozen Field, occasionally slipping during her walk, she came upon the top of a crest overlooking the lake. The crest itself wasn’t very high, and the slope back down toward the lake wasn’t very steep either. The slope probably extended down two hundred feet. It looked like a fun slide down the side. Skyfire couldn’t tell if there were bumps or anything that might make sliding down difficult. The heck with it. Slipping down on her front legs, Skyfire lowered herself onto the slope. She whimpered a bit as she nervously prepared to slide. Once she was ready, she pushed off with her back legs and felt her body moving forward. There was no stopping herself now. The wind whipped past her ears as her body bounced over small bumps of snow while her back legs remained extended behind her. She hooped and hollered as she slid down, never having gone so fast before. The towers of ice jutting from the surface of the lake were closing in fast. Their arched shapes, some even broke in pieces, looked smaller from this distance but they were quickly growing. With the lack of attention on her descent, Skyfire felt herself spin sideways as she tried to maintain control, until finally she was now sliding down backwards, fluffy tail brushing her left side as her back legs returned to their forward position.

”Too fast! Too fast!” she exclaimed out loud, still fighting to control her slide.

The girl tried to right herself as she slowly reached the base of the slope, sliding onto the ice with such speed that she was two hundred feet away from the shore. The ice spires passed by her like a flash as she tried to avoid the broken pieces of ice scattered around her in places. Well, now this was a problem. As excited as she was to have slid down such a slippery slope, Skyfire now had the challenge of walking on the ice to get back to the shore. ”That was so much fun! Yahoo!!” Skyfire shouted out loud, not caring if she was the only one to hear it. Sadness dipped low into her gut a bit, wishing to see her brothers here with her. Or even her parents. Being alone without a friend or a sibling was hard. Ever since her troubled past, she had been by herself and this princess didn’t like being lonely. Well, now that she was here on the ice, she would have to get herself off of it to get to the shore. As she tried to get up, her feet slipped out behind her, causing her to fall. Skyfire laughed a bit until she continued to struggle to stand on the ice. ”Oh come on!” she shouted as Skyfire forced herself up on all fours, claws digging into the frozen lake’s surface. Her legs wobbled with threats of collapsing, but eventually Skyfire was able to stand firmly. Lifting her blackened head, she looked around her to get a better view of the towers jutting from the lake. Each one was several times taller than Sirius. In fact, she couldn’t measure how tall they were. Her neck craned back to look at one spire that stood mostly vertical before it curved at the tip. Perhaps some day it would arch down like the others, but only time would tell when that would happen. The spires were twice as tall as they were thick. One of the smallest spires was as wide as she was long. She probably could fit her entire body inside if there was a hole.  

She eventually came to a curved arch that had the tip go back into the lakes surface and she examined it. The ice was smooth in most of the places except for where the ice would curve and change shape. Cracks and lines were seen throughout the curve and the hole in the lake filled by the spire revealed the ice descending down deep into the water below. It seemed like the lake itself had a pretty thick layer of ice. Looking back up to the spire, Skyfire had a thought. Should she put a tongue on it to taste it? Skyfire held out her tongue toward the column a bit, but then something within her changed her mind. There was probably a likely change her tongue would get stuck to it. Everything was so cold here that even her paws were kind of sticking to the ice! Once she had her fill of the spires, Skyfire knew she had to get off somehow. The snow was still falling and was creating a layer on the ice, hiding its reflective sheen from view. Careful, hesitant steps were made as Skyfire attempted to walk, and she found that short strides made the best of her travels. The more she moved, the more she found that her steps were slick. Skyfire struggled to find a way to move efficiently without losing her footing. As her front feet landed on two pieces of ice, she felt her front half slip out forward while her back feet tried to keep up. Once she was able to maintain herself standing and slid to a stop, it gave Skyfire an idea. She could use the ice under her feet to skate!

Bending her front legs again a bit for stability, Skyfire dug her back claws in to the ice and pushed herself forward once more. The two pieces of ice she stood on caused her legs to wobble, but eventually she began to get the hang of it as she leaned one way or another to turn. Skyfire found that she could nearly run at full speed with her back legs and made good distance on just those two pieces of ice. Her pink tongue hung out the side of her mouth as she ran – skated – across the surface of the ice, deep within the joy of her newly found method of travel.