Out of Season

"Come on, Genie," Liliana urged the younger girl as they entered the ice rink set up. She was excited about going skating again. In fact, it had been a few years since she had been on skates, and the last time she had spent more time on her butt than upright on her skates, but that didn't deter her in the least from trying again.

"I can't wait," the younger girl said excitedly as she followed closely behind Liliana, skates thrown over her shoulder excited about the idea of going skating with Liliana alone. Lately, it seemed like they were always a group - Liliana, Amber, Melody and Genie. But today, neither Melody or Amber had any interest in the winter sport that Genie loved.

"Let's put on our skates over there," Liliana said, gesturing to a bench near a man who was standing quietly just watching people who were already on the ice skating.

As she took off her shoes, Liliana glanced up when the gentleman asked her if Genie was her sister.

"No, she's..." here Liliana paused, unsure how to explain it. Not everybody on the island knew about the regalia challenge, nor did people generally know about regalias. "Genie is my friend, she's helping me learn about ice magic. Sort of helping me bond with it," she explained with a smile, hoping she made sense.

"See ya!" Genie said as she flew past Liliana straight onto the ice, having popped on her skates and quickly joined the other girl who had gone whizzing by.

"Yes! Exactly that," Liliana said nodding, glad that he seemed to know what regalia were. At least now she didn't have to worry about having to explain her relationship with the younger girl.

Crossing her one leg over the other and extending it, Liliana stated lacing her skate as she followed the man's gaze to Genie and the other girl as they skated together across the rink, moving together effortlessly and in unison as they chatted animatedly about something.

"You know, I don't actually know..." she admitted as she watched the two girls glide across the ice. "It's quite possible though. It seems like a lot of the regalia know each other or have met in the past," she replied thoughtfully.

"Is Cori bonding with you?" Liliana asked as she wound the laces around the top boot part of her skate before tying them.

During the competition, Liliana had heard a few stories of participants not getting along with the regalia they had been assigned. And while she had been lucky with hers, she could easily understand how irritating it could be to have to be around somebody you didn't see eye to eye with for an indefinite period of time.

"So basically, she's hanging out with you til her sister bonds with your friend?" she asked as she changed feet, took off her other shoe and placed her foot in the other skate.

"It's ice manipulation actually. Ice constructs to be specific. " Liliana explained, "Not exactly useful out of winter, but I thought if I could learn the basics, maybe in the future, I can learn how to generate ice or freeze things."

"Ohh..." Liliana said when he explained to her the mix-up. "That must have been really frustrating when you found out." she stated as her gaze flitted to Cori and Genie as she watched them curiously for a moment.

"Kind of the same, Genie told me about this place yesterday and we decided to come and check it out today. I am not a great ice skater to be honest, but I'm willing to give it another try," she said as she laced up her other boot.

"Do you skate?" Liliana asked with interest.