The Pond in the Park, Christmas Day 2009

[glacial_queen]

Dinah'd had the right idea from a few days ago. The ice on the pond was still holding steady and Karla was determined to get a few more ice skating trips in before the ice became unsteady. She wasn't sure how long she'd have, but, unlike Glacia, she doubted Fandom's weather would remain this cold for weeks on end.

On her way to the lake, she noticed something odd. There was a goose, settled on what looked like a nest with a single large egg in it, with a proud gander standing slightly to the side. But, out of season as the nesting was, that wasn't the odd thing. What Karla found odd, even for Fandom, was that the goose was wearing some kind of head covering, while the gander was carrying...was that a shepherd's crook?

Shaking her head, she continued on. Only to be greeted by the same tableau again. And again. And yet again. By the time she arrived at the pond, she'd seen six different groups of geese, each perched on a single egg.

Man, this island was weird.

Though the baby goslings that had hatched by the time she was heading home were awfully cute, it had to be admitted.

[Open!]

Comments

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

Karla may or may not have seen Oz take the running start with his sled. But by the time he was sliding across the pond, he was sitting sedately on the sled as if he'd just sort of taken off gently from the edge.

[glacial_queen]

Karla grinned as she skated past, spinning several times before starting to skate backwards by him. "Looks like fun!" she shouted.

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

"So far." Oz nodded. As he got to the other edge of the pond, he pushed off with his legs from a handy snowbank.

"Happy whatever holiday you celebrate."

[glacial_queen]

"Thanks! Happy Holiday-of-your-choice, too," Karla said. She was quiet for a few moments as she concentrated preparing for a jump.

Picking up speed, she skated from one side of the pond to another and then launched herself into the air. Her landing was fairly wobbly and she needed Craft to steady herself (not that she'd ever admit it), but she didn't hit the ice. Score!

"I'm Karla, by the way."

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

His sled stopped near the middle of the pond, and he had to push it along with the heels of his boots. He didn't mind.

"I'm Oz. You a student?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla nodded. "You?"

He didn't look familiar, but there were a lot of students Karla hadn't actually met yet.

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

"Not for a long time." Actually he'd barely been a student even when he was in school. "I work in town."

[glacial_queen]

"Where?" Karla asked, interested. There were a lot of stores she'd never made it to yet.

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

"Holiday Grove and Coyote Medicine. You know them?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla shook her head. "I've never heard of either. What do they sell?"

His answer would have to wait a moment. There were some fancy tricks Karla wanted to perform.

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

Oz watched, impressed. He himself showed off by spinning around on his sled without getting sick.

[glacial_queen]

"Well?" Karla asked, skating over.

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

"Sorry?" He'd forgotten for a moment what they were talking about. "Oh yeah. Well Holiday Grove sells party supplies for the holidays. Decorations and stuff. Coyote Medicine sells Native American gifts and old fashioned medicine things."

[glacial_queen]

"Native American?"

Which was probably an excellent indication that Karla wasn't from around there, no.

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

"The people who lived in America before the white folks came."

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced down at her hands, invisible though they were within her gloves. She really wasn't used to thinking about people in terms of skin color. "Where did the white folks come from? And why? And where did the Native Americans go?"

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

"That's kind of a long and complicated story." said Oz. He could be pretty good at shortening such things, but not this time.

[glacial_queen]

"Oh."

Maybe Ender could explain it. He was good at explaining things about this world.

Or maybe..."What Native Americans do you get the gifts and things you sell? Maybe I could ask them."

[loyal-type.livejournal.com]

Oz didn't know if there were any Native Americans on the island actually. Not even the guy who delivered the goods. "We get kind of a mixed crowd."