Birthday Surprise (Alys and Tarragon only)

Tarragon had charmed a piece of paper to fly along the table once he'd finished his dinner. He had waited to make sure it had landed in front of its intended target and left. That had been twenty minutes ago now, and he was waiting just a little way away from where he had told Alys to meet him.

He'd led out the pair of skates for Alys to see where they would meet, seeing as it was beginning to get dark he thought he'd better make it a little clearer. He waited patiently behind the tree near by, he wanted her to see the skates first, then his plan would continue from there.

The evening wasn't too cold thankfully. The sunny day had led to an almost perfect night, but Tarragon was still a little cold from the icy waters of the hidden lake he'd found.

Alys walked out into the grounds, shivering lightly in the wind. She was still dressed in the jeans and top from earlier and even if the weather was nice, the night wind was slightly chilly. Tarragon had hinted of a surprise but Alys wondered why it had to be outside and not indoors, preferably by a fireplace.

Reaching the school's frozen lake, the witch nearly stumbled on something and upon looking down, realized they were boots of some sort. Unsure as to why anyone would leave their shoes lying around, the girl looked around for the boy who had told her to meet him there.

"Tarragon," she said spotting him some ways of and waving over to him. "Look, someone left their boots out here."

Tarragon hesitated a moment when Alys called him over, he took a deep breath, turning behind him to pick up her present. The boquet of roses was so big he could hardly see round it. It had taken him a while to 'arrange' them into a suitable manner, not to mention the work of actually getting them in the first place. He walked over to where Alys had been before his vision was impaired by flowers.

"Happy Birthday, Fraulein Diederich!" He smiled, even though she probably couldn't see him. "These are your favourite, right?"

He was so excited over the whole idea, he just hoped more than anything that this had been the right thing to do.

Alys felt her eyes growing wide as the boy approached her, his face obscured by a huge bouquet of flowers. How could he have possibly known? Had she accidentally let it slip without realizing?

"Tarragon, wow..." the blonde simply stared at the flowers, unsure of what to say. She had never been given a bouquet in her life, not even by her Papa who sometimes liked to bring back small bunches of flowers for her Mama to put in the vases around the house.

"I... don't know what to say..." she admitted honestly, her eyes reflecting her surprise at the situation.

Tarragon poked his head around the bouquet, seeing Alys smile. He put them down on the picnic blanket that he'd laid under the boots.

"I'm not finished yet!" He said clearing his throat, "Fraulein Diederich, I would like to give you the present of teaching you to ice skate. It's a wonderful thing, and I am quite sure you've never done it before seeing as your not used to this cold!"

He smiled a little shyly before continuing.

"Or alternatively, you can just take the bouquet if you think its too much of a risk!"

He waited for her reply, excitement dancing in his eyes as he watched her trying to take in the whole situation.

The blonde listened to him, still at a lost for words. She knew if some of the older girls received flowers, they would be jumping up and down but for Alys, the dominant emotion right now as the sheer surprise of the matter. Why would someone go to all the trouble to collect so many roses?

"Ice skating..?" she repeated blankly after him, unsure of how to reply. However, when he teased her about it being a risk, it snapped her out of her reverie.

"If you're implying I'm too scared to learn, then you're sadly mistaken," she shot back, her voice full of bravado as she glanced at the lake. He had assumed right, she didn't know a thing about ice skating other than Ava telling her about the sport once or twice. She was from a seaside town and snow itself still seemed off to her.

"Well, the lake looks solid enough," she added nervously. It had been frozen for the last three months so there was no reason to think it would suddenly all melt into a swirling whirlpool just as she stepped on it. Pushing that thought out of her mind, she simply said "so, how do we start?"

Tarragon watched Alys intently as she tried to decipher everything he'd done for her. It wasn't much really, but she seemed so overwhelmed by it all. When she finally replied that she would give ice skating a go, he could help but grin from ear to ear.

"We start by putting the boots on!" He waved to the boots laid out on the blanket, he'd thought everything through so that she wouldn't get wet by sitting on the snow by providing the blanket for her to sit on. If only he'd remembered a towel to dry off with he wouldn't be subtly shaking right now. He brushed off his stupidness and grabbed his pair of boots. He put them on and tied them tight, and turned to Alys.

"Make sure you do them up really tight, don't want any more sprained ankles from you, Fraulein Deiderich!" He stood up himself, and offered his hand to help her onto the ice for the first time.

The girl watched Tarragon with no small amount of trepidation, noting how he tied up his own skates so she could follow suit and not do it wrong. The last thing she needed was to skid on the ice. It didn't matter how many times she had seen other students doing it, the concept was still alien to her.

And she did not like being reminded of the sprained ankle from the duel.

Taking his hand, the witch got up gingerly and stepped out onto the frozen lake, hoping against hope that she wouldn't fall.

Tarragon took both of Alys' hands once on the ice, and started to skate backwards, slowly pulling her with him. He looked into her eyes to try to ease any tension she may have before explaining how to skate.

"You have to push forward with each foot, like you want to slide across the ice, just gently to start with. So we'll start with your right foot."

He span round her to be beside her, letting go of one of her hands, he showed her how to push forward on the right and waited for her to have a go.

"I promise you won't hit the ground hard if you should fall, but hopefully I will catch you before you do anyway, trust me."

Alys stopped breathing when he spun her around on the ice, sure that she would fall. When she didn't, she let out the breath she had been holding and tried to keep up with the lesson. Push, one foot to the other but how. Putting a tiny step forwards while still clutching his hand in a death grip, the witch moved half a foot. "Umm, is that okay?" she asked, her voice quivering with nerves. How did people do this everyday, she wondered, trying to stand still on the ice.

Tarragon didn't laugh at Alys' feeble movement, but he hadn't expected it to be easy, he skated behind her and pushed them both forwards, only slowly to start.

"Now, just slide your foot across the top of the ice to make movement. A simple push movement I suppose." He said as he gently pushed them forwards again before they stopped.

Alys wasn't going to fall with him behind her, he knew that much, and he'd promised, she just needed to relax into the movements.

The witch didn't move at all the first few paces, letting Tarragon drag them both along the ice until she was absolutely certain they weren't going to end up on their faces in the ice, or worse, trapped under it. The wind had picked up and combined with the chill from the lake frozen beneath, she was starting to shiver slightly.

"Okay, let me see..." Alys finally put one step in front of the other, and in a slow movement, pushed her body forwards, letting her other leg glide behind. "Like this?"

"Just like that," Tarragon smiled happily, "Just a bit harder, and then with both feet. But just harder first."

He loosen his grip on her a little so that she could try do some more on her own, she hadn't wobbled yet which was a good sign. He waited for her to carry on with the pushing from each foot.

"Do you like it so far?" He asked, unsure if he'd made the right decision.

"Ask me later," the witch replied as she concentrated on pushing harder, making straight grooves in the ice with the blades of her skates. "If I fall, you'll know." The girl felt his grip loosen on her and pushed another step ahead, this time, sliding herself forwards with a little more ease.

While making slow progress, the witch had to admit the idea was good. She could only imagine how it would feel like skating across the lake like she had seen some of the older students do. it must feel like flying a little, she concluded, taking more hesitant steps ahead until... she realized that Tarragon wasn't holding on to her any more and she was on her own... standing on the ice.

"Hey, you let go!" she accused, trying not to think of losing her balance. If she did, it was sure to happen.

"That's because you don't need me, you've gone the last five metres or so virtually without me!" He smiled, doing a small pirouette before skating really quickly round her a couple of times before coming to an abrupt stop. "And one day you'll give me a run for my money!"

He waited for her to get the general jist of how to use both feet and grinned at her. He skated up behind her, so that he could whisper in her ear.

"Would you like to have some fun?" He couldn't help but smile now, he'd probably set her heartbeat racing at the prospect, but he wanted to make this night one of her best nights of their first year of school.

Watching him skate in circles around her, the girl doubted she would ever give him a run for his money. He seemed to know how to do everything. Fly, duel and even ice skate. Alys supposed that must come with growing up flirty rich and able to spend time doing all those things hen you didn't have to worry about chores.

"Would you like to have some fun?"

The blonde was just about to nod when something wet landed on top if her head. Looking up, Alys ducked her head just in time to avoid another snow flake taking her square on the nose. Great, it had started to snow. No wonder the girl felt chilly earlier.

"I would have loved to but its starting to snow," she said needlessly, pointing to the snowflakes showering down on them. "And I didn't bring out my cloak. Should have known."

Tarragon looked up to confirm the snow, his jaw locked in frustration. Two seconds wouldn't hurt though. He skated behind her quickly, pushing her along the ice fast, his hands carefully placed just above her hips. He waited for the right speed before lifting her slightly of the ground and spinning them both really fast for what felt like an age, before abruptly stopping.

When he'd first learnt to do that it made him feel queezy, but he'd loved the thrill of it. He hoped Alys would appreciate the whole spectacle as much as he did. He chuckled lightly at the situation. He'd be in trouble, he knew, but he didn't care, this was his best night of his life and nothing would change that.

Alys' heart had stopped beating when he pushed her along the ice and the girl had started panicking at the speed.

But then everything changed. She was spinning, spinning on the ice as if she would never stop. And far from dizzying, it felt like she was flying. Except it felt better than flying, it felt like she was spinning on air and playing with the softly falling snowflakes.

Letting out an exhilarated breath, the witch looked up to the sky, balancing in her skates a lot better than she was previously. She had thought flying was the best feeling of all but it wasn't, spinning at that speed on the ice was. instantly, the witch knew she would be back, and make a genuine effort to learn the sport properly.

"You..." she breathed, her cheeks pink from exertion and happiness. "Need to teach me how to do that by myself." Shivering amid the falling snow, the witch smiled. After almost a year of being here, the girl could finally see the appeal of snow and ice.

"I'll teach you how to another day, lets get you in the warm!" He said as skated to edge of the ice still holding onto her. Once on the ground, he ran over to the blanket to pick it up and wrapped it around her to keep the snow from making her too cold. He didn't want either of her parents after him for making her ill.

"I think we'll have to wait until second year now though, if that's okay?" He asked before ushering her back inside. "Happy Birthday, Miss Diederich! I hope you have enjoyed all of it."

Alys nodded, shivering as the snowflakes surrounded them, gathering on the ground in soft, clumpy formations that made her watch her step.

"Thanks a lot," she said as earnestly as she could through chattering teeth. "That really was one of the biggest surprises I've ever had." Ducking down to pick up the arrangement of roses he had presented her earlier, the girl grinned. "I think I'll put this up in our dorm room."

Inhaling the sweet fragrance of the flowers, the girl made her way back to the fortress, Tarragon close at her heels.