The cold air was brisk and refreshing, Riley feeling as awake as she got as the whole gang walked outside, Rick locking the door behind them before they crossed the scarcely used road. She was briefly surprised that they didn't even bother looking to the sides before stepping onto the asphalt, however a realization that in three days she's been here she couldn't recall seeing even a single car that wasn't theirs quelled that doubt.

On the other side of the road the group formed a line, following Rick as he pushed through the snow-obscured path, Riley wading up to her shins in the stuff as they made their way onto the other side of the field, into the treeline.

The path was much more visible here, if less relevant, most of the snow resting on top of the tree crown, covering it in a thick layer, leaving the woods below deeply shaded.

It felt surreal, walking through the darkness only illuminated by a handful of spots where the cover of needles wasn't thick enough to support snow, blobs of sunlight lighting up the forest floor. They lit up the area nearby, including them as they walked nearby. The kits didn't bother with following the dirt path anymore with not even an inch of snow to have to wade through, cutting corners through bends and turns.

Timmy had to be constantly urged on as he tried to play with the beams of light, Riley giggling at the sight as he futilely tried to grasp what was causing them, and take one with him.

After a few minutes of walking in mostly silence, only interrupted by an occasional giggle, they finally reached a large clearing, a frozen over lake filling most of it. A massive pine provided some shade, the ancient looking tree growing from the top of a small cliff over the water's edge, the rest of the shore being much flatter and covered with a thin, patchy layer of snow, revealing the frozen sand underneath.

Lily and Andrew took a knowing look at each other, grinning playfully as they ran up to the edge of the lake, quickly slipping out of their shoes and stepping into their skates. Lily waited in excitement for her older brother, and after he caught up a few moments later, they both looked ready to launch, tails a bit frizzled and waving.

Riley looked over at them in confusion as she tied the massive laces of her own skates, Ella's whistle snapping her out of it as the two racers took off, sprinting on top of the thick ice to the other side of the lake. Their tails were just a blur at this speed, but Riley did notice that they kept them mostly still during the dash. Andrew ended up winning by only a split second, at the cost of tripping and planting face first into the snow.

"I won!" She heard him mumble through the white fluff as he picked himself up, Lily helping him out as Riley watched with a giggle.

"Riley, you ready sweetie?" Ella called over with a smile, having already put her own pair in the meantime, standing on the ice with her arms crossed.

She snapped out and stood up from the tree stump, her legs trembling as she tried to balance herself, her skates digging into the sandy shore. Even without the slipperiness of the ice Riley felt her enthusiasm melt, really wishing she wasn't trying to stand on something as narrow as that.

Ella got the clue immediately and slid over, reaching her paws towards Riley who immediately grabbed them, trying to stop herself from falling over as the skunk mom gently guided her-

"Alright, take a moment sweetie, a deep breath, then try to make your stance a bit wider. Lift one of your feet a fair bit, move it a couple inches to the side, and put it down."

Riley tried to follow her words as closely as she could, the uncertainty of every motion putting her a bit on the edge before she finally gathered the courage to lift her foot a bit. A second and three heartbeats later she'd managed to widen her stance considerably, Ella grinning at her before continuing-

"There you go. Now try to take a couple of steps forward and step onto the ice, there's some snow here so it won't be horribly slippery."

She nodded with quite a fearful expression, having to support herself on Ella quite a bit as she slowly walked onto the lake, step after a wobbly step. As afraid as she was of falling over earlier, it was nothing in comparison to this, her entire body trembling as she desperately hoped her legs wouldn't give out from under her.

"Well done!" Ella chimed in happily as they both were finally on the ice, Riley panicking just a bit at how they kept sliding ever so slowly despite not really moving anymore.

"Now, bend your knees like I am right now and lean forward juuuust a bit, will help with your balance."

Riley nodded shakily, leaning forward just enough to feel somewhat more stable, eyes going wide as Ella started gently tugging her forward. She seemed to be slowly gliding backwards without any issue, keeping up her reassuring smile as the two slowly made their way over to the small cliff, the tree roots giving Riley plenty to hold on to in case.

"Alright, now let go of my paws and try to hold onto one of the tree roots with one p-, I mean hand, while still facing me, sound good?"

Riley let out a shake to the contrary, even a single moment of having to balance on the knife's edge like that sounded like a guaranteed crash.

"You'll have to trust in your balance eventually Riley. But alright, just let go of one hand and grab onto the roots, and once you've got a firm hold and feel steady let go of the other, does that sound better?"

She answered with a hesitant nod, letting out a panicked whine as she let go of one of the paws, her arm waving like mad to try and keep herself from wobbling out of control. With a concerned look, Ella reached in and grabbed Riley's wrist, moving it over to the roots which she immediately grabbed, her knuckles going white as she held onto the cold wood with all her strength.

"Riley?" She asked with a firm but caring tone, the girl closing her eyes as she breathed through her mouth, trying to reign in her panic.

Riley snapped her eyes open as she felt Ella's paw press onto her shoulder, pushing her downwards. She opened her mouth out to protest before she was cut off-

"Riley, knees!"

She realized she was standing up straight, managing to force her knees to bed as low as they could, realizing with a relieved exhale that it did help a lot, terrified girl looking down at the lightly dusted ice and her own shaking legs.

Ella gave her a moment to collect herself as she finally felt somewhat in balance, before reaching under her chin and gently pushing her head up until she was looking back at her.

"Feeling a bit better?" She asked gently, Riley smiling a bit in embarrassment at her own freaking out.

"Y-yeah, s-sorry-"

"Shhh, it's all fine. I should've slowed down a bit when I noticed you stressing out. I suppose the lesson zero of this whole thing is- 'You will fall eventually, everyone does, being afraid of it only hampers your own progress.'"

Riley nodded slowly, the lesson certainly sounding true regardless of how anxious she felt at the sensation of not being in control.

Can't threaten a lake with a knife after all.

"Are you ready to let go of me now?" Ella asked slowly, Riley taking a deep breath before letting go of her grasp, forcing herself to keep her knees bent, managing to balance herself in place.

"There you go!" She followed up with pride in her voice, herself sliding a few meters back, to the edge of the small tree cliff.

"Next step, let go of the root you're holding, and try to balance yourself in place for a bit. Hold your arms at an angle away from your body but don't move them to the front or back, like this-" Ella demonstrated with herself, holding her arms halfway between having them in a straight line with her shoulders and laying them flat against her sides.

Riley tried to mimic her pose, realizing she was managing to keep herself up without much effort, smiling nervously at Ella.

She knew how to stand, now to move on her own.

"And now gliding, the fun part. Tilt one of your feet like this-" Ella moved her right foot slightly to the back, tilting it at a slight angle and holding it like that.

The human tried to mimic her the best she could, sliding her foot just a bit to the baaaaAAA!

With a gasp she realized she slid it back so far she completely lost the grip, completely throwing herself off balance and falling on her right side, managing to at least lower herself down on her knees as far as she could before falling onto the ice, the elbow pad absorbing a lot of the force.

She honestly expected it to hurt much more, wincing a bit at the impact but not much beyond that. The realization was very welcome, since that was the part she was afraid of the most.

"Everything alright?" She heard Rick ask, his voice calm and unbothered by her fall, which she honestly appreciated.

"Y-yeah, guess I had to fall eventually, heh..." With a chuckle, she slowly picked herself up, sliding her skates underneath herself, pushing herself onto the blades with a solid thrust. Afterwards, she gradually lifted herself up by straightening her knees, taking deep breaths as she realized she was getting a hang of it.

"Remember, slide your foot just a bit back and tilt it so that it won't slide off like that." Ella reminded, smiling as Riley managed to recover completely on her own.

Now much more confident, Riley managed to correctly replicate her stance, grinning at her own progress before the skunk mom spoke up-

"And now push yourself off of it, to the side and not straight back. You got this Riley."

She nodded and took a deep breath, tensing up and launching herself off, briefly losing her balance before just barely managing to pull her right foot back in line with the left one, taking in what had just happened as she slowly lost her speed, managing to glide over halfway over to Ella with just one push.

"And now the other foot, keep going!"

With some mental effort she managed to mirror her movements, reminding herself halfway through to look back up and see Ella backing off just a bit, giving her some space as she shakily slid over.

"A-a-alright, w-what now?" Riley asked as Ella kept slowly sliding backwards, turning slowly as she kept her eyes on her daughter, a playful smirk sprouting on her snout-

"Catch me!"

After the initial moment of surprise Riley realized what was going on, chuckling at Ella's shenanigans before resuming her glide- right and then left, then right, then another fall, then left and right, corners taken by the sheer force of will and a slight tilt of her body.

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Ella kept just out of range, smirk growing into a grin as Riley kept chasing her, lip bit in anticipation as she gained ground on her ever so slowly, every glide feeling less and less chaotic.

It seemed that the skunk mom was just as into their little chase as Riley, gracefully gliding backwards with her tail waving gently, forgetting to even look behind herself anymore, Riley spotting racing Andrew in the corner of her eye, who together with Lily were right on collision course with them, Riley only managing to force out-

"Watch out!"

Ella reacted instantly, stopping on the spot and launching herself forwards at Riley, so much faster than she thought possible for the middle aged skunk as they collided. Ella held Riley tight to not let her fall from the impact as the racing kits zoomed behind her, the annoyed mom shouting towards them-

"Oi, maybe slow down a bit will you two?"

The two guilty skunks slowed down in an instant, turning towards Ella with apologetic expressions, both responding nearly at the same time-

"Sorry mom!"

She shook her head and rolled her eyes before her annoyed scowl melted into mild amusement as she slid away from Riley, letting her stand on her own once more as she spoke quietly-

"Well that's one way to catch me, heh. That's pretty much all for the bare basics, most of the stuff that comes afterwards is just practice. Which these two have had in abundance, so don't worry about being slow or anything."

"Oh don't worry, I'm certainly not thinking about racing neck in neck with them anytime soon, looks like a prime opportunity to get your face ground into the ice at fifty miles per hour."

"That's quite overly dramatic, stuff like that didn't even happen in our scrims with the boy teams, and lemme tell you they knew how to be fierce."

"Except you all knew how to land and not break your face."

"You do too, it's a natural reflex and not some arcane hockey skill. Even the worst crash I've ever seen, which was Lily's when she was six, all she did was break her nose."

"Alright..." Riley had no real grounds for a response, having to admit she was unreasonable to herself, despite hating it.

With a brief shake of her head she looked around to see what the rest of the family was doing, Lily literally running circles around Andrew as they seemed to talk about something, Rick slowly gliding along with Timmy as they held hands.

"Since you showed off your trophy, guess it's only fair for me to ask why did you stop with a track record like that?" Riley spoke up and turned back towards Ella, who was busy smiling in Timmy's and Rick's direction.

Ella looked towards her in mild surprise, expression quickly morphing into that of sadness and regret.

"Well, I hadn't, at least not initially. Joined the college team, had quite a good run in my first year, and then, well..."

"Do you need a moment Ella?" Riley asked earnestly, having learned something from Rick thankfully enough.

"Don't worry, it's just something I thought I already had behind me. Guess that reminiscing from before proved that no, I still haven't put it to rest."

"Did you have an accident?"

"Yeah. There was no vest that was quite my size, so I had to wear one a size smaller. Uncomfortable but I managed until then. Guess that one size difference was enough for there to be an unprotected spot on my lower back, and when the puck hit right there during a practice, well... a cracked vertebra."

"D-darn, I'm so sorry, that sounds awful..."

"Oh it was, easily the most pain I've ever been in in my life. I gave birth to Andrew without anesthetics and even that didn't even compare to getting my spine whacked like that. Even on all the drugs they gave me it was still miserable."

Riley nodded slowly, unable to relate but definitely feeling the weight of her words.

"Guess the only upside was a hefty insurance payout from the college and the fact that Rick would visit me on a daily basis for a month to help me with the physical therapy while I learned to walk again. And cuddle and... do other things, heh..." Riley saw her giggle with a deep blush at that last addition, joining in with a chuckle as she decoded what Ella meant.

"But all that was almost thirty years ago now, I'm all good now aside from bending over and crouching hurting a bit. And being just a tad bit lazier because of that, hehe."

Riley smiled warmly at that, relieved to hear that Ella wasn't dealing with any sort of chronic pain as a result of her accident.

"Riley!" Her head snapped to the side as Timmy slowly glided over, reaching out towards her.

She slowly turned and carefully reached her hand out to grab Timmy's as he slid even closer to her, smiling in tyke excitement as he looked up at her.

With a glance back towards Ella, who was currently busy being gently held and kissed by Rick, she spoke towards Timmy-

"Hey, wanna check out what Lily and Andrew are doing?"

"Yeah! Can we skate?"

She smiled down at him in return, carefully balancing herself as he kept tugging on her arm, each glide a bit shakier because of that, but also more satisfying when she managed to keep going without crashing.

That is, at least until a sudden gust of wind blindsided her, making her let go of Timmy as she was thrown off balance, bending her knees as much as she could before toppling over, the second crash quite a bit harsher than the first one, making her 'Ow' loudly at the dull ache in her side.

"Riley, are you alright?" She looked up in surprise as Lily slid over to her, crouching a bit as she extended her paw towards her, helping her stand up.

"Y-yeah, thanks Lily, d-don't worry, ugh..." She winced at the pain in her side before shaking it off, forcing out a smile towards her sister as Timmy slid over as well, looking up towards her-

"Lily, can you skate with meeeee?"

"Sure!" She answered with a giggle and a sly smile, gliding a bit backwards, Riley recognizing the move-

"If you can catch me!"

Timmy immediately glided forward at that, Lily sliding just out of his reach, Riley getting a sly idea as she chimed in towards her younger brother-

"I'll catch Lily for you!" -and started gliding herself at her sister, the lil' skunkette briefly surprised before managing to dodge her with a giggle, grinning at them both as she turned around and started skating away, much faster than they could reach even with their speeds combined.

Nevertheless, they kept gliding on towards her, Riley smiling as she pushed Timmy forwards at every opportunity she had, Lily far too deft to let them even come close. After a couple minutes Timmy finally realized his inadequacy, whining towards his sister with-

"Hey, that's not fair!" -and sticking out his tongue at her, grumpily folding his arms.

"You have Riley to help you!" Lily responded, braking quickly.

"But she's slow!"

Riley couldn't help but chuckle at his straightforwardness, an idea popping into her mind as she turned in Andrew's direction, urging him to slide to her with a gesture, sliding as closely as she could before whispering in his ear-

"Andrew, help Timmy catch Lily!"

He caught on instantly, grinning back before skating over to the other two siblings, positioning himself behind Lily who still kept bickering with Timmy.

Riley glided her way back as Andrew sprung to action, speeding up behind Lily and grabbing her by the arms, the surprised girl reacting with a small scream as she was pushed forwards, Andrew braking together with her right in front of the tyke, Timmy realizing it was his moment to act as he leaned in, poking Lily on the tummy before grabbing her hand.

"Caught you!"

Lily was almost ready to give Andrew an earful for doing something like that before she realized what it was for, groaning loudly in defeat and holding Timmy's hand back, starting to glide once again with him in tow, the little skunkie excited at such speed.

The big brother slid back towards Riley, raising his paw for a high five with a wide smile at their little play, his sister chuckling as she returned it before being thrown off balance by another cold gust, Andrew managing to catch her before she fell over in an impromptu hug.

Before she could even get a word in edgewise he let her go, her surprised expression turning into a soft smile.

"Thanks Andrew."

"You're welcome sis. Enjoying the skating so far?"

"Yeah, it's been alright, tho my feet hurt a fair bit already, ugh."

He looked at her concerned, calmly responding-

"Uh oh, that shouldn't be happening. You probably need better fit-"

"No, no, don't worry, this happens even when I've just been walking for a while, it's just normal for me."

"That makes it even worse if anything. You should probably have your feet checked when we go to the doctor tomorrow, had a human classmate in middle school that complained of something similar and it turned out to be something medical."

"Fine." She responded quickly, looking away with an irritated expression.

"What's wrong Riley?" He shrugged off the biting response and kept the soft, concerned tone.

She took a deep breath and looked back towards him, feeling bad for snapping back at him.

"Guess it's just... I hate feeling like there's something wrong with me." She admitted with a sigh, both to him and to herself.

He walked a bit closer, extending his arms for an actual hug and smiling softly, Riley taking the offer and letting herself get held for a moment.

"Having an issue like that or needing some help at times doesn't make you a worse person in *any* way, we're not fighting for survival in a jungle where stuff like that actually matters."

Not anymore, at least in her case.

"And I think I've had my own share of skating already as well, definitely wouldn't be opposed to heading back home and grabbing something to eat." He followed up as he let go of her, skating over to his parents.

She took a look around, spotting Timmy holding onto Lily's legs, the girl looking a bit flustered as she had to balance herself with her legs essentially tied, Riley slowly gliding over to find out what was going on.

"Timmy, please let go, I know I went too fast but if you'll keep holding my legs I can't take you back to the shore!"

He whimpered in response, continuing to hold onto his sister as Riley skated over and prodded his shoulder, the lil' kit turning around to hold onto her leg instead.

"T-too fast..." He muttered out, Riley looking down at him, stuck between feeling sorry for the tyke and being amused by his silliness.

"Alright Timmy, just a few more steps and then no more skating, is that okay?" She spoke slowly, her brother calming down enough to take her hand instead of her leg.

She looked up with a smile, noticing Lily's guilty expression, feeling sorry at the distress she'd caused her lil' brother. Riley beckoned her over with a gesture as they all slid over towards the rest of the family, Ella turning towards the fresh arrivals and asking them as a group-

"Wanna head home?"

Timmy answered with a shrill 'Yeah!', the two sisters quietly nodding in agreement soon after.

The skunk mom nodded firmly at them, tilting her head to signal to the kits to follow her as they walked back onto the coast, finding their shoes and quickly slipping back into them, Riley's feet letting out a wordless sigh of relief as she slipped them out of the heavy skates, the soft sneakers feeling so much better.

After a few minutes to locate Timmy's shoes, which blended in with the snow and the white sand almost too well, the gang started walking back the way they came, the way home taking a fair bit longer due to all the exhaustion, the adults and almost-adult at the front chatting with each other, with Riley and the two kits following in the back.

As they slowly walked on, Riley glanced over at Lily, noticing that she still kept her ashamed look, the older sister taking a deep breath before walking over to Lily, who immediately noticed with a raised eyebrow.

"Everything alright Lily?" She spoke up quietly, keeping up a slight smile.

The smaller skunk thought deeply for a moment, before responding-

"I was way too fast with Timmy and ended up scaring him a lot, and now I feel rotten because of that..."

"Why not just apologize to him?"

Lily looked a bit caught off guard, an embarrassed expression only intensifying.

Seems like she could use a prod in the right direction.

"Timmy, can you cmere for a moment?"

Little kit's ears perked up at the mention of his name, quickly running towards the two sisters.

Lily got her cue, and took a deep breath before crouching and speaking up to her brother-

"H-hey, Timmy, I'm sorry for going so fast and scaring you back there-"

He cut her off with a soft hug, reaching up to gently pet her hair.

Riley couldn't help but coo at the adorable display, reaching down to gently ruffle his hat-covered hair, the lil' kit giggling as Lily stood back up, looking relieved and just as amused as Riley.

With a quick glance she realized the front of the group had walked quite a ways off in the meanwhile, tapping Lily and Timmy on the shoulder as she jogged forward, the two skunks catching up to her and the rest of the family as they stepped back onto the white field.

A couple minutes later they were finally back home, the clearly visible path causing much less trouble the second time around, most of the snow kicked to the sides.

With a shudder, Riley slipped out of the chilly jacket and shoes, quietly thankful as she saw Rick walk towards the fireplace and start a gentle fire, herself quickly leaping onto the couch, warming her extremities with the ambient warmth.

Andrew followed her not long after, taking a more direct approach in laying down on the rug right in front of the fireplace, tail sliding just a bit closer to the flames.

Riley giggled before looking over to the side, seeing Ella and Rick doing something in the kitchen as Lily helped Timmy take his shoes off, lil kit running over the moment he was freed, taking a spot right next to his older brother, Andrew holding him gently as they both warmed up.

After taking off her own cold clothes, Lily ran up to them, taking a seat on the couch as well, prime areas in front of the fireplace taken up by her brothers, leaving the second best place, next to her sister.

"Riley?" She spoke up quietly, the older sister smiling back towards her and lifting her brow.

"T-thank you for that." Her soft voice was dripping with gratitude, Riley feeling honored despite her fairly simple action.

After a moment, she wordlessly slid a hand behind Lily's shoulders, her tail feeling wonderfully soft as it brushed her forearm. The younger sister got the message, leaning into Riley and wrapping her arms around her, laying her furry cheek on her shoulder as her older sister pulled her in.

"You're welcome Lily."

Riley leaned into the gentle hug and the soft sofa, the comfy warmth making her drowsy in Lily's arms.

By the time the parents arrived with the hot cocoa she was fast asleep, together with her sister next to her and the two boys at the front. With a quiet giggle, Ella poked Rick with her elbow and pointed upstairs, herself first grabbing a couple of thick blankets to cover her napping kids with, before joining her husband in their room, locking the door just in case.

Guess one thing all the Ashers knew was the importance of a comfy, warm nap in someone else's arms.