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Since the Winter Wonderland Carnival opened, there had been a section all the way in the back that remained blocked from view by wooden fences and blue tarps. Every now and then, sounds would be heard of an almost construction like nature but any questions were met with staff just telling passersby that it would be opening soon and to thank them for patience.
What in the world had not been ready in time for the opening?
Now, the fences are gone and the tarps removed allowing guests to see for the first time, the Winter Carnival’s pride and joy: An Ice Maze!
Eight Foot ice walls shoot up into the sky marking the entrance before returning to a mere seven foot the rest of the way through. Scattered throughout the maze are iced carvings ranging from the abstract to animal and human figures. Yet at the center was the true treasure: the figure of a woman made of pure ice resides in the middle looking out at all those who enter her maze with wonder. She appears as if she could almost step off her pedestal and speak with the people around. Even the small fairy like creatures carved around her appear to have their wings flutter in the glow of the twinkle lights hung above the maze center. There is something strangely alluring about her, and once you find her you may find yourself so captivated by her appearance that the rest of the world seems to disappear around you and you lose track of time. Thankfully, there are enough people that someone is bound to shake you out of your stupor...eventually.
Making it through the ice maze rewards you with a small little ice fairy sculpture, a souvenir and reminder for the evening. Each person is given one but if you ask nicely, they might just give you one or two more to take home as gifts. After all, who doesn’t want their own 12” tall dancing fairy made of crystal? After you exit the maze with your prize, you may find yourself dreaming of the beautiful icy woman in the center of the maze, watching you with her cool smile and cold eyes.
What in the world had not been ready in time for the opening?
Now, the fences are gone and the tarps removed allowing guests to see for the first time, the Winter Carnival’s pride and joy: An Ice Maze!
Eight Foot ice walls shoot up into the sky marking the entrance before returning to a mere seven foot the rest of the way through. Scattered throughout the maze are iced carvings ranging from the abstract to animal and human figures. Yet at the center was the true treasure: the figure of a woman made of pure ice resides in the middle looking out at all those who enter her maze with wonder. She appears as if she could almost step off her pedestal and speak with the people around. Even the small fairy like creatures carved around her appear to have their wings flutter in the glow of the twinkle lights hung above the maze center. There is something strangely alluring about her, and once you find her you may find yourself so captivated by her appearance that the rest of the world seems to disappear around you and you lose track of time. Thankfully, there are enough people that someone is bound to shake you out of your stupor...eventually.
Making it through the ice maze rewards you with a small little ice fairy sculpture, a souvenir and reminder for the evening. Each person is given one but if you ask nicely, they might just give you one or two more to take home as gifts. After all, who doesn’t want their own 12” tall dancing fairy made of crystal? After you exit the maze with your prize, you may find yourself dreaming of the beautiful icy woman in the center of the maze, watching you with her cool smile and cold eyes.
Whilst Ashley had heard about the Winter Carnival, it wasn't something that she had been planning to visit. After all she was someone who tried to do as little Christmas as she could get away with - something that was made easier in that she wasn't flying over to the UK until after the actual event - and a 'Winter Carnival' sounded like it was almost certain to be Christmassy.
She wasn't counting on one of her father's business associates to happen to be in the States however, or for him to look her up - something about having promised her father to look her up - and she certainly hadn't expected him to have found some sort of flyer for said Winter Carnival and decide that visiting it was a 'must do'–
Which was how she had found herself at said Carnival - a Carnival that seemed to be going strong despite the length of time that it had already been running.
She had pasted on a fake smile at the beaming member of staff dressed up in a 'Mrs Claus' outfit that had bustled up to their party of three and exclaimed that they had picked the best time to visit and that they should make sure to visit the maze, a part of her wishing that she could power up and make her useful - as she had made others who had been just as Christmassy - because she was sure that the Negaverse could make better use of the energy–
But whilst it made for a nice fantasy, as did adding the energy of her father's business associate and that of his wife to the mix - Ashley was well aware that was all it could be - a fantasy.
After all it wasn't as if she could reveal herself as Reinerite - not in a place like this.
So she had endured through some of the events and had pasted on a smile when her father's business associate had suggested that they move onto the maze after they had stopped to pick up some hot chocolate - that was admittedly decent and would have been even better if it hadn't been accompanied by all the 'Merry Christmases' that the man dressed up as an elf had seemed compelled to add.
The maze had been made of ice, eight foot walls marking the entrance, although the rest of the walls had been shorter - maybe around an inch or so, although Ashley couldn't be sure and wasn't going to spend too long checking.
She did however endeavour to 'lose' her father's business associate early on and found making her way through said maze more tolerable once she didn't have to listen to how amazing all the carvings that had been scattered throughout the maze were - although she could also admit privately to herself that some of them were pretty neat.
Eventually however she found herself at the maze's centre where what appeared to be the centrepiece of the carvings had been placed and truth be told Ashley could see that whoever had been tasked with carving the ice woman surrounded by fairy-like creatures had obviously done a good job on her.
It seemed that she had received a prize for making it through, the crystal fairy tucked away carefully, if absently tucked away in her bag as she waited for her father's business associate and his wife to make their way out.
She would feign shock she decided as she settled down to wait and then suggest that they pick up another hot chocolate - and then hope that they didn't want to spend tooo long at the Carnival so that she could part company with them and escape back to her apartment.
-- 614 words --
