Tess loved winter.

She loved the way the snow gently fell into her cold, cold hands, the way the icy breeze picked up her long, heavy, dark hair and tossed it behind her, the way the frost grew on the window panels, all swirly and spiky and each time unique, the way she was so flexible during the winter.

But most of all, she loved the way she could walk during winter.

No limp.

No drag.

No stubbed toes.

But as graceful as could be on the ice and snow.

Her broken foot couldn't bother her when it was cushioned by snow.

The ice numbed the pain under her so that she could dance properly for the winter.

And the best part about it was? The village was so, so tiny that they all knew Tess, her waist-long, black-as-a-winter-midnight hair, her icy blue eyes, and the pain that her left foot gave her. They all knew that she loved being able to glide gracefully across the ice and sometimes snow, instead of limping clumsily across the street.

So they hardly bothered with the snow plows, only clearing the Main Street.

Tourists would pass every once in awhile, complaining about the amount of snow lying on the ground.

"You have snow plows. Use them!"

"Argh, damnit! More snow! Move it you little bug!"

"Why don't you clear anything else besides the Main Street?"

And the locals would explain about Tess and her healed-wrong foot. Tess herself made a point of visiting every shop owner during winter every single day, so she often came in while said shop owner was explaining about Tess. Tess, her pale face flushed with cold and blue eyes sparkling with happiness that only came out during winter, always took off her skates before coming in, showing the shocked tourist that the girl that was just gliding by gracefully indeed had a very bad limp.

Mr. Hima, Tess's father, knew of his daughter's adventures in winter, and supported her outgoings. Truthfully, he was one of two that knew why Tess loved winter, why she was able to walk so smoothly during winter, despite a badly healed left foot.

Tess Hima: daughter of Khoine.

Tess grinned in delight as she froze the surface of the lake and glided on top of the ice, ice skates firmly tied to her feet. Unsure, she hesitantly glided a short way, before she froze more of the lake in front of her. It had been so long...

Then she was off, dancing in the moonlight, creating intricate swirls across the lake, jumping, spinning, gliding backwards. Her cold, cold hands danced across the surface of the unfrozen lake, sending gigantic 'snowflakes' across the lake. She jumped, higher than she'd ever been able to jump before, her icy blue eyes twinkling in delight, her long hair whipping about her, white streaking her black hair. She landed, gliding backwards smoothly on her left foot, before she came to a complete stop in the middle of the lake, smiling, her eyes shining. Her black hair fell around her in a curtain again, and she defrosted the lake as she glided off of it, leaving no trace that she was ever there.

Tess stumbled as she hit hard dirt, and sat down clumsily as she undid her skates. She hopped to her right foot, hopping still as she tried to regain her balance, set her left foot down on the hard-packed dirt carefully, and she limped back to the Hermes cabin.

She wasn't aware that a certain son of Poseidon and daughter of Athena had watched the entire show with their mouths hanging open in shock.

Tess continued her nightly routine, freezing the lake in swirls, defrosting them, freezing the lake in some new swirls, dancing across the ice, her long black hair sometimes tied back in a long straight ponytail, sometimes loose and a wave of black and white churning through the air. Always, her blue eyes had a light shining in them while she danced and froze and defrosted. Her cheeks were flushed from the extertion and the cold; her long, nimble fingers had the ability to craft the delicate snowflakes that often swirled around her when she got mad at Conner or Travis or someone else in the Hermes cabin. She had wittily out-maneuvered the Ares cabin with their 'unofficial welcoming ceremony' by freezing the water in the toliet and pipes, causing them to burst as the ice expanded the plastic beyond its limits. Everyone thought that she was Percy's sister for that one.

But no. She knew, unlike everyone else (or so she thought), that she was a daughter of the goddess of snow.

Percy and Annabeth had pleaded with Leo to talk to Tess, to which he had immediately objected to ("Fire and ice, people! All this is going to do is blow up in your faces!"). But after four days of pleading, Leo finally got out of bed and watched as the daughter of Khoine crafted her gazillionth masterpiece. He had to admit, it was fun and fascinating to watch her.

Then he stepped on a twig.

Ice roared towards him at the speed of a truck. Leo could barely erect a wall of flames before the ice hit it and melted somewhat, a snowball still managing to smack him in the face.

"Wow," Leo muttered. "You seriously look like your mom, except for the eyes."

Tess's eyes widened and prepared another snowball that was rock-hard. Leo held up his hands in defense. "Hey! Hey! I'm not here to hurt you, I promise!"

She didn't break her stance, eyeing the fire-user warily. Her voice had a lilting accent that Leo couldn't quite place. "What are you doing here?"

Leo didn't lie, seeing as how he was doing this frankly against his will. "A friend saw you dancing, and he asked me to talk to you. I've had bad encounters with your mom, and quite frankly her demigod brothers are idiots, so I don't have high hopes for you."

That was enough for her to lower her throwing arm. "Good. I don't like my mother either. But call me Ice Queen and I'll have to freeze you."

Leo raised an eyebrow skeptically. "All right, Snow Queen."

Tess facepalmed, her loose hair falling over her shoulders in a black curtain. "Technically, I'm a Snow Princess."

"Just because I work with technical stuff doesn't mean that I technically like technicalities," Leo said wryly. "My friend Piper, she's a daughter of Aphrodite, really plays down her looks, and yet I call her Beauty Queen 'cuz it annoys the heck out of her. So guess what, you're Snow Queen."

She looked irritated, but her eyes were light. "All right, Leo. If you get to make up an annoying nickname, then so do I, Repair Boy."

Leo choked, and started laughing. "Have you met Piper?"

Tess looked at him. "I generally stay away from the other half-bloods, seeing as I'm shunned for being lame and that my mother sided with Gaea. So no, I haven't met her."

Leo stepped onto the frozen part of the lake and moved quickly, knowing that his body heat would melt the ice. Too late, he fell through the ice with a splash, much to the amusement of Tess, who had her hand over her mouth.

"That's what you get for scaring me," she said between giggles.

Leo sputtered as he floundered in the surprisingly only cool water. "You did that?!"

The daughter of snow rolled her eyes, gliding over towards the hole she created just for him. "Of course. The ice can hold my weight easily, and it could hold you, even as a fire user, for a good five minutes before thinning too far. Now come on."

Tess held out her hand, and Leo grasped it. Tess angled her skates parallel to the hole so that she wouldn't just go sliding in with him, and hauled him out of the cool water.

Leo huffed and walked towards dry land, and steam-dried himself, Tess following after him, the ice receeding from the lake with her. Ungracefully, she sat on the ground, taking her skates off. She hopped to her right foot, balancing for a second, and lowered her left foot cautiously to the ground.

"I want you to meet Beauty Queen," Leo said, taking her by the arm and dragging her towards the Aphrodite cabin. Tess rolled her eyes as he dragged her along, smiling ruefully. She still wished she was out on the ice, spinning and dipping and creating, but making new friends was okay too.

"C'mon, Tess!" Leo said. "The answer is right in front of you! Just try it. Just for an hour, okay? Please!"

"I'm not doing it in front of a bunch of strangers!" Tess protested vehemently.

Leo huffed. "At midnight, then! Heaven knows you sneak out anyway! But I'm watching."

Tess sighed in defeat. "On one condition."

Leo lit up, literally. Tess dumped the bucket of water that Leo had handed her over his head. Leo glared at her, sopping wet. "What is it?"

"Piper has to be there."

Tess thought that it would be an easy out. Piper would probably never agree to be dragged out of her bed at midnight just to see if Leo's idea would work. Unfortunately, Tess and Piper were now good friends, and Leo's idea involved how Tess could use her powers to get around camp better. No one would do a double-take on Tess using ice to get around—Jason flew around all the time, along with half the Hermes cabin. The younger kids at camp all had roller skates so they could keep up with the older kids. Ice skates? Eh. Whatever.

Well, maybe they would do a double-take. No one besides the Seven and Chiron knew that Tess Hima was a daughter of Khoine, and they all agreed that it was for the best until the gods decided to pick up their act and claim her. She was sixteen, for the gods' sakes!

Hence why the secrecy on Leo's Operation: Get Tess Walking Normally Again. But if this worked, even for a little bit, Tess would have an easier life in Camp Half-Blood, once she practiced enough to do it twelve to fourteen hours a day. Perhaps even longer.

It would hone her skills to the max.

(Six months later)

Tess whooped in delight, freezing water vapor close to the ground as she zipped along in her ice skates, leaving behind a narrow river of ice that went back into water vapor as soon as Tess was gone for five seconds, and leaving behind bewildered campers. A camper was straight in her path, and Tess concentrated, grinning, a ramp going up, up, up, over the half-blood, leaving Tess airborne for a few seconds as she sailing over an excited-slash-scared camper. She landed on ice, yelling, "Sorry!" over her shoulder at the shaking, but smiling, camper. She went around Piper so fast she got herself dizzy, and did the same thing to Piper as well, it seemed, as she staggered backwards, slipped on ice that hadn't quite melted yet, and landed ungracefully on her butt. Tess stopped sheepishly as she helped Piper up. "Sorry, Piper."

"It's okay," Piper said, brushing off her clothes. "I haven't seen you move this fast in weeks," she said mischieviously, her multi-colored eyes sparkling.

Tess frowned at her friend playfully. "Oh, shut up!"

Piper grinned.

"Operation: Get Tess Walking Normally Again is complete!" Leo exclaimed, clapping Tess on the back, grinning a maniac grin.

Tess poked him in the ribs. "And I tweaked that plan majorly, didn't I?"

He frowned at her. "Yeah."

"And besides," she wiggled her skates. "These aren't exactly the normal mode of transportation."

Leo snorted. "Neither is using flying shoes, horse legs, controlling the winds, or goat legs."

"Or pegasus," Piper put in.

"Jeez, Tess, you could've been part rocket the way you were zipping about," Percy said wryly, coming up. "For future reference, I think you should slow it down a little bit."

"Hey, first time I've done it in full daylight. I think I get to be a little joyous," Tess argued. Annabeth shrugged like, 'she's got a point'.

Annabeth grinned at her and presented Tess with a pair of boots, her stormy grey eyes sparkling. "I made these with the help of Leo and Piper and the Hecate cabin. Put them on."

Tess sat down on her patch of ice and tugged her skates off, and put the boots on. She stood up on the icy ground, and felt a little jump. Tess yelped like a kicked puppy, nearly losing her balance, much to the amusement of the others. "What the—" she started. Then she realized that she was on skates. "They turn into skates!"

Annabeth grinned. "Correct. Leo made the runners out of Celestial bronze, Piper and I made the boots—"

"Arguing over which was more Tess-style," Percy muttered. He got gently smacked on the back of the head for his troubles.

"—and we paid the Hecate cabin to charm the runners and boots together, so that the runners would only appear when they're touching your magic ice or ice that isn't just coating a street."

Tess grinned, and glided off of her ice patch, onto solid ground. No runners. She stepped back onto the ice, and felt the little jump. "Thank you, guys," she said softly, studying her new boots/skates. Annabeth hugged her, careful not to slip. "Hey, we're all cousins, right? We're family. We take care of each other. And besides, you did me and the whole Seven a favor by getting Leo out of his bunker every once in awhile."

Leo frowned. "Was I really in there that often?"

"Yes!" everyone chorused.

Leo backed off, holding his hands up. "Okay! Okay!"

Percy looked amused, just as Leo paled. "Can you imagine Percy and Tess on the same team in Capture-the-Flag?"

Two said teenagers looked at each other, both of them smirking. The rest of the Seven paled.

"I say the worst stuff," Leo squeaked.