There was not even a mummer of approval from amongst the vendors or the parents. . .who wanted control virtually all of the time.
And so the Wonderlanders came to a fateful decision. . . .
They would skate as much in public as was expected. . .and lull the parents and vendors into a state of false complacency. . .while the time was spent perfecting their plans for a permanent escape, as it was now a decade since this had all begun, and every one of them in the group should have long since started their own life and family.
They found places to skate that were several times more remote than their most secret places to date. They made arrangements with some people near there for food and housing. . .people so far from their homes that they only knew of them by name. . .and they never, never used their real names.
Their lessons of privacy were learned well. . .and over a period of 10 years. . .yet they practiced the art of privacy even more. . .to spread out their sources of supplies, and the times when they would need them, and how many were being supplied. They masqueraded as a band of wandering gypsies, working hard in the fields in summer and making sure they looked nothing like the pales ice-creatures all of the world knew them as. They pretended to be part of a much larger band of gypsies, who lived even more in secret, then they would buy only from those who would not reveal them, and would only pay extra for the secrecy when they came back for supplies the next time.
Finally. . .the time was right. . . .
At the end of one year's run of Winter Carnivals and Festivals they announced they would give their own event, and invited everyone.
The vendors were invited both to watch AND to profit, and they even hired other outside vendors to work for them so they would watch in even more detail.
And then. . .they gave the performances of their lives. . . .
They made sure EVERYONE was there, and the skated their hearts out.