Mabel buried her face in her scarf as she breathed into it, trying to restore some of the heat to her body. Hopefully, she'd get warmer once she got her skates on and started moving; but, for now, she was freezing.

She peeked over her scarf at Ford. Her uncle stood on a dock on the frozen lake, hands on his hips, looking for all the world like an adventurer exploring the terrain. The low morning sun shone in front of him and silhouetted him in its pale golden rays. He looked majestic from here, Mabel had to admit. It reminded her of the man he once was — the man who wrote the Journal. She longed to meet that man. She would tell him about his Journal and ask him question about the magical things inside its pages. But the awe-inspiring explorer that was once her uncle was now gone, and no stock photo silhouettes were going to change that.

Right?

"Mabel, Mabel, look! Look how big it is! A whole lake, just frozen over!" Dipper ran past his sister and to the lake shore, puffs of snow flying out behind his heels as he went. With all that hyperactivity, Mabel could bet he wasn't cold.

Mabel heard the approaching sound of laughter and looked over her shoulder to see Melody with ice skates slung over her shoulders. "Your brother really is a happy guy, isn't he?" she asked as she and Mabel headed towards the lake.

"Yeah," Mabel said. She wanted to say more, but nothing came to mind; so she awkwardly fell into silence, watching her feet in the snow.

Melody didn't seem to feel awkward herself. "Are you happy to be out here and spend some time with all of us?"

Was Mabel acting sulky? She didn't think she was. She'd gotten a bit more sleep, and she felt fine. "Yeah, I'm happy. I just don't show it as much as Dipper, is all."

Melody looked surprised, and Mabel sighed inwardly. The woman hadn't been implying that Mabel wasn't as happy as Dipper at all. Mabel was just jumping to conclusions, per usual. "So, um, got enough ice skates?" Mabel asked, recognizing her mistake but not wanting to own up to it.

If Melody could tell what was going on in the girl's head, she didn't show it. She smiled. "Yep. These smaller ones will hopefully fit you and Dipper; if they don't, I think we can make do."

"They look all right to me," Mabel said. "Can we try them on?"

"Sure thing."

They had just about reached Dipper. He hopped back and forth on his feet, his scarf fluttering around him as he moved. Melody handed him a pair of skates, and he sat on the dock to put them on; as he did, he talked about how cool the lake looked, and how he wondered if there were some parts that wouldn't hold him, and wouldn't the lake water be freezing? Mabel tuned her brother out, looking back at her uncle. She hoped they could actually have fun with Ford, and that he wouldn't spend all day being a grump. She also hoped she could have a good time with him without telling him about the Journal — or without feeling guilty about not telling him about the Journal — or, at the very least, without acting weird around him.

She sighed as she laced up her skates. Today probably wasn't going to amount to much.

"Something wrong, Mabes?"

Oops, she set off Melody's radar. "No," she tried, but she probably didn't sound very convincing.

Melody nodded with a knowing look and sat down next to Mabel, tugging her boots off and putting her ice skates on. "It's your uncle, isn't it?"

Mabel looked up, surprised at her accuracy. "How'd you know?"

Melody shrugged. "It isn't hard to figure out. I can see that adventurous look in your eyes. You have a curiosity about the world, don't you? And Ford is supposedly this scientist that researches the supernatural, so you were excited to meet a kindred spirit. Right?"

Mabel blinked. "Y-yeah," she said. "I mean, nobody ever believed my theories back home, except maybe Dipper, and I thought. . ." She trailed off.

"You thought you'd be able to connect easily with Ford," Melody finished.

Mabel nodded.

Melody let a few beats of silence pass as she laced up her skates. "Can I tell you a story?"

Mabel glanced up at her. "Sure."

"Once upon a time, I was a little girl," Melody started. Mabel realized at that moment that she had no idea how old Melody was. Early thirties, maybe? She seemed so young; but if she was, she was wise beyond her years. "Way back in the eighties," she added. Probably mid-thirties, then.

"I've lived in this town all my life, you know. I don't know about Ford, but he's certainly been here as long as I have. Well, he used to keep to himself, back before he turned his property into the Mystery Museum; but there were plenty of rumors about him. We kids would sneak up to his property to see the flashing lights at night or hear the strange noises. Some kids thought he was a poacher or zookeeper — we'd hear some weird things. Our parents told us to leave well enough alone, but that never works with kids. Sometimes, if we were really lucky, we would see him leaving on a monster hunt."

"A monster hunt?" Mabel asked, partly to show she was listening and partly because, well, she was listening.

"Yep. We didn't know for certain, but we'd all seen glimpses of the supernatural around the forest. Our parents never believed us; they thought we were just being kids. I suppose we were; because the older we got, the more my friends seemed to forget about the supernatural; until one day we were adults, and I seemed to be the only one who knew about the strangeness of the town." She paused a bit, lost in thought, but then continued. "Well, like I said, sometimes we would see Ford leaving to go on a monster hunt. Once, I was really lucky, and I saw him come back. He had this big sack, and something inside was fighting to get out. I didn't see what it was, and I didn't see who the other guys with him were, but I could see Ford. And you know what he looked like?"

"What?"

Melody pushed Mabel's shoulder gently. "He looked like you," she said, "when you get all excited about something. It's the same look in your eyes as he had."

Mabel paused to think about that. "So. . . what changed?"

Melody shrugged. "Nobody knows. One day, before the early eighties turned mid-eighties, he stopped coming out at all. The townsfolk weren't concerned, because they knew he minded his own business, but we kids knew. The flashing lights stopped; the noises stopped; the monster hunts stopped. At first we just chalked it up to bad luck — we thought we weren't waiting and watching at the right times — but one day we all realized he hadn't done any of those things for months. He'd come out to buy groceries, and maybe he'd give you a nod if you were lucky. But otherwise, he was quiet. We all lost interest, because we were growing up, and there was nothing to watch. It wasn't until I came back from college that I saw he'd opened the Mystery Museum." Melody sighed. "I haven't seen that gleam in his eyes since I was a kid. He still does some research — I'm sure he's showed you some of it — but he mostly stays here. He makes attractions for the Museum — first all of them real, then some of them fake, then most of them fake — and he keeps to himself."

Mabel sat quietly for a moment. "What do you think happened that day?" she asked. "The day he stopped going on adventures?"

"I don't know," Melody said. "Whatever it was, it made him lose his passion, and fast. It must have been awful. I've been trying to work up the courage to ask him about it for years; but whenever I drop hints about it, he clams up, sometimes gets angry with me. So I figured it might not be worth it."

Mabel wondered if she should ask. Probably not. Even if she could establish a deep conversation with Grunkle Ford (which she doubted), it would probably lead to mention of the Journals; and she didn't want to think about that today.

"Well, anyway," Melody said. "Your Grunkle really is like you. He's hiding it, but he is. Maybe we can find out why someday; but for now, let's focus on making this a fun day, all right? Maybe Ford will thank us for it."

Mabel smiled, and found it was easier than she'd expected. "All right."

Melody looked down at their feet and the skates that encased them. "Ever ice skated before?"

"If spending most of the time on my butt counts, yeah," Mabel admitted.

"All right, then, I'll help you." Melody stood and reached out her hand, standing effortlessly on the two metal blades between her feet and the ice. Mabel could bet that it was harder than it appeared. She lifted her head to take Melody's outstretched hand; in her periphery, she saw an impatient Dipper, standing shakily on the ice a few feet away. He looked like he wanted Melody and Mabel to finish talking so that they could all skate together.

Mabel took Melody's hand and tried to stand up. The blades beneath her shot opposite directions as she put her weight on them; if not for Melody's strong hand, she would've landed on the ice in a tangled heap.

"You've got it," Melody said encouragingly.

Dipper wasn't so encouraging: He started laughing. "Mabel, you look—!" But he didn't get to finish, because at that moment, his feet slipped out from underneath him. He fell on his butt onto the ice.

Mabel laughed at the shocked look on her twin's face. Maybe this day could be fun. She straightened her legs and decided she was ready to learn how to ice skate.

Ten or twenty minutes later, she wasn't sure if she was doing so well. She could tell that she wasn't very coordinated. She wasn't falling as much anymore, but she was still taking it slowly. Melody stayed near her, chatting absently about everything and nothing. Mabel appreciated the company, and she liked listening to the sound of Melody's voice, even if she wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying.

Ford had deigned to put on his ice skates and was slowly traversing the lake on his own. Dipper had joined him for a while, skating circles around him and talking (he'd picked up this whole skating thing quickly, though Mabel supposed that's how he did everything) until he realized that Ford wasn't going to go any faster. Now Dipper was skating around on his own, laughing when he fell.

Mabel's feet slid beneath her, and she hurriedly regained her balance, holding her arms out and stepping up and down onto the ice like Melody had taught her. "You're getting the hang of it!" Melody called.

It didn't feel like she was, but okay.

"Melody!"

Dipper's shout rang across the lake and bounced off the surrounding cliff face, echoing around them. Mabel rolled her eyes, but Melody looked over. Dipper looked a little panicked from here, but that was probably just because of the distance. "I'd better go see what he wants," Melody said. "You'll be okay?"

"Yeah," Mabel said, smiling to show that she meant it. "Go see what he's gotten himself into now."

Melody smiled back before skating off towards Dipper. Mabel watched her go, suddenly feeling more balanced. Maybe now that she had more space, it was easier to stay on her feet. Not that Melody hadn't been helpful.

"Mabel?"

Mabel turned around too fast and started to fall. A strong hand grabbed hers, pulling her back up. She looked up to see Ford as he helped her to her feet.

"Oh, h-hey, Grunkle Ford," she stammered, regaining her balance. "Thanks."

"Of course," said Ford. "Since Melody and Dipper are busy. . ." Mabel glanced over her shoulder to see Melody and Dipper crouched on the ice, looking at something and talking to each other. "Would you want to skate with me?"

Mabel blinked. "O-oh, sure!"

Ford turned around so that he was next to Mabel and started off, skating slowly. Mabel followed, finding it easy to keep up with him. She searched for something to say but couldn't think of anything. Finally, she said, "S-so, um, find anything exciting lately?"

Ford looked mildly amused at the question. "Not really. I'm looking at those mushrooms, if you remember; and I'm studying the fascinating occurrence of glowing dirt in certain parts of the forest."

Mabel didn't know that Ford had a sense of sarcasm. Unless he wasn't being sarcastic? She couldn't tell. "Oh," she said. "Do you know why it glows?"

Ford shook his head. "Not yet. What's strange is the placement of the dirt. You remember the fairies, I'm sure."

Mabel thought back to their first adventure here in Gravity Rises. Oh, she remembered the fairies, all right. She could easily remember the sensation of their teeth in her arms. She nodded.

"Well," Ford said, "I thought the glowing dirt was residue from fairy activities in the area, since it's in patches all over the forest (and you can practically find fairies flying around anywhere); but I did some tests, and they don't seem to be correlated."

"You went out into the forest to look for fairies and glowing dirt?" Mabel asked.

Ford chuckled. "No, I have cameras hidden throughout the forest."

Mabel nearly fell down again. He what?

"I rarely ever use them, though, since they're outdated, and I usually get all the information I need from samples."

Phew!

"So, if it isn't fairies, do you know what it is?"

"Not yet. I think I'll find out soon, though."

Mabel bit her tongue (softly) to stop herself from voicing the question she really wanted to ask: Why are you researching dirt when there's so much out there to explore?

"So, is your winter break good so far? It's not too cold for you, is it?"

Mabel thought that was an attempt at humor, but it could've been a question of concern. Ford's general emotionlessness got really frustrating sometimes. "No, it's okay," she said. "And yeah, it's good."

As she said it, she realized she didn't know why it was good. After all, the highlights of her trip so far had involved getting attacked by fairies; getting attacked some more by a psychotic showgirl; and getting cloned, after which said clones attacked multiple people she knew. And she certainly didn't enjoy all the attacking, so what made her trip enjoyable?

Maybe it was just the adventure of it all.

"That's good," Ford replied. Mabel could feel a rift growing between them. There had been nothing wrong when they had been talking about paranormal discoveries. Maybe because that excited both of them. But they now had nothing to say, and it was awkward.

Mabel was accustomed to this feeling. Usually, when this happened, she faded into the background until she could leave or at least go unnoticed. In this case, though, there was no crowd and no background to fade into; and even if there were, she'd probably fall trying to do that with these skates.

Thankfully, Ford continued the conversation. "You go on ghost hunts, yes? What's the coolest one you ever went on?"

Yes! This was something Mabel could talk about. Grunkle Ford was about to discover that Dipper wasn't the only one who could talk his head off. "Well," she began, "there was this one time we were at this haunted high school theater. Almost all theaters are haunted, you know. I mean, theaters for musicals and concerts and stuff, not movie theaters. Although some movie theaters are haunted. Anyway, I volunteered to clean up afterwards so I could observe some of the ghosts, but I never expected them to give me such a big sign! I was looking for programs under chairs when suddenly all the chairs started going up and down at once. All of them, in the entire theater! It was really loud, because they were old and wooden and rickety, but. . ."

Mabel kept talking, telling her story and skating with her uncle. And the funny thing was?

Ford actually seemed to be listening.