It lands, alright. It sprays a spectacular shower of snow down Dain's front, and it makes him laugh, and scoop up some more snow from the ground.

This is not how he expected his day to go, either -- but it's a very, very welcome bit of joy.

The children, emboldened by all these recent successes, very quickly turn on Dain and each other, in the time-honoured tradition of every man for himself. It's not long before they're moving off, pushing each other into snow drifts, happily seeking some other bit of fun elsewhere, and Dain is left with snow all over his shoulders and hair, freezing cold and beaming warmth.

"Thank you," he says breathlessly. "I needed that. I hope we didn't take too much of your time?"