Dragon's life in college

Ch 28 A Dragonet's Winter Story

We hope you all had a good Peace celebration or Winter Festival (Christmas)

It was wintertime, which meant that snow would soon begin falling, it it hadn't already, and that preparations for season had already well begun. For some households it meant preparing for returning children, home for their winter break before returning to college. And for all it meant preparing for the Winter Festival, or the Peace Celebration as it was now known. Once it had only been referred to as the Winter Festival, celebrated by fire and water dragons during the winter as a holiday full of celebrations, gatherings, parties, and gift giving. Later on, after the end of the Dragon Wars, it had been referred to as the Peace Celebration when the two queens had hosted a huge celebration open to dragons of both races as a sign of peace. Ever since then, it had been tradition for the queens to alternate holding large celebrations as her palace, inviting her fellow queen and many other dragons to celebrate with her. But the history of the celebration was of little importance to young dragons. And to four young dragonets in particular, they could have cared less about the history of the holiday than the holiday itself.

"Gather round." The formal language sounded oddly out of the place in the voice of a young dragonet. Ember stood in the middle of the playroom while his three siblings looked up from the various projects, they were engaged in.

"Gather round," he repeated, "Ember has an idea."

"What kind of idea?" his sister Dragonfly asked, looking up from the jewelry she and Firefly had been designing.

"Ember will tell you," Ember replied. "Comet is done drawing now?" This was directed toward Comet, the only other male in the clutch, who was busy designing some sort of pattern with some small pebbles and seashells their brother's friend had sent him.

"No, but I guess it can wait," he answered, shifting the items aside. "What idea do you have now?"

"Festival is almost here," Ember began, before he was cut off by Firefly.

"Which means Nigel will be here soon," she exclaimed, her tail twitching dramatically.

"Yes, Nigel is almost here," Ember repeated, glaring at her. "Firefly will be quiet now so Ember can finish speaking?"

"I'll try," Firefly said, putting both front claws over her mouth.

"Good." Ember glanced around at his siblings, who all nodded their agreement to keep silent. Ember might be the youngest, but he was the undisputed leader of the dragonets. "Festival is almost here. Nigel is almost here. Mother is busy getting ready. We are going to help Mother get ready for Nigel and Festival."

This announcement was met with cheers and clapping from Dragonfly and Comet, and a rather dramatic answer from Firefly, the little dramatist of the family.

"We go ask Mother now what we can do to help prepare for Nigel and Festival," Ember said, after the sound had died down.

"I can't wait!" Dragonfly exclaimed as the four dragonets scurried out of the room. "The Festival is the best time of the year."

"And Nigel will finally be back," Firefly added. "It's been lonely not having him around all the time."

"Although we'll have to get our other siblings back," Comet said. "I wonder if we could convince them to stay at college and not come back."

"Mother wants all her children back. And Father insists that the others come back as well. I wish they didn't have to come back though," Ember agreed.

"We agree with Ember," Firefly said.

The dragonets' older siblings, Nightroarer, Sunspear, Bloodclaw, Swiftstrike, and Nigel, had all been at college for the fall and were due to return in a week for their winter break. The dragonets were overjoyed at the chance to have their beloved older brother Nigel back but were less than enthusiastic about having their other siblings back. The four oldest children had never bonded with any of their younger siblings, and the lack of affection had been returned by the youngest children who adored their brother Nigel and their mother but had little affection for their father or older siblings. In fact, Ember had considered writing to his older siblings and asking them to stay at college but had decided against it when he remembered that Mother proofread all outgoing letters from the dragonets to correct any spelling mistakes which made the letter's contents unreadable. He was certain that she would not be happy to hear that he didn't want his older siblings to come home, even though she knew they weren't close. Mother always knew those sorts of things, just as she always knew what was best. And how to grant dragonets' requests without causing too much mayhem.