Chapter 17

It had stopped snowing, and now the full moon was out.  Everybody but Cariad and Cante had gone inside so they could warm up while their tempers cooled.  Cariad had collapsed as soon as everybody had gone inside, and slept for the better part of an hour.  She woke up to find herself wrapped in Cante’s cloak on the plateau that served as the top of his fortress.  Cante was next to her, pretending not to be cold.  

“You idiot,” she scolded him, “you know I don’t need your cloak.”  She took it off and placed it back on his shoulders, and was instantly chilled to the bone.

Cante cocked an eyebrow, “apparently you do.  Here, come have an Elixir,” he said as he made room for her inside his cloak and held out a glass.  

She was about to protest, but then she smelled the Hot Coco and gave in “That’s an Elixir,” she inquired as she took a glass, “it smells like Hot Coco?”

“It’s my Elixir,” he responded, “it’s what I gave to Cedril and his friends before letting them fight me.”

“It’s really good,” she said.  They sat there, on top of Cante’s fortress and stared out at the countryside, watching the moonlight dance off of the fresh powder.  Occasionally a wild dragon would fly by, calling to its mate to step outside and enjoy the cold weather.  “It’ must be nice to fly…”

Soon after she said that a pair of obviously courting young dragons flew by, doing an aerial dance, causing Cante to chuckle to himself.  “Want to find out?” he asked as he sent up a small flare.  Instantly, one of the courting dragons came towards them.  

“Whaddya want now Cante?” complained the gray dragon in a distinctly female voice.

“Cariad wants to know what it’s like to fly,” he replied.

The dragon snorted, “well then she should grow a pair of wings.”

“Stardust, sweetie,” Cante replied calmly, “you know we can’t do that.”

“Hmph,” she snorted, then swung her head around to get a better look at Cariad, “so you’re that Cariad person Cante’s fallen in love with,” she said as she gave Cariad a critical once-over, causing Cante to blush.  “Ooo!  I like her!  She half Seren!” and she curled around them both.

“Cante, I didn’t know you were friends with a dragon,” Cariad said, filled with curiosity.

“Nobody does,” the dragon said, “well nobody except you.  Cante found me as a hatchling at the base of the cliff where my parent’s nest cave was.  He took me in and fixed me up, and my dragon’s sense of loyalty has kept me here…and I like it that way.”

“Aww,” Cariad teased, “you do have a big heart!  But how did you survive the fall?”

“That’s a bit of a story,” she replied, “and since I like you, I’ll tell it.”  She settled down, inviting the young male she was with to curl up and listen where he could be seen by Cante and Cariad.  “You see Firefall here, and how he has those gorgeous scales,” she crooned as she said his name, “and notice how I don’t have them.  Well tradition holds that “naked” dragons, as we who don’t have scales are called, are kicked out of the nest as soon as they are out of the egg.  My father was furious that he’d bred a naked dragon, and wanted me thrown off the top of the cliff.  But my mother was more sympathetic since her father had been a naked dragon.  She refused to let father touch me until he promised to only nudge me gently off the cave ledge.  She figured that since that was how her father had survived, that I could survive too.  Well father wasn’t gentle about it, so I fell and broke my legs.”

“I had been out walking like I occasionally do,” Cante took the story from there, “and when I heard a loud cry, a thud, and then whimpering, I went to see what had fallen.  I knew there were dragons nesting in the area, but I had only seen them from a distance.  Anyway, when I got to where the whimpering was coming from I found an overgrown lizard.  Or I thought it an overgrown lizard until she asked me not to eat her.  That’s when I realized she was a dragon hatchling, since lizards don’t talk our language.  I looked up and saw her father’s head hanging over the edge.  I picked her up and started to walk away, but her father really didn’t want her to live.  He flew down and landed in front of me, telling me to put the abomination down or get fried.  Needless to say, I didn’t put her down.  He spat fire at me, but Blaidd had just given me this cloak, so his fire did nothing.  He was confused and I dare say slightly afraid of me since nothing happened.  He left when I cast a fire spell on him, letting him know that I could play with fire too.”
“When my wings came in I took Cante and went to see Mother.  She was glad I had survived and asked if there was any way she could repay his kindness.  I told her that Cante would be leaving for an unknown length of time, and that it would be great if she could help me protect his home.  She said she would.”  Stardust paused, as if in thought, then said, “we owe her a visit.  Maybe we can all go tomorrow?  Firefall, you’ll have to stay outside the cave, but it shouldn’t be a problem to bring you two.”

“That sounds fun,” Cariad admitted, “but won’t there be eggs this time of year?”

“Yeah,” Stardust admitted, “but as long as we time it so that Father won’t be around we should be fine.  She’s always wanted to meet a star.”