Gadalik awoke comfortably in the den for the first time since winter’s start. He realized that was because it had finally warmed up from the sun’s sudden appearance. The young green dragon stood to wake his adoptive mother Glacia so she could enjoy the beginnings of spring with him, but the only thing in the den besides himself was a small pile of prey from the previous day; the light blue water dragoness wasn't there.
Normally he'd panic at the thought of losing her, but her disappearance had become expected over the past week as she grew more impatient for her lake to thaw; the snow melted and receded more every day, so the weather was starting to dry her out again. Glacia didn't want him accompanying her across the plains to check on the lake so frequently due to the risk of him being targeted by the returning migratory wind dragons, but she also didn't want him awake without her, so she had opted to go in the mornings while he slept, and he trusted she'd return.
New grass and flowers had been growing all around, and just like in the seer-hybrid's vision a few weeks ago, Guinevere had agreed to meet with them, officially introducing herself to Glacia. The two hadn't seemed to understand each other, but they managed to get along since the fairy dragoness had rescued Gadalik after he'd nearly died in the snow–something his adoptive mother had also done last year, before he had hatched.
The juvenile stepped outside of the den, bringing his muzzle to the earth and determining from how fresh the scent trail was that Glacia had only just left, so he'd be alone for a while yet. He sat down and considered his options. When the shadow of a wind dragon passed overhead, he tensed and couldn't tear his gaze away from it, both out of fear, and admiration for the flight that he would never be capable of despite his wings. He shook his head and retreated to the den.
No sooner than he had gone in did he hear someone approach. Glacia couldn't be back yet… Did the wind dragon see me…?
“Gadalik,” a stoic female’s voice called him.
He instantly recognized it, poking his head out to greet her. “Guinevere! I wasn't expecting you!” Then he frowned, remembering Glacia’s words about how elusive fairy dragons were unless they had sensed a life dying. “Is everything okay…?”
“Yes. Your mother asked me to check on you if I didn't sense her return at this hour,” the furred pale blue dragoness informed him simply, one of her golden antennae angling toward the lake in the plains outside of the forest they were in to imply where Glacia was. Her ears suddenly perked up as another wind dragon crossed the sky overhead, and despite her body remaining as still as it was when calm, her four iridescent insect-like wings glowed an unusual purple color around their yellow inner markings.
Gadalik had spent enough time around Guinevere to pick up on what the reactive colors of her wings signified: purple was fear. Fairy dragons tended to stay hidden unless they sensed a dying life in their territory, after which they'd either come out to help, or to scavenge, depending on what was dying.
She must feel so vulnerable out in the open like this… “Do you want to come inside?” he offered, backing out of the entrance so his bulky body wasn't blocking it. The purple glow of her wings slowly faded to their usual, neutral pink as she accepted his invitation. Curiosity got the better of him. “Can you still sense my mom even though she's not in the forest with you?”
“Yes,” she replied, tucking her white-tipped paws under her pale pink belly and wrapping her long, tufted tail around herself. Guinevere stood taller than Gadalik, but shorter than Glacia, even when the latter was on all fours, despite being a year older than the water dragoness. Seeing her lay in that position with her wings flattening on either side of her spotted back made her seem even smaller. “Although, normally, I wouldn't extend my abilities that far, as it's taxing on me,” she continued.
Gadalik acknowledged her with an impressed hum. “I understand. Thank you for watching over us.”
Once again her body language barely changed, but the glow of her wings shifted briefly, this time to orange. Gadalik understood that to mean she felt bashful or embarrassed. He smiled slightly. “Do you have any plans to celebrate your emergence day?” Guinevere changed the subject, turning to look at him with her light yellow eyes.
He blinked. “Emergence? Like, the day I hatched?” Her wings dimmed to a mix of purple and pink as she nodded. “But…you only hatch once. Why celebrate it afterward?”
They turned fully purple for a moment, then transitioned to green as her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Finally, they returned to pink. “Forgive me. I was unaware Glacia hadn't told you about it. It's typical for families with young dragons to use their emergence day as a way to celebrate how much they've grown from year to year. I assumed your first year since hatching is nigh. Am I wrong?”
“I don't know,” he said honestly. “I never asked when I hatched, and Glacia never brought it up.”
“I see,” she murmured, dropping the subject.
“How do we celebrate?” he inquired, hoping it wasn’t too late to keep the topic going.
“The celebration focuses on three key aspects of growth: height, abilities, and goals. The way they're celebrated is highly personalized, though, and different dragon types have their own basis for each.”
“That sounds fun. When is yours? Maybe…I could join you for it this year?”
She laughed–a soft, genuine sound that only lasted a heartbeat. “Not every dragon type celebrates. More solitary types like fairy dragons and revealers have nobody to celebrate with, so they don't. Besides, celebrations usually cease after six years, when most types are considered adults. I have been alive for a decade thus far.”
“Oh,” he uttered, not sure how to feel about that. Part of him pitied those who lived alone, but only because he couldn't imagine himself being without Glacia. Then he hesitated. “Are water dragons a solitary type…?” He had never seen his adoptive mother with any of her own kind.
“No, they typically stay with their families, leaving only to start their own families in or near the same territory,” Guinevere explained. “Earth dragons and seers are both similar to water dragons in that regard.”
His heart sank. Why was Glacia alone, then…? And my biological parents were far away from their own kind, too… I know Vilodia fled from her killer, but what about Trent? He remembered the scene he'd been shown of his earth dragon father mentioning he'd left his home in the eastern mountains to live in this forest.
Guinevere’s wings flashed a surprised yellow, then green, before lingering on a sorrowful blue. “I apologize,” she murmured, looking away almost guiltily. “I had no intent to distress you.”
“Huh?” he came to, then remembered that her antennae picked up on his emotional state just as easily as her wing’s color showed him hers. “N-No, it's okay! I'm glad you told me.”
“I'm back,” Glacia announced, her uncharacteristically cheerful tone breaking through their melancholia. “Gadalik, we'll take a trip to the lake this evening. If you want to stay in the cenote again, you're welcome to, but–”
“--I think it's safer in the forest with Guinevere,” Gadalik finished her sentence the same time she did. They both laughed, and Guinevere watched them, stoic as ever despite her wings turning orange for a moment.
“Okay. It'll be just like old times, then,” his adoptive mother decided. “We'll stay in the forest, but I'll still need to recover in the water every so often.”
“Have you considered storing water in the forest?” the fairy dragon suggested calmly. “Perhaps Gadalik could dig a hole near the den, and you can fill it up with the water from your lake to recover without needing to travel.”
Stolen story; please report.
Gadalik sat up straighter at the opportunity to dig, pawing at the ground with a dumb smile just thinking about it.
But Glacia frowned, eyeing the other dragoness as if trying to get a read on her intentions despite her wings fading to purple from the glower. “As if staying in the forest for as long as I physically can isn't a sacrifice enough, you're telling me I should give up my home, too? For a puddle?”
Guinevere visibly tensed. “No. All I'm saying is–”
“Look, I'm happy you're here for Gadalik, but you don't know anything about our life together here. So maybe you should leave the decisions about it to us.”
The fairy dragon fell silent, narrowing her eyes at Glacia while her wings alternated between red and purple.
Red? That's new… Gadalik thought. He stepped between them. “Calm down… Guinevere didn't mean it that way.”
Glacia retreated a step from her son as if he'd betrayed her. “Are you saying you want me to stay here in a puddle, too…?’
“W-What? N-N-No! It was just an option... Nobody's telling you to do anything.”
“But is that what you want…?” she pressed him, her voice growing softer.
Gadalik quailed, seeing she was seriously willing to go to that extreme just to stay with him should he say ‘yes.’ He shook his head firmly. “No... Of course not. I would never ask you to give up your home. Besides, the lake is part of my home, too.”
The water dragon let out a relieved sigh.
“...I'm sorry. I shall be more careful with my suggestions in the future,” Guinevere spoke.
The light blue dragoness blinked and focused her red eyes on the fairy type, almost as if forgetting she was there. “What? Oh… Whatever. Do what you want,” she said dismissively.
Gadalik felt offended on his friend’s behalf, but before he could say anything, the latter simply stood and walked steadily out of the den, the glow of her translucent wings remaining a deep blue even when they became obscured within their motion blur as she flew off.
Glacia was confused by her reaction, taking a step after her and opening her mouth as if to call her back, but it was too late. She sat and glared at the ground, but Gadalik could tell her frustration stemmed from remorse.
“Um… Glacia?” he finally spoke, if only to change the subject.
“Yeah?” she answered, relieved by the distraction, but also interested in whatever he had to tell her.
“What day did I hatch?”
She froze, and her eyes darted as if looking for a way to escape this conversation. “Uh… You'll find out,” she dodged the question.
“I will? How?”
“You'll see,” she repeated, then waved one of the wide purple-and-teal fins on her back to signal the end of that conversation. Then her eyes shone and the flat of her tail fin slapped the ground excitedly before she took a breath to calm herself. “Now then…come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“To find a spot for that puddle.”
“Huh? But I thought you didn't want to move here–”
“Who said I'm moving here? A puddle isn't ideal to live in, but…it's not a bad idea to have an emergency spot to recover in if I ever can't make it to the lake.”
Gadalik hummed his agreement, deciding not to question it. The two looked for ground with enough spacing for her. A spot just west of their den seemed to fit, and coincidentally, Gadalik could see the tall trees Guinevere resided in from this location. Glacia seemed to notice that, too, but didn't mention it.
“Will this work?” he asked. She nodded, so he took into account the size of her body and began drawing a line at least three times bigger than it. Then he used his natural strength and large paws to easily start digging, tearing out the thick roots and undergrowth. It became tiresome after a while, but he was having too much fun to care.
His mother snuck a glance toward Guinevere's home. “I'm going to get us food from our den, okay? I'll be right back.”
Gadalik may have gotten carried away; when she returned and called his name, it sounded distant. He looked toward her, his heart skipping a beat upon seeing she was over fifteen feet above him on solid ground.
“What happened?!” she shouted just to be heard. “Did it collapse under you?!”
He felt heated with embarrassment. “N-No… I just…kept digging,” he admitted with an awkward laugh.
“Can you get out?” she fretted.
“Uh…”
She shook her head, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Stay here. I'll get Guinevere to fly you out, alright?”
He nodded, watching her toss prey down to him before her footsteps faded. With nothing else to do, he finished smoothing out the dirt on the bottom, then looked back up, this time at the sky. It had been a few hours, and the sighting of wind dragons became less frequent.
Gadalik grew impatient and propped his front paws on the side of the hole. To his surprise, his textured, dark red paw-pads easily gained purchase on the coarse dirt, nearly sticking to it. He tried one hind paw next, balancing on just one, then began to pull himself up, tentatively at first out of fear of falling, but then more confidently, and eventually instinct drove him; he hauled himself over the ledge without even realizing he'd made it to the top. The winged earth dragon glanced down into the depths he had both made and escaped, feeling proud of himself. Then he turned around and jolted upon discovering that both dragonesses had arrived just in time to witness his feat.
While Guinevere didn't emote much in general, she very clearly seemed impressed. Glacia rushed over to pick the green dragon up under his shoulders, swinging him around and gushing about how amazing he was while he laughed.
The winged dragoness helped gather materials which she used to fortify the inside, then the finned one began filling it with the water she had stored in her body. When she ran out, she left for the plains to get more from her lake home there.
“Are you two okay?” Gadalik asked now that it was just him and Guinevere again.
She nodded with a small smile as if to reassure him. “Are you? You have worked hard. Get some rest; Glacia and I can take over from here.”
The young hybrid reluctantly agreed and settled under a tree so that he could watch them without being in the way.
He must have dozed off; the next thing he knew, Gadalik awoke to see it had been completely filled, save for a few feet from the top so the water level wouldn't overflow whenever Glacia went in. He carved a step into the ledge so she could easily get out, too. With that, it was done, the three of them admired their handiwork.
“Ah,” Glacia suddenly exclaimed. “It's evening already?!”
Gadalik was startled. “Y-Yeah. Why?”
“Come on, we need to get to the lake,” she replied vaguely.
He felt a bit hurt. “What about this one…? Don't you like it?”
She immediately stopped and covered her mouth. “Of course I like it! It's wonderful! But this isn't about me.”
“...What?” He looked to Guinevere for an explanation, and her head was tilted, seeming just as confused as he was.
“You'll see when we get there,” Glacia assured him, and for some reason that phrase sounded familiar, but he couldn't think of where he'd heard her say it.
They crossed the plains under the reddened evening sky. He noticed right away as he approached that the lake looked different; there were a lot of flowers haphazardly planted in a trail around the shoreline, leading them to the southern side of the lake. Some were wilting from what he had guessed were days spent without proper nutrients; others had never been rooted in the sand to begin with. He glanced back to notice the hue of the fairy dragoness’s wings was changing rapidly between red, purple, and blue as she visibly restrained herself from trying to replant them, out of respect for Glacia’s efforts.
Gadalik felt bad for her but couldn't suppress a slight puff of laughter. The flower trail ended by going into the lake toward one of the limestone pillars Glacia sunbathed on.
The water itself was still icy, but he could tell she had tried to break apart the surface enough to swim in. His adoptive mother looked at him expectantly, and he dipped a paw into water, but instantly drew back from how cold it was. That's when she noticed that neither Guinevere–who had managed to successfully root one of the flowers in the grass of plains before the sand–or Gadalik seemed too impressed by what she’d done, and the finned dragoness sat down in defeat.
“What's this all for?” he prompted gently.
“The flowers were meant to lead us to that crevice in the pillar,” she said. “To get there, you would need to show off the swimming ability you worked so hard to master…”
“What's important about the crevice…?”
“It's to show you how tall you've gotten…”
He didn't understand what his height had to do with a little crevice. Then his conversation with the fairy dragon from earlier that day hit him at full force. “Wait… You mean this is the celebration of my emergence? It was today?”
She nodded, still disappointed in herself. “You were so tiny, your egg had been in that crevice when you hatched.” She sighed. "I kind of figured this wouldn't work..."
Gadalik felt overwhelmed with emotion; both from how much heart she had put into it, as well as for how guilty he felt for not appreciating it.
“So I thought back to what Guinevere said about you digging, and that's also a skill you have. And getting out of the hole shows your height, too, doesn't it?" Her voice broke. "I'm sorry... I never celebrated an emergence day before...nor has mine ever been celebrated. I--I don't know what I'm doing..."
Guinevere's antennae moved slightly and she looked their way, clearly sensing how they felt. She abandoned the flowers to comfort the two. "You did wonderfully, Glacia."
"Really...?"
Her son wiped his watered eyes with his forepaw before smiling. “Of course,” he answered, parroting the phrase she commonly used. "It's beautiful…! I really, really, love it.”
She sniffled and hugged him. “Happy emergence day.”
“Wasn't there a third theme?” he asked after finally pulling away.
“Yes: a goal. That part’s on you, big guy. Is there something you'd want to do before this day, next year?”
He hadn't given it any thought. Then he remembered when Guinevere had flown down with him from her hollow after a blizzard, and how Glacia had to initially rely on her flight to free him from the hole earlier. Then his striped blue eyes looked toward the hills, where a handful of wind dragons now roosted. “I… I want to learn how to fly,” he decided.