Central Plaza

Jun looked towards Jarkoopi, expecting a retaliatory move of some kind. But between that and maintaining her fireworks, she did not expect to be molested by a ninja snowman. The ice creature engulfed her body and buried her face in snow. She fell back and flailed the ice away.

As she spat the ice out, she seemed ready to lunge forward at Jarkoopi. But her father's firm hand fell on her shoulder and he warmly shook his head, non-verbally encouraging her to let it go. Her mother only snorted in amusement.

Jun sighed and looked at Jarkoopi. Then, suddenly, a lightning bolt flashed right next to him. But this wasn't an attack. Inside the crater of melted snow was a package wrapped in fine blue-tinted vellum...

Prprprprprp... boom... pow!

Keph jumped in place clenching at his chest as the loud noises emerging from the distance almost made his heart burst out in a single jump! What the hell was going on, today? No one around him appeared distressed s- wait... where was everyone? Suddenly, in the skies above erupted the beautiful mixture of lights that originally produced those frightening pops, crackles, and explosions! Not only that, but the few people he caught out of the corner of his eyes looked to be going in their direction. Now, only two possibilities rested in Keph's mind: either some wicked witch was using its magical powers to enslave the minds of these city's fair citizens or some kind of social even was occurring! The scent of food soon passed his nostrils... he still wasn't sure which of the two was occurring... yet it mattered not as he couldn't ignore that delicious scent!

It was difficult for Keph to even push himself towards the large banquette due to the sheer amount of people in Keph's way... he barely had space to move! The fact that pretty much everyone was taller than him only made the whole thing all the more difficult! But, his short stature was also a blessing in disguise as it did make it a tad easier to squeeze forward and sometimes his charming looks alone would be enough to cause an older lady or two to giggle and make room! But after much effort he'd finally... yes... food!

Sometimes his mind could be a one note instrument, mainly when he got hungry or anything that even appeared remotely tasty was involved. There was quite a lot happening around him; quite a few noticeable figures littered the central plaza aside from the common folk and he'd occasionally hear or see something of some interest but it was... just too much for his mind, right now! He couldn't pay attention to it all and so, at least for now, Keph dug in focusing on the large array of dishes mainly: the creamy, sweet, and savory soup; stirfried green vegetables; the large almond pastries stuffed with pork; and the surprisingly fluffy white buns! 

It wasn't something shiny.

Instead, it was a notebook. Inside the notebook was a cover page containing a letter in Jun's handwriting:

Dear Jarkoopi, Kepesk Altiui,

You may be a butt, but you're still a friend and you're still one of the collection of dragons I've encountered that hasn't tried to eat me. A while ago you mentioned you wanted to learn earth magic, so I've enclosed detailed instructions on how to create an Earth titan. It takes time to make, but with some practice you could create one twice as tall as you are.

Use it wisely. Don't make me kick your butt later.

Sincerely,

Jun of the Celadine

Indeed, there were several pages devote towards the creation of an earth titan, including the stances and necessary exercises for both human and dragon form.

Meanwhile, Jun spotted Keph in the crowd scarfing down some of her homeland's cuisine. Feeling lazy and not wanting to leave the rooftop, she snapped her fingers. Another lightning bolt appeared right in front of him, and in the middle of the crater of melted snow was a small ornate box...

The rest of the revelers in the plaza would occasionally stumble upon a patch of snow flowers in a random spot in the snow.

He spat out the box lid next to him, just to look inside to find some papers. Damn, no gold or magical items of extreme power which could assist him in his plan of world domination.

A butt? He tried to look at his own rump. Is it that bad? He’d have to look in a portal later.

While he appreciated more magical studying material, he was starting to regret taking after book reading, rather than sleeping away the days, it was quite boring at times. Although he knew what he could give to Jun that was relatively equivalent to her gift.
He could give her The Empyrean Enchiridion of Sudri, which is a modest book bound in leather with copper hinges and fittings. It was given to Jarkoopi by his father, after he stole it from Saamsadea, one dragon he beat during the Darastrixian wars. It probably wasn’t safe to give to Jun, especially if Saamsadea was still alive, or if her children matured. But, it contained great knowledge and documentation of the ancient civilization of Sudri that lived alongside dragons, pre-darastrixian wars. Unknowingly, it’d now become Jun’s problem should Saamsadea appear to reclaim it, and Jarkoopi, Kepesk Altiui had already read through it multiple times, he no longer needed it.
Should Jun spend a full length reading it, there would be further explanation on dragons, their magic, but most of the book was documentation of the ancient religious civilization and its instances, good and bad, with dragons of the realm. The book might have had a bit of historical inaccuracy, as the dragons in this were portrayed as gods and goddesses, demons and angels, and demi-gods of sorts. Or perhaps they actually were Gods and the like back then, and perhaps Jarkoopi is a demi-god? Who knows? However, the dates on this book were nothing that anyone (Jarkoopi included) had ever seen, so it was impossible to tell how old the book was. It reeked of the old paper smell, and it was clear the pages had gone through some wear and tear, and yet, were still mostly intact.
The dragon summoned a small portal, lifting up the book Jun had given him and placing it through the portal. He then felt around through the rift, until his hand came back through holding the Holy book.

I think you’ll like this, should you want to read up on dragons that lived probably even before my grandfather’s time.
Another portal would appear next to Jarkoopi, with the other end opening behind Jun. He stuck his claw holding the book through, and waiting for Jun to accept his gift. He didn’t have any wrapping, a box or a bow this time though.

The cream-puff seller watched the puffs float up into the dragon's mouth, and sighed. He gave the pair four more puffs, muttering about how "Someone ought to do something about those damn lizards".

Roy was so distraught at the fact that Wendy had never tasted a cream puff that he completely missed her little slip-up. How could anyone go so long without trying cream puffs? What sort of life did Wendy lead that didn't involve cream puffs in any way? He couldn't imagine it.

"You've never had one? Really? I can't believe it...didn't they have them, wherever you're from? There used to be a bakery at the village down the hill from my grandmother's house, that made the best cream puffs. They were always hot and crispy and the cream inside was always fresh...they served them with strawberries or baked apples or treacle or powdered sugar...but of course, the white sugar was always so expensive, so we didn't get that very often. Roxanne would get them for me sometimes, but she never let me get the treacle ones, only the ones with fruit on them...anyways, you should try them! They look good. I've never had a peppermint one before. Go on, try one!"

He held out a cream puff to Wendy the Witch, beaming.

Roy beamed, pleased that Wendy seemed to love the cream puffs. He'd always been fond of them after all, and was glad to see that Wendy shared his taste in pastries. Was that a tear of joy running down her face? It had to be. How could anyone spend their entire childhood without ever so much as seeing a cream puff?

"I'm glad you like it, Wendy! I think that one was just ordinary cream, do you want to try a peppermint one? Here, try- oh, I think they're starting!"

He turned away from the distressed witch, watching as Naoki made her speech and lit the bonfire. Once that nonsense was all done with, he turned back to Wendy.

"So, what do you want to do? Should we look at the trees? Get some hot chocolate? Watch the snow-building contest? I really ought to look for a gift for Roxanne, too...maybe I'll get her a box of peppermint sticks. She likes lollipops and other hard candies like that...oh, where's Ollie gone?"

He looked around, and saw the golden retriever in the middle of a crowd of children, running around and trying to catch snowballs with little success. Roy chuckled.

"Poor Ollie's going to get a frozen mouth like that...we should probably rescue him."

Jun was floored. She had not been expecting Jarkoopi to give her such a precious tome! She, of course, relished the chance to learn more about dragons, especially since the works found in Isra's libraries were so biased in favor of humans. She carefully took the book.

Jarkoopi, Kepesk Altiui would receive a telepathic communication in his head. Thank you so much! I wasn't expecting-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar friend approaching from the skies.

When Lum'Valia arrived, Ying-Na whispered very conspicuously to Raynor, "That's the kind of hair I want when I'm an old lady." She was, of course, looking at Lum'Valia.

Jun looked over at her and sneered. "You're already an old lady."

Three seconds later Jun's face was covered in snow. In addition to being an expert archer, Ying-Na had a pretty good throwing arm. Raynor cracked a grinned and bowed gracefully to Lum'Valia. "It's an honor. Sweetheart? Did you remember your gift for her?"

Jun's jaw dropped, allowing some snow to land on her lower teeth. She reflexively shut her mouth and brushed the snow out of her face. "Right." She snapped her fingers. A bolt of lightning struck close by, and in the middle of the melted snow crater she had made, was a book, which she picked up gently and trotted in front of Lum'Valia. "Here Master Lummie."

It was a cookbook. "I collected a bunch of recipes from all the different clans for you to try. I know you're the best cook when it comes to warm and heavier dishes. These are, well they're a little different, but I think you'll like them. But I mean, you're a dragon. You can digest anything, so..."

The recipes included: Hot and sour shrimp soup, green papaya salad, curry chicken, fruit pancakes, a cold seafood dish in which the seafood is "cooked" with citrus juices, and an odd drink sort of drinkable fruit salad, among a dozen other things.

As for young Keph , when he opened the box, he'd find that the box was itself the present. Inside the box was a jewel-like butterfly, mounted on a little golden stick which slid along a groove, shaped like a figure 8. The effect was that the butterfly skated along the surface of the box.

But more importantly, the box played music.

Taped to the inside was a little note:

Dear Keph,

No one should spend more than a fraction of a lifetime wandering the world without having heard a musical instrument before. Happy Yuletide.

-Jun of the Celadine.

Unlike her abysmal drawing she made back in the enclave, the penmanship on the note was actually pretty legible.

Rideyr Fletcher


The animal sniffed at the extended hand a bit before resuming to bark at him. It didn't seem to show any interest in the food but continued being a noisy nuisance, hopping around to no end. What exactly did it want?

"Do you think so? Well, I suppose so. The kids are usually pretty nice to Ollie, I guess...anyways, he knows his way home. He'll be fine..."

Roy glanced back at the playful dog jumping up and down trying to catch the snowballs before allowing Wendy to drag him towards the snow sculptures. One contestant was carving a horse out of a mound of snow, somehow creating rippling muscles and a flowing mane with nothing but a pointed stick and a tool that looked suspiciously like a soup spoon. A second contestant was crafting a stunning likeness of Empress Naoki herself, although it seemed that he'd taken quite a bit of creative license around the bosom and hips. A third contestant was building a crescent moon. It was rather simplistic when compared to the others, but he seemed quite pleased with his work, and stepped back every few moments to squint at it from afar before leaning in and polishing the tiniest little detail of the curve on the frosty moon. Roy watched, awestruck, before turning to look back at Wendy the Witch.

"Did you ever build snow castles as a kid, Wendy? My cousins and I always would, every winter. Robert was the best, he'd take hours and build the fanciest snow castles with high walls and parapets. Roxanne would always build these small little shelters, round huts out of blocks of snow...they were awfully warm, though. I would build little houses underneath trees, so they'd stay out of the sun and last longer."