Nuisance

'Twas the night before December, and all through the lair
All the dragons were sleeping, with nary a care.
Yet a chill rode the wind as it blew through the night
with a thick cloud of snow to greet dawning sun's light...


In the early hours of the morning, a new scent rose on the air and played through the snuffling air currents caused by snoring dragons of various sizes. Most of them were too deeply asleep to notice the change, but the lair's resident tundras knew it was coming; they knew and anticipated it with glee. Finally, they could fluff out and show off their rich winter coats and enjoy themselves in weather not too warm for their kind. The youngest were particularly jubilant.

"Can you feel it Marley? That smell in the air? I mean it smells so fresh and so..." A pale blue dragoness inhaled deeply, "So fluffy! And so white! And so.. so.."

"So everything not like Autumn?" A purple maned drake commented with a raised eyebrow. "I don't see what the big deal is, Iari. Your parents don't even seem that excited about it all." The younger drake rolled his eyes.

"Oh pawpaw," the tundress sang as she pronked over towards the clan's shaman. "It's snowy and I wanna build a snowdrake! Can I?" She landed on the older dragon with a WHFF of deflating fur.

"Ungh. What is it daughter? Can't you see I'm busy checking my supplies? It will be hard enough hunting in the winter, but foraging for us is even more difficult." Baku turned away from his medicinal supplies to find himself face-to-face with a pair of enormous green eyes framed with blue. A slight pouty lip trembled with desire for a "yes" answer. The older dragon sighed. "Oh, go bother your mother, why don't you. She'll probably want to take the little one out."

Iari deflated a little; she wasn't all that interested in being around her mother ever since the clan's latest arrival had hatched. The little fellow hadn't even been named yet and already everyone was cooing over the black and green hatchling. If nothing else, the little guy was much better at the puppy-dog-eyes than Iari, and she was very jealous. "Fine."

Iari picked her way through the mass of sleeping dragons to the room where her mother and half-sibling were sleeping. She poked her head in to find Morticia absolutely frantically searching through her thick crystaline fur. "Whereishe?" She blurted out. "Icansmellhimherebut..." The she-dragon paused. "Oh, hello Iari. I was about to go outside for some fresh air, but I can't seem to find..." She paused again, as the little one was still to fresh to be named.

Iari sighed. The scent of the youngster was fresh to her too, but not fresh enough. "I don't think he's in here, mother, but he can't have gotten far. Let's sweep towards the entrance. You take the side by the diennes, and I'll take the side by the drakes. We can meet up by the entrance." Morticia nodded and the pair separated. Around them, dragons started to stir. Once her mother was moving, Iari put her nose to the ground and began to track her younger brother. Her nose was the best in the clan; there was no way the little bugger could lose her. Sure enough, Iari tracked the hatchling around the drakes' side of the den only to find it meet up with an even more familiar scent: Marley's.

Marley's bed was empty; Iari continued to track him and the hatchling to the cave entrance. There, she and Morticia looked out over the snowscape. Two sets of tracks led outside: one large and plodding, the other tiny and periodically broken by hatchling-shaped holes in various snowbanks. Without hesitation, Iari followed them and her mother trotted after. The pair crested a snow bank only to be greeted by a barrage of snow balls. Iari grinned.

"Of course you know, this means war!" The dragoness called out towards a makeshift snow fort a dozen yards away. A blue and purple head rose above the distant ramparts, a squealing hatchling riding between his crests. "Come and get us, hairball!" Marley roared back. The hatchling waved to his mother and half-sister as the pair ducked back down into the snow fort. Iari turned to her mother. "Are you in?" Morticia shook her head. "This is your battle, dear. Just be sure to bring the little one back to me." The older tundress turned back towards the lair.

Iari watched her go, then turned her attention back to the battle. This wasn't going to be easy; her nephew had the high ground ahead and a commanding view of the snowfields. He was well-entrenched and appeared to have plenty of ammunition. There was one thing he lacked, though: the most important ingredient in successful warfare. Audacity. One of the few things that Iari had in spades. The tundress opened her wings and began to conjure a gust of wind as her father had taught her. She carefully shaped her wind into a circular pattern before giving it a thrust towards the enemy. The snow devil was right on target, making a beeline for the snow fort. Meanwhile, Iari took to the sky, a pair of large snowballs in her claws. She watched the snownado and waited for an opportunity to strike.

Just as the little windstorm hit Marley's fort, Iari flew over. Through the blowing snow she could see her nephew and half-brother beginning to reemerge from their dusting as the snow devil petered out. Marley looked over the wall of the snow fort holding a snowball in his claws. Iari grinned from above and behind them. Not seeing his aunt, Marley relaxed and put down the snowball and his guard. With a roar of triumph, Iari buzzed Marley and pelted the drake with her stash of snowballs. "Surrender! Your fortifications have been breached! Victory is myy ow ow ow ow" She crowed, only to have her victory speech interrupted by something digging in to her tail. Iari turned to find the black and green hatchling clinging to her tail with his teeth.

Marley was rolling in the snow laughing at the sight of the very determined hatchling and Iari's frantic efforts to get it to let go. "Aaaargh! Get off! Get off!" She shook her tail, but the little drake's vicelike jaws held on. Suddenly, Iari's scowl was broken by a very familiar and very mischievous grin. Marley stopped laughing and stared. Uh oh. This isn't gonna be good. He watched as Iari looked around before finding the deepest snowdrift she could find. She trotted over to it and with a "Whoomph!" flopped into the deep snow, popping her tail as she did so. The hatchling went flying. "Wheeeeeeeee!" Marley watched as the hatchling landed safely in the snow and scrambled out towards Iari "Again! Again!" He squeaked. The pair did it a few more times before a roar from the lair entrance brought them face to face with a wild-eyed Morticia and several smirking and otherwise amused-looking dragons. "Mybabymybabywhatintheworldwereyouthinking?"

The hatchling ignored his mother and looked to his half-sister and nephew. "Again?" He squeaked. "He's fine, mother." Iari said. "No harm done. Really." Marley nodded assent. One of the other den-mothers quickly checked over the hatchling. "They're right, Tish. Your young'un's fine. Let 'em be and come eat something before you worry yourself into an even bigger tizzy." The den-mother guided the elder tundra back towards the lair. "You three kin come in too!" She hollered over her shoulder.

Iari turned to Marley. "I guess we'd better go. No telling what they'll put us to doing if we don't." Marley shrugged, but followed Iari back into the den. The hatching grabbed onto the drake's tail as he passed and squeaked forlornly "No again?"

"Come on, you little nuisance, let's go eat." Iari said, picking the hatchling off Marley's tail.

"Nuisance! Nuisance! Nuisance!" He squealed.

"Congratulations, aunt," Marley commented dryly. "You just Named him."

Iari rolled her eyes. "Well, at least it suits his personality."