Cassiopia

Cassiopia and Eridani admired each other in their new, warm den.




Their nest was almost ready to hold some new eggs, but first they had work to do. They had promised their new clan the best murals and mosaics in all of Sornieth to get their new primary and secondary genes. They would be arting for years! It was so very exciting.

“Where do you want to start? I’m too excited to choose!” Eridani

“We could start with the courtyard, or I could start with the courytyard, while you do a mural nearby.” Cassiopia smiled at her new mate.

“Yes, that’s nice and central! We could do that!” He grinned back.

The dragons bustled about, gathering their art supplies, pausing to gaze at their new, starry skins. “I feel all shiny! Like our Midwinter tree with all its baubles.” Cassiopia danced a little.

Eventually, they were ready, she with her mortars and tiles and he with his paints and brushes, and they finally opened the door to their lair and stopped, startled into stillness.

The whole world was white. A heavy snow was falling—and blowing and drifting. The wind sang softly around their ears and blew snow around them all the way to the nest. Eridani sighed. “Perhaps the great hall would be a better place to start.”

“At least it’s inside.” Cassiopia set down a tub of tiles to grab a sweater for her mate and a long cape and scarf for herself.

Together, they slogged through the snow to the great hall, and went inside.

The usually empty space was full of dragons, who greeted the artists enthusiastically. “Merry Christmas!” “Happy Noc Night!” “Joyous Noel!” “Splendiferous Solstice!” There were so may different greetings, and so many bright, shiny decorations that their newly-gened skins seemed dark in comparison.

“These people should all be wishing you a happy Rockbreaker’s Ceremony, at least until tomorrow,” a brown-eyed dragon sighed. “But they’re all so happy I can’t hold it against them.” He bustled off with a basket of ornaments to hang on the huge tree that was in the very center of the floor that Cassiopia had planned to be covering in tile.

“I guess we can’t work here either.”

“There you are!” Chymeria, the founder of the lair, bustled up to them, glowing fairies darting around her head. “We emptied out the play room for you to work on, since there’ll be no keeping the hatchlings away from the Yule Tree. You can drop your stuff off there and help with the tree. Everyone wants to meet you.”