February 21st

Dear Master Jack,

I hope you have had a good week. I heard that some of your friends visited you and that you were able to celebrate you birthday with them. What a treat that must have been.

Now, where was I with my story? Ah, yes, I was telling you about the celebration that was given in our honor at our Clan Hall. Members of our clan invited friends and relatives to attend the celebration, which was going to be a grand one because my siblings and I were the first baby dragons to hatch in the year 1584. This was a very important year because it was the year of the golden dragon.

My parents carried myself, Neirin, Eirin, and Tesni to the Clan Hall in baskets and then my mother went back to our cave to get Rhys. She was almost at the rock shelf in front of the hall when Rhys, who had been poking his head out of his basket, leaned way over to see something on the ground, and then he fell out! There was a gasp of horror as we watched Rhys fall through the air. He screamed and tried desperately to flap his little wings. When younglings are only a few months old their wings are rather useless little flaps of skin. I often used to trip over my wings and found them to be a great inconvenience.

Then I saw a flash of red swoop over me and a large dragon plucked Rhys out of the air with his talons. The dragon cut through the air, made a graceful turn and then slowly, with big flaps of its wings, flew back to where we stood. I saw then that the dragon was Grandfather Frenthfar! I had thought that he was an old and inactive dragon. I certainly never imagined that he could move so fast.

Grandfather Frenthfar landed on the rock shelf and dropped Rhys. Rhys was whimpering and trembling and my father immediately tried to comfort him. My mother flew over and flung herself at Grandfather, trying to embrace him. He firmly but gently pushed her away muttering that he had only done “what every dragon would have done,” and that “taking care of younglings is something that we all do.”

I could not understand how my grandfather was able to move so fast, and it was only later that I learned that his incredible speed had to do with his Gift. I will tell you more about Gifts later.

After we had all recovered sufficiently from our shock, we went into the Clan Hall. As we walked in, voices were raised to welcome us and talons were tapped on scales so that the big room rang. This is the way dragons express their appreciation for someone. I believe you humans clap your hands when you want to express this. My siblings and I were placed on a dais so that everyone could look at us and I felt very embarrassed indeed. Rhys, fully recovered from his fall, tapped his little talons on his scales and clearly enjoyed all the attention we were getting. He began to walk up and down the dais with his chest out and his head held high. Back and forth he went when, without any warning, he fell off the dais because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing. Down he fell into a big bowl of dandelion wine and Grandfather Frenthfar had to fish him out.

When we were sure that he was not hurt, everyone started to chuckle. One of the dragons from Ireland told my father that Rhys was “going to be a handful,” and my father agreed.

“He is going to be more trouble than the other four put together,” Grandfather Frenthfar said and he set Rhys on his shoulder. “Now stay there you little scallywag and don’t move a scale,” he said. Rhys rode around on grandfather’s shoulder for the rest of evening, except when our parents gave us our dinner.

After a grand feast, the tables and benches in the hall were pushed back and musicians gathered at the far end of the room, tuning their instruments. My mother, Annwyl, and Grandmother Frenthfar joined the musicians. Grandmother had her harp (which she was given as a gift when she visited Ireland) and my mother had her flute. Tentatively at first, the musicians began to play. The music swelled and filled the hall. My father, Mael, led his sister out to dance and soon the space was filled with dragons swaying and dipping. Green Irish dragons danced with the silver dragons that had flown to Wales for the occasion from their homes in the cold lands to the north. A rich coppery colored English dragon twirled with the golden yellow African dragon who was visiting us that winter. A single dragon from Iceland danced alone, her beautiful ice blue scales gleaming and sparkling. 

For a time we four younglings (and Rhys on Grandfather’s shoulder) sat and watched the spectacle. Then Grandfather gathered up Neirin, Eirin, Tesni and I. He placed me on his free shoulder, put Neirin and Eirin on his back, and perched Tesni on his head. Then Grandfather marched out into the middle of the hall on all four legs. The other dragons cleared a space for him, and soon the five of us and Grandfather were surrounded by a swirling circle of dancing dragons. While grandfather gracefully sauntered around the circle, Tesni hopped about joyfully on Grandfather’s head holding on to his horns. Eirin bobbed her head in time with the music, and Neirin tapped his claws on Grandfather’s back ridge scales, flicking his tail left and right. Rhys swayed and kicked his legs.

Master Jack, the moment was a magical one that I will never forget. Even now, after so many years have passed, I feel a joyful warmth fill me when I think of that time.

Then, in the middle of the dance, a blast of cold air filled the hall and the the dragons around us stopped dancing and looked towards the huge door of the hall. In the doorway stood a dragon the like of which I had never seen before. Bright gold scales covered its long and thin body and it had a shimmering mane, beard, and tail. Its horns were extremely long and it had no wings at all.

“Lian!” Grandfather whispered. “She came all the way from China!”