February 27th

Dear Master Jack,

 

I hope you are well. I have heard that you are now staying in a house with your family and other people. It must be grand to be living with your little sister and mother again.

Now on to my story. As you can imagine, everyone in the room was astonished when they saw the long slender golden dragon standing in the doorway. Grandfather Frenthfar recovered himself sufficiently to remember his manners. He carefully removed us granddragons from his back, shoulders, and head and then he went to greet the guest.

“Greetings and welcome Lady Lian,” he said, and he bowed low.

“Greetings to you Lord Frenthfar,” the beautiful dragon replied, returning the bow. Her voice was smooth and rich (See note 1), and hearing it made me feel strange inside. “When I heard that your daughter’s eggs had hatched, I decided that I had to come to see the lucky younglings.” She looked to where we five stood and I could feel her dark gold eyes watching me. Her gaze was kind but it made me feel uncomfortable.

“Come and meet our guest, younglings,” Grandfather Frenthfar said. We five shared glances and then looked at Lady Lian. None of were keen to approach her. I know that may seem strange, but we had never seen a Chinese dragon before, and we were somewhat afraid of her.

“Do not be afraid little ones,” she said gently. “Come.” Cautiously, I began to walk towards her.  “Ah, he must be the first hatched,” she said. “I can tell.”

“He is indeed, Lady Lian. Allow me to present Gryf, son of Annwyl and Mael. Bow to Lady Lian, Gyf.”

I managed an awkward little bow. Not knowing what else to say I blurted out, “Thank you for coming to our party.” Lady Lian gave a rippling little laugh and she bent her great head down to get a closer look at me. Never having seen a dragon with such big eyes and teeth I wanted to back away from her, but I stood my ground.

“Such a brave little one you are, Master Gryf. I can feel that there is a strong Gift in you, one that will give you opportunities that most dragons can only dream of. This Gift is rare and only dragons born in the Year of the Golden Dragon are born with it.”

“What is the Gift?” I asked.

“You must wait and see, Master Gryf. Around your hundredth year it will appear. Be patient.”

I imagine that you wondering what a Gift is. All dragons are born with a special ability, which we call a Gift. Grandmother Frenthfar could create music that had the power to make those who listen to it feel calmer, safer, or happier. Grandfather Frenthfar could fly faster than any dragon in Wales. My mother’s Gift gave her the ability to create beautiful paintings and drawings, works of art that were full of emotion and a sense of place. Father could blend into his surroundings so convincingly that he seemed to disappear. He would stand in front of a wall in our cave and his red scales would shift and change until he looked as if he was part of the stone behind him.

Dragons usually find out what their Gift is some time around their hundredth birthday, and the arrival of the Gift was always marked with a big feast and celebration. Waiting for the Gift to arrive was always a little nerve wracking because one had no idea what it would be. It could even be potentially dangerous. Grandfather Frenthfar’s Gift arrived when he was flying towards a mountain on day. Without warning he suddenly began to fly many times faster than was usual and he almost crashed. It took him some time before he learned how to control his speed and therefore master his Gift.

Mother and Father came up and introduced themselves and thanked Lady Lian for traveling such a great distance to attend our celebration.

“It is an honor to be here, Lady Annwyl,” Lian said inclining her head a little. “You know that Lord Frenthfar and your sister Lady Branwen came to China when my second clutch of eggs hatched. That clutch was very important to my partner and I because it represented hope for the future. All the chicks (See Note 2) in our first clutch had sickened and died. After the loss I wrote to Lady Branwen telling her about my chicks because I had heard that she was a famous Healer. I wanted to understand what had happened to my chicks. When she heard that I had laid another clutch, she decided to come to China to do what she could to make sure that my new chicks survived. We were so grateful that she did, because soon after she arrived the chicks in the second clutch began to sicken just as the ones in the first clutch had done. Lady Branwen and Lord Frenthfar set about trying to save my chicks and they also looked for the cause of the illness. Together they was able to do both things and we will always be grateful for their help. It is only right that I should be here to celebrate the hatching of Lord Frenthfar’s granddragons, these special Golden younglings.”

 

Note 1: All dragons speak the language of their species which is called Hisama. Most also speak at least one human language. Grandfather Frenthfar spoke Hisama, Welsh, English, Latin, Greek, French, and Gaelic. He was a VERY well educated dragon.

Note 2: When dragons first hatch they are called chicks. After a few weeks they are no longer infants and they are called younglings.