a collection of tales [[ chronocompass writing ]]

Poor old Teeba had thought he was in the clear on making things for at least a couple of hours. Unfortunately, it seemed that Haunter’s want to enter into that odd talent show had been spread around to some of his other dragons. As he set about feeding his small army of ducklings that afternoon, his bunny-like dragon Jack burst out of the nearest pieced together building in the odd town and hopped towards him, as fast as he was able.

“Yeah?” Teeba-ei asked, with a glance over his shoulder. One of the ducklings was attempting to climb up his shirt. Jack took one more hop, then another, and finally plopped down next to Teeba, 

“I was hoping you could help me with some magic,” he said, sparks already flickering around his paws.

Teeba refrained from sighing - it would do no good to complain when he could help make his town a better place, even in such small ways, so he simply said, “Well, what’s your plan? And how can I help you out?”

Jack grinned at that. “Depends. Do you know how to carve a pumpkin?”

“Do I?” Teeba chuckled. One of the ducks was on his head now. Two others were poking at his tail. Oh gosh. “Well, I’ve never done it before, but I’ll certainly do my best for you. Let’s see what Cairo’s garden has hiding away.”

The Sword’s intriguing dragon had all manner of plants and flowers tucked away in a little corner of the now - bustling place. Teeba made his way over, ducklings following after him with adorable little peeping sounds. Jack raced ahead, hopping through the grass and arriving at the flowery garden before Teeba did.

By the time Teeba’s feet had led him to his destination, Jack was already rolling over a pumpkin as large as himself. A loveletter kite and an orchid mantis scrambled to get out of the way. “Careful! Don’t hurt anyone,” Teeba called over to his dragon. Jack nodded, whispered a small apology to the two colorful insects, who crawled back among the flowers, and kept on rolling the pumpkin.

Teeba had brought a knife with him, and he carved the pumpkin as best he could, giving it a surprisingly scary face at Jack’s request. It was scooping out the insides that was the hardest part, really. But at last the creation was all set and ready to go.

Jack grabbed the pumpkin and hopped off as soon as the tsotska finished. “Where are you going?” Teeba questioned, hurrying after him and carrying several ducklings in his hands.

Jack didn’t answer, but simply hopped up onto the roof of one of the nearby buildings and set the pumpkin down. As Teeba-ei watched, the pumpkin started sparking, and then it burst into flame, all while Jack laughed maniacally. Well, that was quite impressive. If also a total waste of the work he’d just done.

Thank goodness his buildings were made of mostly metal.

As the pumpkin burned down into ashes, Jack jumped back down. “See? Haunter’s not the best spook around anymore. She can’t stop me!” Little wisps of flame floated around the rabbit dragon as he jumped around in excitement. “Nothing beats the pure power of a little fire!”

“I suppose you’re right.” As much as he sometimes was tired of things, man, he loved seeing his little family happy about things. So he smiled, and nodded as Jack talked on, and when his little dragon ran off to tell some of the others about his cool experience, he fully expected to be doing this again for some more dragons some time very soon.

- - - -

Teeba ran across his first and favorite dragon, Otulius, in the woods that night. The older dragon was sitting on a fallen log, a chickadee on one shoulder and a raven on the other. Looking more closely, it seemed that Otulius was trying to practice some magic - there were vines all around, and several shards of metal flying to and fro.

Teeba made his presence known as he approached with a friendly mental nudge. Otulius looked up at once, and the chickadee and raven flapped on over to the dragon rider to say hello. Otulius dropped all his magic and nodded to Teeba. “Doing well, friend?”

“I am! Seems like everyone’s practicing magic ever since Haunter made that spider thing. Are you in on it, too?” Teeba asked, stepping closer. He lifted up his metal hand and pet the chickadee on its feathery head.

“But of course! We’re all here to do you proud, Teeba. I know you’ve been doing a lot of odd things for our dragons lately, but would you be willing to help me out with a small thing?” Otulius waved a wing, and the vines and metal shards floated back up into the air. “I just need someone to practice this on.”

“Well, as long as it won’t end horribly. But I trust you, Otulius,” Teeba shrugged. He sat down on the mossy floor of the forest. The chickadee and raven took flight and landed again in a nearby tree. “Try out what you’ve been practicing and I’ll cheer you on, how about that?”

Otulius nodded, and flew one of the larger shiny metal shards to the other side of Teeba. He closed his eyes, focused intently, and the magic started to happen. Vines grew up from the ground. They started to knit together into a curtain of green, until Otulius couldn’t be seen at all. Then, the vines dropped, and the dragon was mysteriously gone. Teeba squinted into the distance, but he couldn’t see anything.

Then, all of a sudden, a feathered wing tapped him on the shoulder. Teeba jolted where he sat and whirled around. Otulius was standing there, a cheeky grin on his face, and smiles in his eyes. “DId I surprise you?” the dragon asked.

“Why - yes, you absolutely did! How did you do that?” Teeba stood back up. “If you’d run behind me I’m sure I would have seen you.”

Teeba’s dragon was very excited to share his explanation. “Ah, well, that’s what the shards of metal are for! I made the vine curtain, then hopped into that odd reflection world, and came out on the other side to spook you! I’ve no idea how scary that would actually be in this talent show thing, but it’s the best I’ve got. What do you think?”

“Otulius - I absolutely love it! You really got me there,” the tsotska admitted. “I bet you’ll do great if you head out to the show.”

“Well, that’s good to know!” Otulius waved a wing again and the metal shards flew on over to him. “These were from the forge, by the way. I hope it’s not an issue that I borrowed them?”

“Never! Take all you want, my forge is your forge. You know that.”

“Speaking of that…” Otulius began. “You know that you’re likely to get a ton of dragons coming to find you about this magic thing, yes? I’m nowhere near the last.”

“Oh, I’m already prepared. We might even have to have our own talent show here in town. I bet people would really like that.”

Otulius smiled. “You know… I bet they would too.”