Chapter 5
CHRISTMAS WITH SKY AND SNOW
Edra sat on the end of the bed listening to Jordan read Sky and Snow the bedtime story.
He didn’t remember bedtime stories when he was a hatchling, but that was a long time ago on a different world.
Back then, he wouldn’t have entertained the idea of raising his own hatchlings, as it just wasn’t done.
Hatchlings were raised in the rookery, and he was beginning to understand why.
It had nothing to do with the ability of lesser dragons to raise their own young and everything to do with the way young lesser dragons had a reckless streak a mile wide that meant they were constantly endangering themselves in ways neither he nor Jordan had ever considered.
They shed their clothes and shifted without a second thought, which meant taking them out in public was an exercise in patience and vigilance.
After several unnerving incidents, both hatchlings now wore an anklet with a tracker.
It was also very fortunate that small hatchlings couldn’t fly very far.
Half their yard was now covered in netting to prevent them from escaping, while still giving them room to fly.
It was apparent that human cities were not designed for small hatchlings.
Sometimes he thought it might be easier if they were still in the apartment Jordan had lived in when they first met, but this house was two stories which gave Sky and Snow room to fly in the house—which was its own problem when you had small dragons climbing up curtains and along banisters, or disappearing only to be found curled up asleep on a top shelf.
One afternoon, he’d spent three hours looking for Snow, only to find him curled up with a half-eaten block of chocolate on the top shelf of the pantry.
That was now the first place he looked.
Jordan closed the book, a traditional human story about Santa Claus, apparently.
It had always struck Edra as odd that humans celebrated a Tarikian god known for passing judgement, but as usual, they had only gotten part of the story, and over centuries, it had become warped.
And while he still considered it a strange celebration, it was different now that they’d brought the hatchlings home from the rookery.
This was their first Christmas, and Jordan had been so excited to share it with them, it was easy for Edra to become caught up, even though he had celebrated Christmas with Jordan many times, swapping gifts and feasting with their friends.
But seeing Sky and Snow so excited because their friends, mytho and human, at the local daycare were excited and talking about Christmas, made his heart feel about three times too big.
The feast was not at their house tomorrow. Instead, they were going to Katie and Lekso’s place—which had also been hatchling-proofed. Most of their friends had taken precautions against the flying menaces that were his children.
“And Santa comes tonight?” Snow asked.
“And his flying deer?” Sky sat up as if not the least bit tired.
Edra had taken them flying, in an effort to make sure they would actually go to bed and stay in bed.
But he also liked flying with them. It gave him the chance to warn them of the dangers of tram lines and overhead power cables.
Sometimes the greater dragons joined them.
The first time that had happened, both hatchlings had tried to grab onto him.
Which had not worked out very well for any of them.
Suffice to say, he had managed to land, and the only damage done was some loss of skin to his arm and shoulder. That had been another lesson.
They were all lessons he’d forgotten receiving.
They were a part of an online group that was raising their own hatchlings, and it was a relief that they were not the only ones experiencing these troubles. He also enjoyed the occasional smug pleasure of feeling more successful at raising hatchlings.
“Yes, but he only visits children who are asleep. That is part of the magic of Christmas,” Jordan said with a smile.
Jordan was trying to give the hatchlings the kind of Christmas he’d never had growing up.
Edra was pretty sure he didn’t need to try so hard because Sky and Snow were probably not going to remember and they would be perfectly happy with a large block of chocolate, a bag of Sinner’s kibble, and another pair of shoes that they could take off and leave in some random location he wouldn’t find until they had grown out of them.
While they were getting chocolate in their stockings and also some shoes as part of a special outfit for tomorrow, they were also getting other toys, which he was kind of interested in exploring with them.
There were things he couldn’t have imagined as a child, like plastic building blocks that stuck together, little cars, puzzles, and games.
Three days ago, they’d been at Pan’s temple for the solstice, and it had been their first introduction to seeing magic, so it was no longer an abstract concept to them.
“You’d better lie down, close your eyes and fall asleep, and when you wake up in the morning…” Jordan kissed Snow on the forehead.
“I will have missed the magic,” Snow grumbled even as he let himself be tucked in.
Jordan glanced at him for support. Jordan didn’t realize what a great job he was doing with the hatchlings.
They weren’t his biologically, but he didn’t seem to care, and he was definitely calmer under stress than Edra was.
He guessed that it was the years in the police force dealing with all kinds of situations, both human and mytho, where he was often dealing with people on the worst day of their lives.
Edra had dealt with a lot of shit over his decades as a knight of the city, but it was different because they were his hatchlings, or that was the excuse he made.
He didn’t want to mess up because he had chosen to take on the responsibility.
They could have left the hatchlings at the rookery instead of bringing them home.
In the online group, there were some people who were regretting the decision because it was a lot, and they didn’t have the support that he had both in Jordan and from their friends.
Jordan’s sister was happy to babysit so they could have a night off.
Sean and Troy had helped out when the house needed hatchling proofing.
Even Vlash managed to smile and have fun with them, Mason had been a good influence on the stern ex-head archer.
Sinner stretched and jumped off the bed. “I’m going to grab something to eat and prowl around the house.”
Edra tucked Sky into bed. “The magic only happens when you’re asleep. Magic is one of those things that you can’t control.”
“Strega can… Can we ask her to make us stay awake so we can see?”
“Not this year. It’s dark outside and getting late, and lots of other children are already in bed asleep.” Edra said.
“So we could watch their houses?” Sky asked.
“No, because then Santa wouldn’t visit them either,” Jordan said, and Edra almost believed him.
“Not all magic is meant to be seen,” Edra added. Was every family with small children having the same conversation?
“In the morning, there will be presents?” Snow asked, trying to wriggle out of the blanket that Jordan was keeping around him.
“Only if you go to sleep. You’ll know the magic worked because the cookies will be gone and there will be presents.” Jordan kissed his forehead again. “And it’s way past your bedtime.”
“You don’t want to find a lump of coal in your stockings,” Edra warned.
Jordan frowned and gave a slight shake of his head. Truthfully, if Santa were going to pass judgement on children, Edra suspected that a lot of them would end up with a lump of coal at best.
Both hatchlings gasped.
“We have been good,” Sky said, closing her eyes as though she was already asleep.
“You have been good,” Jordan said.
Someone would also lose their tongue for lying…
but Edra kept his mouth closed. So far, there had been no reports of actual judgements being passed, so either Santa had decided not to continue passing judgement on his followers, or he had been killed in the collapse.
When it came to gods, only a few had come forward, despite Pan’s example.
After another round of kisses and promises that Santa definitely knew where they lived, which kind of made Edra uneasy, even though they had never prayed to him by the human name for him, or any other.
Both hatchlings closed their eyes and agreed that they would go to sleep and would wait until dawn to go downstairs and check their stockings.
Edra and Jordan went downstairs to watch a little TV and have a drink before finally creeping around the house, filling the stockings, and placing a few presents under the tree. It seemed like an awful lot of stuff for two very small dragons, even though Jordan had assured him that it wasn’t.
Even the tree seemed extravagant, though it was the same plastic one they had bought when they moved into this house.
It was tall enough that with the star on top, there were only a few inches between the top and the ceiling, and every year Jordan decorated it with baubles and tinsel and lights.
It was pretty and glittery, and he could understand why humans thought it magical.
As a family, they celebrated the Tarikian holidays like the solstices and Samhain at the temple, as well as the human ones like Easter and Thanksgiving and Christmas, though they did not go to church like many humans.
Jordan had no interest in following the religion that had caused his parents to drive him out of his home, and which still refused to acknowledge the existence of the Tarikian gods.
“Do you think they’ll like it? Or is it not magical enough?” Jordan stepped back to study the tree and then the stuffed stockings.
“I think it’s plenty magical.” He put his arms around his mate. “You’ll have to live up to this again next year.”