Festival Prep

2 months later…

The air around Moonbeam Academy was full of excitement, for the long awaited annual Dragonrise festival was right around the corner. Every chance the students had; they would put up different colorful decorations around the castle-like school. Everyone, people and dragons alike, were laughing and talking excitedly amongst each other as the anticipation for the festival increased, even reaching the more playful minds of a wood elf and night elf who both waited outside the room of one of their friends. The Wood Elf, Hope, held a small vial in her hand and chuckled to herself.

"You sure this will work?" she asked her night elf companion, Elm.

"Trust me" Elm replied with a smug grin, "Draco and I did used to do this to him all the time when he first came here. It worked then; it will work now."

Hope sighed, "Well, ok then. Let's just hope he's forgotten about it."

Elm knelt down and picked the lock on the door, which clicked open after a few minutes. Then Hope slowly opened the door and tossed the vial in, making sure to close the door again as quickly as she could.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Now" Elm replied, "we wait. It should only take a few seconds."

Sure enough, a small hissing noise could be heard from inside as the vial's contents escaped into the room.

"It's not gonna hurt him, is it?" Hope asked.

"Pffft, nah" Elm replied, "It might be a bit loud though, especially for us elves. You might want to cover your ears."

Hope promptly did so, just in time as a flash of light lit up from under the door, followed by a small explosion. Almost a split second later, a mixture of surprised shouts and growls echoed from inside, causing the two elves to burst out laughing uncontrollably.

"I told you it would work!" Elm said. Little did they know, the now brightly lit vial was now trapped in a sphere of compressed air by a mildly unimpressed Adrion, who was awake at the time and was holding his staff when the vial was thrown in. Rhogar looked down from the rafters, a similar expression on his face. Both had faked their surprise when the vial went off, and Adrion had an idea for what to do next.

"Rhogar, cover your eyes." He told the dragon, who simply nodded and folded his wings over his head. The door then opened as the two elves came in, only to stop in surprise when they saw Adrion with the sphere of light.

"Wait…" Elm gasped, "How…?"

Before anyone could answer, Adrion turned around and dissipated the air sphere, sending the flash of light out from inside and stunning the elves. As they stumbled around, Adrion and Rhogar shared a good chuckle.

"I still haven't forgotten your little tricks, Elm." Adrion said, "How do you still even have any Flash Flames left?"

Elm shook her head to recover, then responded, "I'm an alchemist, Adrion. I can make all kinds of stuff."

Adrion nodded in understanding; alchemists were wizards who channeled their magic through the various herbs and minerals found on Pandreia. There was no telling what concoctions they could make with the right ingredients.

"Besides" Elm continued, "the Dragonrise Festival is TOMORROW; I gotta make sure everyone's in the mood."

"With all due respect" Rhogar said, "Flash Flames in people's rooms aren't exactly the best way to get anyone in a cheerful mood."

Elm shrugged "Well, at least I know they'll work for the little display us alchemists will be doing at the festival."

"I was just in it for the fun" Hope added.

Adrion nodded in understanding; ever since Hope had come to Moonbeam, she had proven to have a more playful side then she had originally let on.

"Fine" he finally said, "but next time you help pull something like this off again, I'm telling the other girls about you and Kai'sair."

Hope turned pale. "You wouldn't…"

Ever since the knight, Kai'sair had come to Moonbeam, he became the center of attention for most of the girls in the Academy. Little did any of them know was that he actually had grown more attached to Hope and the two seemed to be dating each other, but nothing was really known.

Elm snickered at Hope's reaction, then turned back to Adrion "Well, whatever the case, Headmaster Hugo's giving students the day off so we can finish preparing. Wanna come join?"

Adrion smiled, then twirled the staff in his hand "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

After breakfast, the gang got right to work decorating, and headed for the one place that remained untouched; the fire coliseum. Adrion flew in on Rhogar while Hope and Elm, now holding a bag full of vials and potions, flew on Elm's dragon, a sleek water dragon named Gerdia. The walls were pretty hot to touch due to all the lava contained inside, making it a subject of avoidance for the other students. As they reached the arena, they noticed that Kai'sair, Paletar, Draco, and his dragon, a muscular Stone Drake called Baltroc, had already beaten them there and were busy hauling larger decorations out of wooden boxes.

"Decide to get a headstart?" Adrion asked as Rhogar landed.

"Something like that" Kai'sair replied.

Draco chuckled "He says that, but he's really just trying to get away from his adoring fans."

"They won't leave me alone!" Kai'sair protested, sparking a laugh from the whole group.

Adrion looked around "Where's River?"

"She was here earlier" Kai'sair replied, "But she had to go help some of the nymph servants with something. They weren't very specific."

Baltroc snorted "That's the nymphs for ya."

Hope patted Adrion's shoulder, "It's ok. I'm sure you'll get to talk to her later and tell her the thing we ALL know here to be true."

Adrion turned red in embarrassment and stuttered "I mean…it's not that…it's just…gah!"

Everyone else shared a laugh; Adrion's feelings from the water half-dragon were pretty well known among them. He had been meaning to finally reveal them to her recently, but so far had backed out of every opportunity.

Kai'sair then decided to save the wizard from further embarrassment. "Ok, guys, let's just get to work. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can enjoy the rest of our day off."

That proved to be motivation enough for the group, and they immediately got busy. Adrion and Rhogar, Kai'sair and Paletar, and Draco each flew up towards the windows, fireproof garland in their hands. Hope remained on the ground with her bow drawn, waiting for them to get to the right spot. After some adjusting by the three flyers, Adrion called down "Now!"

Hope then loosed arrow after arrow, hitting the garlands and pinning them to the wall until a nice, shining, bronze garland circled the perimeter of the outer arena.

"Alright, Elm" Draco called down, "Your turn!"

Elm reached into her bag, pulling out two smaller vials of a clear liquid mixed with what looked like golden particles. Smirking, she wound up her arm and threw the vials towards the garlands.

"Draco!" she called. The half dragon flapped his wings and swooped across, using his fire breath to break the vials, which burst with poof of fiery-golden dust. Then, Adrion used his staff to summon a gust of air that spread the dust across not only the garland, but the wall of the arena itself, so it now looked as if it was radiating intense heat, and the garland looking like a stream of fire.

As the dragons landed, Adrion looked at their work and grinned "The Fire Pit looks like it's actually on fire now."

"Simple method" Elm said, "Epic result."

"You said it" Hope agreed.

"So, what now?" Kai'sair asked.

Adrion studied the outer wall for a bit "Well, I think we got the outer wall taken care of, but I'm not sure if we should do the inside too."

Just then, the group heard a flapping of wings as another fire dragon swooped down and landed, and the instructor, Flannery, dismounted. Being the youngest of the teachers, somewhere in her mid-twenties, she always had a different glimmer in her eyes, whether it was a playful one or a more serious look. Right now, however, her eyes had a sparkle of amazement as she surveyed the outer wall.

Flannery smiled wide. "You have really outdone yourselves this time, kids!"

Adrion felt a surge of pride "Well, what can I say? Teamwork does some pretty amazing things."

"It does indeed." Flannery said, "Well, I just overheard you talking about the interior and came to let you know that Zukar and I already took care of it."

"You did?" Hope asked.

Zukar nodded his head, "There's not much to decorate in there. With me flying around quickly and Flannery riding, it didn't take long."

Elm fist pumped in glee, relieved to not have to endure the heat of the Fire Pit. Adrion and Kai'sair high fived as well.

Flannery nodded. "The rest of the school has been taken care of, so you are free to enjoy the rest of your day as you see fit."

"We will, thank you." Kai'sair replied, and Flannery climbed onto Zukar again and took off.

"Well, what should we do now?" Draco asked.

Hope immediately ran next to Adrion. "Well, if Adrion is going to confess you know what to you know who, then we need to make sure he's prepared."

Adrion blushed. "You gotta be kidding…"

Kai'sair shook his head. "Trust me, Hope, there is no planning for such a thing; he has to do it on his own."

"He's right" Elm added, "Plus, didn't you say you would teach me to use a bow, Hope?"

Hope lit up, "Oh yeah, I did! We can definitely do that now; come on!"

The two elves went to Gerdia and mounted on, then the dragon flapped her wings and flew off.

"I gotta see this" Adrion said, "something tells me something gonna get hit that isn't a target."

"Agreed" Kai'sair replied.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Draco asked, "Baltroc!"

"Climb on!" Baltroc said, 'I may not have wings, but I can keep up."

Draco climbed on while Adrion and Kai'sair mounted their dragons, they then took off after Elm and Hope, eager to see what would happen.