Chp.8: The birthday night (part 1)

The tea turned out to be a sort of infusion made by steeping leaves in hot water. Misune had made only a little (since it was practically impossible for her to make enough drink to quench the thirst of seventeen ten-metre-long dragons weighing seven or eight tons each), so the following day during their lunch the dragons received hardly any. a few cups each. The tea didn't suit the dragons' tastes very much (since they were carnivores, and therefore an infusion of leaves wasn't really in their diet), but they had found that they still appreciated a little change from time to time; despite the acrid and bitter taste not very suitable for their taste buds, that hot drink was still appreciated.

The lunch had gone quite well. If it hadn't been for Darbi probably no one would have remembered that it was their birthday, and the few who did remember it weren't in much mood to celebrate it. After all, celebrating one's birth day was a tradition of newcomers, certainly not of dragons (technically dragons didn't even have any real traditions), and in any case it was supposed to be a moment of joy, but none of them felt that this was really the case. Despite this, however, all of them had decided to have lunch together, since at least with that excuse they could have spent some time together before having to separate again to carry out the plan. It had been pleasant, so much so that they soon lost track of time and their lunch soon extended into a long series of chats and games which continued into the evening; at that point they had mutually agreed to spend dinner together as well.

By the time they were done, the sky had already begun to darken and the first stars were starting to appear. In particular, one of them shone placidly above the horizon, as bright as few others and which, unlike normal stars, did not emit intermittent light. In fact, the other stars all had a glow that moved continuously, as if they were a crackling fire, while instead that star had a fixed light, which never changed. "Maldor, what's the name of that star?" Sisna asked curiously at one point.

"It's Thrall" Maldor replied, remembering all the lessons she had learned from books and from the Magic Academy. "It is the brightest star, as well as one of the five dancing stars"

"The dancing stars are the ones that perform circles on themselves, right?" Kialandì asked. At her sister's assent she let out a snort. "Tsk. Whoever created the world should have consulted me before getting busy"

The others laughed softly. "Now you're a little arrogant, sister" Rhaegal told her.

"Oh, come on, you can't say I'm not right!" Kialandì exclaimed. "I mean, why the joint effect of two circles? And why does this only apply to some stars and not to all the others? Or the oscillations of the sun and the moon, why not create fixed circles instead? It doesn't make sense"

"Well, maybe there are some rules that we don't know about" Haku rightly said. "In short, we have a limited understanding of the laws that govern the world. Maybe one day we will discover that there is a rule according to which celestial objects must move in that certain way"

In reality, he too had some grievances about the world as Maldor had described it to him. He too had noticed some oddities in that model, but in fact he hadn't criticized them since there was the absolute possibility that celestial objects obeyed laws unknown to him. Even though he knew many things, he could not claim to know everything; he was sure that most of the world's secrets were still closed to him. Trying to figure out how the whole world worked with his limited knowledge was like trying to figure out how an entire forest worked based on just a dozen species of animals and plants; however well he might know them, he would never be able to understand the complex ecosystem based on just those few species.

What rather prevented him from considering that model of the world valid was the fact that none of the newcomers had ever explained the catastrophe of the second sun. It was impossible for a new sun to appear randomly in the sky and then disappear after some time. So there must have been something else, something beyond the sea of ​​stars, that had allowed that mysterious light to appear. Moreover, he was still tormented by his assumption that the gods and the second sun were somehow connected; if so, then how had they accomplished it, or how had the second sun accomplished them? Were the gods born first or the second sun? Was the second sun really a divine punishment, or more likely as Haku believed it was what had allowed the birth of the gods or at least their descent into the world, given that for millions of years before no one had ever heard of gods? But if that was the case, then where did the second sun come from? Too many questions and no answers. This, combined with his already persistent skepticism, had made Haku very dubious about the newcomers' valid model of the world. But unfortunately he still had too little information to be able to draw any kind of conclusions. He wasn't even sure that his hypothesis of a correlation between the gods and the second sun was correct, and he had no way of verifying it. For the moment, therefore, it was useless to worry about something inexplicable.

He expected his words to have concluded the conversation (after all they were logical and didn't technically contradict anyone), but on the contrary Maldor suddenly intervened: "Maybe not. Maybe Kialandì is right" she said as her eyes widened looking at the sky.

"Ha! Thank you!" Kialandì exclaimed triumphantly, and then she asked after a couple of seconds: "Anyway, how could I be right?"

"About the fact that the model of the world created by the newcomers is too complicated" Maldor answered continuing to look at the sky. "I mean, for thousands of years the newcomers thought that mana was present everywhere in a uniform manner, and this led many philosophers to formulate the most outlandish theories to justify the differences, and only after many millennia they understood that mana actually came from underground and that it is created by the enormous pressure of the world itself. Just because something is considered good by everyone doesn't mean it's accurate. So maybe… maybe there really is a simpler explanation. Maybe the sky works differently how we imagine it, and it is our point of view that is wrong"

The others didn't seem very convinced by those words, but they didn't say anything. Haku decided it was best to change the subject before the discussion got too heated. "Sorry, guys, you each have one last cup of tea left, right?"

"Of course" Kotaru, Glausar and Tikka chorused, while all the others just raised their cups and showed the liquid inside.

Haku raised his. "I'm no expert on these things, but the newcomers tend to toast when they celebrate... even if it seems to me that they use alcohol for that. In any case, since the day is drawing to a close, I suggest we have a little toast" he said. "And... well, I know that few of us are really happy to celebrate our birthday, given what world we were born into... but following Maldor's words, I want you to try to change your point of view. I would like for all of us to raise our cups and say something beautiful that happened to us that we couldn't have experienced if we had never been born"

He didn't know where that idea had come from. Even after saying those words it seemed rather stupid to him, but to his surprise no one complained and everyone raised their cups. "I'll start" Darbi said. "I... I'm happy to be able to laugh. Yes, I mean, in the egg I couldn't do it. In this world it's hard to find something to laugh about... but still I can do it. But above all, I love laughing with you, guys"

"I wonder why I expected such an answer" Sisna laughed. "So, I... I love to scare my prey. Yeah, well, their terrified faces when they realize they have no way out are hilarious. And I love doing it with you, it makes everything not only easier but more fun too. Like that time we formed a circle around a deer and came out of the bushes one at a time to terrify it more and more"

"Ah ah! You are right, I remember its face! It was so funny!" Malchia laughed. "Anyway, I prefer chases. It's more fun to run after a prey. Here, I like to chase the prey together with you and lure them into the trap"

"I prefer the strategic part" Finiar said. "Yes, well, I like it when we study the method of attack. Each of us comes up with some ideas and by putting them together we can think of how to capture the prey in the simplest way. I like it because each of those ideas contains a part of our personality: some propose a more aggressive attitude, some more pragmatic, some even silly at times... but they are all beautiful"

"Come on, girls, ours isn't just about hunting! Think something bigger" Corgorin exclaimed. "I, for example, love making fun of newcomers. The faces they make are adorable. And I love it when we make fun of them all together"

"And I love having to scold you every time you can't stop yourself" Serengal told her with a smirk. Her sister glared at her, and she burst out laughing in response: "Come on! You say that newcomers make funny faces, but you should see yours now!"

"I swear that sooner or later I'll change my last name"

"We don't have a last name, sister"

"Dang it! It must be a conspiracy against me!"

The other dragons giggled at that hilarious interaction. Corgorin and Serengal looked into each other's eyes for a moment, then they too burst out laughing. Then they turned and looked at Maldor, who was next to speak. She looked a bit embarrassed, as she used to be because of her shyness, then she said: "Well... I like teaching. Yes, I've found that it's beautiful. I liked it when the students at the academy listened to me... and I like it when you ask me to explain something about magic or other things like philosophy and history"

"It's true. Every time you do, you smile" Kotaru said. "Here, this is what I like about it: I love to see you smile. All of you. You are beautiful when you do it. Even you ugly boys"

"Hey, look, not only you girls are beautiful!" Rhaegal snapped, and then he proudly lifted his neck: "Here's mine: I love to show you every day how much you girls underestimate us and that we boys are much better than you think"

"And I love to see that you actually believe the bullshit you say" Tikka teased him.

Rhaegal whirled on her, but before she could say anything Teramon added: "She's right. But I also love to see that you never give up. In fact, I love to see that none of you ever give up. I love your determination"

Rhaegal didn't know whether to be flattered or offended... and Haku and Darbi shared that sentiment. Not knowing what else to do, in the end they just chose to smile. Taking advantage of this, Glausar spoke: "I love trying new things with you. Yes, well, I like to imagine what we will discover in the future. Every time it is something exotic and strange... and at the same time interesting and fun"

"You're right. I love that too" Maleficent said. "But I prefer the research rather than the result. It's difficult, of course, but puzzling over how a seemingly unsolvable problem can be solved, arriving at the solution piece by piece, and finally finding the answer... it's nice, don't you think?"

"Mph. I find that part boring" Kialandì grumbled, then his eyes lit up. "Here, this is mine: I love that each of us has a different character and interests. At least we never get bored when we argue with each other. And I like to see you happy while you put those interests into practice"

"Yeah, that's true. It's good that we're all different, and it's good to see each of us happy" Jatara said. "Um... I like that you are also supportive, and help each other with your interests, just for the pleasure of seeing each other smile"

Keita let out a slight snort. "I like to see you happy, under any circumstances. And I like that you make me happy too" she said. "Sorry, but I don't think I can add anything else. It's your turn, brother"

Haku realized that it was his turn, and everyone was watching him. "I think the only thing I can say is… that I love you. Everyone of you and everything you do" he said. "Your every smile, your every gesture, your every word, contain so many emotions that are so strange and at times even not very understandable to me... but that's why I adore you. And I want to be able to spend as much time as possible with you, and find out how many beautiful things you haven't shown me yet. So... I like that you make my life worth living"

There was a moment of silence, then Kotaru said: "You're right. It's like that for me too. There isn't a single thing that makes me happy... it's you that make me happy"

"Yes, you are right"

"I agree"

"Me too"

Everyone nodded, one by one. Then Haku waved his cup. "So... to our life, which as difficult and dangerous as it is in this world, is wonderful thanks to this family"

The seventeen dragons bumped their cups lightly, then gulped the contents down their throats. The tea had become cold by now, but no one seemed to realize it.