Chapter Text
Winter had come and the holidays with it. In the six years since the Battle of the Storm Spire, humans and elves have celebrated the holidays together. Now, four years after the defeat of Aaravos, the holidays have changed for Callum and Rayla. After moving to Evrkynd, they were married. A year into their marriage, they welcomed their first two children (twins Lian and Tiadrin) named after Rayla's parents and fourteen months later triplets (Dameon, Sarai, and Harrow) named after Callum's parents.
The arrival of the twins had changed everything for Rayla and Callum. Rayla's pregnancy had been a surprise but a welcome one. They had been so happy to be blessed with a baby and Tiadrin had been a bonus blessing. Ezran had been happy of the birth of his nephew and niece (the first two children to be born of a human and an elf) and Zym found them fascinating commenting that he had never seen a human or elf that small before (not counting when Sorren ate the Mushroom Mage's shrinking mushrooms). Runaan and Ethari traveled from the Silvergrove with twin mobiles of the moon primal, moonstriders, shadowpaws and moon dragons that Ethari had made out of moon opals and Amaya and Jania had traveled from the Sunfire Empire with twin baby blankets of Katolin design that Amaya had made. (The four had made a similar trip with similar gifts when the triplets were born.)
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"Mum! Dad! It's snowing!" Lian said excitedly.
He and Tiadrin loved snow. At three, they knew how much fun it could be. When their parents were growing up, snow at the Breach would have been impossible because of the magma. But, just before the Battle of the Storm Spire, the magma had been frozen with dark magic. Now snow was common in the winter.
"Can we go play outside?" Tiadrin asked. "Please?"
The twins knew exactly how to get want they wanted. They reminded Callum of their Uncle Ezran at that age. That being said, Rayla and Callum did know how to tell them and the triplets "no".
"Not right now, princess," Callum said. "Mum and I have work to do."
"Why don't you two go to the nursery and play with the triplets, Terry, and Astrid?" Rayla said.
Astrid had come to live in Evrkynd with Callum and Rayla becoming Callum's first student and Terry had moved in after the twins were born to help out. Having grown up in a palace, Callum was used to having non-family members stay in the house. It had taken Rayla a little while to get used to it.
"Do we have to?" the twins said in unison.
"Lian. Tiadrin. Listen to your mother," Callum said.
"Can't we stay here with you and Mum?" Lian asked
"And play with Stella and Snezzle?"Tiardin asked.
The cuddlemonkey and glowtoad looked up from where they were sleeping. They were used to the twins and triplets, but they still liked their space and their time with Rayla and Callum. Both had grown in the past years. They had been protective of the twins and triplets when they were born; not letting anyone but Callum and Rayla near them. But they had also been jealous of the attention they had received from Callum and Rayla.
"If you don't want to play with your brothers and sister, why don't you two go play with Shadow, Artemis, Nova, and Starlight?" Rayla said.
Shadow, Artemis, Nova, and Starlight were a pair of moon arch dragons and a pair of star arch dragons that were two years younger than Zym. There were seven other young arch dragons. A pair of earth arch dragons named Rocky and Gemstone who lived at Umber Tor with Squeaky, a male earth dragon named Forest, and Chert and Terbium, a pair of ocean arch dragons named Trident and Pearl being looked after by a pair of ocean dragons named Current and Coral, and a young storm dragon named Stormy and a pair of sun arch dragons named Apollo and Sola living at the Storm Spir with Zym, Pyrrah, a male sun dragon named Blaze, and a pair of sky dragons named Thunder and Lighting.
Shadow, Artemis, Nova, and Starlight lived at Everkind with Callum, Rayla, and their children and were watched over by a pair of moon dragons named Luna and Eclipse and a pair of star dragons named Comet and Twinkle along with Esmeray who found the hatchlings in the frozen north.
The twins ran off. They loved playing with the young dragons. There had been a special wing added to their home to house Esmeray and the dragons. The builders had made it as big as possible (going off of Zuiba’s size). They had to make sure that it could comfortably house not only Esmeray and four full grown dragons but also four full grown arch dragons down the line.
“That should entertain them for a while,” Callum said looking at Rayla.
“It always does,” Rayla said with a smile.
They both went back to work. Not only did they have their daily work to do but the holidays were fast approaching and their family had two that they celebrated. The Yule Season was celebrated by the humans and earthblood elves. The house was decorated, Callum and Terry would bring home and evergreen tree (one that Terry picked) that they would all decorate, and the children would anxiously await the arrival of the winter spirit and the gifts he brought. The moonshadow and skywing elves celebrated the Snow Moon. For eight nights, they would light a candle, eat eclipse cakes and moon treats, and receive small gifts. The children loved both holidays but were still a little too young to understand the real meaning behind them. They would in time but for now their parents focused on getting them excited for the holidays. Not the hardest of tasks. The twins (while not old enough to understand the spiritual side of the holidays) knew all about the “fun” side and the triplets were starting to understand it as well. Even the dragon hatchlings were getting excited for what they were sure was going to be a great holiday season.