Jahrra stared up in wonder, not wanting it to end. Blazing streaks of blue, green, red and white whizzed by as tiny highlights or brilliant fireballs. She imagined that the larger meteors were the Oak’s leaves and the smaller ones the Pine’s needles, falling to the earth from the heavens just as they fell from the branches of the trees in Oescienne. Jahrra tried hard to keep her eyes open for the entire show, but the long journey to the valley had proven exhausting, and she, Gieaun and Scede were soon fast asleep.
Hroombra looked down at the three young ones and smiled. He secretly hoped they would always remain as intuitive as they were now, and he hoped even more that Jahrra would always have her two friends with her. As he curled around the children like a wolf around its pups, he thought of Jaax and wondered where he was now. He often thought of the younger dragon, especially since Jahrra had arrived on this earth. How wonderful it would be, thought Hroombra, to have Jaax here now. How happy he would be if he didn’t have the outside world to distract him, but then again, how wonderful it would be for all of them.
Hroombra kept his eyes pointed towards the stars as he tried to remember when the last time was he’d seen Jaax content. He shook his head in regret when he realized it had been far too long ago. He let out a slow sigh as he slowly drifted off to sleep. The gap between the conscious and unconscious world slowly closed, and the old dragon found himself wondering if Jaax would ever truly be happy again. He hoped that somehow, someday, Jahrra could make them all happy again.
-Chapter Eight-
A Long, Cold Winter
Abdhe realized the second he let the apple drop that Jahrra wasn’t staying on task.
“Jahrra, pay attention to what you’re doing!” he called down to his oblivious daughter.
She was daydreaming again and the loose apple narrowly missed her head. Instead, it hit the leaf littered ground with a loud, hollow thlunk.
Summer had been over for weeks now and the autumn season was well under way. The first several weeks of school had been grueling, what with the twins’ taunts and jibes, but Jahrra had expected that. Her school lessons were proving to be harder than last year’s, but she really didn’t mind as much as she claimed to. She enjoyed learning; it was her classmates she couldn’t stand.
“Be sure to add that apple to the basket, Jahrra. It may be bruised, but it’s still good,” her father added as he reached carefully for another bright red fruit several feet in front of him.
“Why must we pick so many apples?” Jahrra asked wearily, struggling with the heavy whicker basket as she bent down to pick up the apple that had almost hit her.
“We don’t want to be unprepared for winter. After the frost arrives, there’s no going back.”
Jahrra plopped the apple into the basket churlishly and looked up. All she’d been doing after school lately was harvesting and preserving fruits and vegetables. She heaved a great sigh and got back to picking the apples still within her reach.
“I know a seven year old has more interesting things to do than pickle beets and dry potatoes, but you’ll be grateful when you have food for the winter,” Abdhe commented matter-of-factly as he climbed down the creaking ladder.
“Seven-and-three-quarters,” Jahrra corrected, taking a bite out of one of the crisp fruits.
“That’s right,” her father laughed, hopping onto the ground and ruffling her hair. “I’m always forgetting.”
Jahrra made a face. How could her own father forget how old she was?
“Well, that’s the last of the apples.” Abdhe dusted off his hands and straightened his coat. “I’ll go check on the smokehouse and see how the meat is coming along. Go in and see if your mother needs any help.”
He lifted the great, bulging basket of fruit Jahrra had collected and headed toward the small wooden hut leaking smoke like a sleeping dragon. Jahrra scampered into the family’s warm kitchen, eager to get out of the chill air while she anticipated the mashed potatoes and roast chicken her mother was preparing for dinner. Like her father said, winter was approaching and she had a feeling it would be a long one.
Autumn passed by rather slowly with everyone lying in anticipation of the harsh months ahead. Before long, Jahrra and her family were finished with all of the pre-winter chores. Now the only thing left for them to do was to sit and wait anxiously for the first frost. Sobledthe, the celebrated harvest day, came and went, and soon the winter Solsticetide was only a month and a half away.
The first frost came early, just as the farmers had predicted, and Jahrra’s parents insisted on dressing her more warmly against the chill. Jahrra hated it, but she could always take the miles of clothes off at school. This, of course, elicited rude remarks from the twins.
“I didn’t know your parents could afford so many clothes!” Eydeth exclaimed the first day they had been forced to dress against the icy weather. “They must be going around wearing nothing but rags!”
The laughter grated at Jahrra, but she was determined to ignore them this year. The three friends moved as far away from Eydeth as possible, and on their way to their secret corner of the schoolyard, they heard Ellysian preaching to a flock of girls scuttling after her, “You must always dress appropriately for each occasion, and you must always act like a lady so the boys will like you.”
“Yick, how boring!” Jahrra said, making a face through the scarf that covered most of it.
“I bet she doesn’t even know how to ride a horse!” Gieaun added in disgust.
Scede simply shook his head in distaste and the trio went about their own business, climbing their favorite oak and pretending to be the heroes in Hroombra’s stories.
The Solstice break seemed like it would never come, but like all things it eventually did. Jahrra’s eighth birthday arrived two days later and she received the archery set she’d wanted so badly. Her parents had scraped and saved for nearly a year to get her the best bow, quite large for such a young girl but guaranteeing she’d never outgrow it. Jahrra was moved to tears from the gift and she treasured it above everything else. Hroombra gave her a small book on the wildlife of Oescienne, written and illustrated by the elves of Felldreim (so he claimed), and Gieaun and Scede bought her a rather nice quiver for her arrows.
Jahrra rued the day that their vacation came to an end. She’d enjoyed her rest from the twins, her lessons with Hroombra and her free time with Gieaun and Scede and a constantly growing Phrym. The time off had renewed her outlook on everything around her, giving her a new appreciation of what she had.
It would be hard going back to the schoolhouse in Aldehren, but by the end of the Solstice break, even the knowledge of facing Eydeth and Ellysian didn’t get Jahrra down. Nothing, not even the twins, could take away the joy she felt for having such wonderful friends and family. Nothing, that is, except the one thing she couldn’t possibly prevent or prepare for.
The days passed and the winter proved to be much worse than predicted, and yet the land still had to endure a few more months of its deadly grasp. Every morning Jahrra woke to find the pastures and fields coated with ice. There’d even been snow on the lower hills, something that never happened in this part of Oescienne. Everyone was living on a short supply of food, for no one had prepared for a winter quite as long or harsh as this one. Sometimes people would even come by the cottage, begging for food. Luckily, Abdhe and Lynhi had stored up plenty.