Page 134 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he says a bit grumpily.
“Of course it does.”
He snorts. “It appears we will have quite the long life to become bored with one another, Georgina.”
I smile at that. “I don’t know if you know this, Azrael, but a girl who enjoys reading isneverbored.”
“Witches, magical creatures, crows.Friends.” Emerson’s voice booms out from the speaker, and I know it reaches everywhere in witchdom. Everywhere in the world. “I’llhave a cleanup crew organized for first thing in the morning, but you know what we’re going to do right now?” She lifts afist and pumps it toward the crowd, the mess, the complicated and beautiful knot ofus. “We’re going tocelebrate. Happy solstice, St. Cyprian. May we appreciate the coming light.”
One Year Later
St. Cyprian Times
Happy New Year!
By: Emerson Wilde-North
Magical beings of St. Cyprian, we have made it through another fantastic trip around the wheel!
I wanted to look back at all of our accomplishments—thanks to the tireless work of your representatives in the Riverwood covenand, most importantly, the willingness of our community to see the hope in a new future of unity and connection.
Together, we are living up to the promise of this marvelous little town!
As the leader of the Riverwood, I know that we’re not perfect, and I want to remind you that we welcomeallcontributions to our monthly town hall meetings. No complaint, comment, or compliment will ever go unheard or unaddressedon our watch. Public investment in what we do as a coven ishowwe do what we do as a coven. Teamwork makes the dream work!
We have done a great many things over the course of our first year, always with an eye toward improvements to thetown and the wider magical world—as well as a great many things we canallbe proud of as a community of witches, familiars, fabulae, and crows.
Mr. Stanford Pendell has finished his compendium of thetrue historyof the witching world, sourced from his own lifelong research and full access to the witchlore archives. This will be thetextbook witches and magical creatures will use in their high school classes moving forward.
Speaking of books, the Riverwood fairy tale that played such a large role in the defeat of our predecessors has gone to print.This fall we will host a celebration of the book, the statue, and its honorable writer, the late Lillian Wilde. Business owners—pleasesee me for ways you can participate in what I hope will be an exciting new addition to our annual festival lineup!
We have welcomed many new additions to our community this year—many more magical additions than the last ten years combined!—includingthe Riverwood’s own Zelda Good-Rivers, born at Ostara on her late grandmother’s birthday. The happy parents thank everyonefor their well-wishes.
We are continuing to hammer out agreements with the crows to honor all the history involved. Crow Island remains closed towitches without direct invitation, but we are happy with our progress toward a greater sharing between magical communities,not without awareness of our complicated histories, but with hope for a brighter future.
The Free Archives initiative has been a great success. Our esteemed Historian Georgie Pendell has worked around the clockto make the archives open for all. Thank you to the Historian workers and volunteers for getting us as far as we’ve come.
The Frost School for Fabulae has opened. Great strides have been made by our formerly cursed children catchingup with their studies. As a bonus, Frost House no longer sits up on the bluff beneath its decrepit glamour, a great step forward for both the magical and human communities.
The fabulae wing of the witch hospital has also seen great success, though we are still seeking fabulae Healers to join theNorths in this endeavor. Remember, ask not what your community can do for you, but what you can do for your community!
As another new year dawns, we wish the same for all of you that we wish for ourselves:
Love. Hope. Unity.
And the best way to step into these wishes and make them come true is involvement in the St. Cyprian community. Our next townhall meeting will be at the end of January. Please join us and let your voices be heard!
Azrael puts the newsletter down on the nightstand next to him with a dramatic sigh. “And what, pray tell, do the humans readwhen they pick up such nonsense?”
I am sitting at my table, cleansing my crystals, Octavius curled in my lap. He was the first student enrolled in Frost’s fabulaeschool, and he comes home exhausted every day. But he is learning, and we’re finally communicating.
“Mostly just a recap of all the festivals, and Emerson had to assure them there was nothingsatanicabout including Yule decorations in the Christmas Around the World parade.”
I finish what I’m doing, lift Octavius and cradle him like the baby he is, then gently place my fairy cat on his bed on thewindow seat.
Then I turn to my dragon. My love. He has healed up nicely from his injuries at last year’s winter solstice. He still givesme his little gifts, only now I can thank him properly. I am, it turns out,verythankful.
But then, so is he.
