Lots to do...

Fiddlefaddle & Sneefle

The first thing the Dowager did when she and her son, the Baron, returned to the Mansion was to summons both their faithful servants Sneefle and the Baron's BAT man, Fiddlefaddle to the parlor.  "I will have several messages that will need to be sent out today," she told them.  "You will be using Parsley's Mushroom Line, the Dryad's Root Connection, Cornelia's Bee-Gs, my Flutterbys, and if you can get them to repeat the message without messing it up too much, even the Twitter Birds."

"But Dowager," answered Fiddlefaddle, "How will we summon so many?  I don't speak Bee-G and nobody but Parsley knows how the Mushroom Line communicates..."

Before he could continue Griselda cut him off.  "That is not your problem.  I will take care of that.  You will just need to give them the messages when they arrive.  Make sure that the right messenger gets the right message.  If I tell you that it has to go to a cave, make sure that the Root Connection make the delivery.  If the message is going to a mountain peak, then make sure the Twitter Birds get it.  I am sure that between the two of you, you will be able to figure out the best way to send the message.  Now I have to get busy writing messages. The Baron has his own tasks to do."  Knowing when they had been dismissed to get on with their work, both bowed and left the parlor.

"If the Dowager was writing the messages, what could be my task? thought the Baron.  Since just returning from the Council meeting, it struck the Baron that maybe someone should check on Dree.  As he brought the subject up to his mother, she realized that he was right.  No one had thought of how the one Dragon that was already in the Realm would feel if everyone else thought the Dragons' return was to be a dangerous situation.  Given the fact that Dree was a new Moon Dragon and unaware of the powers that he possessed, now would be a good time to make sure he was not upset or scared.  Upset or scared powerful Dragons could cause a few problems - especially when they are only partially trained.

As Griselda began writing messages Sneefle made the tea.  Fiddlefaddle,  after checking the windows and doors to see if any of the messengers had arrived, left to assist  the Baron like the good batman he was.  Together they took the stairs down to the tunnels under the Mansion.  The young Dragon had told him before he left the meeting that he was returning to his cave.  

For that the Baron was grateful.  "I have walked enough today without having to go searching for Hungry, oops, Dree, somewhere in the Shadows' Realm," he thought as he reached the bottom of the stairs.  Opening the door to the secret caverns below his mansion, he could tell that they had another visitor.  "Even the dirt on the floor is clean," he chuckled to himself about the house brownie.  "Granny Flare must have been here." 

Soon the Baron was in the chamber where Dree was sitting on a stack of pillows and reading a book.  At first the site of it surprised him, but after a moment, he started to chuckle.  "Why not?" he decided to himself.  "His teachers would be proud of how well the new Moon Dragon was applying himself to learning."

It was the chuckle that alerted Dree to the Baron's presence as he looked up from the book.  "Good day Baron.  Have you read this book yet?  It's fascinating!  It's all about Dragons.  Granny Flare left it for me to read." 

Deciding that it would be a good way to start the conversation he knew he would have to have with Dree, the Baron answered.  "No, I have never seen that one before. What can you tell me about your kin?"  Soon Dree was telling the Baron about the different types of Dragons and the things they could do... "Now, this one is a water Dragon and he can swim and use water to build things with.  Won't that be neat?  If I could do that I could make blocks of water with fish in them and then stack them up along that wall," as he pointed to a wall in the cave, "and watch them swim around without getting hurt." 

"It's funny that you said that," replied the Baron.  "Dree, you were at the Council meeting today and heard what the Dowager said.  Do you understand why we are all so concerned about the Dragons returning?"

The question made the young Dragon stare at the Baron for a minute.  Then he put the book down on one of the pillows and stared at the wall he had pointed to only minutes before, not saying a word.  After a short silence, Dree finally turned to look at the Baron and answered.  "Yes, I think I do.  You are afraid that with the return of the Dragons that whatever made them go away might happen again.  But maybe this time it will happen after something bad occurs.  You are here because you don't know what I will do now that I am a Moon Dragon."

As surprised to hear that the Dragon did understand his concerns, the Baron knew now was the time to ask his other question.  "What will you do?"

Again Dree did not answer immediately and after a longer pause than before, the Baron could barely hear his response, " I will keep all of my friends safe first!  But it looks like I might need to learn more about what it means to be a Dragon as well as a Moon Dragon." Dree then turned to pick up the book.  Looking at the Baron he asked, "Do you want to study with me?"