Who: Eliie MacFusty & the MacFarlane dragonlings What: Ellie babysitting = dragon adventures obviously When: Evening of the Cattery Party Where: An Nead, The Reserve Warnings: Little kids getting to see what dragons eat (hint: they are not vegetarians)
Even if she hadn’t been uninvited to the party, Ellie wasn’t sure she would have gone. She hadn’t even really left the Reserve since the Macmillan Party. It was safer with the dragons anyway. The furthest she had gone was the Urquhart Castle on Boxing Day, and then the MacFarlane home to pick up Fergus and Rhonna for their sleepover tonight.
Most of the time, Ellie kept her distance from the little ones. She knew that she wasn’t the best role model and preferred to have a buffer between her and developing minds. That was her excuse most of the time. But she had missed Christmas — essentially messed it up for a lot of people — and she may have owed Owen a night out. Even if he was still a sister-stealer, he was on her side. That counted for something.
“Auntie Elsie, Auntie Elsie, we get to see dragonlings now?”
They had just finished supper. A feat in of itself to convince the kids to eat vegetables and only completed on the promise of biscuits and dragons. Not that it was really much of a bribe; that had been the plan anyway. But if Ellie had learned anything from her mother, it was to play your cards close when it came to ickles. Ellie was sure mum still did this with her if their pre-Christmas conversation was anything to gauge, but it did work.
Before she had time to answer Fergus, Rhonna jumped in with the next question: “Do you ‘ave dragonlings in yer house? Auntie Florrie gave us book like that!”
Ellie paused a moment. Florrie still hadn’t reached out to her. It was fine, or at least it was within her right, but Ellie would like things to not be forever ruined between them. They were family and there was only so many family events that Ellie would be allowed to miss. Honestly she didn’t want to miss any of them, although she would.
She grinned. Tonight wasn’t about any of that. Tonight was going to be fun. “No, I’m the only dragon who lives in this house.”
Even the act of cleaning up after supper was an event, with levitating dishes and tiny humans jumping and racing to beat the dishes to the sink.
“Do you live here all by yourself?” Asked Fergus after a very spectacular interception of a cup. Kid had a career as a quid player if he wanted it.
“Well, no, Maddock lives here too. Along with Stephen who studies dragons.” Neither were at the house at the moment - Stephen with his family across the pond for the holidays, and Maddock at the Cattery.
“Study dragons?” Fergus was clearly trying to figure out what that meant, and Ellie was happy he focused on that point rather than the whole Uncle Mads part because Ellie wasn’t sure what the kids knew. “Like he reads about them?”
Ellie sent the last of the plates to the sink for washing and mussed Fergus’s hair with her free hand. “No, my little dragon, like he puts on his Wellies and expedition hat and goes looking for them in the wild.” Or the Reserve, technically, and also kept a smart distance, but that sounded way less exciting.
Rhonna came bounding over, not wanting to be left out. “‘Spedition hat?”
“Like this.” With a twirl of her wand, Ellie summoned two very smart looking hats, placing one on each of their heads. “Of course we’ll need a few other things if we’re going to go camping with the dragons.”
Rhonna put her hands on her hat, holding it to her head as she ran around the table roaring. While Ellie and Lorna may have grown up on the Reserve, and Ellie considered dragons as much her family as the actual people, it was amusing to see it be so novel to these kids.
“Come on, Rhonna, gotta focus or we’re not gonna get to go.”
Ellie laughed. While they might not be MacFustys in name, the spirit was there, and Ellie couldn’t deny that. “We’re also going to need a very special expedition pack. What do you think we should bring with us?”
What followed was a very entertaining twenty minutes watching tiny humans debate the merits of bringing marshmallows or a pot of begonias. They had finally decided on the appropriate items to put in their pack which did included the begonias (“dragons like smell-good flowers too!” according to Rhonna), as well as chocolate, and biscuits just in case. It was then only a small event to get them each appropriately bundled up with their insulated Wellies and winter coats.
“So as the leading dragon, you must stay close to me at all times. No running off, and certainly no losing your hat.” Ellie tapped the hat with her wand and it lit up. “Are we agreed to these most solemn of promises?”
The two little MacFarlane-dragons nodded, looking very serious. Ellie responded in kind and they were out the door, trekking across the small little island Ellie called home. The blizzard had left plenty of snow, but at least the wind had calmed down enough tonight that it wasn’t horrible to be out in the elements.
It wasn’t long before they arrived near den where the two adolescent dragons she and Merc had watched the other day made their home. She and Merc had been on brooms, this expedition was on foot, just a stone’s throw away from the action. It probably wasn’t the safest place to be, but it was certainly no worse than what the MacFusty sisters got up to when they were of a similar age.
“Ewww!” It came in chorus along with Ellie’s chortle. What did they think dragons ate?
Down below the two dragons were rather nicely sharing a Red Deer. That is, if watching two not quite enormous creatures tear apart another animal with with teeth could be considered nice. Ellie certainly thought so, but more along the lines that it was the way of the world.
She sat there, telling them tales - highly educational tales - about the two dragons she had named Callum and Kirsteen while sharing the snacks they brought. Even if the kids had nightmares about the deer, Ellie could at least argue that it was a learning experience. Circle of life and all that.
After some time, Fergus started to yawn and Rhonna started to whinge. Apparently they did have a bedtime that was to be upheld.
“Auntie Elsie, do we have to walk ALL the way back to the house?”
Ellie bopped his nose, shaking her head. “Don’t you remember what I said about camping?” She pulled out her wand, countering the disillusionment charm on the yurt just a few feet away. “Just need to get right there.”
She herded them into the yurt and recast the disillusionment charm as to not disrupt the dragons. It also had the benefit of an inside place while being able to continue watching the dragons down below. Inside the yurt was nothing special -- not even the fancy sort that was bigger on the inside. It was just a mattress with a whole bunch of pillows and sheets.
“We can sleep out HERE?” Fergus suddenly had a lot more energy than before, but Ellie suspected it was fleeting. She might not have known much about ickles, but she knew they didn’t have much endurance for this type of thing.
“If you want,” she said with a shrug taking off her own boots. Rhonna had already made up her mind on that one. Rhonna struggled out of her top layers before simply collapsing into the bed, making grabby hands for her plushy dragon.
“Thank you Auntie Elsie,” said Fergus giving her a big hug. “Thank you!”
So, Ellie might not have been so great with kids, but she knew her dragons, and apparently could figure out how to deal with kids who liked dragons. She pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You are very welcome, my sweet horntail.”