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Ramon’s head swiveled from side to side as he looked around the wedding venue. The sun was on the verge of setting, but the party was still ongoing. Hadn’t the ritual been completed when the skeleton ate the woman’s tongue? He was a bit confused, but he didn’t care. This was a day he got to spend on eating and lazing around; it was much more fun than studying. Coughing sounds caught his attention, and he glanced at Gloria. She was standing over a large heap of rice placed on a giant metal tray that Tafel had retrieved from who knows where.

Ramon leaned over and glanced at the golden rice. “Is it really that good?”

Gloria was practically inhaling the rice, occasionally sweeping up massive scoops by licking and curling her tongue around the heap before bringing it back into her mouth. She coughed again while keeping her mouth closed, a grain of rice flying out of her nostril. “You wouldn’t like it,” Gloria said after clearing her throat. “It’s not made of meat.”

“But there are eggs,” Ramon said, squinting at the rice. “An egg is just a piece of meat that hasn’t become solid yet.”

“It’s not the same,” Gloria said. She picked up some rice and flung it into Ramon’s mouth. “Ask the chef to make you some if you want it.” She brought the tray closer to herself. “Don’t eat all of mine.”

Ramon chewed, swallowed, and blinked before sidling towards his mother, who was lying next to Grimmy. The two adult dragons were watching the skeletons sing and dance, taking turns to point at skeletons. “Mama,” Ramon said. “Gloria won’t share her food with me. You said sharing is caring, and we have to do it more often, but she won’t let me eat any.”

Leila raised an eyebrow and looked at Gloria, who was practically covering the tray of rice with her wings and body. Leila patted Ramon’s head. “There’s plenty of food to go around,” she said. “You don’t have to share.” She gestured towards Helden, who was still working at the stoves. “If you ask nicely, I’m sure he’ll give you some.”

“You don’t even have to ask nicely,” Grimmy said and chuckled. After squinting at the crowd for a bit, he pointed at a skeleton. “There. Your turn.”

“What are you doing?” Vur asked, coming up to Grimmy and Leila. “Tafel wants to know.”

“We’re just playing a game,” Leila said. “We’re finding skeletons with hair matching the color of the previous skeleton’s shoes. Grimmy pointed at the skeleton with blue feathers for hair, and since it’s wearing brown shoes, I have to find a skeleton with brown hair. If you point at a skeleton that’s already been pointed at, you lose the round. If you can’t find a skeleton to point at, you lose the round.”

“Is it fun?” Vur asked and tilted his head.

“Fun depends on the people,” Grimmy said, nuzzling Leila’s cheek with his. His gaze swept past Vur to land on Tafel. “I’m sure you know all about that.”

Vur nodded and went over to the pile of bear meat. The dragons had been given free rein to eat as much as they wanted, but they hadn’t eaten everything. Vur picked up a piece of meat and stuffed the end of it into his mouth as he walked back to Tafel. He bit a chunk off, chewed, and swallowed. “They’re playing a game,” he said and offered Tafel the meat in his hand.

Tafel shook her head, gesturing for Vur to eat the bear meat. “So, they’re not picking out souls,” she said and placed her hand on her chest. “I was worried for a second.”

A strumming sound filled the air, and Tafel tilted her head up, her eyes twinkling. A deep baritone singing voice echoed throughout the venue while the sound of drums picked up. Tafel held her hand out towards Vur. “Would you like to dance?”

“Sure,” Vur said and stuffed the remaining bear meat into his mouth. A ball of water appeared in the air beside him, and he washed his hands inside of it. It dropped to the ground, the water seeping into the grass.

Ramon held a tray a fried rice with his front paws. He waddled on his hindlegs back to Gloria. His eyes landed on Vur and Tafel, who were walking through the crowd, towards the center where everyone was dancing. The holy dragon placed his tray down by his sister’s side and asked, “Where are they going?”

“They went to dance,” Gloria said, no longer shielding her rice from view now that Ramon had his own. He grabbed a pawful of her rice anyway and shoved it into his mouth before she could stop him. Her tail thumped against the ground, and a human screamed. Gloria flinched and looked behind herself. A red-faced fellow was sitting on his rump by Gloria’s tell, evidently having fallen from her previous action.

“S-sorry,” the man said and hiccoughed.

Gloria furrowed her brow and nudged the man with her tail, turning him to face away from her. She slapped Ramon’s paw. “Stop taking my rice!”

Ramon wrinkled his snout and blew on the back of his paw. “You didn’t used to be this mean.”

Gloria snorted. “I’m not being mean,” she said. “I’m asserting myself. You’re the mean one for taking my food when you have your own.”

Ramon scratched his head. Was he the one at fault? Maybe. But she didn’t have to resort to violence! She could’ve just taken some of his food back in return. He shook his head. Gloria changed so much after hanging around Grandma Kondra and Grandma Gren. Or maybe he was the one that changed? Ramon sighed and took a bite of his mound of rice. Although it wasn’t meat, it was delicious. He hummed to himself and licked his lips. He sat back on his haunches, taking in the sight of people dancing and the sound of the skeleton band singing. Although his life wasn’t perfect, he knew, in that moment, that it was good.

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