The sun was rising at the start of another day in the city of Warfang, and everyone was soon waking up, some with the sun, some a little later, depending on the person. Some were already up, and some were actually just going to sleep, tucking in for the day just like the stars and the moon did when the night was over. Being nocturnal had it quirks.
The point was, with the raising of the sun, the city was also raising once again, and everyone was starting to get up and get ready for another day at the dragon city. Including a certain purple dragon who we all already know.
Spyro was snoring softly in his bed when the first rays of day perked by his window and traveled by the ground until they hit his eyes. This made the purple dragon groan a bit, and use his paw to shield them as he slowly got up.
Spyro yawned wide, showing his big and flashy white teeth to the world, and he looked around his room. Just the same as last night. Spyro got up from the bed and stretched his body, and he already started to move his way, for he had things to do.
First of all, he made sure to put his bed in order, and as soon as it was done, he turned his attention to the door, and he got out of his room.
Spyro could hear his mother downstairs, and he just hoped that his dad was with her, however, his hopes were soon frustrated when he almost bumped on him on his way to the bathroom.
The black dragon, Exedra, was just drying himself up after his morning bath, and he looked at the purple dragon for a moment as they made a staring contest, with very much the same level of humor that they both had gone to sleep in the previous night.
"Good morning, father." Spyro said, almost coldly, and Exedra simply nodded, saying, "Good morning, Spyro." And he simply walked pass him, not bothering to say anything else, and Spyro was grateful for that. He didn't thought that he would handle another arguing with his father at such a early moment of the morning. He just wanted to finish what he had to do and go on his way without yelling and arguing.
Soon, Spyro was inside the bathroom, and he wasted no time in filling the miniature pool that they had with clean and fresh water, and diving inside, using it to clean his body from any taint and smell that he had gotten on him during the night. As soon as he was done, he jumped out of the pool and let the water slide away by the drain, as he picked up a urple towel and started to dry himself.
As soon as he was done, Spyro got out of the bathroom, and he knew what would come next. Breakfast with his family. Spyro dreaded that moment, as much as he dreaded coming back home after work since he started in the bakery, for it meant that he would have to spent a while with his dad, who totally disapproved the direction he had chosen for his life and was no afraid of saying it in Spyro's face.
He lost count of how many times he had insisted to his mom that he could eat in the way to the work, he even asked her to pack his breakfast so he could eat on the way, but she said that he needed to eat with them, so he and his father would have a chance to talk.
She seemed not to have yet understood that, since a while now, every time that Spyro and Exedra tried to talk to each other, it usually ended up in screaming and hurt feelings. So, Spyro was still forced to sit with him on the breakfast table and to eat with him, usually very silently as he prayed that it would end soon and that he would be able to get out of there as soon as possible.
Soon, as if a condemned walking to his execution, Spyro walked downstairs and to the kitchen, where both his mother and his father were already waiting for him. Galaxia smiled when she saw Spyro, and she quickly offered him a place to stay in the edge of the table.
The good news, it was far from his father, so he would have less chance to talk to him. The bad news, in that place Spyro was practically face to face with Exedra, once they both could look directly at each other, so Spyro would have to bear these eyes over him while he ate, what would actually not be that bad, if it wasn't for the clear reprobation that Spyro could see in them every time that he and his father traded looks.
Well, there was no way of avoiding it, so Spyro could at least end this quickly, and so, he sat on the table and he started to eat the roasted sheep that his mother offered to him, making sure to avoid looking at his father, who ate calmly at his own food.
Five minutes of silence, only broken by the sound of the dragons eating, when Galaxia finally tried to get them to talk to each other. "So, Spyro, I bet that things in work are being good."
"Yeah, they are, mom." Spyro said without raising his head, and he continued to say, "Apollonir says that I'm getting better and better, and that I have a lot of potential. We might work a lot today, there are a lot of requests that need to be finished and delivered."
"So, you will spend more time making candy." Exedra chimed in and Spyro had to bite back a very nasty answer. There was no way that he was going to fall for that one again. He was just going to finish eating and he was going to get out of that house as soon as he could before any fight could happen.
However, his father seemed to be quite wanting it to happen, for he continued. "You know, this thing of 'I wanna be a candy maker' was cute when you were a little hatchling, but you should have stopped with it by now."
Spyro dug his claws slightly in the ground as he was forced to hear this kind of thing right in the morning.
"Exedra!" Galaxia said, knowing full well that this was probably going to lead to another arguing if she did not interfered, but it was maybe already too late.
"Sorry if I'm not just a mindless dummy that dance as you play the music, Exedra." Spyro said, calling his father by the name and looking at him with ferocity in the eyes. Exedra snarled and showed his teeth slightly.
"You should wash your mouth to talk to me, young man."
"I will when you stop criticizing everything I do." Spyro said in a clear tone of defiance, and he walked away from the table, leaving his sheep only half eaten.
"Spyro!" Galaxia called, and Exedra said angrily "And where do you think you are going!?"
"To work!" He said, as he kept walking in direction to the door. "Don't you give me your back!" He heard his father say, and all he said was: "I'll be back late tonight. Lots of work, don't wait for me."
That was a lie. Spyro didn't had so much work that he would not come home. The truth was that he didn't wanted to come back home when his work was done. He knew that after this morning another meeting with his father would end up in yelling and maybe some name-calling, and Spyro was not in the mood to face it today.
"But… your breakfast…" Galaxia said to her son, feeling desperate as it seemed that another one of her attempts to make father and son have a nice talk and reconciliation was crumbling down like a house of cards.
"I lost my appetite." Was all that Spyro said as he didn't even turned around to say goodbye as he picked up his bag and the keys and he walked out home. The last thing he heard before closing the door behind himself was his father's mad voice saying: "This talk is not over yet, Mister!"
Oh, but it was. It was over and maybe for good. Spyro knew that he would not be able to live home for much more time if things keep on like that. Living with his father was starting to become unbearable. Spyro still did not understood why that stupid old lizard could not simply accept that Spyro had his own dreams on his life.
As Spyro flapped his wings and took flight, he felt the house he lived in being slowly left behind of himself, as he soared through the skies in direction to what truly made him feel calm and happy.
Spyro smiled to himself as he could see the bakery Frosted Dream, and the purple dragon landed safely in front of it as he walked inside, smiling to himself as he entered in the place, which already had some people in there, even being early in the morning, as Spyro was already moving to the kitchen to the place where he would be working.
"I'm late, sorry!" He said as he entered the kitchen, and he was first greeted by Apollonir himself, who smiled, and said, "Glad you arrived, we have a lot of work today."
Spyro smiled by hearing this, for this meant a lot of things to keep his mind busy and avoid thinking of his father. Now he was where he belonged, and he felt like he could be in there forever. Spyro loved baking, be it bread, sweets or anything else, he just loved working with it and being complimented by it, and he just loved to make a good work in there and being at the place that he just loved to be.
Spyro wasted no time in putting on his white apron and getting himself busy with the work. The first order was a round of Cheetah's Eyes, and Spyro was more than glad to do it. He loved all of the recipes that they made in there, and he already was able to make them all from memory, as well as everybody in there. Spyro was a very skilled baker, and it was easy to notice as the purple dragon put himself to work without wasting any time.
Soon he was preparing the pastry that would be the body of the cupcakes, and making them be inside their little recipients. And for the next minutes, Spyro combined his hand/paw work with his elemental abilities to make the cupcakes, not only making them efficiently, but also granting a very good show to whoever wanted to watch. It was amazing to see the purple dragon combine his elemental powers with a very swift hand/paw to work with the sweets and get them done at an amazing speed and ability. Even because anyone could tell that the purple dragon really loved what he did, and that reflected clearly on his work and on the way he did the things, with a passion so good that it was contagious.
And why Spyro would not be happy? After all, he was doing something that he simply loved, around people who, in general, admired it just as much as him. He could do just the thing that he loved and he would receive approval to it, and he didn't needed to worry about receiving nasty remarks as he worked and did the things he loved.
Yes, indeed, anyone who would look would say, and Spyro would truly agree with them, that the kitchen, the bakery, among all that work, that it was that purple dragon truly belonged.
And that was just perfect for Spyro.
The time passed and Spyro barely even noticed, as he was finishing making some frozen candies to put in a cake, by floating them in the air with his wind powers and freezing them solid with his ice breath, and making them adopt the shapes of perfect ornaments of elements.
It was for a birthday party of a young fire dragon, and so, the cake and the whole decoration of it were fire-based, with designs of flames and other things like that. It was beautiful to look at it, and Spyro made sure that it would be also delicious to anyone who would taste it. Spyro gently landed the last decors in the cake, making sure that they were solid enough to resist to the trip to the house for delivery, and so, Spyro finished by doing some flame element emblems with pastry and putting them as the last touch of the cake, making sure that it was in place and that it was absolutely perfect.
And right in time, for soon after, their delivery workers came to take the cake, and Spyro made sure that they were extra-careful with that cake, once the purple dragon had put a lot of effort in it, and he wanted to be sure that no one would screw it up. After all, that was a common worry of anyone who worked hard; they did everything perfectly and didn't want their work to be ruined because of someone else's mistakes.
As soon as they left, Spyro went to make his next order, a strawberry dream. Spyro soon put himself to work, b y picking up and cutting up the Snow Queen Strawberries and cutting them in smaller portions, and he started to mix it with the pastry and the sugar, and to bake it to make the pastry that would form the cake.
After a while, it was a matter of heating and cooling it down to perfection, and that was another situation in which the elementals powers came handy, for they made it far easier and faster to cook what under normal circumstances would take a while in a regular oven and then in the fresh air. The Strawberry dream was ready in no time, and soon after, Spyro had to prepare the decoration, covering it with pink colored pastry, and decorating it with Snow Queens all over, cut in half, and a few flowers of pastry to put in the cake, each one with a Snow Queen put in the middle of the petals, as the button of the flower, making it look really beautiful.
As soon as Spyro got it ready, the cake was taken to the balcony, to be exposed to who wanted to buy it, just like many of the things that they did, and Spyro knew pretty well that soon he would have to make another, once the Strawberry Dream was one of their most famous works, and they were in high demand from a lot of people in the whole Warfang, who wanted to have a sample of it or a piece of it for a special occasion or only for the pleasure of eating it.
Spyro loved to see this pleasure in other people, and that was one of the reasons why he loved to baking. He loved to see the happiness in other people's eyes and to see the way they felt delighted and happy by eating the sweets, especially if he had prepared them. He loved the feeling that he had somehow helped to bring a smile to their faces and to make their lives a little brighter by simply preparing something for them to eat, it was something that warmed his heart, and that was one of the things he loved the most in his job, the satisfaction that it gave him. That was the main reason why he loved so much being a baker and he loved doing this work, and that was the reason why he was so dedicated to learn the most he could and to be the best baker he could, so he could bring this happiness to people and receive recognizance for this.
But his father didn't understood that.
For him making the world better meant risking your life in dangerous missions in service of the crown or the army, meant fighting dangerous criminals and risking your safety to get them and making sure that they were in jail. Meant fighting in wars a spilling blood for the shake of people who Spyro barely even knew and whose opinion he actually didn't cared so much, only because of glory or another form of gratification.
Exedra just didn't saw that there were other kinds of ways of helping the world be a little better, simply by making something that would bring a smile to people's faces. By making their lives a little happier only for a few moments, and by making something that will make their lives more delicious and that will make them feel happier and good inside.
It was also a way of making the world a little better.
But of course that an old fashioned dragon like Exedra, an retired member of the royal guard, and who for years had served in the army, would not understand something like that. Of course that he didn't understood that only because you didn't risked your life everyday and didn't got your claws dirty with blood, both your own and form someone else, it didn't meant that you were doing nothing that would be useful or good to the world. That only because you were using your elements for something other than fighting it didn't meant that you were wasting potential or using them the wrong way. That only because you was doing something that didn't let you take full advantage of your big size, your developed muscles, you sharp senses and your natural abilities to fight and to do many other things, it didn't meant that you were wasting your potential and doing something useless and that you should search for something better to say so you could do all these things.
Spyro clenched his teeth as he thought of all the worse things about his relationship with his dad. Even being away from him his father still seemed to find a way to just ruin his day and his mood, and that was just the kind of thing that a dragon like him can do.
"Spyro?" The voice snapped Spyro out of his anger, and he turned his head to look at Apollonir, who was looking at him with a worried expression. "Is it something wrong?"
Spyro looked at him, and after a moment, he said, "Its… its nothing…" But he wasn't convincing, nor for Apollonir, nor for himself. After a few moments of silence, Spyro sighed, and he said, "It is my dad."
Apollonir nodded silently as he looked at the ground, he already knew the things that happened between Spyro and his father, Exedra Nightwing, since the day that Spyro had started to work and learn bakery with him. That old dragon surely seemed not to approve that his son was choosing to baker, and why, Apollonir could only wonder about it.
Just why a father would not be happy for a son to be doing what he liked to do and being successful at it? Was it so hard to be a little comprehensible? That kind of behavior completely puzzled Apollonir.
He looked at the purple dragon, who was still looking somewhat down as he seemed to reflect about it, and he even said, "Why it is so hard to him to be on my side? I mean… it would kill him if he just at once said something like 'hey Spyro, you are doing great', or maybe 'I heard you are making progress, I'm proud of you'. Man, I would be happy even if he said simply, 'calm down with the pastry, son'!"
Spyro sighed as he looked away, being clearly upset by this, and Apollonir said, after a few moments of respectful silence, "Spyro, can we go somewhere private? There is something I need to talk to you."
Spyro looked at him for a few moments, and he nodded, and so, both he and Spyro went to Apollonir's office, in another part of the store, and they both entered and locked the door, being left alone.
There were a few moments of silence, and after that Apollonir said, "Spyro, it has been great having you in my bakery." He was sincere when he said it, as he looked at the purple dragon, and he continued "You are one of the most talented young minds I have ever met and you seems to really love baking, more than a lot of other people I ever saw before, and believe, I have already saw many."
Apollonir looked straight at Spyro's eyes when he said it, "Spyro, you are an amazing person, and I like all of that and much more about you. You are such a promising young man, and I can see a great future ahead of you. I'm really proud of you"
Spyro was able to smile at this, and he said, "Thank you. I wish my dad would say something like that." He said, looking at the ground once again, and he continued. "Apollonir, you have gave me support and encouragement ever since I came here in the first time, and you are always being kind to me and seeing things my way."
He grunted, "While Mr. Exedra can only think about criticizing everything I do and telling me that I'm not doing things good enough. Now it is only left for him to say in my face that I'm his biggest disappointment." His tone was very bitter as he said every and each one of these words, and he took a deep breath. "Truth is that… in the last months, you have been much more a father to me than him."
There was a heavy silence as Spyro said that, and the purple dragon continued. "I mean, you act like you care for me and for my future, you give me support in my choices, and you always encourages me to do what I really like doing. And as we are always together, I can't help but feel like we are somehow a family."
"Is because we are a family, Spyro." Apollonir said, looking at the purple dragon in the eyes. "We all in this bakery are like a big family, as we always work together and support each other the best way we can." There was a pause, and the red dragon took a deep breath, and he said, "You know, I never had kids of my own."
Spyro looked up at the red dragon, who looked a bit sad as he said these words, and he continued, "So, I always tried my best to share what I know with everyone who I teach, and they have to come to be my family. I did it for all of them, including you."
He raised his eyes to look at the purple dragon's ones, and he said, "Spyro, you are so promising and you love so much what you do. The truth is that… I see a lot of myself in you, is almost as if I'm looking at younger version of myself… Spyro, you are like the son I never had."
Spyro blushed as he felt flattered by that, and who wouldn't be? And Apollonir continued. "So, after hearing about the problems you were having with Exedra, I thought about it long and hard and, I guess it could happen."
"Huh?"
"I mean, you are legally an adult, and if you decide to accept it, then you could do it without any problem, and Exedra would have legally no saying on the matter, but only if you truly want so, otherwise, I fully understand."
"What do you mean?" Spyro asked the red dragon, not getting what he was trying to say, and then Apollonir looked at Spyro in the eyes, and nothing could prepare the purple dragon for the next words he was going to hear.
"Spyro, I want to adopt you."
Spyro was taken aback by that, and he could only look at Apollonir with wide eyes. He was sure that he had heard it wrong, and that Apollonir couldn't have really meant what he just said. However, a single glance at Apollonir's eyes, at the expression that he had on his face, was enough for Spyro to know that what the really meant every single word that he had just said. And this, of course, turned out to leave Spyro at an even greater loss of words.
For a long moment, Spyro looked at him, and he said a simple: "W-what?"
Apollonir looked at him, and he said, "Spyro, I want to adopt you." The red dragon was looking in the purple dragon's eyes as he said it, wanting to make sure that his intentions were clear and true. "I have thought a lot about it, and I talked to some people about all the implications of it, and it seems that if we want to do it there is no problem at all."
"Spyro, you are legally an adult, what means that you can accept if I'm going to adopt you or not, and if you come to accept, than not even Exedra could have any saying in this. You would come to live with me, of course, and you would be my rightful heir in all the aspects. But it will only happen if you really want."
Apollonir looked at Spyro's eyes one more time, and he sighed, as he said, "Spyro, I know you are unhappy in your home, and don't mistake yourself, I don't want to steal you from your family or anything of the like. I just want what is best for you. I always had." With that said, he looked deeply in Spyro's eyes, and he said to him, "So, Spyro, you want me to adopt you?"
There was another silence, as Spyro simply looked at the red dragon with a dumb-folded expression, and after a while, Apollonir said, "Yeah, I guess it is not the kind of thing you can simply dump at someone. I mean, I'm sure that you don't want to leave your mother and your home like that, form one hour to another, and I guess it would be selfish of me to ask you to take this decision like that, all of sudden. If you wanna take some time to think about it, then-"
"I accept." Spyro said all of sudden, and now it was Apollonir's turn to look at him surprised.
"Huh?"
"I want you to adopt me." Spyro said at the red dragon, who looked back at him. "I can't even live in my house anymore, and Exedra don't understands me, so I want to go with you. I want you to adopt me."
Apollonir looked at Spyro for a few moments, before he said, "Spyro, I know that you are mad with Exedra and all, but I don't want you to accept my offer only because of that."
"It is not." Spyro said vehemently at the red dragon, "You have been more supportive to me than Exedra had been in the past months. You understand my feeling and you want me to be truly happy by doing what I want."
Spyro looked at him as he said it, "You have been more a father to me than he has, and I don't need to do only what you want to please you, and I guess that it would be much better to live with you than with him, the ways thing are going back home. Actually, I have been wanting not to go back in there for a while now."
"OI know that mom will get sad with this, and that I'm gonna miss her, but I just can't live in the same roof as Exedra anymore." Spyro was not even bothering calling Exedra his father anymore. It was true, Spyro had been wanting to leave that house and not come back there, once that every time that he got in there it would have only screaming and fighting and hurt, and Spyro had already got sick of it.
Exedra would only criticize him and make him feel bad for not be doing what the black dragon wanted him to do; he would make Spyro feel like he was doing something wrong and that he was wasting his time by doing what he really wanted to do. Apollonir, on the other hand, wanted only to help him be the best on his own way, he supported Spyro when it came to Spyro doing what he wanted to do, and he was willing to help Spyro to be the best baker he could, and he supported him no matter what would come. Apollonir really felt more to a father to him than Exedra had been in the last months.
Spyro knew that he wanted what Apollonir just said, and he knew that it would be the better for him. It was not only because Apollonir had no troubles with him being a baker, it was because Apollonir supported him and understood him, and Apollonir wanted what was best for him. He wanted Spyro to be happy by doing what he loved the most, and so, Spyro had no doubts at what he wanted.
Even if it was sudden, even if it meant leaving his house and his mother, who was still being supportive for him to do what made him happy the most, Spyro knew that he had to accept it. He knew that it was the best thing he could do.
It was not only because he was mad at Exedra, it was because he knew that he would be much happier living with Apollonir, and that was why he had to do.
"I really want you to adopt me." Spyro said to the red dragon, without a shadow of doubt on his face. "I really know that I want it, and that it will be the best for me."
Spyro sounded sure and honest as he said that. Apollonir could see it pretty well, and he could feel the decision in Spyro's voice and also on see it in his eyes as he looked at the purple dragon, and this left no doubt that Spyro really wanted it.
Apollonir didn't expect such a straight forward decision like that. He was expecting Spyro to think about it and to maul it over by the next day or two, before he would be sure enough to give his answer. However, Apollonir could really see that the purple dragon seemed to be completely sure of what he was saying and of the decision that he was taking, and how it would affect his future, and he seemed to be totally ready to make this decision and that he had no true doubts about all of that.
But the red dragon didn't saw any problem with that. Actually, he was very happy that Spyro seemed to be having consideration over this, and he felt really touched that Spyro really was so ready to accept his invitation and to be officially his son. It almost made his eyes water, but Apollonir had to keep his composure in there.
"Well… I guess it settles it then." The red dragon said to the purple one, offering him a smile, "We still need to put over some of the legal measures, and it might take a month or two, but I guess that it will all go nicely."
Spyro smiled, and he said, "I can't wait to have it all shorted up." The purple dragon said, and he sighed, as he spoke the next part, "So, I suppose that now I'm going to live with you, right?"
"Well, yeah, I guess. But it doesn't have to be right away, unless you want."
"I want." Spyro said, not wanting to get back on his house and to face Exedra again. "Really, I don't think I would be able to come out of that house alive if I told Exedra in his face that he would no longer be my father. It would have much more yelling if I told him that, and I don't want to face him right now."
Apollonir nodded, he understood that things were getting more and more difficult as the time passed, and that if Spyro told to Exedra bout the thing of the adoption, the black dragon would most likely not react nicely.
"So, what about your things?" He asked to the purple dragon, who shrugged and said simply, "We can send someone to grab it later, I don't want to put my paws in that house again and face Exedra once more."
Apollonir nodded, and he said, "So, I guess it is all settled then?" He asked, after a long moment of silence, as he looked at the purple dragon, almost expecting, and then, Spyro was actually able to smile at him.
"Yeah, I guess it is… dad." Spyro said, that word being more meaningful to Apollonir than anything that he had heard in the last twenty years of his life. Apollonir smiled at Spyro, and he did not expected the purple dragon to lean forward on him and to hug him with his wings.
The red dragon was taken aback by the purple dragon's actions, as the dragon hugged him with his wings, and nuzzled at him with his neck. After a few moments, the red dragon smiled, and he started to return the hug, a few tears perking from his eyes as he hugged the purple dragon like he would hug his own son. There was a long moment as both purple and red dragons only hugged each other, and they both had smiles in their faces as they finally separated.
Apollonir sniffed and wiped away the small tears on his face as he looked at Spyro. "Sorry, I tried to be mature in here, but I end up being too sentimental."
"It's okay." Spyro said to him, smiling, and he sighed. "Well, I better get back to work now."
Apollonir nodded, and he said, "Yeah, we can go back home together at night, and e can talk more calmly in there."
Spyro nodded, and he said, "Yeah, sure, dad."
That word, when talking it to Apollonir, was coming out so easy and naturally, and it felt good to call Apollonir that. Spyro really liked it, and he felt good calling that dragon, who understood him so much and who was so supportive to him, just like a parent would. The idea of being Apollonir's son, it was something that somehow appealed to Spyro, and he was discovering that he indeed, loved very much that idea.
Apollonir smiled as he felt touched that the purple dragon was so straight-forward into accepting his offer, and he great by it. He simply nodded as Spyro went out, to back to his work. Apollonir was left alone into the room, and he allowed himself to smile as he was left alone, and he sighed as he wondered about the future, and just what was going to bring the future. Apollonir didn't known, but he knew that it somehow seemed to be brighter to him.
Spyro felt much happier as he was working that day, and it was easy to notice in the way that he was working.
Some people even asked what was the talk that he had with Apollonir, once he came back with much more enthusiasm to work and with much more happiness, and that people would easily notice it. Spyro didn't answered, though, he simply smiled, and resumed his work in silence, but seeming far brighter when he was already, and letting it show in the happiness with which he did his work.
The day passing with making more orders and more sweets to be sold, as well as bread of all kinds, sweet and non-sweet, and Spyro was happy for working in there, more than he usually was, for he felt like there was a very good change into his future.
For the first time in a while, Spyro felt like he would be back at the at arriving in a home where people would not criticize him and that he would not feel like he was being constantly reproved by the choices he was making in his life. He felt like he would be able to have a nice home and a welcoming ambient in a house that would be his', and that he would not need to give up the things that he liked only to please the people who he lived with.
It seemed that now the things were getting better, and it was enough to make Spyro feel better with himself and reflect it in the way that he was making his work and baking.
The day passed with Spyro reading the orders, and making some other chores around, but mostly baking, and he had just finished the preparation of another Strawberry Dream when he received the notice that one of the responsible for making the deliveries was going to be absent for his mother was sick. It meant that there would be less deliveries made today, and that would get in the way of their income of the day.
Spyro had finished his orders, and he was more than willing to do the delivery, so he offered himself to do it, after all, he had no trouble to travel around into the city, and he didn't saw any problem in doing the delivery, after all, he already did it a few times. Spyro was so satisfied with the things had happened in that day that he would be willing to do most anything that they asked him, even if they asked him to fly around the city three whole times, he would do it gladly and without a single complaint.
Soon, Spyro was on his way, with two cakes in his paws, carefully balanced as the purple dragon flew on his way to somewhere else of the city, and he had a smile on his face the whole time.
The delivery was made on the other side of the city, near a big park. He gave it to two polar bears, who would soon hold a party in their house, maybe that same night, to celebrate the birth of their nephew, of something of the like, Spyro didn't had much time to think of it, for he soon noticed that there were some people crowding in a part of the park, conveniently near of the place that he was at the given moment.
"Have you seen it already?"
"It is for real?"
"I guess so!"
"Man, this is so awesome!"
"Count me in!"
"I'm gonna win it, and that is for sure!"
Spyro looked at the people who were talking a lot about that, and this had been enough to get his interest, and to fuel his curiosity and to make him want to go in there so he could see just was it that everyone was talking about.
As he got closer, he could hear better what people were talking, though they all talked at the same time, Spyro was able to get enough so he got even more curious.
"Man, I'd love to win it!"
"I bet I can make the judges droll over my sweets!"
"They say that Apollonir Fireheart himself studied in there."
"They only accept the best. If you are not good then they don't accept you even if you pay."
"They only take a handful each year."
"The standards are high."
Spyro was getting really curious to see what it was all about, and purple dragon now was really wanting to see what it was all about.
"Excuse me." The purple dragon said as he was passing by the dragons on his way and ahead of him, and trying o open his way to see just what was it that made everyone just so excited about it.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Please, let me pass. I want to see it, please. Oh, sorry miss."
It was being harder than Spyro expected, for it seemed that a lot of people were in there, and they all were having a lot of interest in what was it and Spyro was having to literally open his way among the crowd if he wanted to have any chance of seeing it. The things he was hearing only fueled him to want to look at it more and more, like how people mentioned about sweets, and about Apollonir, and at one moment, Spyro could only hear it all and he could come to the conclusion that it was all about something related to baking, but what, was the thing that Spyro wanted to know and that gave him the drive to move forward and to be there so he could get a good glimpse of what it was all about.
Spyro needed to make a lot of effort, but he was able to open his way through the sea of creatures on his way, being careful not to step in the smaller ones, at the same time that he had to force the bigger ones out of his way, so he could at last get a good glimpse of what was it that they were all looking at.
At one point, Spyro finally got close enough to see what it was, once he was able to make two other dragons, a orange one and a indigo one, to open space to let him fit among them, and the purple dragon could, at last, see what was it that made everyone around take a good look and talk among themselves so much.
It was a sigh, which was let in the middle of the park so people would see it. It was in shades of red, and it had a very good look in it, as it seemed to be a work of professionals, and it was saying, in big letters on the front: GREAT BAKING CONTEST OF THE SCHOOL OF CULINARY STRONGHEART.
And right beneath it, was written: win a chance of studying in our school.
Of course, Spyro knew what was the School of Culinary Strongheart. Everybody how was a chief or baker of self-respect would know just what it was. It was simply the most famous and renowned school of culinary in the kingdoms. Famous for having made some of the best chiefs and bakers of the kingdom, including Apollonir himself, who had the chance of studying in there and he became what he was today, a great baker, famous in Warfang and out of it.
It was said to have some of the best as the teachers, and they only accepted you if you really had talent for the art of culinary, be it being a chief or being a baker, and that was why everyone wanted to study in there, and also the reason why only the best got the chance of doing so.
By reading the first lines, Spyro got a feeling on his guts. Could it be true? The purple dragon continued to read what was written into the sign that was put in there, line by line.
This year, the renowned School of Culinary Strongheart is going to hold in Warfang a baking contest, to choose the next students of the new baking classes.
The contest is open to everyone who has experience with baking and who has the indication of a professional baker and who works as an apprentice. The inscription costs 20 gold coins.
The contest will consist into a competition of baking in which there will be creative and technique contests, and the best of bakers will receive free scholarships to study in the school.
The contests will be held into the main park of Warfang, and it will be evaluated by a group of judges that will evaluate the presentation, style and skill of the competitors, and them will decide which ones shall enter the school and win the scholarships.
The contests will last for two whole weeks, and only the best shall win.
Do you have baking skills? Then come! We are all waiting for you.
Once Spyro finished reading, he only kept staring at the sign with wide eyes and mouth slightly open. He felt like his legs suddenly were like made of jelly and that his body was trembling slightly from pure excitement.
The purple dragon could barely even believe that it was true, and he felt like it was some kind of sign that the Ancestors themselves had put in there just for him to find.
The School Strongheart was the most famous of all the schools when it came to culinary and to all its facets. Spyro knew it full well, and he knew that the chance of studying in there was one in a million, because the standards were too high. They only took around twenty students each year, and they only accepted you if they really believed you had what it took to be one of the best. It didn't mattered if you had money or if your family was important, if you didn't had the skill needed, then you shouldn't even bother trying to enter. And even if you entered, the school cost really a fortune each month, in a way that really not everyone would be able to enter it and study in there.
They had their own ways of choosing who could enter or not, and now, it seemed that they were holding on a contest of baking in order to choose the students of their next classes, and not only that, but they were also offering free scholarships to the winners, offering them a chance of studying in the school totally for free.
It was something that could happen only once in your life, and it was literally the chance of a lifetime to have the chance of studying in there.
Spyro was so excited that he was barely even able to contain himself, as he felt his whole body shaking from sheer emotion.
Just in the same day that Apollonir had offered to adopt him, Spyro finds out this chance. This amazing chance of studying in the very same place that Apollonir had studied, and that helped him be the one he was today, and that could do the same for Spyro.
Spyro had dreamed of studying in there, but he would need the chance to call their attention, so they would notice him and give him the chance of being their student, so he could be all that he could, and he would learn all that he needed to be successful. Spyro knew that he was skilled, he had heard it from Apollonir many times already, and he knew that he could do it well in that contest if he got in it. Spyro knew that he was going to face a lot of other competitors with the same dream, and who all were skilled and wanted that same thing just as bad as him.
Still, Spyro wanted to participate. He wanted to try and to go for it, for it was exactly a chance that he had always hoped and always dreamed since he decided to be a baker. It was the kind of thing that didn't happened every day, and was the kind of chance that he had to grab with all he could before it would slip away from his grasp and lose itself, maybe forever.
So, after a few moments, Spyro turned around, and he fought his way outside of the crowd, much more anxious this time, as he wanted to find a space wide enough for him to open his wings and take flight and fly back to the bakery, to tell Apollonir, his new father, about the contest and about his plans to enter it and to win the scholarship.
As Spyro went across the crowd, and as he finally was able to spread his wings and flap them enough to raise himself from the ground and fly to the open sky, he could not help but wonder just how good things were getting that day, and how things seemed to be turning alright for him.
Now, once again, things seemed to be turning better for his future.
