Merry Christmas everyone!

Special music choices for you this time: Christmas songs! But they're good at any time of the year, so please listen to them anyway.

All I Want for Christmas is You, by Mariah Carey. (There's another version that I prefer, but I can't recall where I heard it and it's a bit annoying...) This is a song without religious overtones or baby Jesus, but it's about a different side of Christmas, and it's a romantic song.

Do they Know it's Christmas? Band Aid (the 1984 version is definitely the best one.) This song is definitely worth a listen, it's not a classical Christmas song, but it has beautiful music and a message worth thinking about.

Story now:

"What's wrong?"

Seizo looked up as Miasma approached him, he was glad she'd showed up at that moment, he had been just starting to get frustrated and she had always and would always make him feel better. He gave her a smile, she returned it shyly.

"Nothing's wrong really. I was just thinking."

"Are you playing chess against yourself? Warfang isn't as interesting without Spyro here, and I also want to talk more with Cynder too, she seems really nice."

Miasma sat down next to the young earth dragon, Seizo wanted to put his wing around her like Spyro had done for Cynder, but he also didn't want to make her uncomfortable at all, so he just touched his tail against hers instead.

"I'm not exactly playing chess. I'm just using the board to help me think. Malefor almost seems to be playing a game against us, he practically threw Thoran at Warfang. It was a deliberate move, like a sacrificial piece, and I can't help but feel that he did it to further some plan."

"So you're sort of playing against Malefor?" Miasma asked.

"Well, Warfang's not as interesting when Spyro's gone. Malefor could be good challenge."

Miasma looked at the board. Seizo had used only black pieces, and the positions seemed to be random, not like a normal game of chess.

"The pieces aren't divided into black and white." Miasma noted.

"Neither is life." Seizo said. He moved a piece, Miasma watched him think.

She had always loved his mind; she could almost see it working behind his eyes, watching them flicker around, never remaining still for long as new thoughts constantly occurred to him. She enjoyed trying to decode his thoughts; their shared love of puzzles had been one of the things that had drawn them together from the start.

She returned her attention to the chessboard, using the movement to edge ever so slightly towards him, they were almost touching. One of them would only need to reach out. Seizo moved the same piece he had moved before back to its first position, and then sighed.

Miasma recognised that he'd run out of thoughts for that moment. She could talk without distracting him now. Seizo didn't mind her interrupting, she knew her conversation was welcome at any time, but she still didn't like being disruptive at all.

"So what do each of the pieces mean?" Miasma asked, trying to make sense of the board. She did like puzzles, perhaps she could help.

"Each one represents one of the major players in this game. There's Malefor, Thoran was here but his piece has been sacrificed and removed now. Malefor has the ability to create an army of orcs, pawns really, but if he hasn't used them on us then where are they? The guardians have pieces. Flare isn't with them because she went to Shattershelf just after Spyro and Cynder left. Spyro and Cynder should have reached Darkmire's tomb by now, I've left their piece there because I can't tell where they're going next."

Seizo indicated the piece that marked Spyro and Cynder.

"Why are Spyro and Cynder represented by just one piece?" Miasma asked, the symbolism of that had a romantic quality to it, she thought it was a nice representation of their unity but she doubted that was why Seizo had done it.

"Because of the chain that was put on them. I've given our traitor a piece as well." Seizo tapped another piece. "Now Spyro and Cynder can't separate, can't travel alone, it makes them easier to predict and control. Good strategy, I can see why Malefor found the chain so useful."

Miasma mused on that for a while.

"I thought Cynder was very nice too." Seizo said spontaneously. "Spyro had never been exaggerating about her."

"What?" Miasma asked, surprised by the change in topic.

"You mentioned Cynder when you sat down, I didn't really answer because I was distracted, sorry about that. I thought I'd bring it up again now. So what did you and Cynder talk about? You seemed to get along."

"Ah, well…" Miasma glanced away shyly. "We talked about you…"

Seizo blinked.

"Really? All good things I hope. Or at least about forty percent good things? Forty percent is a nice amount."

"Closer to sixty percent good things." Miasma said, with a little smile. Before she could let her nerves get the better of her she nudged Seizo with her shoulder and allowed the contact to linger for a second.

They sat there for a while longer, neither one saying anything.

"We used to talk easier than this." Seizo said. Miasma smiled.

"Before you admitted that you liked me."

"We can go back to just being friends, if you want. Just being around you is enough for me."

"No. I don't want to. We just need to work it out. We can start with… this." Miasma properly leant across and rested her shoulder against Seizo; he curled his tail around her and gave her a smile.

"This is a good start." He tucked his wing over Miasma and she hummed happily. "What do you think about Imperia?" He asked.

"Do you mean about her now being the first Wind Guardian in dragon history, or about her and Volteer finally officially getting together?"

"Either. Both."

"Imperia always seems to be in a good mood, you know what she's like, but I still think she's never been happier. I'm really happy for her and Volteer."

"What about Flare?" Seizo asked. "All three of them have been doing a sort of 'will they or wont they' thing for ages now, everyone can see it, even Spyro could."

"I think that they're an absolutely adorable couple. Flare might play at being offended, but she'll join them soon enough. The three of them were always going to get together eventually."

"You seem to have this all worked out."

"It's like a puzzle. I've learnt this whole predicting other dragons thing from you anyway." Miasma smiled, gently poking fun.

Seizo nodded, that was a fair point.

"So how is Volteer?"

"Volteer's injuries from his fight with Thoran have just about healed, Imperia hadn't left his bedside for most of that time but he was released yesterday."

"And Cyril immediately had him up in front of half of Warfang as part of the official selection ceremony for Imperia being Wind Guardian."

"No, you misremember." Miasma laughed, Seizo felt her laughing through his side, and it was a nice sensation. "Volteer hadn't been discharged from care before the ceremony, but Cyril just made sure he was there anyway, so it was 'done properly' according to him. Then he sent Volteer back off to the healers before the actual celebration. It put Cyril in a bit of a ruffle that Flare was all the way away at Shattershelf, but even he couldn't demand that she come back for this."

"What's the news on the other dragon? The earth dragon who arrived from Darkmire's Tomb a few days ago?"

"Nestoc is his name, I found out he's actually Flora's older brother, she and Cyria have been looking after him. He was in no condition to tell us what happened there when he arrived, but he's recovered a lot over this morning- oh!"

"What is it?"

"I am so sorry; I completely forgot why I came here! The guardians will be talking to Nestoc in half an hour, Terrador wanted you to come. Cyria told me a bit of what she heard when Nestoc woke up; Sparx started questioning him the moment Nestoc opened his eyes until he was told to stop. Apparently Nestoc knows where Spyro and Cynder are going. He said something about Malefor having a test for them."

"A test… I wonder…" Seizo rapidly moved Spyro and Cynder's piece, then put a pawn on the board. "I'll need to talk to Nestoc."

"Let's go then."

Seizo got up and offered his paw to Miasma; she took it with a shy but grateful smile.

"Malefor has been too many moves ahead of us this whole time. It's time for us to cut his lead."

"The game is on." Miasma said.

"Yes it is."

It grew warmer as Spyro and Cynder flew. Spyro knew they'd end up in a desert eventually but he wasn't entirely certain of exactly how far away Shattershelf was. The boring landscape below them got barer and more battered until it stopped being boring and somehow took on a look of wild bleak beauty.

They were following the mountain range southwest. This was the same mountain range that the Catacombs were built underneath; at this point the far side of the mountain range would be desert.

The deserts had once been the territory of the Peacekeepers, before the fire dragons had claimed them. Shattershelf had once been known as Cliff Town, a village of moderate importance to the peacekeepers, but which possessed a great deal of untapped strategic value.

Firstly was its location, relatively near to both Warfang and two of the major mountainside cities that belonged to the ice dragons. One of these ice dragon cities was now destroyed, but the other had surrendered to the fire dragons and been allowed to survive, despite this it was now barely occupied as the ice dragons who had lived there retreated to colder and safer holdings after the end of the war. The mountains around what had once been Cliff Town were very difficult to fly over, the same mountain range extended right the way to the Catacombs and the pass in which the town had been built was the easiest route by which to cross.

The immediate location around the town had also made it very valuable; it was certainly the most perfectly defensible location within the fire dragon territory. The town had been built on the side of a huge cliff; which was where it's original name had come from, obviously enough. A ground attack was extremely difficult because of the awkward terrain, the lack of external city walls that it was possible to besiege and formidable defences that had been designed by the apes that the fire dragons were allied to. An air attack was next to pointless as the fire dragons had extended their construction into the side of the rock until the city was almost entirely buried into the stone.

Below Shattershelf were the ice caverns which, as Spyro explained brightly to Cynder, were quite different from the ice cave Darkmire's Tomb had been built inside of. The caverns had a huge store of fresh water frozen within them, enough to last years, if not even longer. Shattershelf had never been infiltrated by or betrayed to an enemy, fighting there without knowledge of the city's defences was considered impossible, but gaining that knowledge was equally implausible. This all added up to a fortress that it was really quite hopeless to besiege. It would be difficult, dangerous and slow to bring the city to its knees.

Spyro and Cynder did not hurry unduly, but they didn't delay either. They didn't know what they would find when they arrived, a warm welcome was unlikely. A burning hot one was much more probable, and that was if the city wasn't in a pitched battle when they got there.

The ground got steadily dryer until there was almost no plant life left. Spyro and Cynder found the mountain pass and flew through it. The pass was much nicer than the one to Darkmire's tomb, it was wide and the views of the mountains were rather nice. Emerging on the far side of the mountain range the two dragons found themselves on the edge of Fire dragon territory.

Shattershelf rose before them, it was built on a mountain that stood somewhat apart from the range, the steep cliffs of this mountain were dotted with the ruined remains of the old buildings from Cliff Town, they had not been repaired after their destruction; the fire dragons had remade the city themselves with the help of the Apes. A massive crack in the stone split the mountain into two parts and the city had been carved from the stone deep within. It was clear that the name Shattershelf had been given to the city because of the broken appearance of the rock. There was also a swift flowing clear stream fed by a waterfall that must have had a spring somewhere further around the mountain's slope, to the right of where the two dragons approached from. Most of the buildings of old cliff town where on the far side of that river, even further to the right, the part of the mountain that had been used as the centre of Shattershelf was in a different spot.

Watchtowers and hard battlements patched over the mountainside were the only things that gave hints at just how large this city might be. The flat ground before the city had been carefully broken up by mighty walls that divided the space. These walls had been designed and built by the Apes. Spyro didn't know why that had been done, it would be part of a defence of some sort that he wasn't able to discern, but they certainly looked impressive.

"You would be unwise to fly any further."

Spyro and Cynder turned around. A fire dragoness had taken wing from a watchtower above the pass and followed them.

"Can we still visit?" Spyro called.

The dragoness looked at Spyro and recognised him immediately.

"The purple dragon of Warfang. Spyro, I'm glad to meet you again."

"Do I know you?"

"Perhaps not by name. I am Asha, sister to Magmar. We met briefly after you were victorious against my brother in the colosseum."

Spyro tilted his head, and then nodded.

"I remember that. You were with him in the meeting with the guardians."

Asha nodded in confirmation.

"Why are you here?"

"Your city has been threatened by Malefor; we believe he has raised an army to kill your brother and anyone around him. We came to warn you and help if we can."

The fire dragoness hovered above them for a second, thinking.

"Very well, I shall escort you inside, but expect no welcome. She in particular should exercise caution while here."

Cynder didn't deign to answer that. In Warfang she had been hurt by the cruelty of other dragons because she had wanted nothing more than to be accepted by them. Now she had Spyro and Miasma who accepted her, as well as Volteer and Imperia. Perhaps Seizo and Cyria too, but she hadn't spoken to them nearly as much. She couldn't care less about the dragons of Shattershelf.

Spyro, on the other hand, was protective of the black dragoness he loved so much.

"They'll answer to me if they so much as look at Cynder the wrong way. Also I assure you that nobody wants to know what will happen if they lay a claw on her."

"Relax Spyro. Don't get mad about it. I don't care what the Shattershelf dragons think about me."

"Well I do."

"I can look after myself." Cynder told Spyro.

"I know you can." He sighed. "But it's just not fair, it wasn't your fault and you shouldn't be treated like it was."

The fire dragoness, Asha, looked over.

"I have seen no reason to blame you for the past Cynder. I didn't make myself clear to you; I only wanted to warn you both."

"It was the Dark Master. That's who was to blame. Your brother should hate him." Spyro said.

"He does, I promise you that. If Malefor comes to Shattershelf then Magmar will do anything and everything in his power to kill him."

Spyro considered mentioning that Malefor and the Dark Master were different individuals, but decided not to waste his effort explaining it.

The three dragons flew over the walls on the plain, the walls made a series of subdivided areas that expanded outward from the main gate into the city. Cynder was sure that when she had been under the control of the Dark Master it was here on this walled plain that she had swept down on the dragons and apes fleeing for safety, she didn't like the idea of flying over this place for a second time. Asha, Spyro and Cynder landed at a small entryway. Asha waited there for a few seconds, then the door slowly opened and they were allowed in.

A relatively young fire dragon stood on the other side of the door, he was about the same age that Nestoc was; he bowed to Asha and then watched Spyro and Cynder curiously. They kept walking.

The tunnels of Shattershelf were wide and well-constructed, they were direct and had few turns or curves. The walls themselves, however, were smooth, rounded, with a melted sort of ripple pattern. The city hadn't been carved like Cynder had first assumed, but for the most part had in fact been burned right out of the stone. There were some parts that had been carved, for example around the gates, doorways and in the larger chambers where fire dragons gathered.

Architecture designed in circles wasn't specific to the Warfang dragons, each of the large rooms that Spyro, Asha and Cynder passed through were circular. They varied in size; some were large and busy with lots of passages leading in and out of them. Others were smaller and more out of the way; dragons were relaxing or talking in some of those smaller rooms.

There were no apes in any of the rooms, but there was some evidence of ape living in Shattershelf, the couple passed some ape sized doorways and drinking fountains. Cynder noticed the absence of the apes but she wasn't sure why they weren't there, or where they were.

"So because Magmar is your brother, what does that make you?" Spyro asked as they walked.

"It makes me nothing." Asha said dismissively. Spyro frowned, puzzled, so she explained. "Family has no bearing on rank here. I had thought it was the same in Warfang."

"Yes it is. I just assumed that because the fire dragons were ruled by a monarchy you would have a title of some sort."

"I do have a title, lady Asha, as of this time I am second in command of the city, but that has nothing to do with me having my brother's favour. I'm just the second strongest and second highest ranked fire dragon here." Asha paused before another thought occurred to her. "Technically I may be the third strongest."

"You aren't counting me, are you? I'm not strong with my fire element specifically. I just have competence in four elements." Spyro said.

"No, I am aware of that. I was referring to the Fire Guardian, Flare, who is currently staying in Shattershelf with us."

"Flare is here?" Spyro asked, surprised. "Why?"

"To help create a better relationship between our cities, it was decided in the peace treaty we made, but you may have missed that bit."

"I suppose so." Spyro said. "Can we see her?"

"Certainly. She'll be with Magmar at the moment and the other Warfang dragons are around the city, I have not kept track of all of them."

"How many Warfang dragons are here?"

"Nine. Flare chose to bring along some of her students as well as some of the older fire dragons. The young ones have gotten along quite well with the young dragons here. I feel Flare has been remarkably successful in her attempt to create goodwill between us."

"So if you're the third strongest then who's the strongest fire dragon here at present?" Spyro asked curiously.

"I have lost to Flare in sparring, and once is certainly enough. I respect her skills and I don't mean to challenge her again. Magmar has not chosen to face her in competition. I pray that he doesn't, I have no wish to see that fight."

Spyro remembered discussing Magmar fighting each of the guardians, he and Cynder had talked about it. He hadn't been able to guess who would win out of Flare and Magmar.

"Why not?"

"It's far too emotionally charged, no matter who won the aftereffects of it would quite probably lead to the death of your emissaries here, and we won't start a war when we have such questionable odds of winning, it is not noble."

"That's fair enough." Spyro said.

The fire dragoness stopped and looked at him. Spyro frowned, trying to work out what she was thinking.

"You are an unusual dragon. Spyro."

"Umm, thanks… I think. Is that a compliment?"

"Yes, it is. Come, I'll take you to Magmar and Flare."

The two dragons followed Asha again. Cynder noticed the looks they were getting from the fire dragons around them. Distrust, hints of fear, and of course anger. The emotion wasn't just directed at Cynder, there was plenty enough for Spyro too.

Clearly they were not popular here.

One fire dragon smiled at them and greeted Spyro by name. He introduced himself as Raze, a dragon from Warfang who had travelled to Shattershelf with Flare. He joined their group and walked with them confidently. Cynder had to respect him for his ability to cope with the unfriendly stares he got for doing so. She vaguely recalled this dragon not being especially nice to her in the past, but while Raze coped with the stares well he was not entirely unaffected.

"If I ever behaved like this around you then I want to apologise for it." Raze said to Cynder. "I had no idea how it felt to have other dragons look at me this way. It's not nice."

"You learn to deal with it, after a while it mostly stops hurting you inside, mostly. You're doing well so far. I don't remember for sure if you specifically ever did this to me, but I'm thankful for your apology."

The group of dragons came to a big heavy door. Asha spoke to Spyro and Cynder.

"He will not be pleased to see you. I fear my brother may be unstable, his behaviour and threats towards Cynder while we were in Warfang suggest he has a specific fixation for vengeance against you."

"It was a bit suggestive." Cynder agreed.

"I advised him to keep his silence, but Magmar ignored me when he spoke to you."

"You heard that?" Cynder asked. She recalled that Imperia had used wind magic to listen in on her conversation with Magmar, but she hadn't realised that Magmar's sister had been able to hear them too.

"Yes. In fact I was the one who asked if there was a way to hear what he said."

Cynder was surprised, she hadn't expected that. Before she or Spyro could make any comment Asha had turned back to the door.

The fire dragoness knocked hard on the door, it made an echoing thud.

"Enter."

They entered.

The room was large; it had been entirely carved and constructed from stone, without any of it burned with fire. On one side there were three deep set windows that looked out at the flat ground at the base of the city. Cynder realised that they must be in a room behind one of the external battlements that they had seen from the air outside.

There were six pillars; three on each side and at the far end of the room was what could arguably be called a throne.

Despite having dexterous forepaws and being perfectly capable of standing on two legs, dragons were primarily quadrupedal and therefore had no interest in chairs like those used by many of the other races. Magmar's throne reminded Cynder of Gaul's throne. In fact the fire king's entire aesthetic look was rather similar to that of the ruler of the apes.

Magmar's throne had been carved out of the rock of the chamber, Cynder wondered if it had been made before the fire dragon had become king of his kind or after. The throne was made of hard angles and sharp looking points; it framed the fire king quite well and made him look even more intimidating then he already had been.

A respectful distance behind the throne stood Flare.

The fire dragoness looked over at them curiously as the door opened and her features expressed surprise when she saw who had come before Magmar.

Flare's unusual walk was as mesmerising as ever, Cynder watched her skip across the chamber towards them. As she watched Flare she felt an uncomfortable burning sort of sensation and realised that Magmar's red eyes had locked onto her.

Spyro stepped forwards, putting himself between Magmar and Cynder. Cynder was glad that he was there. She was fearful, but not terrified, of the physical threat posed by the huge fire dragon. There was no doubt Magmar was dangerous but Cynder was certain that she could take care of herself, however she found Magmar's specific hatred of her disturbing and intimidating. She didn't want to gain any more attention from that sinister dragon then she had to, so she shrank back slightly and took refuge behind Spyro.

Flare nodded politely to Asha, before smiling warmly at Raze, Cynder and Spyro.

"Despite these unusual circumstances I am very glad to see you again so soon, Spyro. I don't doubt you'll have a story to tell us."

"Yes, well, I have some information for you." Spyro said. He looked at Magmar. The huge fire dragon considered him for a moment then inclined his head.

"Say what you have come to say." He said. His voice was even and calm, but every dragon in the room could feel menace hidden somewhere deep within it.

"There are some dragons in Warfang who believe that Malefor could return to life. We were sent to Darkmire's tomb, where Malefor's physical remains were buried, to find out if it was possible."

"Warfang trusted the black dragon with that task?" Magmar asked softly.

"Yes." Spyro said firmly, making it clear that they were not going to discuss the subject of Cynder. "And we found out that not only is it possible for Malefor to return, but that he has allies among dragonkind who have already brought him back. When we got there Malefor was gone and an electric dragon called Thoran had been released as well."

"Malefor has returned... Darkmire's tomb is several days' flight away. If what you say is true then why have we not felt the effects of his return by now?"

"We don't know. Perhaps he needs time to regain his power; perhaps he feels a direct attack isn't good strategy. We don't know why he hasn't come for you yet, but we do know that he is served by an ice dragon called Gracious who is totally determined to have revenge on you. They will come, I have no doubt."

"The ice dragons have allied with Malefor against us?" Magmar seemed only mildly interested, but nobody believed that casual reaction.

"Not the ice dragons, just this one. They have nothing to do with this."

"The ice dragons never work alone." Magmar said.

"He isn't. He has Malefor on his side." Spyro said carefully.

"I see. So you've come to warn us of this impending threat, a vengeful ice dragon and a dead purple dragon are coming to kill me, and by extension everyone in my city?"

"Yes." Spyro said, almost daring the huge red dragon to disagree.

There was no disagreement. Magmar instead responded with a savage grin that made everyone even more nervous than they had been before.

"Excellent."

Flare, Spyro, Cynder and Raze left the two Shattershelf dragons to talk. They were all glad to go; Flare and Raze led them to where the Warfang dragons were staying so they could arrange rooms for Spyro and Cynder. Spyro found that he couldn't put his most recent meeting with Magmar out of his mind; it just stayed there and demanded to be talked about.

He kept his voice low talking to Flare, Cynder and Raze, it wasn't the sort of conversation a wise dragon would have where they could be overheard.

"Magmar seems almost deranged, is he really the best dragon for the fire dragons to have as their king? Surely the idea of an army besieging your capital city would worry most reasonable rulers?"

Despite how risky the conversation could be if anyone overheard it Flare was willing to answer. They stopped talking whenever they passed any dragons.

"Dragons like Magmar are incomparable rulers in times of trouble. Dragons of his kind have an uncanny ability to pull victory from the jaws of defeat; he has tenacity, resourcefulness, determination and an almost limitless capacity for vengeance. In a word he's an avenger. Dragons like him have a tendency to hold grudges, but they also have a tendency to complete them."

"Not a dragon to mess with then."

"No indeed. But dragons like Magmar are often self-destructive; they're so good at what they do that they never get a chance to do anything else. They often meet sad fates, being unable to stop themselves from deteriorating. He would have been wise to step down at the end of the Ice and Fire wars and let a different dragon take his place, perhaps his sister would have been able to keep peace between us, but it's too late for that now."

"So he's so determined to kill the Dark Master that he doesn't even realise that he's now planning on starting a war he almost certainly won't win? Compared to Malefor he doesn't stand a chance."

"Magmar would disagree. Fighting in open battle has never been the greatest strength of the fire dragons; Shattershelf is where they're strongest. I feel that only by taking the field himself could Malefor muster enough power to pose a threat to this city. The combined strength of every dragon in Warfang would barely be enough to threaten this city. No army has ever come close. Magmar feels confident here for good reason."

"So you're saying the fire dragons lost the war against Warfang mostly because they weren't fighting at Shattershelf?"

"Correction, Magmar lost against you, the fire dragons most definitely didn't lose the war. They couldn't hand us a decisive defeat in the open field, we had no chance whatsoever of beating them in their own territory. It was a true standoff until Magmar wanted me dead and you outfought him. I still haven't thanked you for what you did, have I?"

"Don't thank me. I just didn't want you to be in danger." Spyro said, embarrassed.

"Nonsense, Spyro. You gave us our best chance at ending this peacefully, you deserve thanks for that, even if you felt you were honour bound to do it. Thank you, Spyro." Flare smiled.

Spyro continued to be embarrassed.

Flare raised her voice to a normal volume as they walked into a larger chamber from which several passages branched off.

"The rest of the dragons from Warfang have been staying down there." She pointed. "The dragon school here has a public training field that's often used by other dragons from the city; Raze has been spending a lot of time down there." Flare indicated another passage.

Raze nodded and spoke up.

"If you have time you should visit the training field Spyro, I've learnt some extraordinary things from the dragons who go there. The skill level of a dragon at the level of mastery here is astounding, they have developed fire magic in ways that most Warfang dragons could hardly imagine! I'll see you around, I hope you stop by."

"I'll do that." Spyro said. "It'll be a good learning experience."

Raze smiled and went down the tunnel to the training fields.

Flare nodded contentedly and then she turned to Spyro.

"Have you been keeping up your own training?"

"Uh, not really, no... I've had some time, but we've been a bit busy."

"You're an excellent student Spyro. Even the best of us slip up sometimes. I haven't been doing much training either."

Spyro laughed, Flare shrugged.

"We both have our excuses. Flying from Warfang to Darkmire's to here, you wouldn't have had much time to rest."

"No we haven't." Spyro said. "But Cynder has wind magic; she made our flight much easier."

"Still you must be tired and hungry. We can get you some food."

"Mm, yes please." Spyro said.

Flare, Spyro and Cynder got food. The food in Shattershelf was slightly better than Warfang food in Cynder's opinion. She and Spyro both had second helpings, and then they had third helpings too.

After his third helping Spyro sat back and poked his belly happily. Cynder reached out with her tail and poked Spyro's belly too, making him laugh.

After Spyro and Cynder were finished they followed Flare back to where the other dragons from Warfang had their rooms. One room was unoccupied; Flare was leading them to it when a voice called out to them.

"Spyro is that you?"

Spyro and Cynder looked around, a young crimson and yellow coloured dragon approached them, Cynder thought he resembled Spyro quite a bit. It took her a moment to recognise the dragon as Flame.

"Spyro! Hey it is you! Watcha doing here? I thought you were going to the snow or something."

"We did go to the snow." Spyro said.

"Huh, was it that bad that you came all the way here? This is a desert."

"I didn't mind the snow, but Cynder didn't like it very much. Still we saw some nice looking mountains."

"Yuck, snow doesn't sound very nice to me. I agree with Cynder."

"You've never even seen snow." Spyro said.

"I still don't think I'd like it. Oh yeah, Spyro you should check out the dragon school here, it's awesome. I learnt heaps of new stuff."

"You've never praised my teaching like this." Flare said. Flame looked around guiltily.

"Ehe, sorry. You're a great teacher too Flare, it's just that the exercises we've done here are better."

"Better, are they?" Flare asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"No! Sorry, not better. Uh, easier to learn!" Flame said, trying to not be offensive.

"And training is meant to be easy?" Flare asked.

"What oh, uh… no?"

Flare laughed teasingly.

"I'm glad you've taken to the Shattershelf way of using the fire element. I know my way isn't for everyone. I think you should get Spyro to try it, between you and Raze I'm sure you can get him to the training field for a while at least."

"You got it." Flame said.

"Who's got what?" A girl's voice joined the conversation. Spyro stiffened slightly, recognising that voice.

Cynder frowned slightly and looked around and she immediately found herself nose to nose with Ember.

"Making others happy is it's own reward."

-4Dragons