"We'll miss you as well, but you'll never be too far with this talisman," Kokkorok said, opening the box and pulling a small ruby ball with small pieces of silver embeded into the surface, "As your adviser, I would normally need to be able to contact you at any moment. I had an extra one made for Mayumi so she could contact you as well."

She smiled.  It will be good for me to hear others besides Ahnah during my journey." she said with a smile.

"My plan was for Mayumi to provide advice only she knows. Seeing as you are leaving for a journey, it will serve an even better purpose," Kokkorok smiled, "We'll keep you updated on the current events."

"Great.  Thank you, Kokkorok.  If it's okay with you, I'm going to go say goodby to Rhidik and everyone.  I've got quite a few goodbyes to make before I leave." she said with a sigh.

"I understand," Kokkorok said, nodding, "Too many people, too little time as they say."

"Yes.  I agree with you." she said.  "Goodbye, Kokkorok.  Take care of yourself and your family." she said as she began to head towards Rhidik's house.

Nodding, Kokkorok closed his box before steeping into his home and closing the door.

At Rhidik's house, the whole family could be seen hanging red, white, and green decoratons around the exterior, and a small tree could be seen through one of the windows.

Seeing Goldenscale, Tina carried a small crystal decoration  shaped like a deer over and held it out. "Would you like to help us decorate? We have quite a ways to go, but its something we haven't done together as a complete family. This is the first year mother has been able to join us," she said.

"Sure." she said.  She then walked inside and tilted her head.  "Why is there a tree iside the house?  Trees live outside..." she asked, confused.

"Every year about this time, we go out and find a seed. Putting it in a pot, we each contribute a little magic to make it grow this much. At the end of the month, we take it and plant it where an old tree has fallen. If we can find a fallen tree, we plant it where it would be most useful," Tina said, taking another decoration from a box and hanging it on a branch, "We also decorate the tree with lighter decorations to prevent marming the tree."

"Oh...  I did not know that others would do that.  Willow never spoke of it..." she said as she placed the ornament on the tree.

"There aren't many people that do this here in the cave, it's more of a human thing Mom and Dad picked up before settling here," Tina said, taking a long loop of reflective material and hanging around the tree, "Mom says humans are less kind to nature with their methods of gettin a tree though. I'm glad she and dad found a way to make it harmless to nature."

"It didn't really take us that long to work that out, just a little practice," Kasra said, hanging several heavier decorations along the window's edges, "We wanted to maintain the health of the forest as it is the biggest barrier between us and humans."

"I'll be very angry with them if they try to hurt my forest.  I grew most of those trees and watched over them since they were saplings.  But at least this one is being treated with much love.  It cares for you all very much." she said with a smile and a nod.

"The forest between us and the humans is by far, one of the largest on the planet. Humans have long since given up trying to find this side of it through cutting down the trees, and have resorted to hiking through it instead. Few have ever seen this side, and even fewer have survived to make it back to their kin," Kasra said, "This tradition we have taken from them is probably their most peaceful celebration. While we don't have the same kind of sociaty, we can still celebrate the togetherness of family."

"Yes.  I find that rather enjoyable myself." she said with a smile.  "I guess I'll be able to see some for myself come tomorrow morning."

"You've chose a good time to make your way on a jouney. Under the guise of a human, you will find them more willing to help you during this time of year than any other. You may even find some that will not care about you actually being a dragon, but be careful," Rhidik said, setting a box next to the tree.