Melting the Ice Witch by Mell Eight

feet away where he was crouched down gathering another ball of snow.
    "Oh, no, you won't!" Jerney laughed. He was quick to drop down and gather his own ball of snow, firing it off at Tori before Tori could finish. The snowball hit Tori directly in the face and melted almost immediately, leaving the baby dragon blinking water out of his sparkling golden eyes.
    Tori grinned widely and flung the snowball he hadn't dropped, hitting Jerney in the chest, before taking off at a run, giggling wildly the entire time. Jerney just laughed and bent to gather more snow, before taking off after Tori.
    "That is an interesting pair," Mae murmured softly as they heard Tori squeal happily behind one of the tents further away. "I like them," she added before mashing a handful of snow directly into Lor's shocked face. She lifted her heavy woolen skirts and took off at a jog, but Lor just wiped his face and grinned over at Kam while his magic compacted some snow behind him.
    Kam, who had seen what Mae was doing while Lor was distracted with Tori, grinned back and shoved his own handful of snow up Lor's nose. He took off running with a laugh as well, Lor's enraged cry echoing behind.
    The rest of the afternoon passed quite pleasantly, most of the Tribe participating in the impromptu snow fight. By the time Kam and Lor slid under their furs that night, much of the worry that had plagued the Tribe after the arrival of the older dragons had faded. In the morning they would begin preparations for the journey south, but at the moment all they wanted was to have some fun.
    When Lor rolled over and took Kam's mouth with his, Kam smiled. Fun indeed.
    *~*~*
    "We're going to dig out this hill," Tori was explaining outside of the small barn. The large hill the barn and accompanying small house were tucked underneath had attracted Tori's attention. "And my hoard will go inside. Then they're going to build a school and attach the two. My hoard room is going to be nicer than Nyle's!"
    The hill wasn't large enough to house a full-grown dragon. Kam knew that much even as he nodded along with Mae in response to Tori's exuberance. The little he had seen of White's dragon form and the sheer size of Nyle, only a few hundred years older than Tori, told Kam that the hill might suffice as a hoard room for a century. Any longer and Tori would be too large in dragon form.
    Although, none of those worries might ever become an issue for Tori. Kam had learned a lot about Tori over the last few days, since the baby dragon never stopped talking. Apparently Tori had been born in human form and couldn't yet access his dragon shape. It was entirely possible that his dragon shape would be smaller, after being confined inside a human form for so long. Or it was equally as likely that Tori would prefer human shape since that was how he was born and since his favorite hoard piece, Jerney, was a human. According to Tori, Nyle had started staying in human form more often once he had Leon around.
    Anyway, Tori seemed plenty pleased with his plans for the large hill. He was climbing to the lightly snowy hilltop, his small claws at the tips of his human fingers digging deeply into the near-frozen sod. So far south the snow and ice coating the ground was sparser. Kam could see cold-browned grass poking through the light layer of snow. It was much closer to what he remembered during winters in the city, although there was still enough snow that the sleds didn't get stuck.
    "They're here!" Tori called, waving at someone on the other side of the hill. Lor straightened his back and Mae bit her lip once before hiding her nervousness away. Kam drifted behind Lor. He had just been a lowly peasant stuck living in the docks; he had no place speaking with Prince Bast, Captain of the Guard. Lor had brought Kam along anyway, citing his knowledge of human city customs as reason for Kam needing to be present during the negotiations as well.
    Tori scrambled down the hill, sliding most of the way, and came