Dionysus walked slowly behind the energetic welps as they ran and played in the snow. The weather had started to warm up and the snow fall had tapered off. Soon the snow would all be melted. And the sledding hill would soon be green and be ready for planting.

When Aristaeus, Ramsay and Jane had requested to go out to the sledding hill Dionysus had offered to go with them. He had grown fast through the harsh winter and now toward everyone. He doubted even an Arktikos would attack with him standing guard.

They reached the high spot of the hill and Dionysus sat where he could see the whole hill. The hill was covered in hard packed snow from the many times it had been used by the many welps that lived in the village. He shifted his large brown wings so that they rested nicely along his back,the small blue markings seeming to wink as the feathers shifted. Now that he was warm he could enjoy watching the welps have their fun.

"Hey Dionysus! Watch this," Aristaeus said just before running and then immediately falling on his stomach raising his limbs just enough so that he coasted down the hill.

When Aristaeus reached the bottom, Dionysus waved at him.

"My turn, My turn!" Jane said excitedly. This would only be her second time sledding. She had been found in a snow storm several weeks ago and had finally gotten the ok by Moon Stone to come out and play. Jane started to make her running slide when one of her back feet slipped out from beneath her causing her to slam on the icy slide. Instead of sliding down face first, she ended up slowly spinning so that she ended up sliding backwards. The surprise on her face had Dionysus chuckling to himself.

Once Dionysus was sure Jane was ok once she got to the bottom of the run, he turned to the last welp. He was surprised to see Ramsay staring at a section of the woods. Dionysus looked more closely and noticed that there was a strange colonist lurking at the very edge of the forest. The colonist was being very careful to keep to the shadows.

Dionysus stood up to his full height and started walking toward the tree line. Ramsey curiously followed behind him. Dionysus could hear Jane and Arstaeus climbing up the trail and they would soon reach the top.

"Hello?" Dionysus called out, letting the lurking colonist know that he had been spotted.

The trees rustled before a winged draconic rose up above them. It was gold in color with a small white collar. Dionysus felt small next to this colonist. Even Susan was not so tall. And she was taller than everyone in the village.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your fun," Ballor said as she slithered out of the trees. It was then that Dionysus saw that one of her wings lay limp like it was broken. The other was tucked against her side tightly.

"I thought that I would be able to fly from my home to the shores of Rekes. But there was a bad storm that came out of nowhere. It blew me farther inland than I thought. And I injured my wing when I lost control when a gust of wind surprised me and I grazed a cliff. "

"Oh that must have hurt," Jane piped up from where she came to stand next to Ramsey.

"Are you lost?" Aristaeus asked. He could not imagine how scary it would be if he got lost. He sidled closer to Dionysus.

"You can come to our village," Ramsey offered. "MoonStone can fix you right up."

"Sadly I do believe I am lost. And a trip to your medic might be a good idea," Ballor answered the two welps as seriously as she could. "But you don't need to stop your fun on my account.

"But don't we need to get that wing looked at as soon as possible?" Aristaeus asked. His voice showed that he was worried for this strange colonist.

"Oh it's been like this for a couple of days. A couple of hours won't hurt." Ballor answered calmly. She smiled at the tsabhua welp. "Besides, I love watching you have fun. And you just got here." She added.

"You three go on and sled for a little bit longer. I am going to talk to Ballor." Dionysus added, trying to encourage the welps to go have fun.

"Maybe only a couple of times down the hill then." Ramsey said, still concerned.

Jane took off running to the hill as fast as her little legs could take her. Aristaeus right next to her.

Ramsey started to walk off but he glanced back at the adults. Dionysus gave him an encouraging smile and he quickly ran off to join his friends.

Dionysus and Ballor settled down to watch the kids play. In the distance loomed the great black mountains of Rekes. Dionysus soaked in the suns rays as they cast their light and the air no longer smelled of promised snow.