It's bright.

Very bright.

Why is it so bright?! 

"That's probably because there's no forest to block things out, nor are there any clouds to do the same. Of course, the biggest reason would be this nice and clean sand that really does a great job at reflecting light." [Caelenia]

"Ughh, tell the sand to retire." [Lucillia]

"We're almost there, Lia. Hang in there a little longer." [Silvania]

"My eyessss." [Lucillia]

If I knew beaches would be this painful to look at, I wouldn't have agreed to this!

"Now now, Lia. Once you get over the light levels, the rest of the beach is really nice. Look, those shells over there are really pretty, aren't they?" [Silvania]

"Maybe." [Lucillia]

Hmph, stupid sand, always ruining everything. At least it's warm here. Like, REALLY warm. 

"Heh, normally people complain about the heat during summer, but I guess that doesn't apply to our little gremlin here." [Caelenia]

"I wonder how she'll react to winter." [Silvania]

"We'll have to wait and see." [Caelenia]

Fwaah~, soooo warmmm~

.....

We're here!

Where's here, you might ask?

Uhh, I actually don't know. 

It's somewhere next to a bunch of water that smells and tastes salty. There's also a bunch of birds that keep squawking whenever they fly by. 

Anyways, it's like the...10th? 11th? Something or other of First Summer, and Big Sis' decided to take me out on vacation. And by Big Sis', I mean Big Sis Caela and Big Sis Silvie. Mama and Big Sis Luna are staying home to do their work. 

Oh, but Kira's with us too, though I haven't seen her since we got to this cabin. What about Mira? 

Well duh, obviously she came with us. In fact, she's right here! Or, well, you know, in the other room because she's unpacking our luggage. 

The other two are also running around and cleaning up the place, so that just leaves little ol' me to entertain myself. 

I would be reading books right now, but Mama banned me from bringing any. Obviously, I tried to rebel, but she tailed me again. 

Haah, so now I'm stuck here, all alone, and I'm really bored. So bored, in fact, that the old me talking in my head got tired of being bored and I had to find a new me. 

...

Okay, that's it. Time for an adventure!

.....

Woahhh, the water's so clear! It's also really cold! All these shells are so sparkly! I think this place is called a tide pool or something like that, according to one of those books about fishies.

Hm? There's something moving over there. It looks like a giant rock, but rocks don't usually move so that can't be it. It's kinda ovally and has a bunch of legs, and, oh wow, those are some BIG claws!

It smells kinda tasty, I wonder if it tastes good, I think I should taste it...

*NOM*

OWIEEE! The shell is really hard...or maybe my teeth are just weak? Hmm, Maybe I should try...AGAIN?!!

*NOM NOM NOM!!!*

HAHA! I've done it! Your puny shell is no match for my masterful bites! KWAAA-HA-HA-HA!

*POP!*

Eh? Whaddaheck? Why dat claw just fall off?

HEY, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!

A normal tide pool is host to hundreds, if not thousands of lifeforms. Many different sizes are offered as well, ranging from small microorganisms to fully grown adult fish or crustaceans. 

One such creature was residing in a rather large tide pool. It had just washed onto shore are following its species' mating season. Low tide just happened to occur at the same time, which was late afternoon. Thus, it was on the hunt for a snack to replenish its energy before heading back out to sea. 

Using its enormous claws and multiple sets of legs, it navigated through the rocks, flipping and turning them in hopes of finding prey that had washed up along with the receding tide.

Unfortunately, hardly any prey left themselves exposed, so the creature had to starve until the tide came back. It started burying itself in some rocks to keep it moist and out of the blazing sunlight. 

Then, out of nowhere, another lifeform struck the creature's mighty shell with its teeth. Despite the stranger's smaller size and lack of apparent damage to the shell, the bite left a massive amount of internal damage to the now hungry prey. 

The unidentified creature, in response to the predator attempting to eat it, popped off its own claw in hopes of delaying the enemy long enough to retreat back into the water. 

Unfortunately, the enemy proved to be more cunning than expected and went after the main body while picking up the shed claw in the process. This act shocked the prey as the claw itself was larger than the predator's own arms, yet it was lifted so easily. 

Victory through battle was clearly not possible. Escape was the only option.

Although the prey was somewhat larger than the predator, the wounds dealt to the prey's body prevented it from running properly. It was just moments away from washing out to sea with the coming wave until the predator caught up and promptly whacked the prey with its own claw. 

"HIYAH!!" [Predator]

*BONK!!*

The might of the predator was too much for the prey, who quickly perished after receiving the final bonk blow. 

To the victor go the spoils. Tonight, the dragon feasts!

Lucillia

Hmph. Dumb thing thought it could outrun me juuust because it's bigger than me. Pathetic. 

Well, that worked up quite the appetite for me, and I think I deserve a reward for my hard work. 

Let's seeee...how about I start with this BIG. MEATY. CLAW!!

Fufufu~, thanks for the meal~

*NOM!*

Ouchies, this claw is a lot harder than the other parts of that thingie. 

"FREEZE!!!" [Caelenia]

"!!!" [Lucillia]

"DROP THE CLAW AND PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!!!" [Caelenia]

"Hai." [Lucillia]

"..." [Caelenia]

"..." [Lucillia]

"So? Anything you have to say for yourself?" [Caelenia]

"I'm hungry?" [Lucillia]

"And?" [Caelenia]

"I love you?" [Lucillia]

"Haah, of course you'd say that. Come on, let's go back to the cabin." [Caelenia]

"But! But!" [Lucillia]

"What? That boulder crab? Obviously we're taking it back. Those things only taste good after you cook them, you know. The shells are a lot easier to crack, too. But, you're carrying it." [Caelenia]

"Ehhh?" [Lucillia]

"You're the one who found it, so you have to take responsibility for it." [Caelenia]

"Finnneee." [Lucillia]

Hnnnggg!!! HUUUUUU!!! GOT IT!

"Huh, well that's one way to do it. Guess we should hurry back before any more of that blood drips on you." [Caelenia]

Since the young dragon had absolutely no sense of direction when she embarked on her adventure, her sister was necessary to navigate back to their abode. 

The two dragons left the tide pool with the smaller one's catch. The bigger dragon held the claw that had popped off while the smaller one wore her new crab hat atop her head. Of course, said hat was much larger than the dragon and covered up her entire body unless one crouched down.

Unfortunately, the hat seemed to have a leak since a pale blue liquid dripped down her face now and then, but that could be fixed. 

So, the bigger dragon and her new pet crab journeyed in peace.

.....

Upon arrival, the two were greeted by two more dragons and a fish wearing a maid uniform. One of the dragons was wearing a lovely sundress and straw hat with holes for her horns while the other one was in a swimsuit and slightly wet. 

Behind the slightly wet dragon was a massive pile of seafood, kelp, and other foraged ingredients, part of which were several large crabs much like the one floating next to the newly arrived dragon. 

Although most of them may have been dragons, one could easily identify the newcomer as the sunny dragon's sibling due to their matching outfits, albeit with different patterns and colors.

The younger of the two wore floral patterns while the older one wore cloud patterns and no hat. 

"Big Sis? You were supposed to bring Lia back, not another boulder crab. Also, why were you so rough with this one?" [Silvania]

"Look a little closer, Silvie." [Caelenia]

Per her sister's request, the sunny dragon indeed looked a little closer. She had first assumed that the floating crab was a product of her sister's magic, but a second look revealed the true secret behind the phenomenon: it was in fact another dragon who was also wearing a sundress, this time one with various fruits as the pattern.

"Oh...I see. Hey Lia. Whatcha got there?" [Silvania]

"A snack." [Lucillia]

So said the small dragon who was covered in crab blood and pieces of its broken shell, and not to mention the large crab she was holding above her head the whole time. 

"I see. If you're hungry, do you want to eat it right now? We'll have to cook it first, though." [Silvania]

"Mmm!" [Lucillia]

"Alright then. Mira, go get one of the pots and some seawater. We'll light the fire a little early." [Silvania]

"OOH! I can do it! Pick me, pick me!" [Lucillia]

"Okay, okay, calm down before you spill more of that crab blood everywhere. Seriously though, we'll have to teach you how to properly dispatch these later." [Silvania]

"Yayyy~" [Lucillia]

Lucillia

Ahem, listen up class, I'm only going to say this once so take notes quickly!

To start a fire all you need are these essential ingredients: 

1. Some sort of fuel, obviously
2. A way to light it

Yup, that's all! Can't get any simpler than that.

Now, all you have to do is get the wood, put it wherever you want, and then-HIYAH!

*BOOMMM!!!*

*Cough cough cough*

Okay, that wasn't supposed to happen.

"Lia?" [Silvania]

Uh oh.

"Since when did you learn how to use magic?" [Silvania]

"Uh, remember Silvie? She used it all the time in her previous life." [Caelenia]

"Either way, there's a reason why we haven't started your magic lessons yet, young lady. Do you know what that reason is? You should have plenty of experience with it now." [Silvania]

"Uhh, magic go boom?" [Lucillia]

"Exactly. With the amount of mana and divinity in you, you could easily blow up a mountain if you aren't careful!" [Silvania]

"Oops." [Lucillia]

"Hey Silvie? Remember that new forest around our house? Weren't you the one who-MPHFHF!!" [Caelenia]

"Shhhhhhh~" [Silvania]

Hmph. Fine then, I'll do it the boring way. Now I have to find some more sticks.

Haah, lucky for you, class, you get to have another set of notes about starting a fire.  

Step 1 is still the same. Get your firewood and put it wherever you want.

Step 2 involves a LOT of rubbing. Or spinning, that's always a good trick. 

All you have to do it split a chunk of firewood, put the flat side facing up, and get a nice long stick and RUB LIKE YA MEAN IT!!!

If it isn't smoking after a couple seconds, you're not rubbing hard enough!

Seriously though, just rubbing or spinning won't do anything if you don't put enough downward pressure into it. The whole point of this sort of thing is to make a lot of friction which will generate heat. And in order to make friction, you need an amount of force going perpendicular to whatever surface you're sliding along.

In other words, put your back into it and rub!

If it does start smoking, stop rubbing and throw some of that tinder on the burnt bits. Hopefully the tinder ignites from the heat, but if it doesn't, then it's back to rubbing!

Once the tinder does ignite and you're tired from rubbing that big stick, now you gotta blow! Ah, but not too hard, you don't want to kill the fire you just made.

If you did that correctly, a verrry tiny flame should start forming which means its time to start piling the kindling.

What's the difference between tinder and kindling? That's simple. Tinder is just dry leaves, shavings, or anything small and flammable. The only purpose of the tinder is to actually start the fire. Then you have the kindling, which is sticks and stuff. The kindling helps build up that fire you started with the tinder.

After the kindling catches and the fire starts growing, then and only then shall you place the firewood around! Or actually, the chunk of wood you were doing this on is a chunk of firewood, so really all you need to do is just throw on a few more chunks and tend the flame once in a while after that. 

And there you have it, a nice hot fire made with your own blood, sweat, and tears!

"Good job, milady. You are quite excellent at starting fires." [Mira]

"Should that be a good thing or a bad thing?" [Caelenia]

"Hehe~, I shall leave that to your interpretation, Your Highness. Now, Lucillia dear~, come help me prepare dinner." [Mira]

"Kayyy." [Lucillia]

"There they go again, off in their own little world." [Caelenia]

"You mean they do this often?" [Kiralyne]

"Only recently, but yes, pretty often. I think the only time Mira doesn't act like that is when Mother is around." [Caelenia]

"She's respecting her boundaries. I mean, aside from Auntie Tia, who would want to act like someone's mother when their actual mother is right there?" [Silvania]

"Anyways, how about we stop talking about that and start cooking up a storm? Those two have already gotten started, you know." [Caelenia]

.....

"Is it done yet?" [Lucillia]

"Not yet, dear, the water just started boiling." [Mira]

"Hmm, it is done now?" [Lucillia]

"No, dear, we still need to put the boulder crab in the pot. Can you do that for me?" [Mira]

"Mmm!" [Lucillia]

HUUUU...HWAAAAAA-

*SPLOOSH*

"Excellent job, dear. Now we wait." [Mira]

.....

The crabby's finally cooked, so now we have to break it apart.

Kay, so first you have to break all the legs off. That's pretty easy.

Then you go underneath and open the little plate thingie at the bottom. Apparently you can tell the sex of the crabby by the shape of this thingie. This one has a narrow one, so Mira says it's a male.

Now, there should be a little hole at the bottom, and you can get your hands there to PULLLLLL, HWAAAAAA-

*CRACK*

Haah, haah, pull apart the head from the body just like that. Huh? Wat dis? There's these thingies on the sides that kinda look like meat, buuut-

"Those are the gills, and they are not good to eat." [Mira]

"Then what do we do?" [Lucillia]

"You could throw them back in the water or-" [Mira]

"YEET!" [Lucillia]

"Nevermind." [Mira]

Hmm, now you're supposed to break the whole thing in half. Hmm...HIYAH!!

Welp, that didn't work. 

"For something of that size, it is best to use a knife." [Mira]

Uhh, are you sure that's a knife? It's a little big, like bigger than me...

Ahem! Well, that's about it, I guess. All that's left is to eat it.

"Not yet, dear, the others still need to finish cooking." [Mira]

"Boooo." [Lucillia]

Meanwhile

As the not-mother and not-daughter duo had fun with their crab, the other dragons were cooking up a storm.

Or rather, they were not exactly cooking more so than they were chopping anything and everything. From vegetables, to mushrooms, to the enormous amount of seafood, all of it would be chopped. 

The theme for dinner that night would be hotpot. 

Most of the stock for the soup would come from the many crabs that were boiled, including the one that Mira and her not-daughter prepared. Once they separated the bodies into manageable chunks, they threw the heads of the crabs back into the stock to further enhance the flavor.

Of course, any and all fish carcasses would also be thrown in as well as a few large pieces of kelp. 

And juuust when the soup was near perfection, the dragons threw in all the clams, mussels, sea snails, and any other small shellfish. 

Once that happened and the soup was left to simmer, the girls went and prepared some side dishes. 

Steamed rice, seaweed salad, grilled mushrooms, stir-fried fish, grilled crab legs, and oh so many other dishes. Perhaps the flashiest one would be the large, 2.5 meter long, armored speartuna that Silvania was turning into what some Otherworlders have described as sashimi and sushi.

It took every ounce of restraint for Silvania to hold back from consuming the fish whole right then and there. 

.....

About an hour later, all the food was finally ready to be served. 

The campfire would serve as the center of the dining, as the large pot of soup sat atop it. Several tables were brought out to hold all the other plates. 

For almost the entirety of that hour, two of the four dragons were drooling enough to fill a lake. 

And now, at long last, they would finally be able to feast! And so they did, as did the other dragons and the fishy maid. 

By late evening, no food would remain outside of their happy bellies. Instead, many joyful memories took their place.

Fishcat

Hello there, I apologize for the slight delay with this chapter. Been having some writer's block recently as well as a chronic case of OW. Yes, that OW, the second iteration of it to be specific. The quality of this chapter may not be up to par with some of the others, but I wanted to get this out anyways since it's been over a week. As always, thanks for reading, stay safe, and take care everyone.