That winter none of the family members got frostbites, thanks to Harvick's’ gift.

With each rise in temperature, a new white streak, skated across the surface of the lake. Sometimes, distorting noises and gulping water sounds, could be heard in the middle of the night... Flakes of ice scattered. Becoming more isolated, until they were each engulfed by the crystal water.

William saw the new creation of a wooden dinosaur. For they could finally celebrate his two years of life. The sculpture reminded him of Harvick’s bonded dinosaur. A Plaforax, was what they called it. Harvick however, gave it the name of: Liberto…

Warm winds entered their lives and they welcomed the start of June.

William and Joss were out picking strawberries, in their little garden.

William smuggled one into his mouth. The sweet flavor spread inside it and he couldn’t help but grin. This grin, Joss found rather suspicious. So he scanned William’s face. Then he also sneaked a juicy berry inside his mouth. While chewing he winked at William. Now they were both accomplices in the same crime.

This gave William the courage to try yet another forbidden fruit. As the strawberry reached his lips, something overshadowed the sun and blocked them into darkness. This shadow was scary and made William drop, what he had planned to eat.

It wasn’t their mother who caught them. It was Harvick. And he came riding his dinosaur, Liberto.

Joss gaped from the sudden surprise and sprang up like a frightened hare. William however, was frozen in place in awe. He had seen that the first time they rode the dinosaur, the father and Harvick had stuffed a makeshift rope onto its face to act like its rein. But this time the dinosaur was geared up with a proper saddle and headpiece. Making it look even more majestic...

This dinosaur of course, was a newbie and thus needed to be manhandled a bit.... For although dinosaurs could understand human language, they first needed to learn it. Along with human mannerisms...

Looking away from the dinosaur and on to its rider, William noticed another thing. Harvick was now officially a member of the Blaise family, that could stride around with their charge. It was a symbol, that represented two dragon-like fish, crossing each other over an isolated block of land. They were both spewing decorative fire. The charge was embroidered onto his golden cavalier shirt.

It was truly a noble outfit he appeared in.

William caught himself staring and quickly stopped moping. He greeted Harvick and asked “Are you gowing somewhere exciting?”. Harvick stroked Liberto and said “We’re going to practice our flying… Besides we need some fresh air to figure out what ability we might have”. Joss nodded with understanding and tried petting Liberto as well. But the dinosaur hung its giant head further down, avoiding Joss’ hand.

William giggled a bit and asked “Bwut. I thought you alweady knew?.. Doesn’t it come twe moment you bond?”.

This sentence made both Joss and Harvick stare confused at William. Joss sighed, as Harvick explained “How would I know that Mirabelle?.. It might be something innate, but how can you know what talent you have unless you try it out first? It’s like that… We don’t know what ability we possess unless we discover it… To do this, it’s best to meditate or try out a bunch of tests for abilities that we know exists. Or else, it all hangs on pure luck and intuition… However, It would have been nice, if we just instantly knew it, haha”.

Joss shrugged his shoulders and stated “Now you know. Even though it should be obvious... Poor sister. If only she was born with a bigger brain...”.  William narrowed his eyes at that comment.

He knew that fighting it out to regain his image, would be meaningless. So he chose to take revenge the clever way. With his pure baby eyes he looked up at Harvick and began begging shamelessly “Pwease take me with you! I wanna try flying too!”. Those teary eyes made Harvick’s gaze turn gentle. He stretched out his hand to William. Meaning that William’s request got accepted.

As William got pulled up on the soft beast, he glanced to the side and smirked “Hehe”. Joss stood baffled.

He saw William get fastened secure, in front of Harvick. The otherwise gracious Liberto, felt the extra weight and became a bit nervous. Stepping back and forth. This little dance, made Joss wake up.

He immediately complained by screeching “Hey! No fair! And isn’t it too dangerous for you, Mirabelle!? Mother will absolutely not allow this!”. But his protests fell on deaf ears. Harvick simple stated “It’ll be fine. We’ll fly around the island and that’ll be it… I know you want to ride as well Joss, but Liberto is too young and small to lift us. Mirabelle however doesn’t make too much of a difference… So… See ya”.

Harvick clapped the side of Liberto’s chest and gestured for the dinosaur to set off.

It rustled its feathers and stretched out its bat-wings. Liberto ignored the bustling sounds surrounding it and leisurely closed its eyes. Concentrating its mind on feeling the gentle breeze that entertwined with its feathers and skin.

Like a sail that caught a strong wind, its wings began to bulge, finally meeting some resistance from the air. The dinosaur clumsily began to run down towards the lake. As it gained momentum downhill, it swayed its wings up and down. William could feel an immense jerk, from Liberto, as it almost jumped off the ground and began to desperately flap its wings to gain height.

The lake’s surface rippled and the giant creature finally felt the weightlessness that came from soaring the sky freely.

William couldn’t help but yelp with joy, as Liberto gained momentum and sent them skyrocketing towards the clouds. The wind violently tugged at his clothes. Almost threatening to pull him off this dreamride. But William wasn’t that afraid. Because Harvick’s arms held him securely in place.

William felt safe, but his whole body was trembling with adrenaline. It was screaming at him, how unnatural this was and that it could only mean death. His body warned him that this airborne state would surely lead to a heart attack...

Yet, William felt that it was the view, that would truly make his heart seize to beat…

The young girl went silent for some time, before saying “Wow… I didn’t know that the iswand was so big!”. Liberto took its time circling the piece of land, that William called home. Everyone and everything was so small down there…

Harvick chuckled and enjoyed the view just as much. Then he yelled into William’s ear, or else his voice wouldn’t be heard “Don’t only look down there! Look up! See!?”. William moved his gaze from the captivating castle in the lake, to the outstretched forest and mountains in the horizon. If he looked close enough, other castle-towers and defences could be seen, poking out of the greenery.

William gulped and muttered to himself “There really ish a whole world out there…”.

Harvick screamed “What!? I couldn’t hear what you said?”. William only shook his head and shouted back “Nothing! Haha”. Oddly, he felt like laughing all the time. Who knew that flying like this was so delightful and fun!?

Truly a taste of freedom!..